Trip Report: Cats, Condors, Canyons

Tuesday, September 7, 2021

After canceling my Europe, I flew yesterday from Phoenix to Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina. I am spending today at Greensboro Science Center for their new small cat complex. This features fishing cat, serval, sand cat, and (not yet on exhibit) black-footed cat. Sadly it is sunny, which is terrible for photography (though the sand cat is indoors). Another cat up the path is Malayan tiger, but I never get a good look.

As the name suggests, this is not a typical zoo. It is a hybrid facility that includes an outdoor zoo (newly expanded), a dinosaur/fossil room, an aquarium, a taxidermy diorama, a small reptile/arthropod room, and a planetarium with various shows. I find hybrid facilities like this (or my local Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum) more interesting than a conventional zoo; there is something for everyone.

Science Center Entrance - ZooChat

The small cat area is nice and I am glad they put the four species together. The rest of the zoo is not arranged taxonomically (or geographically or any other way). A male fishing cat is in the main exhibit with a mother and two grown kittens barely visible in a smaller back yard. The fishing cat and serval are active for the first couple hours while the sand cat sleeps. In the afternoon it is still asleep but then a visitor mentions it is down on the ground and I get my best shot yet. It goes back to sleep until end-of-day feeding time.

fishing cat - ZooChat

serval - ZooChat

sand cat - ZooChat

 

Wednesday, September 8, 2021, morning

I am now one state north at Virginia Safari Park. I love all wild cats, but my favorite might be the king cheetah. There are exactly three king cheetahs in the United States and all three live here. Female Mona Lisa lives in one enclosure and her three grandchildren live in an adjacent enclosure. They are normally spotted female Sanura, king female Shani, and king male Solomon. The fence, both in the foreground and background, makes photography a challenge. The cats, though, are gorgeous. Over two decades ago I saw a female king cheetah at Saint Louis Zoo. She was beautiful as well, but her markings were not as dramatic as others I have seen in photographs. She was the least kingy of the king cheetahs. The two females here are beautifully marked and are kingier than the female I saw before. The male, though, is kingiest of them all. With blotches that join to form a rough circle on both shoulders, he is the supermodel of the cheetah world.


female king cheetah Mona Lisa - ZooChat

female king cheetah Shani - ZooChat

male king cheetah Solomon - ZooChat

On Wednesdays and weekends they do a cheetah lure chase. Each cheetah gets two runs, for a total of six. This is good because the first couple runs are a bust as I try to work out the best place to position myself and where to focus the camera. I finally get a couple motion-blur shots on the last two runs (performed by Solomon). The park is not very busy and the few spectators drift away after each successive run. On the last run I am the only remaining observer. The two keepers prepare to take Solomon inside briefly and I decide to press my luck. There is one small hill in the middle where the background fence is not visible so I ask if they could pose him there. They kindly agree, though he is so used to the routine of going inside that it takes some cajoling (with a pan of meat). He sits for several seconds but will not look straight at me (in spite of the keeper standing near me and calling his name). Even though he doesn’t turn his face, I am indebted to the keepers for accommodating me.

king cheetah Solomon (lure chase) - ZooChat

king cheetah Solomon (posed by keepers) - ZooChat

 

Wednesday, September 8, 2021, afternoon

There are also two tiger cubs in a large enclosure near the cheetahs, who are on display in the mornings. Though cats are my main interest, most visitors to Virginia Safari Park are interested in the large drive-through hoofstock area. As the cats lay down to rest mid-day I decide to give it a spin. There is no logic to the species arrangement and it seems any animals that can live together are thrown together. Domestic llamas, domestic cattle, ostriches, emus, elk (wapiti), bison, axis and fallow deer, wildebeest, eland antelope, zebras and more all happily roaming the hillsides of Virginia. Visitors can buy a bucket of feed to drop out their window. I decline but the animals still approach because most cars do have feed. I have been to drive-through parks in Texas (Natural Bridge and Fossil Rim), but I have never seen bison. This seems risky as does having ostriches peck at people. I cautiously roll down my window partway for some wide angle closeups.


tiger cubs - ZooChat

leucistic elk (wapiti) in drive-through - ZooChat

ostrich in drive-through - ZooChat

 

Thursday, September 9, 2021, morning

More cheetahs today. These are of the normal spotted variety, but they are cubs! Three cubs and their mother to be exact. I arrive at Metro Richmond Zoo just before opening where I am greeted by @TinoPup , the twentieth ZooChatter I have met in person.


zoo entrance driveway - ZooChat

The cheetah exhibit is not bad and the morning is beautifully overcast with occasional rain. The zoo has some decent (not exceptional) large hoofstock yards but overall it is not up to modern zoo standards. The row of monkey cages look third world and the shoebox-sized reptile exhibits are inhumane. After an hour and a half of cubs they settle down and there is nothing else at the zoo for me to see. I could make it back to Greensboro Science Center by mid-afternoon, but I feel guilty because TinoPup has driven a long time to get here. She is very understanding and assures me it is not a problem if I leave; she will stay and enjoy the rest of the zoo on her own.


cheetah mother and cub - ZooChat

cheetah cubs - ZooChat

 

Very nice photos of them! There's definitely something wrong with the one cub's eye, hopefully just a cosmetic issue. I still had a nice time after you left, I was there another 4 hours. It never rained after you left

Thank you for including the names from the safari. That means Sada is the one no longer there. I wish I'd thought to have you ask if she went to another zoo, or if something else happened. There was a 5th cub, Sahara, but I assume she passed away when young, since she never made it to the exhibit. She lived at least a month.

 

I assume Sada is a spotted cheetah?

 

Thursday, September 9, 2021, afternoon

I am back in Greensboro for a late lunch and cats. A few blocks from the Science Center my text notice rings and I glance at it when I stop at a red light. It is from @TinoPup and the preview reads “did you see the snow leopards?” I forgot there are snow leopards at Richmond. My first thought is she better not tell me there are cubs. When I park at the Science Center I read the text and sure enough, there is one cub. She sees it and I do not, which is probably what I deserve for skipping out on her. It will be a long time before we see her photo on ZooChat. She shoots film with two retro Pentax K-1000 cameras and gets it batch developed once a year. I started with K-1000’s as well and ask if I can take a picture of her cameras on the railing.


Tinopup's retro Pentax K1000's - ZooChat

When I get to the Science Center, the mother and two grown kittens are in the main fishing cat exhibit. The kittens are quite active, swimming in the water, knocking a log into the water and playing with it, then shaking off the water in hilarious fashion. The sand cat and serval remain inactive, but the fishing cats make up for it. I have an affinity for them because a friend of mine started Fishing Cat Conservancy (FishCat.org) and I am one of their founding supporters.


fishing cats in water - ZooChat

fishing cat playing with log - ZooChat

fishing cat shaking off water - ZooChat

 

Yes. Since there's two spotted girls, I didn't know which one was missing on my last visit, and they took the name signs down.

I did ask a couple of times if you wanted to go see the tigers and snow leopard But you were pretty set on the cheetah cubs. The cub was being very active, too, climbing (and falling) all over, pouncing on mom, etc. I took a few cell photos but they're obviously not great.

Nice photo of my cameras! Those fishing cat photos are well worth missing the snow cub, I think.

 

Friday, September 10, 2021, morning

I will fly to Phoenix early afternoon but first visit a zoological facility that has no cats. When I plan the trip I notice my Thursday night hotel is just a few miles from Duke Lemur Center. I look at their website to see if they have a tour Friday morning. They have a pricier “walk with lemurs” tour at 10:30am that goes into one of the massive forest enclosures, but it is sold out. I check back the next day and one spot has opened up so I grab it.


entrance sign - ZooChat

This is truly a one-of-a-kind zoological facility. It is run by Duke University, which has a large parcel of native forest. The center is over 50 years old and holds the most diverse collection of lemurs outside their native Madagascar. While some are housed in traditional small enclosures, several are let out into one of half a dozen massive forest enclosures. The one we enter is nine acres and the adjacent one is thirteen acres. We see three species eating breakfast together in the forest: ring-tailed lemur, red-fronted lemur, Coquerel’s sifaka. The Lemur Center participates in study, husbandry, reproduction, and conservation. The tour guide notes they are different from other university primate centers, whose focus is medical research (think chimps and macaques in labs). The photo opportunities are great and the experience is unlike anything else. Our tour group exits the forest and is going to spend more time near the conventional exhibits, but I excuse myself to catch my flight.


ring tailed lemur - ZooChat

red fronted lemur - ZooChat

coquerels sifaka - ZooChat

Since this is ZooChat I know you want a species list, so here it is. Please note the noctural and sensitive species are not seen on any tour (though another ZooChatter posted photos so maybe the used to?).
Aye-aye
Black and white ruffed lemur
Blue-eyed black lemur
Collared lemur
Coquerel’s sifaka
Crowned lemur
Eastern lesser bamboo lemur
Fat-tailed dwarf lemur
Gray mouse lemur
Mongoose lemur
Red-bellied lemur
Red-fronted lemur
Red ruffed lemur
Ring-tailed lemur

 

I like the entrance sign.

 

So I post three carefully posed lemur shots taken with a five thousand dollar camera and lens combo, but the photo you like is the entrance sign I snapped out the car window with my three hundred dollar pocket camera!

 

Isn’t that just how it works?

 

I copied it directly from their website, so it seems they have not updated it.

 

Friday, September 10, 2021, afternoon

Landing in Phoenix I hop on the freeway and head north to Flagstaff. Since Phoenix is well north of my home city Tucson (which had no direct flights) I plan to spend a few days farther north. I am nearing town just before sunset so I pull off at a spot that is new to me: Kachina Wetlands. I see a raptor flying in the distance and notice it has something in its talons. On reviewing my grab shot I notice it is an osprey with a fish. I hurry to the pond and spend the final minutes of light watching two ospreys hunt. On my way out several bats (species unknown) are overhead.


osprey hunting in pond - ZooChat

osprey at sunset - ZooChat

 

Saturday, September 11, 2021, morning

Just before sunrise I am back at Kachina Wetlands. I have a view of the San Francisco Peaks straight ahead. Suddenly a family of raccoons cross the trail but all I manage is a blurred shot of the last one. I look at the field they have just entered but they have vanished. I head to the pond and an osprey briefly circles, but then flies off. I photograph a great blue heron and later a mixed group of red-winged blackbirds and yellow-headed blackbirds. I go back for breakfast then continue my northbound journey.


northern raccoon - ZooChat

great blue heron (at sunrise) - ZooChat

red winged blackbird - ZooChat

yellow headed blackbird - ZooChat

 

Well in all fairness it’s a pretty good shot for a phone. What kind do you have?

 

I don't use a smart phone for snapshots - I use a pocket camera (a real camera with an APS-C sized sensor). It's a Fuji XF-10.

 

Saturday, September 11, 2021, afternoon

I leave the pines and cross the desert towards my next destination: Grand Canyon North Rim. I have been to the South Rim over half a dozen times, but never the North. Eventually I cross the Colorado River at Navajo Bridge and see the looming Vermillion Cliffs on my right. Some of you know this as the release site for Arizona’s population of California condors. I see none and head up into the hills, stopping for lunch in the pines at historic Jacob Lake Inn.


Vermillion Cliffs (site of condor reintroduction). - ZooChat

Late afternoon I check in for two nights at Grand Canyon Lodge, the only lodging on the North Rim. I photograph the sunset at nearby Bright Angel Point, but wildlife is conspicuously absent. I see a Steller’s jay just after check-in, but not much else.


Grand Canyon North Rim (Bright Angel Point) - ZooChat

 

Nice reports! Thanks.