Assiniboine Park Zoo - Bats, Frogmouth, Lizards

[guppiecat]

About a month ago, I was in Winnipeg. Unsurprisingly, every time I visit a new city, I want to visit the zoo, so I checked out Assinboine for the second time. As before, I had other plans, and did not spend as much time there as I would otherwise have liked. However, it was a fun (though lonely) time, and I got some decent photos.

The set it here, but I'll be sharing highlights for several days. In a break with my normal pattern, I'm going to start sharing from the end of the set, as those are the most impressive.

See, lots of zoos have bats. However, this is the only zoo I've been to that has two chambers and encourages the bats to fly between them and through this little bat-friendly hole. This is ideal for me, as I can set up my cameras, prefocus my camera, and just click away whenever a bat comes by. This was the first time I have tried this technique, so there are some rough spots (needed a smaller aperture, tripod, remote release, light stands, etc), but the good news is that these are the best bat photos I've ever been able to take.

I hope you like them.




Tawny Frogmouth (Podargus strigoides) - Do not taunt happy fun bird.


Lizard - Yes, the eye really looks like that. They're really creepy critters.


Bearded Dragon - Evil lizard will turn off the destructo ray for one billion crickets.


Bat - Little Bat, Big World.


Bat - Check out the wee feet!


Bat - Happppy Baaaat Gonnnna Getttta Bananananananana


Bat - Slightly blurry, shows that f/13 isn't enough depth of field for bats.


Bat - Slightly blurry, could be fixed with a tighter aperture (which would require more flash output) or a closer prefocus.


Bat - Showing that it is better to start wider and crop down when necessary.


Bat - I *really* wish I had gotten a solid focus on this one.

Comments

[karenkay.livejournal.com]

GREAT bat photos! (I live in the city with the largest urban bat colony in North America.)

[pameladean]

Wow, amazing bats. I like the bearded lizard, too.

I always expect bats to have mouse feet, though.

P.

[guppiecat]

I always expect bats to have mouse feet, though.

These were fruit bats, they have bananananananas. I'm sure there are other bats that eat mice. :)

[xap]

Evil lizard will turn off the destructo ray for one billion crickets.

My daughter is currently saving up for a Bearded Dragon....I now have this sinking feeling she'll be actively shopping for the one that comes with his own destructo ray.

Guess I better start stockpiling crickets

[guppiecat]

Seriously, read a lot about them. Also, as ugly as it looks, do NOT put them on sand (astroturf is recommended). The day I built a huge fancy terrarium for my ex's bearded dragon was the same day we learned that some lizards are stupid enough to eat sand and get compacted.

We learned a lot dealing with the intervening problems (and I learned a lot about her). It was educational, but not enjoyable.

Do the education ahead of time, when it's not emotional as well.

[mjlayman.livejournal.com]

Fabulous bat pictures!

[xap]

Oh, definitely! We've been working on the research aspect for a bit now, and plan to continue. She's already ruled out two local shops (one a chain) for purchase-time because they keep their juvies on sand and "that's really bad for them Mom!" :)
Thanks for the reminder tho - sorry you gained the experience is less-than-pleasant ways :(