Zoo

Yesterday my friend and I went to the Bronx Zoo. Wednesday is free day though they still make you get a ticket so they can get a count of visitors. I brought my camera with me but there weren't too many photo ops. Most of the animals were sacked out in the heat of the afternoon. Or else a hoard of children was in the way. Late May and June are field trip season here in New York and the zoo is a favorite spot. It made me think wistfully of the child catcher from the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang movie.

We did enjoy watching two male deer try to sling mud onto their backs with their antlers. Occasionally they would have a little sparring match when the older one thought the younger was getting a bit pushy. They also had fun with a large branch that was in the water, lifting it with their antlers and throwing it around. The does and fawns just hung out in the shade nibbling on cool grass. I suspect they were rolling their eyes a bit too.

One of our favorite places in the zoo is the butterfly tent. It's only open in the warm weather. It was surprisingly free of sticky ankle biters so I managed to get a few pictures in spite of the butterflies who were not too cooperative. Either they would not settle down or were shy and tried to hide behind the leaves. I needed a faster camera (Please note this fact for the Xmas season) but here are a few successful moments.

Happiness is rotting fruit.

Some of the butterflies had had a bad time and were a little ragged. But it didn't stop them from sucking up the nectar.

This one is iridescent blue on the top but he refused to leave his wings open for me.

The Monarch.