New Year, Zoo Year

It's been probably about a year and a half since we visited our local zoo, Sequoia Park Zoo in Eureka.

My sister-in-law Theresa gifted our family a year's membership, and visiting was a great thing to do on a cloudy (but not raining) morning amidst a long, wet weekend in this New Year.  Iver is very into learning about all different animal species, especially reptiles (and has a lot of obscure animal facts in his head!), and was so excited. We got there right at opening time, and saw very few other families. All visitors are required to wear masks (as animals can get COVID-19, too!) despite it being fully  outdoors.  It felt great to get out of the house and support a local establishment in a COVID-safe way. 

They have a lot of neat birds.

The Chilean flamingoes were a hit

Bald Eagle 

Raven eating a hemi-rat

 Scarlet Ibis

The zoo also has two adorable Red Pandas.

This is a deer whose natural habitat is in India, but I can't recall its name. 

The otter exhibit is a highlight.

Searching for salmon...

The barnyard was a bit of a minefield, with free-roaming chickens (and lots of poop)!

The Park is also close to finishing a Redwood skywalk, which looked really neat.

Since we will likely have many more months staying close to home, we're looking forward to enjoying more zoo time in 2021 with this membership. Thanks, Theresa, for the thoughtful gift!