Australia Main || Sydney | RBG | Taronga 2 3 4 | CG 2 | Blue Mntns | Aquarium | Tour || Cairns

Meanwhile, at the World of Flight show... The show was full of cute little things: a crow came out at the beginning, and you didn't think much about it because you see crows all over the place. But this one pulled a line which released a catch allowing a big "Welcome" sign to unfold. They talked about and demonstrated with a number of birds, both local and not. The first one that I got a good picture of was this harpy eagle (at least that's what I recall it is...). In the wild, one of the things they do is pick up rocks and with a sudden head/neck motion, hurl them at tough ostrich eggs to break them open. Here the behavior is demonstrated on a hard plastic ball. He's going at it quite enthusiastically, picking the rock back up and going again very quickly.

The bird with the largest wingspan is the California condor. This guy glided over our heads and then worked out up front. Sadly I didn't get an in-flight photo. Gale got a better pose, but my camera has a bit more zoom.

They did a typical bird performer trick: in this case a Galah (native Australian parrot-esque bird) holds out a 1 dollar coin. The bird then comes and takes the coin, flies back to its trainer and drops it in the trainer's pocket. The trainer sends it (and the coin) back and then asks for a volunteer with a $50 note. Here's the galah on the final return trip:

And who could resist having their picture taken with this backdrop? Unfortunately I was standing on the boxes and Gale was standing in the trench. Shoulda hired the stunt men...

A kookaburra was watching the show nearby, hoping for leftover treats, I suppose. The backlighting makes him difficult to see clearly, but this is the best kookaburra photo I took. I was recently informed that the Kookaburra is closely related to kingfishers--which makes perfect sense when you look at them, but I hadn't thought of it before.

Everybody knows that meercats are cute, but you don't often see young ones. Definitely not Australian, but a cute photo anyhow.

Gale got a great shot of the tiger yawning. Unfortunately she hadn't perfected her technique for shooting through glass. Still a good shot if you like cat teeth. (and who doesn't!). Exhausted after such a yawn, the cat relaxes for a little snooze.

Australia Main || Sydney | RBG | Taronga 2 3 4 | CG 2 | Blue Mntns | Aquarium | Tour || Cairns