Friday Fun: Adventures with Wildlife

Like many kids, Anna loves animals – or shall I say, “aminals.” (We're still working on that one.) Not only do we look up various creatures on the iPad every chance we get, but we’re also constantly on the lookout for them when we’re out and about.  Here are some of the ones we’ve encountered recently!

Baby ducks out for a swim, July 2011

Anna loves the beach.  Most of the time, we have a blast there.  However, there was one unfortunate beach trip on which tears were shed:  I call it the great hot dog caper.  This is the event I referenced the other day in the post, “Attack of the Giant Seagulls.”  

Before the most recent attack that I recounted, there was one occasion on which we were away from our towels for just a couple of minutes playing, and a giant seagull swooped down and stole Anna’s hot dog, bun and all, despite our having hidden it.  

Leering gull, summer 2009

We were easily able to replace the hot dog, but now Anna has become a fierce defender of our towels and snacks.  When a beady-eyed seagull approaches (or an army of them, like last weekend), she lets out a throaty “woooooh!” and begins to chase them.  Although we know she has no hope of catching them, it sure is amusing to watch her try.  Other beachgoers seem to get a kick out of this as well. Especially the guy whose hot dog was stolen last weekend!

Seagulls invading our duck feeding adventure - greedy birds!

But no place is as perfect for wildlife-spotting as our local park.  Anna’s favorite pastime there is feeding the ducks! She’s starting to worry that if a few days pass between our visits, the (clearly already well-fed) ducks will starve.  She also feels a little sad when our bread runs out, but I’ve assured her that they’ll be okay until next time.

Aww, the bread is almost gone! (And seagulls lurk in the background)

One cool thing that we learned while watching the ducks eat is that they actually go all the way under water!  Maybe I'm a bit sheltered, but I never knew that. I'd seem them stick their heads partially in for a millisecond to cool off, and then bring them right back up, but I hadn't seen them fully immerse themselves until now. I was able to snap a picture before this little guy came up for air - pretty cool!

Duck diving under water!

Another big amusement is squirrels.  As with seagulls, Anna loves the thrill of the chase. Here’s one that got super close to us by the swings:

Brave squirrel, July 2011

Like other animals, squirrels are cute and Anna wants to “pet” them; of course, I explained that (a) they won’t let you get close enough and (b) it’s really not a good idea.  So I have to make sure she knows not to get too close!  

We also hope to get back to the zoo before it’s too cold – when we went last fall, we had an awesome time but some of the really cool exhibits were closed.  We can’t wait to go again!  Maybe we can have a camel ride?

Visit to the zoo, Fall 2010

Okay, so looking back at this post, I realize most of our recent "wildlife" experiences have been with birds, but hey, we'll take our animal adventures however we can get them!

What are your kids’ favorite animals to encounter?