Detroit Zoo pt 5 (photo essay) -- Flowers and Tigers and Birds, oh boy!

I am going to get a lot of my zoo photos posted....eventually.

There are a handful of flag poles right outside the zoo...but on this day, only 2 had flags. I think because of the wind and the potential of rain (and it did rain), the zoo didn't put up the rest of them.

The Detroit Zoo has lots of gardens and flowers throughout the whole zoo. Each one is unique.

There is a whole field of yellow blackeyed susans, and this is just for you Phyllis.

I love all the different art and statues throughout the gardens.

The lake in the middle of the zoo is home to a lot of different birds and animals. There is a pair of trumpeter swans that is fun to watch. This species was native to Michigan, but was extinct in the state by 1900 due to wide scale hunting. Thanks to a Department of Natural Resources reintroduction program, trumpeter swans again inhabit many of the historical areas in the state. Over 80 trumpeter swans raised at the Detroit Zoo have been released in Michigan as part of this program.

Since I was at the zoo twice, I have 2 sets of photos that I'm trying to incoporate together....this one is from the second day....I couldn't get Angela in this one, only my neices and nephew.

There is also a playground near the front of the zoo that Everett enjoys. I don't get his posing, but then again, he's only 7.

More zoo flowers.... and then there is one of my favorite animals...the tiger. The Detroit Zoo has Siberian Tigers.

It was so hot out that this poor tiger just laid in the shade and tried to stay cool.

Zoos work hard to conserve tigers. In 1980 the first AZA Species Survival Plan was developed for the Siberian Tiger The Detroit Zoo's large, grassy tiger exhibit was made even better with the addition of a waterfall in 1996. One of the few cats to enjoy water, the tigers may often be found in the splashing waterfall, stream and pool.

See what I had to deal with that day at the zoo? All 4 kids are hams and very different. The shirt Everett is wearing is the one the kids all got free, along with laynards and coupons. Angela is wearing hers.

There are lots of different kinds of deer throughout the zoo.

Michigan is called the Wolverine State.

I don't think most people have ever seen a wolverine....so here you go.

There are different kinds of storks in different exhibits also.

When it's hot out, a lot of the animals just try to stay cool.

Even all the kids had to stop at the fountain stations....and get a drink...and misted.

I think next I will show one of the newer areas of the Detroit zoo...and one of my favorite....and hopefully yours too.