Salisbury Zoo, Salisbury, Maryland; part 1 of 6

Cool mostly overcast mid-autumn day and I awake without a plan on the planet. 10:12 AM--I'm restless. I need an adventure. I know! I'll drove 5 hours round trip to spend 2 hours at a little zoo on the eastern side of the Chesapeake Bay. Why not?

The destination was the Salisbury Zoo in Salisbury, Maryland. A place I have never been before. A Zoo that was once called by someone from somewhere "America's Best Small Zoo". It's an intriguing notion. It does not have the best website for a zoo of any size; although it is colorful, it doesn't provide a zoo map and that's important to me as a spacial, visual processor. This one is from the zoo and I photographed it off of a placard. One major disappointment not explained on the website was the seasonal closure of the Ocelot Gift Shop, the ESBA Education Center and the new Morgan Visitor Center. They are only open from sometime in April to October 31st!

Thankfully, the restrooms were still open!

While the map makes it look like the zoo sits on the edge of a lake, you'll notice in subsequent photos that it sits in the flood plain of a little creek. The opposite side is flanked by a residential street that separates it from a traditional, slightly up-scale subdivision of single-family homes. The park along the creek extends in both directions beyond the zoo's perimeters. During the neatly 2 hours I spent exploring the zoo, I never once encountered a single zoo employee or volunteer. Near the very end, I notices at a distance a young women carrying a stainless steel bowl of veggies who was probably a keeper on her way to feed some animal, but she was too far away to engage or identify for certain. I was pleased to see a handful of visitors of all ages and relationships including several black and hispanic families. For a little zoo in a little community on the far side of the bay, it left me with the impression that they take advantage of their zoo.

And it's FREE. Which was one of the motivations for my visit, given the other expenses and time to get there. As to it's collection, it is exclusively fauna of the America's. And like any visit, some of the animals are out and about and some are not. So I will continue the sharing in subsequent posts.

Salisbury Zoo, Salisbury, Maryland; part 2 of 6

I entered the zoo from the East Entrance, which has its own parking lot (and to give you a sense of scale: it holds about 24-30 vehicles) I got there around 12:50 and the zoo opened at 9:00 AM. As I entered a small group of developmentally delayed adults with their care givers was leaving--gave me an immediate good feeling.

The map makes the zoo feel like it has open field spaces, but it really doesn't. It's very wooded with lots of old-growth trees. The first thing I noticed was a sculpture of a Great Blue Heron and so proceeded to explore a small "herb" garden to my right.

 From there I traverses the path around the new (and closed) visitor center where I encountered tropical birds: Sun Conures, American Flamingos, Green-winged Macaws, and others. I also saw their American Alligator and their two-toed Sloth. The Alligator was content to remain within his enclosure and the Sloth was...well, a sloth! Which is to say a ball of fur curled up in a corner of an otherwise spacious enclosure. Though the map said there were also Bolivian Titi Monkeys with the Sloth, I saw evidence of their presence.

 One of the American Flamingos was particularly curious and in my face. It made for some interesting observation. They always look pissed off, but who really knows what the beautiful bird was intrigued by or interested in communicating? He/she even followed me from one viewing station to another! Shame I don't speak Flamingo.

Salisbury Zoo, Salisbury, Maryland; part 3 of 6

 From the Tropical Birds I walked around and discovered a little colony of burrowing owls. I looked for the Patagonian Cavy, but only saw Eastern Gray Squirrels burying acorns for winter. And the area labeled for Llamas was now home to a herd of Alpaca, one of which was particularly photogenic. The deck path between the two and little pier were all taped off and closed. It was a disappointment given the missed opportunity for photography. Still the secret to happiness at a zoo -- like life -- is to delight in what you do find and let the rest just go.

Salisbury Zoo, Salisbury, Maryland; part 4 of 6

I then explored the West Entrance, but found nothing of interest there. I walked up to the Jaguar enclosure. Along the way I discovered that the Spotted Owl exhibit had suffered some catastrophe that looked like a large tree or bough from a tree had smashed it! It was under-reconstruction and still a mess.

The Jaguar was present and beautiful! But maintained like so many large cats in an enclosure made of wire mesh so that photography is limited and often disappointing. I backtracked to the main east-west path and then went down the boardwalk and experienced: Greater Rhea, Capybara, some more Macaws, a Llama, American Bald Eagle, American Bison, and Black-tailed Prairie Dogs.

Salisbury Zoo, Salisbury, Maryland; part 5 of 6

From here, I visited to a pair of habitats. In the first was home to both White-tailed Deer and Wild Turkeys. Neither of which are unfamiliar to me from my own neighborhood and walks in the park with Romeo. The second was home to Red Wolves, but no wolves were present. Around the corner a very nice exhibit for North American Beavers, but no beavers were out. From here I went around a loop and discovered a pair of Geoffroy's Spider Monkeys. They were not very active, but their habitat was impressively spacious, so don't let my close-up photo mislead you.

Salisbury Zoo, Salisbury, Maryland; part 6 of 6

The final leg of my visit unfolded quickly. First, the restrooms! It was a long trip from Washington, DC... But, then to backside of the South American small animal area. And here I want to reflect on an obvious choice that this zoo has made. Rather than build some year-around structure, they have chosen to create large, fair-weather habitats. This means that when it's too cold, these animals are not on display. But the rest of the time, they have spacious, complex habitats. I think they've made the better choice for the animals. So what did I see? Cotton-toped Tamarins, Ocelot, Brazilian Agouti, and various ducks. What was not out and about? White-face Coatimundi, perhaps it was just too cool for them.

And then I visited the Andean Speckled Bear. She was awesome. I wondered if she knows that another Andean Speckled Bear has just arrived at this little zoo? A male from Ecuador captured in the wild and certain to be destroyed was sequestered for this zoo to join with her and hopefully produce off-spring. It is a major step for this little zoo and a wonderful genetic addition to the Species Survival Program of AZA zoo's. But for today. She was a happy enough amabassador of her species.

I left with a visit to the North American River Otters, but they were "No Encasa". And the area at the East Entrance where the Bobcats were, as well as, adjacent open space was all cordoned off and part of some construction project.

Eleven Views of the Smithsonian National Zoo #1

SO, I devised a plan to visit the Naitonal Zoo that involved trying some new things. First, PARKING: SInce the grounds open at 8 AM (and the buildings at 9 AM) I would arrive around 8:30 in the hopes of finding easy parking. I did, BUT there's more! The lot was open. Normally you pay to enter it, and so while everyone who arrived after say 8:50 AM when the attendant arrived on duty paid like $23.50--I parked for FREE!

Next, I chose the lot at the BOTTOM of the zoo at the south entrance. And entrance that I had never entered before. This meant that I would spend the beginning of my visit climbing up the "mountain," and the end of my visit walking back down. This proved much more satisfactory to my feet. While the zoo's amazing initial design comes from the father of landscape architecture, Frederick Law Olmsted, it is built on a very steep hill! In fact, when you look at the map of the zoo, it has a section warning you to expect a steep climb.

Finally, I planned to scope out about half a dozen animals that the zoo "claims" to have, but which I have never seen! As a result, after my visit today, my list is smaller, but not eliminated. And this is an aspect of the National Zoo--and all good zoos--that I do support. The animals are not forced to be "on" display. They have access to off sight areas that allow them to just chill if there not feeling up to it. This leads to one of the exciting things about going to a zoo--you never what you're going to experience. In fact, no two visits are ever the same. And I have to say that I had some really great experiences at the Smithsonian National Zoo today. I took just shy of 350 pics, too!

Eleven Views of the Smithsonian National Zoo #2

When you enter the zoo before it's officially open, it's a pretty deserted place. Some people who live in the neighborhood jog or walk through as part of their exercise routine. A lot of the animals are still in their enclosures, too. Fortunately for me a quartet of Ring-tailed Lemurs (Lemur catta) and a lone Black & White Ruffed Lemur (Varecia variegata) were out and about on Lemur Island. The quartet were perched high up in the tallest climbing tree checking the new day out and particularly captivated by the distant sound of persisant howling that I believe was coming for a Howler Monkey quite a ways away in another part of the zoo. The Black & White Ruffed Lemur was eating his breakfast on one of two raised platforms and making his own low lamenting vocalizations. I think my favorite picture is actually the one where all the ring-tails are looking away!

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.