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One morning this past March, I found a pair of roseate spoonbills in the Oasis at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. As I pointed my camera at them, they regarded me with their red-rimmed eyes as though a bit suspicious of the hunk of hardware in my hand (Canon SX110 IS). Today I decided to try and find out a bit more about them, so here are my Top 5 FUNky Facts About The Roseate Spoonbill:

1. Aside from vultures and raccoons, one of the biggest enemies of a young nestling roseate spoonbill is fire ants!
2. One of the top places in the United States to observe the roseate spoonbill in its natural habitat is Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge, located on Sanibel Island. I’ve seen them feeding there and roosting in Rookery Bay down in Naples, Florida – check out these posts.
3. The roseate spoonbill sometimes assumes a “wing-lift posture” to dry off its wings, similar to other fishing birds like the anhinga.
4. I’ve often mistaken the roseate spoonbill for a flamingo when at a distance (and stubbornly not wearing my glasses). However, they’re actually not related at all. They are more closely related to the ibis. Here are some posts about the scarlet ibis (Disney’s Animal Kingdom) and the white ibis (Sanibel Island).
5. The head of the adult roseate spoonbill is sort of green, except when they are breeding – then, it turns a kind of golden color.
6. The oldest known roseate spoonbill was found in 2006; it had been banded and the band showed it to be 16 years old!

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The appearance of this article in the Daily Disney made me smile.

Soul Candy spirited beverage from the Walt Disney World Resort | TheDailyDisney.com from OrlandoSentinel.com

So, I’m not the only one who can have a particular focus on Walt Disney World’s adult beverages, am I? I was especially delighted that a few of the beverages that were covered here are new to me – yay, another reason to go back!

Here are some of my favorites from various bars around The World:

THE BAILOUT

INGREDIENTS:
Grey Goose L’Orange, Bitter-Sweet Asperol,
Grand Marnier, Muddled Sugary Orange, Bitter Spring Water

THE RAYRAY

INGREDIENTS:
Liquor 43, Mt Gay Rum, Pineapple Juice, Sour Mix

THE MANGO GINGERITA

INGREDIENTS:
UNKNOWN!

LOST ON THE SAFARI

INGREDIENTS:
Bacardi light rum, Captain Morgan’s spiced rum, fruit punch. Comes complete with stiff, environmentally friendly paper straw. Gratuity not included. No assembly required.

What’s YOUR favorite adult beverage at Walt Disney World?

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As mentioned previously on this blog, meerkats are among my favorite animals because, like prairie dogs and otters, they are the shape and size of puppies and therefore very cute. In fact, all three species – prairie dogs, otters and meerkats – are known to “bark”, just like a puppy. The only time a meerkat doesn’t look like a puppy is when he’s standing up on his back legs, using his tail for balance.

Last week, I referred to a group of meerkats as a “colony” but I have since discovered that this is incorrect. One needs to refer to a group of meerkats as a “mob”, sometimes also “clan” or “gang”. This makes them sound dangerous, like they should be starring opposite the Jets and the Sharks in West Side Story

This fellow is performing sentinel duties while the rest of the colony forages for insects, small lizards, scorpions, eggs, centipedes and anything else that might be “slimy yet satisfying”, as Timon of The Lion King has been known to describe his diet. Should the sentinel spot a predator approaching, he will emit a warning bark and all the mob of meerkats will scatter into the many “bolt holes” they have built on their territory, so they have a place to hide during such emergencies. The sentry is responsible for emerging first and checking to see if the predators are still there before giving the “all clear” signal.

Last time I visited Disney’s Animal Kingdom, the sentry posed nicely for me for several minutes before staring at me to signal that the photo shoot was over. Here’s a slide show of the sentry from that visit, along with a clan from 2008.

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BONUS!- the Animal Planet channel has a series called “Meerkat Manor”, and there are some snippets of episodes on YouTube. Season’s 1 through 4 are available from Amazon.com on DVD

Meerkat Manor – Season 1
Meerkat Manor: Season Two
Meerkat Manor: Season Three
Meerkat Manor: Season Four – The Next Generation

Here’s Season One, Episode One snip from YouTube, which explains what the whole ongoing drama serial is about. I hope you enjoy it

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© Copyright 2008 Tink *~*~*
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Back in the early days of Disney’s Animal Kingdom, there was an attraction called Discovery River Boats, the purpose of which wasn’t really so much entertainment as it was to taxi the guests around the park via the river that winds around Discovery Island. There was a dock in Asia and another close to the entrance of the park, just after you emerge from the Oasis. These docks have been repurposed since the attraction shut down. The one in Asia is now a shaded sitting area to rest or eat, and the other one is a character meet-and-greet spot.

I sometimes find myself wishing that attraction still existed. It can be very pleasant to float along in a boat at Disney World, a peaceful respite during a busy day. And then I get a shot like this one, and I realize that it would not have been possible with boats running around disturbing the reflections.

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A shrine made of stone sits by a quiet stream at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. Anandapur is the name of the fictional village. In the real world, outside the 42 square miles upon which Disney built his Florida empire, there are two places called Anandapur. One of them is in India, and the other is in Bangladesh.

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You might think this is odd, but when it comes to leaving a Disney park, I plan my exit route around how many shops I can hit as I make my way toward the gate. (Long-time readers are feigning shock. Tink *~*~* – a shopper? No! Really? ;p ) There are a couple of reasons you should consider doing this, too. One, you are addicted to Disney merchandise, and even if you’re not buying, you’re still looking. Two, if it is a really hot day, the shops are your air conditioned refuge. Some of them are quite long, actually a series of shops strung together; you can get from one to the next without having to exit to the sidewalk. For instance, at the Magic Kingdom you can enter Casey’s at the rear where the bleachers and cartoons are, and walk clear down to the Emporium without ever having to leave the comfort of climate control.

At Disney’s Animal Kingdom, there are major shops spaced out all around Discovery Island, so no matter which land you are coming from, you’re passing merchandise and cool air. The shopportunities are just too good to pass up, so you enter to see what you can see. Much of the merchandise will be similar to what you just saw in the last shop you were in, but once in a while you come across something unique, different…. ok, odd. Take this Pirate Tinkerbell pin as an example. Adorable, right? Well, yes – but only until you get close enough to realize that her eyes are these strange, glowing, neon blue blobs and it makes her look like a pod person ready to shed her humanoid form and take over the planet. I would have bought her, except that she gave me the willies!

Here’s another head-scratcher. We already knew that Ariel didn’t have legs until her dear Auntie Ursula gave her some in exchange for her lovely singing voice. What we didn’t know is that Ursula apparently reneged on the deal, for here we see that instead of legs, Ariel’s got a miniature theater under her skirt, complete with her own “mini-me” shown here in the boat with Prince Eric. The statue is very pretty but when you think about it, she’s actually floating legless above a rowboat and that’s just a tad bizarre. I passed on this one, too.

This t-shirt is a bit of a change of pace for Mickey. Normally, he’s friendly, charming, outgoing and always smiling. On this t-shirt, not so much. Mickey is depicted here running, with his hands flailing in the air, looking over his shoulder in abject terror. Clearly, someone – or someTHING – is chasing him. However, we cannot see that because the t-shirt ends just where a would-be pursuer would begin. We may never know what’s made poor Mickey take off like this, but judging from his face, it can’t be good! Still, this one is more edgy than strange, so there’s the possibility I’d buy it, just to be droll.

So what about you?
Do you cut through the shops in the Disney parks to cool off?
And what’s the strangest Disney merchandise you’ve ever seen?

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click the photo to see if there is a bigger size available in Flickr

This is the last of DINOSAUR WEEK here at My Mobile Adventures *~*~*, and I have a question for you – is this Chester or is it Hester?

In the DinoLand section of Disney’s Animal Kingdom, everything is named after these two dinosaurs, but I’ve never been able to work out who is who. While this one looks like a brontosaurus, the other one is more of a triceratops.

Does anyone know – which one is Chester and which one is Hester?

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A few years back, I was treading the path up to Camp Minnie Mickey at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. I took a look to my right as I was passing over the stream and I saw this waterfall spewing forth from a pile of… hey wait just a minute! That’s no ordinary pile of rocks. That looks like a dinosaur – a stegosaurus, as a matter of fact! You know, the one that mildly resembles a rhinoceros, only with a bunch of armor all over, and a stand-up collar. Look at the water gushing through those TEETH! It can’t be a mistake; the Imagineers had to have built it that way on purpose. But why? Why build a stegosaurus waterfall on the path to Camp Minnie Mickey?

Well, some people say that it’s not a stegosaurus at all. Some people say that Camp Minnie Mickey was originally supposed to be the site of a “land” in the Animal Kingdom where mythological creatures dwell and that our stegosaurus waterfall was actually supposed to be a fire-breathing dragon. I totally believe that there was originally supposed to be a “Beastly Kingdom” where Camp Minnie Mickey now stands, but no way is that a dragon. It’s very obviously a stegosaurus!

OK, so what do YOU think – dinosaur or dragon?
Leave a comment, let me know!

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