NATIONAL ZOO VISIT

I'm sending you the first installment on our visit to the Zoo last Saturday. I thought that I would start with the target of our visit, Tai Shan. Remember two years ago when all I got was one shot of Tai Shan sleeping in a tree? I made up for that this year - I got a total of 50 shots of all three pandas. Of course, to be honest, two years ago, the Panda Habitat was in the process of being rebuilt, and it was raining at the time of the picture. Also the inside area was closed to the public. What a difference two years makes! It's a gorgeous place now, with all the amenities of an actual Chinese mountain retreat. The pandas seem quite happy, and are always out and about for everyone to see. Mei Xiang was under the weather, as she is, hopefully, expecting a little one any time now.

The first shot is one of Mei Xiang, laying on her favorite rock ledge in the interior habitat. She was in out of the heat, and the only reason there's only one picture of her is because she never changed position for the ten minutes we were there!




The next four are of our buddy, Tai Shan. He's a big boy now, and, just like his daddy, is eating constantly! He's outside in these shots.

The last two shots are of Tian Tian, the daddy. He chose to stay in the cool atmosphere of the interior exhibit area while he pursued his favorite past time, eating...

Like I had mentioned, the crowds in the Panda House were like the Paparazzi, pushing and shoving in order to get that "perfect" picture! BTW, the reason I don't use flash in these shots is that I would get a specific "burn" area right in the middle of the shot, which ruins it. I wonder how many shots have been discarded simply because of using the flash?
Problem is that it's too late to correct once you get home...

Images courtesy of DaveKay

Looking forward to the next installment of your National Zoo trip DaveKay. And as always, great shots ! Thanks for sharing with all of us.

Looking forward to out next 'trip'

SAFE TRAVELS EVERYONE !!