It's all happening at the zoo.....
The New York Wildlife Conservation Society operates five parks within the City of New York. The largest and most famous of these is The Bronx Zoo, a 265 acre park filled with wildlife from all over the world. You could spend a day at the Bronx Zoo and still not see everything the zoo has to offer.
Drew and I are proud members of the WCS. That means we have unlimited admision into each of the five parks. You can read about a day we spent in the Bronx Zoo here.
The WCS also runs the Central Park Zoo. The Central Park Zoo is very small, only about 6.5 acres, but very charming. I love the clock that sits atop the tower on the walkway between the zoo and the children's zoo.
Then there's the Prospect Park Zoo, about twice the size of the zoo in Central Park, located in Prospect Park, Brooklyn. Also in Brooklyn, on 14 acres along the Boardwalk in Coney Island, is the New York Aquarium, the oldest continually operating aquarium in the United States (originally located in Manhaatan, but in Brooklyn since the 1950's.). And finally, there is the Queens Zoo, 18 acres of animal exhibits in Flushing Meadow Park, the site of the 1964-1965 World's Fair.
(Yes, there is also a zoo on Staten Island, but it's not park of the WCS.)
Our plan for last Sunday was to visit the New York Aquarium. Drew had been to the aquarium, but I had not, and when he mentioned they have a new shark exhibit ...So on Sunday afternoon we drove all the way to Brooklyn, but couldn't get into the aquarium parking lot. It's a very small lot, and it was a very nice day. The police officer suggested we look for a parking spot on the street, but Drew didn't feel comfortable. We decided to come back another time, arrive early in the morning so that we'd be able to park the car. Probably later this month or sometime next month.
And so the day shouldn't be a total loss...and since we had to drive through Queens anyway ...we decided to visit the Queens zoo instead. Neither of us had been there as adults, and we thought it would be a fun way to spend the afternoon.
For such a small zoo, there was an awful lot of walking. I guess that's because you have to park near the Hall of Science (a small but interesting museum, love the 1960's-era rockets outside the hall) and then hike over to the zoo.
The focus of the zoo is animals native to North America. You follow a circular path, past bison and coyotes and bald eagles. There is a pool for sea lions (there are sea lions in all five WCS parks), and a magnificent aviary. Separate and apart from the main section of the zoo, there is a petting zoo of domestic animals -- sheep, goats, llamas, cows.
I was unimpressed with the cafe: a handful of prepackaged sandwiches and salads, chips, soft drinks, candy, and not much else. But since you can see the whole zoo in about 3 hours, it's easy to plan to eat either before or after your visit.
A few of the friends we saw:
Bison, of course.
The world's tiniest deer.
And an owl.
Bear!
Gators.
Lots of parrots.
And a coyote.
Flowers everywhere.
And the star attraction ...
There's a sad part to the zoo, too. A pathway called "the extinct species graveyard". Headstones commemorating the dodo, the gold toad, the passenger pigeon. Almost unbearable to see...
And as we were leaving the zoo, Drew showed me his phone...a headline how the current administration is taking aim at the Endangered Species Act.... I can't even ...
Drew and I are proud members of the WCS. That means we have unlimited admision into each of the five parks. You can read about a day we spent in the Bronx Zoo here.
The WCS also runs the Central Park Zoo. The Central Park Zoo is very small, only about 6.5 acres, but very charming. I love the clock that sits atop the tower on the walkway between the zoo and the children's zoo.
Then there's the Prospect Park Zoo, about twice the size of the zoo in Central Park, located in Prospect Park, Brooklyn. Also in Brooklyn, on 14 acres along the Boardwalk in Coney Island, is the New York Aquarium, the oldest continually operating aquarium in the United States (originally located in Manhaatan, but in Brooklyn since the 1950's.). And finally, there is the Queens Zoo, 18 acres of animal exhibits in Flushing Meadow Park, the site of the 1964-1965 World's Fair.
(Yes, there is also a zoo on Staten Island, but it's not park of the WCS.)
Our plan for last Sunday was to visit the New York Aquarium. Drew had been to the aquarium, but I had not, and when he mentioned they have a new shark exhibit ...So on Sunday afternoon we drove all the way to Brooklyn, but couldn't get into the aquarium parking lot. It's a very small lot, and it was a very nice day. The police officer suggested we look for a parking spot on the street, but Drew didn't feel comfortable. We decided to come back another time, arrive early in the morning so that we'd be able to park the car. Probably later this month or sometime next month.
And so the day shouldn't be a total loss...and since we had to drive through Queens anyway ...we decided to visit the Queens zoo instead. Neither of us had been there as adults, and we thought it would be a fun way to spend the afternoon.
For such a small zoo, there was an awful lot of walking. I guess that's because you have to park near the Hall of Science (a small but interesting museum, love the 1960's-era rockets outside the hall) and then hike over to the zoo.
The focus of the zoo is animals native to North America. You follow a circular path, past bison and coyotes and bald eagles. There is a pool for sea lions (there are sea lions in all five WCS parks), and a magnificent aviary. Separate and apart from the main section of the zoo, there is a petting zoo of domestic animals -- sheep, goats, llamas, cows.
I was unimpressed with the cafe: a handful of prepackaged sandwiches and salads, chips, soft drinks, candy, and not much else. But since you can see the whole zoo in about 3 hours, it's easy to plan to eat either before or after your visit.
A few of the friends we saw:
Loved the llama.
That's some big bunny!
Cows.
Bison, of course.
The world's tiniest deer.
A falcon.
Bear!
Ducks (but of course).
And turtles.
Bald eagles.
Lots of parrots.
An egret's nest.
And a coyote.
Flowers everywhere.
There's a sad part to the zoo, too. A pathway called "the extinct species graveyard". Headstones commemorating the dodo, the gold toad, the passenger pigeon. Almost unbearable to see...
And as we were leaving the zoo, Drew showed me his phone...a headline how the current administration is taking aim at the Endangered Species Act.... I can't even ...
Looks like it was a nice day even if it didn't go quite how you'd planned. (Yes, the administration has gone full cartoon villain mode.)
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