Thanksgiving at the Metro Zoo

My Dad and my niece at the Zoo. The zoo handed out panda hats to celebrate the panda cub's first birthday.

One of my favourite places in Ontario is the Metro Toronto Zoo.  Ever since I was a little boy I have loved going to the zoo.  My grandparents used to take all of us kids (4 of us plus various cousins)  on Boxing Day, when admission was free.  Or maybe just the parking was free.  Either way, I didn't have to worry about the price and I always had a good time.  
    I recall a rumour about a mountain lion that was roaming the outskirts of Toronto at the time, and with the Zoo's location on the northeast edge of the city above the Rouge River Valley-forest all the way up to Lake Simcoe-I'm talking about Toronto circa thirty years ago-it is easy to think that a lion could have been roaming around.  

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It has been a few years since I went to the zoo, but my sister, Anne, and her husband live in Toronto and go there regularly.   Several people in my family went on Thanksgiving Monday, a glorious mid-fall day, and we did not even go into any of the pavilions-there was to much to see outside!  Anne has learned how to talk to fish-even better, they have learned to listen to her!  There is a river that you cross from the parking lot to the main entrance, and there are many carp in this river.  With all of us watching, including my two year old niece, Anne leaned over the railing and started clapping her hands.  Wouldn't you know it, a dozen or two carp appeared right below her! 
   I had learned that there is a pair of giant Steller's Sea Eagles, and since I am an eagle watcher, I really wanted to see them.   

An Eurasian Eagle Owl, not a small bird, except when it's aviary is right beside the Steller's Sea Eagles!

These eagles can weigh 18 or 19 lbs and sometimes have a wing span approaching 9 feet.  By comparison, a really large female bald eagle would be about 14 lbs with an 8 foot span, and the larger races of the golden eagle would be about the same size as the biggest bald eagle.  The bald eagle (centre below) and the golden eagle (right) are at Mountsberg Conservation area near Guelph, Ontario.

Here are a few interesting links: 
   www.torontozoo.com
​   http://www.conservationhalton.ca/mountsberg-raptor-centre
   http://animals.sandiegozoo.org/animals/stellers-sea-eagle
   http://iws.org/species_sea_eagle.html
   http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/birds/stellers-eagle/

Note that the panda hat is now on me! It was on Dad in a previous photo. My niece is at the end of her rope, but she did very well over a long day.

A one-eyed snowy owl. The zoo is treating this bird.

An impressive bull caribou.

The weather was so good that we did not set foot into even one of the indoor pavillions.  We also missed the Canadian Domain exhibit, but it will be there on another day.   Enjoy the show, eh!