When your 6-year-old grandson asks to go to the zoo, even if it's freezing outside, you bundle up and make the little guy happy. His visit was only over Thanksgiving and time was short so we had to make the best of his trip to see us all the way from #Panama.
The zoo is located in Rochester, New York, and has a wonderful selection of animals, birds, insects, and so much more. The natural habitats stretch a long way throughout the property and you definitely can get your exercise in for the day.
The first thing you come to is this very large enclosed area which had some fun things for the children to climb on. It was the first place my grandson had to do. He thought the climbing structure was awesome. After he finished the Trailside Cafe was a necessary stop. We needed a nice cup of coffee to warm us up.
We started out going down the Genesee Trail which is the main entrance to see the largest animals.
This sculpture was fabulous and enormous, to say the least. I think it was outside the entrance to the building that housed the otters.
I loved seeing them diving in and out of the pools which were outside but you could view them from inside the building. This was nice and gave us a chance to warm up a bit.
There were five otters in the pool and they had fun chasing each other. I especially like the photo of his back flippers spread out, helping him to swim fast.
This snake was just hanging out on the tree branch in a large enclosure. I don't ever remember seeing a snake with this coloring before. He certainly has an intimidating face and I would not want to tangle with him.
There was a huge snake in another glass enclosure. He was so long that I took two separate frames of him to give you an idea of how long he was. I did not take note of what type of snakes they were, perhaps you may know.
As we continued walking the trail, we came to where the wolves were caged. The white wolf was still in the same position from when we started to when we passed by them again on our way out. On the other hand, the grey wolf was still encircling the entire area, it probably needed to burn off some pent-up energy.
Continuing on, there were a few aviaries that were home to some larger predator birds. I am very fond of hawks and this Red Tail was screeching while viewing the area around it. The Snowy Owl was gorgeous and seemed to enjoy the attention of visitors.
Walking the Genesee Trail to see the large cats and other animals, you can view a large park with a pond. I remember when I was a young girl, my father would take us there to go fishing. I don't know if they allow that these days, but my son and I both have some good fishing memories from days gone by.
Yay, the lion exhibit was fun to see with the Safari bus inside the enclosure. The lioness lying on the hood of the bus was so cool.
The best part though was the King of the Jungle lying on top of an enormous rock. He had what looked like a giant pacifier in his mouth. I can't imagine what it was made of, but he held on to his treasure.
When we walked to the far side of the lion enclosure, we got to go inside the bus and I got a close-up photo of the lioness.
There was something special about this Snow Leopard. All I wanted to do was snuggle up close and love on her. She was so pretty and enjoying a fresh bone on her bench.
Another Leopard was sniffing the ground around a rock formation while I tried to get a decent photo of him. He was constantly moving and getting a good photo was a bit difficult.
Thank goodness for another building where you could see the polar bears from the indoors. This bear was eating its lunch and totally ignoring the visitors. The right picture is him going into the den after he finishes his snack.
It was my grandson's first time seeing a live polar bear and he was so excited. It would have been more fun for him if the bear was swimming in the pool.
Guess what is coming up next? Isn't this sculpture stunning?
The giraffes were so darn cute and were hanging out in the inside enclosure. Two of them kept peeking out the doorway. I wonder what they were looking for.
A single Rhino was eating by itself and I only got these photos of her facing away from me. There were zebras and two elephants as well, but somehow I accidentally deleted them.
The seals were so fun to watch from inside the building. I was so happy to be able to get out of the cold wind and watch them swimming back and forth. Their pool was on the outside of the building but we could sit on benches and enjoy them long enough to take the chill off.
I was surprised to see only one Lynx all by itself. It was perched up high on a platform just watching everyone go by. I felt bad that was by itself.
I thought the carvings of this tall totem pole representing the Seneca Indian Tribes that settled in the area were amazing.
My grandson is a clown with these photo ops. He was certainly enjoying the zoo visit, even if it was a cold and windy day. I have to say, there were a lot of people of different nationalities visiting the day after Thanksgiving.
My son, daughter-in-law, and grandson soaking up some sun. I hope you enjoyed walking through the zoo with me for today's #wednesdaywalkabout.
Below is a link to the Zoo Website where they feature all the animals if you're interested.
Seneca Park Zoo
Until next time, this is Sunscape
Sun. Scape. Ing Your Day
