Edinburgh Zoo

Last weekend I took my daughter to the zoo. We had a great day out and both signed up for annual memberships!

It was cold but very clear and bright and perfect for seeing animal behaviour.

First we went to the panda enclosure. It's getting near to spring and the breeding season and Tian Tian ("Sweetie") was out in her enclosure, circling restlessly.

Tian Tian, Giant Panda
[February 2013]

Then we wandered up past the penguin pool which is currently going through a major renovation project, and visited the Indian one-horned rhinos.

Indian One-horned Rhino
[February 2013]

The Barbary macaques were pretty active.

Barbary Macque
[February 2013]

Ellie asked to see her favourite animal, the meerkats, and they certainly didn't disappoint. They seem completely fearless of human visitors, and will happily "pose" for photos in all their characteristic positions.

Meerkat
[February 2013]

Meerkats
[February 2013]

In the tropical birds section, we got up close and personal with the rare Bali Starling.

Bali Starling
[February 2013]

And a real highlight of the visit was seeing the zoo's new arrivals, pink pelicans.

Pink Pelican
[February]

One bird we got a little too close to was the Darwin's Rhea. This specimen actually grabbed hold of the camera strap, and I was lucky it wasn't able to pull it between the bars!

Darwin's Rhea
[February 2013]

Finally, while we were in the zoo, I spotted this bird resting or roosting on a conifer. It wasn't one of the zoo's own birds, but it looked large and interesting. I wondered if it was a grey heron.

Really I'm not sure so I've added a record to www.ispot.org.uk to ask for some help. Hopefully I'll be able to get a firm ID soon.

All in all a fabulous day out :)

Brambling

I was thrilled to bits this week to see my first ever brambling.

Life tick!

And this just a few weeks after my mum had spotted one in her garden. Unfortunately, she's already pulled ahead of me in the twitching stakes with a sighting of some redpolls.

The brambling was visiting my bird feeder alongside a group of the usual suspects. It held on to the feeder perch for quite some time, obstinately ignoring the needs of the other birds around it! It would grab a seed, then look towards the house while it crushed it in its finch beak.

After a while it left the feeder and hung around for a bit on a branch in our lilac. Then it was gone. I'm afraid I don't have a picture.

Bramblings are winter visitors to the UK. In the summer they breed in Scandinavia and western Siberia. This bird was a male in its winter plumage. The head featured a speckled black/buff pattern and the orange patches on its feathers made it look a little-chaffinch like, but it was easy to tell this was a different species.

I haven't seen it come back since so I guess it was just passing through the area.

I also recently saw a bird of prey that I thought could have been a red kite, because I saw a large bright rust-orange patch across its upper plumage. When I got home and looked it up I realised it definitely wasn't and it was almost certainly a kestrel. So I guess the red kite will have to remain a delight for another day!