Waited till yesterday to go to the Calgary Zoo, to see the new Penguin Plunge exhibit. I knew it was open to certain membership card owners between limited hours, but I chose to do other things with friends instead. Yesterday was the official opening day - and unfortunately it coincided with Professional Day holiday for many of the Calgary schools. The line-up was awful, and I almost changed my mind, but thankfully a friend happened to come down at the same time (and he almost turned around and left when he saw the length of the line) and so we passed the long wait chatting, which helped! The exhibit itself has been beautifully created - though very small. I suspect very long line-ups will continue for a long time, as these birds are going to be extremely popular. The four species of Penguin (46 Penguins in total) will stay indoors till spring and then just the Humboldt Penguins will have access to the outdoor area. I found the lighting inside was really bad for taking photos - the photo of King Penguins (not an endangered species) above was taken with flash, but still came out horribly. However, I'll take any photo of my first sight of a Penguin! Will add more detail when I get back at the end of the day, when I get home from a day out with some friends, going east of the city.
The Zoo now has four species of Penguin - Gentoo (23), King (8), Humboldt (10) and Rockhopper (5). They are part of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums penguin species survival plan.
The 46 penguins came from zoos in Quebec, Texas, New York and Washington states and Scotland. There are 8 King Penguins, 23 Gentoo Penguins, 10 Humboldt Penguins and 5 Rockhopper Penguins. The IUCN Red List states:
King Penguins - Least Concern
Humboldt Penguins - Vulnerable
Gentoo Penguins - Near Threatened
Rockhopper Penguins - Vulnerable
"The King Penguin (Aptenodytes patagonicus) is the second largest species of penguin at about 11 to 16 kg (24 to 35 lb), second only to the Emperor Penguin. There are two subspecies—A. p. patagonicus and A. p. halli; patagonicus is found in the South Atlantic and halli elsewhere.
King Penguins eat small fish, mainly lanternfish, and squid and rely less than most Southern Ocean predators on krill and other crustaceans. On foraging trips they repeatedly dive to over 100 metres (330 ft), often over 200 metres (660 ft).
King Penguins breed on the subantarctic islands at the northern reaches of Antarctica, South Georgia, and other temperate islands of the region. The total population is estimated to be 2.23 million pairs and is increasing."
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en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Penguin
Tags: Calgary Alberta Canada southern Alberta Calgary Zoo nature ornithology avian bird birds Penguin King Penguin Aptenodytes patagonicus Sphenisciformes Spheniscidae Aptenodytes zoo captive new arrivals to the Zoo indoor exhibit Penguin Plunge low light second largest Penguin species beauty in nature Panasonic DMC-FZ40 DMC-FZ40 FZ40 Lumix point-and-shoot P1270417 FZ40 annkelliott beautiful_expression
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Can we pretend that I added a layer of texture to this image, ha? I just had to post it, even though the quality is about as bad as it could be! This is a Rockhopper Penguin (Vulnerable Status), seen on February 17th at the Calgary Zoo's new exhibit, Penguin Plunge. Waited till then to go to the Calgary Zoo, to see the new exhibit. I knew it was open to certain membership card owners between limited hours for a sneak preview, but I chose to do other things with friends instead. Friday was the official opening day - and unfortunately it coincided with Professional Day holiday for many of the Calgary schools. The line-up was awful, and I almost changed my mind, but thankfully a friend happened to come down at the same time (and he almost turned around and left when he saw the length of the line) and so we passed the long wait chatting, which helped! The exhibit itself has been beautifully created - though very small. I suspect very long line-ups will continue for a long time, as these birds are going to be extremely popular. The four species of Penguin (46 Penguins in total) will stay indoors till spring and then will move to the outdoor area. I found the lighting inside was really bad for taking photos - the photo above was taken with flash, but still came out horribly. However, I'll take any photo of my first sight of a Penguin! Will add more detail when I get back home.
The Zoo now has four species of Penguin - Gentoo, King, Humboldt and Rockhopper. They are part of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums penguin species survival plan.
The 46 penguins came from zoos in Quebec, Texas, New York and Washington states and Scotland. There are 8 King Penguins, 23 Gentoo Penguins, 10 Humboldt Penguins and 5 Rockhopper Penguins. The IUCN Red List states:
King Penguins - Least Concern
Humboldt Penguins - Vulnerable
Gentoo Penguins - Near Threatened
Rockhopper Penguins - Vulnerable
"The King Penguin (Aptenodytes patagonicus) is the second largest species of penguin at about 11 to 16 kg (24 to 35 lb), second only to the Emperor Penguin. There are two subspecies—A. p. patagonicus and A. p. halli; patagonicus is found in the South Atlantic and halli elsewhere.
King Penguins eat small fish, mainly lanternfish, and squid and rely less than most Southern Ocean predators on krill and other crustaceans. On foraging trips they repeatedly dive to over 100 metres (330 ft), often over 200 metres (660 ft).
King Penguins breed on the subantarctic islands at the northern reaches of Antarctica, South Georgia, and other temperate islands of the region. The total population is estimated to be 2.23 million pairs and is increasing."
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Tags: Calgary Alberta Canada southern Alberta Calgary Zoo nature ornithology avian bird birds Penguin Rockhopper Penguin Eudyptes chrysocome crested penguin Sphenisciformes Spheniscidae zoo captive new arrivals to the Zoo indoor exhibit Penguin Plunge low light for photography beauty in nature Panasonic DMC-FZ40 DMC-FZ40 FZ40 Lumix point-and-shoot P1270406 FZ40 annkelliott beautiful_expression
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This is about the only sharp photo I managed to take on February 17th, when I went to see the new Penguin Plunge exhibit at the Calgary Zoo, the lighting inside is so bad, with or without flash. More info when I get back home - have to drive part way across the city for the morning. Winter has returned yet again, so it's back to clearing the snow off my car before I can go anywhere.
Later: the sun came out and the sky turned blue and it's so beautiful out there right now. Much as I would love to go back out again, I have no choice but to stay home and back up some photo files to external hard drive, so that I can delete them from my hard drive. Almost completely out of space - again : )
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gentoo_Penguin
Tags: Calgary Alberta Canada southern Alberta Calgary Zoo nature ornithology avian bird birds Penguin Gentoo Penguin Pygoscelis papua Sphenisciformes Spheniscidae Pygoscelis close-up head shot side view adult zoo captive new arrivals to the Zoo indoor exhibit Penguin Plunge low light for photography beauty in nature Panasonic DMC-FZ40 DMC-FZ40 FZ40 Lumix point-and-shoot P1270411 FZ40 annkelliott beautiful_expression AnimalPlanet Status: Near Threatened
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This is for Chantel and Ethan, who miss their Grandpa (Doug Waylett) so much! I didn't have a photo of a Tiger, Ethan - I know you have a little stuffed Tiger that your Grandpa bought you at the Zoo last summer - but I thought you both might just like to see one of our new Penguins. They are so beautiful and so much fun to watch. I know you miss your Grandpa so much - you were so lucky to have such a kind, patient, fun Grandpa. All his friends miss him a lot, too.
Has anyone else been unable to get on to Flickr this afternoon? I kept getting connection refused or connection timed out, etc., etc.. I finally got on just now, around 5:00 p.m.. Later: almost midnight and it's still taking forever to do each tiny thing on Flickr.
Tags: Calgary Alberta Canada southern Alberta Calgary Zoo nature ornithology avian bird birds Penguin King Penguin
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One of the four species of Penguin in the new Penguin Plunge exhibit at the Calgary Zoo. Really bad light inside the exhibit, as far as taking photos is concerned : ( Will add a bit of info when I get back from a very cold walk all morning, in Fish Creek Park.
There are 10 Humboldt Penguins (Spheniscus humboldti) at the Zoo. The status of this species is IUCN Red List: Vulnerable. Current Impacts on their numbers are El Niño and La Niña weather patterns, predators, tourism, competition with fisheries, habitat change. Humboldt penguins groom their feathers before breakfast. They rub oil from a gland at the base of the tail into their feathers and the edges of their wings. Humboldts also groom each other. This species digs nesting burrows in thick deposits of seabird guano (poo)."
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Tags: Calgary Alberta Canada southern Alberta Calgary Zoo Penguin Plunge nature ornithology avian bird birds Penguin Humboldt Penguin Spheniscus humboldti Sphenisciformes Spheniscidae Spheniscus South America close-up side view adult zoo captive new arrivals to the Zoo indoor exhibit low light for photography beauty in nature Panasonic DMC-FZ40 DMC-FZ40 FZ40 Lumix point-and-shoot P1270945 FZ40 annkelliott beautiful_expression AnimalPlanet
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