Snow Leopard Sparks a Steve Jobs Memory

This past November when I had out of town guests, I was treated to a trip to the Central Park Zoo.

Up until that time I had been enthused about going to zoos as I always feel badly when I see caged animals but after watching an interview (which I've referenced in prior entries including one posted on 12-14-2019) with Jane Goodall where she discussed how zoos can raise awareness re a number of creatures, my attitudes have change.

I have confessed my change of heart within prior entries here on Blogger where I've discussed a number (more than ten) of wild birds (including Black Swans, Parrots, Pied Avocets, a Red-crested cardinal, a pair of Scarlet Ibises, a Superb Starling, a Taveta Golden Weaver, a Victoria Crowned Pigeon, and a couple of White-naped Cranes) whom I encountered during the aforementioned trip to the zoo.

During that visit to Central Park's zoo, I also came upon a Snow Leopard who can be seen in the images atop this entry.

2020's Korean New Year Begins Today!

The photographs atop this entry feature a White-naped Crane (Antigone vipio) who I saw when I visited the zoo in Central Park on November 30, 2019.

Blue 'N Yellow Macaw Central Park's Zoo (Tuesday's Truths WK 158)

The photograph atop this entry, as well as the ones directly below, feature a Blue 'n Yellow Macaw spending time in his home.

My Encounter With a Superb Starling (Monday's Musings)

The photograph atop this entry feature a Superb Starling (Spreo Superbus) spending time in his home which is within the zoo in Central Park.

The Fourth Day of Christmas 2019

IMAGE CREDIT

Today marks The Fourth Day of Christmas, a day when someone's true love gave them four calling birds, three French hens, two turtle doves and a partridge in a pear tree.

I'm honoring the holiday with the illustration posted above, which is one I featured in last year's Fourth Day of Christmas entry.

Within this entry I'm also honoring the holiday with four pictures of a calling bird known as a Taveta Golden Weaver (Ploceus Castaneiceps) one of the image is directly below.

I saw this bird type during my November visit to the Central Park Zoo, a visit which I discussed two weeks (December 14, 2019) here on Blogger.

The aforementioned entry features some of the other bird varieties (Black Swans, Pied Avocets, Scarlet Ibises, as well as a Victoria Crowned Pigeon and green parrots) whom I observed when I was at the zoo on that day.

Red-crested Cardinals vs. Northern Cardinals (Friday's Follow-Up)

Nearly two weeks (December 14, 2019), I published a post here on Blogger featuring some of the bird varieties (Black Swans, Pied Avocets, Scarlet Ibises, as well as a Victoria Crowned Pigeon and green parrots) who can be found at the Central Park Zoo.

I concluded that entry with a promise to feature (within subsequent posts) facts about other bird varieties as well as other animal types who reside there.

Today I will tell you about one of those birds, the Red-crested cardinal who can be seen in the picture atop this entry.

A New Perspective re Animals Who Are Living in Zoos (the sequel to my 12-10-2019 post)

The photograph atop this entry feature a Scarlet Ibis (Eudocimus Ruber) hanging out with a Pied Avocet (Recurvirostra Avosetta. 

In my recent episode (12-10-2019) of my Tuesday's Truths series, I mentioned that I'd seen the bird type known as Scarlet Ibis when I visited the zoo in Central Park.

My Encounter with a Scarlet Ibis (AKA Eudocimus ruber) Tuesday's Truths WK 154

The photo atop this entry features a Scarlet Ibis (Eudocimus ruber) who is a bird type I met in Central Park Zoo nearly a week and a half ago. This variety is found in the wild Tropical rainforests and mangroves of Central America and northern South America.

The zoo's web-page describes them as having  being "solid scarlet except for black wing tips (and having ) a bill that is long, thin and curved downward; (with a) neck (that) is long and slender; (their) legs are also long and thin with partially webbed feet; juveniles are dull, grayish brown and they grow up to twenty-four inches."

Scarlet Ibis (Eudocimus ruber) eat "shrimp, crabs, various crustaceans, mollusks, and insects" and have a "life span of up to 20 years."

Additionally "the scarlet Ibis is the national bird of Trinidad and Tobago. It belongs to the same order as herons, spoonbills, and storks. Scarlet ibises forage for food by probing their long curved bills into soft mud. They also are known to sway their bills back and forth in shallow water to capture prey."

Penguin Awareness Day 2019

In honor of today's holiday, Penguin Awareness Day, I'm including images of my penguin figurine ("modeling" his vest) atop this entry and a link to a post within Discovery Blog that lists five fun facts re this amazing bird type.

I would love to travel to the areas where they are found, in the meantime, I saw them in the Central Park Zoo many years ago. There something a little sad about seeing them in that situation, in my opinion.

Plush Animal Lovers Day 2018

IMAGE CREDIT

Today a number of folks are celebrating the fact that it is #PlushAnimalLoversDay!

As I've said before in an entry here on Blogger,  "According to daysoftheyear.com, 'Plush Animal Lovers Day is a day of celebration that is held every year to show your favorite stuffed toy some extra special love and appreciation. There’s an urban legend that says that the Teddy Bear, one of the worlds most popular plush animal pets, was invented when American President Theodore Roosevelt saw a baby bear on a hunting trip, and refused to shoot it...

"'...The original origins of the day’s creation are vague but there is an unconfirmed Urban Legend that the day first came about after a collectibles dealer named Royal Selangor came up with the idea of a Teddy Bears Picnic Day in the late eighties. Other stuffed toys became jealous that Teddy Bears were being singled out for their own celebration and demanded a special day all of their own! Not long after, Plush Animal Lovers Day quickly replaced Teddy Bears Picnic Day in popularity!"'

Another resource (cute-calendar.com) explains that when it comes to plush animals, "Textiles commonly used include plain cloth and pile bodys like oranges plush or terrycloth. Common stuffing materials are synthetic fiber batting, cotton, straw, wood wool, plastic pellets or beans. The first commercial concern to create stuffed toys was the German Steiff company in 1880. Steiff used new technology developed for upholstery to make their stuffed toys."

A plush animal who is rendered in the likeness of a male cardinal (seen below) is featured in the first volume of my Words In Our Beak book series, where Cam (the female cardinal who is the story teller states:  "... Folks often dismiss me and focus on the males in my 'breed;' even choosing their likeness to create figurines and stuffed animals.."

The one rendered in the likeness of a polar bear (seen in the next picture) represents a polar bear who lived at the Central Park Zoo.

Moreover, with Halloween just around the corner (this coming Wednesday, October thirty-first), I'm including another picture of a plush animal within this entry.

Remembering Eugene Schieffelin ETC

The photograph atop this entry is of a statute in Central Park that is in very close proximity to Delacorte Clock — named after philanthropist George T. Delacorte.

According to a web-page, it "is one of the most beloved monuments in the parks of New York City, this musical clock hovers above the arcade between the Wildlife Center and the Children's Zoo."

The aforementioned page goes on to say that "Delacorte conceived of the clock as a modern version of belfries in churches and city halls dating back to the Middle Ages....

... and designer Fernando Texidor collaborated with architect Edward Coe Embury (son of the 1934 zoo’s designer, Aymar Embury II) to create a brick arcaded bridge between the Monkey House (now the Zoo School) and the main Central Park Zoo quadrangle to house the clock and its animal sculpture carousel. Italian sculptor Andrea Spadini (1912–1983) crafted the whimsical bronze sculptures, which depict a penguin, kangaroo, bear, elephant, goat, and hippo parading with a variety of musical instruments as well as two monkeys with mallets that strike the bell."

This page also explains that "Each day between eight in the morning and six in the evening, the clock--now digitally programmed--plays one of thirty-two nursery rhyme tunes on the hour. On the half-hour, the mechanical performance is a bit shorter. The animals rotate on a track around the clock and each also turns on an axis."

I came upon it the clock this afternoon when walking with a friend. I've seen it on many occasions as but in all my years of living in NYC, I've rarely arrived at the clock just as it is about to "perform."