More from Orana Park

We arrived just before giraffe feeding time...


but the otters are really my favourites...


although the new baby rhino is pretty adorable, too!

Up Close and Personal

It is close up week at Carmi's Thematic Photographic, so I thought I would post these photos I took at the weekend in the walk through kea aviary at Orana Wildlife Park.



These birds are very curious and not at all scared of humans, I was quite surprised how close they would come to us. They are mountain parrots, and are known for the damage they cause to cars parked at ski fields, where they will strip the rubber away from windscreens.



When they fly, they display the gorgeous orange on their backs and undersides of their wings.

Orana Park is New Zealand's only open range zoo. Many of the animals are in fields separated from the visitors only by a wide moat. These are a habitat for water birds, including the swan who posed obligingly for my new banner.

Thematic Photographic: Single

At Carmi's blog this week the Thematic Photographic theme is single.

I looked through my photos pondering birds (plenty of those), "single tree in bare landscape" ( a few of those too), and then came across a selection of animal photos taken at Orana Park, our local wildlife park. So, cute furry animals it is.



This is an Asian small clawed otter. It is actually quite difficult to capture one on its own as they tend to move like a chorus line. they seem to be almost telepathic in their ability to get up and move together. However they had to go single file to get through the hollow log.



The meerkats are group animals too, but they do stand a little apart from each other, looking very alert as they take turns on sentry duty.