Eleven Views of the Smithsonian National Zoo #3

Leaving the Lemurs I decided to make my trek to the top of the zoo via the American Trails pathway. This is the concentration of animals from North America--not all of them, but the majority of them arranged along a ravine with a little run flowing down the middle that the trail criss-crosses on it's way up. The entire area has only been fully populated this summer after a multi-year renovation that began at the bottom of the hill with one of the nicest and largest seal complexes I've ever encountered at a zoo. This one is home to a little colony of California Sea Lions (Zalophus californianus) in a humongous main habitat, and then in an adjacent habitat just a little higher up the hill you will discover a Gray Seal (Halichoerus grypus) and a pair of speckled Harbor Seals (Phoca vitulina).  The Sea Lions share their space with four Brown Pelicans (Pelecanus occidentalis), as well.

 As it would happen, on my way down I met one of the volunteer species at the Smithsonian National Zoo--and in a most fitting section, too.  A White-tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) was casually browsing along the top of a retaining wall against a presently vacant habitat.  She didn't seem overly concerned by my presence, and when I got down to the little plaza at the Sea Lion exhibit, I could see that she was still grazing above the wall.

 Other animals that I saw and didn't in this section included a pair of Gray Wolves (Canis lupus), (no photo), a pair of Bald Eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus), and a pair of North American River Otters (Lontra canadensis); however, the glare from the angle of the early morning sun was such that you could see a thing of them through the large glass viewing area, and I barely got on in the photo I took from up above.  Still, better than the North American Beavers (Castor canadensis) who were no in casa and instead their expansive habitat was flush with Wood Ducks (Aix sponsa)!  A parting shot back down the trail gives you some idea of just what sort of grade we're talking about in climbing up the hill.