Once upon a time, a cougar stuck his tongue out at me at the Naples Zoo (Just call me “The Cougar Whisperer”. The long name for the Naples Zoo is Naples Zoo at Caribbean Gardens. The property was once privately owned by a botanist, who had populated it with plants and trees he’d collected from around the world. A few subsequent owners later, animals were added to create a zoo, which was opened to the public in the 1960s.

There are other animals dwelling there besides my friend the raspberry-blowing cougar – let’s have a look at a few of them. The day of our visit was very hot, so we found that most of the animals were sprawled out in whatever shade was available. The porcupine in the photo above was hiding the cool comfort of his stone cave (thank you 10x optical zoom).

This egret is probably not a resident – more likely, he is a squatter from the wild. And he’s doing that “strike a pose there’s nothing to it VOGUE” thing that birds of his ilk do so well.

I’d like to go back and visit this zoo again sometime during the cooler weather – I think I’d linger longer at each exhibit and get some better photos.

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1. Into the belly of the beast at the Naples Zoo, Southwest Florida
2. Just call me “The Cougar Whisperer”
3. Rookery Bay Osprey – Naples, Florida
4. Rookery Bay Sunset – Naples, Florida
5. When critters attack!

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1. 6 more sleeps till the Flower and Garden Festival!
2. It’s just ducky in Canada
3. Things with wings at Walt Disney World
4. Sand sculpture critters at Walt Disney World
5. Flora, Fauna, Magic! revisited

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.

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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1. Random Animal Kingdom trio
2. Flora, Fauna, Magic! revisited
3. Just hangin’ around at Disney’s Animal Kingdom
4. Favorite Critters from Disney’s Animal Kingdom
5. Things with wings at Walt Disney World

RANDOM FACT about the great blue turaco: In the province of Africa formerly known as Zaire, the great blue turaco is hunted for food as well as feathers. Those yellow feathers on the underside of the turaco’s tail are considered good luck. Next time I visit the Pangani Forest Trail, I hope I remember to look around on the ground for a yellow tail feather.

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1. Just hangin’ around at Disney’s Animal Kingdom
2. The Scarlet Ibis at Disney’s Animal Kingdom
3. Favorite Critters from Disney’s Animal Kingdom
4. Lamp Post Critters at Disney’s Animal Kingdom
5. The Black Swan – Disney’s Animal Kingdom

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2. Flora, Fauna, Magic! revisited
3. When critters attack!
4. Just hangin’ around at Disney’s Animal Kingdom
5. Dinosaur Week: Is this Chester or Hester?

There’s an osprey nest atop a tall pole at the Sanibel Island Lighthouse Beach. Nearby are the branches of a dead tree which make for a convenient perch for this young osprey. He waits impatiently for a parent to come back with some dinner. While he waits, he whines, much like his human counterparts. Only, he whines on a single note, rapidly and repeatedly. “Where! Is! My! Food! I! Want! To! Eat! Where! Is! My! Mom! Mom! Mom! Mom! MOM!” If you want to hear what the osprey sounds like, then CLICK HERE for a *.wav file I found (it opened Quicktime in the browser for me). OK, now picture being subjected to that for even two minutes straight while you are trying to shell serenely. Do you not want to run away screaming yourself?

Since he’d given me his profile in the previous shot, he decided to turn the other way and give me the other side, too. Not sure which I’d classify as his “good side”, but he does seem to be sporting quite the stylin’ cowlick in this one. This is one hawt seahawk!

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2. Osprey at top of mangrove island
3. The White Ibis on Sanibel Island
4. Sanibel Seagull Smiles
5. The dread jackalope of Captiva

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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2. Dinosaur Week: rock-o-saurus?
3. Flora, Fauna, Magic! revisited
4. Just hangin’ around at Disney’s Animal Kingdom
5. Hibiscus: Hollywood’s haute cuisine

I have decided that it’s DINOSAUR WEEK here at My Mobile Adventures *~*~* – if for no other reason than I have a few pics of dinosaurs

Here’s one from Disney’s Hollywood Studios, only I took the photo when it was still Disney-MGM Studios. He seems to enjoy chowing down on the hibiscus. He’s not very scary, as dinosaurs go – he’s rather placid looking, friendly even, and there are no discernible teeth. I’m pretty sure he’s a vegetarian, actually, so unless he accidentally stomped us, I’m convinced we’ve nothing to fear from him.

I’m not sure what movie he’s supposed to be from – can’t be Jurassic Park because that’s that “other” theme park in Orlando *cough* Universal *cough*. I’m trying to think of what movie Disney or *cough* MGM did that has a dinosaur like this in it, but I’m afraid I’m coming up blank.

Does anyone know what movie this dinosaur appeared in?

I promise, I will not google – I will wait for one of you to tell me!

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2. Dinosaurs at Disney!
3. Flora, Fauna, Magic! revisited
4. Dragonfly gymnastics at EPCOT
5. Osborne Lights, Disney’s Hollywood Studios

This is a continuation of the story that began on March 19th 2010 with “Me and my girl-illa” Click the photos to see them larger in Flickr.
Hello again. Last time we met, I was busy sneaking around in the brush, trying to keep the prying lenses of the paparazzi away from my newborn baby girl-illa. There was a whole swarm of them, so I kept her pretty close to me (here you can only see the crown of her cute little head), creeping from one bush to the next, hoping to lose them. It’s not easy to elude the paparazzi; they’re a sly and resourceful bunch of stalkers, often working together to corner us, like dolphins herding schools of fish. I saw that on the BBC’s Planet Earthseries, which seems to have greatly contributed toward Disney’s own Earth (Disney Nature)

Finally, I found a nice fallen tree behind some bushes; it looked like a good place to lean back and rest from all the running to and fro, hither and yon, trying to find someplace, ANYPLACE to hide from the hordes. It was sunny and peaceful out there for a bit, and we both got some shut-eye. Well, I have one eye shut -the other one has to remain open at all times, just in case we’re invaded again. While we were snoozing, my mobile rang – it was Britney and Billy Ray, conference-calling with some advice on dealing with the whole publicity spotlight thing. Britney says that sometimes it’s better to bring the kid out into the open for a few minutes, under carefully controlled circumstances, of course, to make it seem like you’re friendly and cooperating. Billy Ray concurred that this tactic had worked with his darling Miley many times.

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2. Flora, Fauna, Magic! revisited
3. Dinosaur Week: Is this Chester or Hester?
4. Native Wildlife in Disney’s Animal Kingdom – the brown anole
5. Just hangin’ around at Disney’s Animal Kingdom

It’s not easy being the parent of a child star these days, especially when your child is a DISNEY star. We’ve been pretty much besieged every since my darling little girl-illa was born. So much activity, so many people to see, so much of our lives played out in the spotlight. I tell you, sometimes I feel like we live in a zoo! Well, if you were paying attention during the late 90s/early 00s, you know that Disney’s Animal Kingdom is “nahtazoo”, but it still feels like one at times. On this particular day, the baby and I were just hangin’ out in the clearing up on that little hill in the forest, trying to take a little nap – but there were a lot of those noisy humans congregating on the bridge, and sleep wasn’t coming.

I think one of them was aggravating one of the boys across the ravine; a Cast Member had to go and put a stop to whatever shennanigans were going on over there. I decided it was too much for us to tolerate, so I thought of another resting spot and relocated. Clutching my little princess tightly to my chest with one hand (which makes me sort of lope along sideways on my other three limbs), I scrambled over the hill to a nice little rocky enclave where I’d stashed the baby’s pink receiving blanket. There we settled in, hoping to get a little rest.

Well, we were both nearly asleep when those damned paparazzi figured out where we’d gotten to and descended en masse upon the glass enclosure! Ridiculous amounts of flash ensued – I mean, don’t these people read the manual when they buy these newfangled point-and-shoot cameras? If they did, they’d know we were too far away for the flash to help their pictures, but close enough for it to nearly blind us when we looked up. And I hate to be the one to tell them this, but you know all those pictures they thought they were getting of my child, the little girl-illa star? Well, I’ll just bet you that all those pictures turned out horrible – just blobs of light bouncing off the glass. Silly, silly humans!

By this time, I was just really grumpy – I mean, wouldn’t you be? All I wanted to do was catch a nap and see to it that my little princess was properly fed and rested. I am starting to rethink this Disney child star thing… maybe we should move far, far away and dye our hair and that sort of thing, live in disguise for a few years until all of this blows over. I honestly don’t understand what all the fuss is about. Children are born every day! There’s nothing extraordinary about that. I mean, if all those peoples with their cameras, ooo-ing and ahhh-ing all over the place think she is so special, they can just come on in and take a turn at changing her diaper! Then we’ll see what the definition of “special” is… anyway, I was done, I tell you – D-O-N-E, done! Carefully cradling my princess once more, I mustered all the dignity I could a stalked off into the brush to hide…

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2. Flora, Fauna, Magic! revisited
3. Dinosaur Week: Is this Chester or Hester?
4. Just hangin’ around at Disney’s Animal Kingdom
5. 6 more sleeps till the Flower and Garden Festival!

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Next Friday after work, I’ll head over to Orlando to meet up with some friends for dinner. We’re going to cheer some other friends who are running in Disney’s Princess Half-Marathon, and take in the Flower and Garden Festival at EPCOT.

Be sure to check in over the weekend (Saturday March 6th and Sunday March 7th)for some mobile blogging fun – I hear we’re going to hit the tequila bar in Mexico

In the meantime, enjoy these topiary critters from last year’s Festival.

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2. Masterful topiaries at the International Flower & Garden Festival
3. EPCOT Flower and Garden Festival drives away the winter doldrums
4. Getting ready for the Flower and Garden Festival
5. Strolling into the EPCOT Flower and Garden Festival

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I was walking in the Oasis, a quiet, lushly green and tranquil section just inside the gates of Disney’s Animal Kingdom park. It’s a soothing place where you’ll find twisting paths, a rope bridge, a joyously tumbling waterfall and all manner of exotic animals and birds. The day was hot, and the air was heavy and still. The silence was broken only by barely discernible ambient music and the gurgling of a stream. I rounded a corner and came upon a beautiful glade that surrounded a pool. And there he stood, on a rock – a Great Egret.

I became excited when I realized that he was in full breeding plumage. My heart started to beat faster; it was so loud in my ears, I was sure he would hear it, become frightened and take flight. I think I might have even been holding my breath. I crept forward to get a closer look, reaching into my bag for the camera.

The closer I got, the more convinced I became that he very well knew that he had company and didn’t mind in the least.. He seemed to straighten a bit and puff out his chest. I took this as a good sign in terms of getting some photographs, and I was no longer afraid of making the slightest sound. The mechanical whir of the camera’s lens opening and extending broke the reverie, contrasting sharply against the backdrop of rushing water and the far-off exclamations of other types of birds who lived at the Oasis. The Great Egret stood his ground, unperturbed. I fired off several shots of him just standing there on the rock, playing with distance and focus. He started to fuss a little, and I stopped shooting, holding my breath again, finger hovering in mide-air over the button.

Happy Critturday!

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—————-
Now playing: Madonna – Vogue

Related posts:

1. Native wildlife in the Magic Kingdom – The Great Egret
2. Tigers of The Royal Forest of Anandapur, Disney’s Animal Kingdom
3. Colorful birds from Orlando, Florida
4. The Scarlet Ibis at Disney’s Animal Kingdom
5. The Black Swan – Disney’s Animal Kingdom

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Walt Disney World is in the quasi-tropical climate of Orlando, Florida. The flora is so well-maintained and lush, it can support any number of critters that love the warmth and humidity. Encounters with local wildlife (in other words, not placed there by Disney) are not only very satisfying, but can also be frequent if you keep your eyes open and pay attention to your surroundings. Today we’re going to look at some “things with wings” – butterflies I’ve met at Walt Disney World.

Found and photographed near “stroller hell” aka the former sky ride in Fantasyland, Magic Kingdom – November, 2004

Not sure if this is a butterfly or a moth. Found in EPCOT, and I believe I was over by Universe of Energy. April, 2005

Last one – this beauty was found quite near a gorilla at Disney’s Animal Kingdom – it was like “beauty and the beast” in there that day October, 2006

Happy Critturday, everyone!

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1. Sand sculpture critters at Walt Disney World
2. Flora, Fauna, Magic! revisited
3. SNOW White at Walt Disney World
4. One RED Thing From Each Walt Disney World Park
5. April trip to Walt Disney World – mobile blogging roundup!

In honor of the upcoming Chinese New Year, which falls on Valentine’s Day this year, I’ve decided to continue covering the Chinese zodiac, as photographed at EPCOT during the International Flower and Garden Festival one year. To see the original post in this series, click here and read “Red for luck and love at Disney”.

First up today is the dragon. According to ChineseZodiac.com, the dragon is the “mightiest” of all the Chinese zodiac signs. Dragons are dominant, ambitious and prefer to lead. If you are a dragon, you’ve got passion and courage and a wee bit of a temper You also love your independence, but you are not impervious to falling in love provided you find someone engaging enough for you – and once in love, you tend to stay there. Dragons are best paired with Monkeys and Rats, but will not do well with the Ox or the Goat. Hey, Rat – that’s ME! Hmmm, I wonder if I actually know any dragons….

EEEK, it’s a SNAKE! Well that’s what I would say if I found one in my garage or on my lanai… notice I do not say “in my house”, as I have no wish to tempt the gods Snakes are very intelligent and analytical; this makes them good at plotting and scheming. They are also very materialistic and enjoy luxury surroundings, so I’m guessing that part of all that plotting and scheming is to obtain the fine things they want. At work, they are creative and diligent but can become easily bored and therefore tend to job-hop. In relationships, the Snake is characterized as an attractive and expert seducer – why am I not surprised, given the Biblical story about the snake in the garden! They are a bit possessive and jealous of their mates. Don’t make the Snake cross, as they are big lovers of revenge. Snakes get on well with the Rooster and the Ox, but with Pigs and Monkeys – not so much!

Last one for today – it’s the Horse, and I actually like this particular statue best because of the awesome detailing that went into making the saddle. The Horse possesses many attributes that please – he’s energetic, outgoing, humorous and loves to be the center of attention and have a good time. Athletic and intelligent, they are also a little bit on the “ADD” side, starting many projects at once but not necessarily finishing before pursuing the next thing. The Horse enjoys interaction, and does well in careers where they deal with people on a regular basis. Horses are spontaneous in relationships, throwing themselves completely in, often leaving a little chunk of themselves behind when it ends. That must be completely exhausting! Horses can successfully partner with Dogs and Tigers but should not try it with a Monkey or a Rat.

Wow, no wonder why it never works with the “fun” guys :p

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1. Chinese Zodiac Critters, Chapter 3
2. Chinese Zodiac: the final chapter!
3. “Chinese Princess Minnie” – ???
4. Sand sculpture critters at Walt Disney World
5. Red for luck and love at Disney

Now that 2010 is almost upon us, it’s time to do a 2009 “Best Of” post. I get a kick out of “fun facts”, so this year I’m taking a statistical point of view. Let’s see what 2009 held!

My Mobile Adventures *~*~* Top 20 Posts of 2009

Posts are ranked according to how many visits they received during the 12-month period ranging from 12/29/2008 – 12/29/2009. Data gathered and presented by the WordPress Stats plugin.

1. Lego Sculpture at Downtown Disney: The Dragon
2. Colorful birds from Orlando, Florida
3. Disney’s Ladies in RED
4. My Top 5 FUNky Facts About Pelicans
5. “The Rocks”, Sanibel Island
6. More Disney Characters in RED
7. 7 Things To Do In Walt Disney World On Halloween (except THAT!)
8. “There once was a man from Nantucket…”
9. Yet More Disney Characters Who Wear RED
10. My “favorite” Disney red-head
11. A Disney Dance of the Hours
12. Of Mice and Mutts
13. Lighthouse at Disney’s Yacht Club Resort
14. The Empress Lilly, Downtown Disney
15. Critters on the Castle: Kaa
16. Sanibel Island beach birds
17. Frog metamorphosis at Disney
18. About
19. Dancing mushrooms from Disney’s Fantasia
20. Mickey Mouse Chillaxin’ In Paradise

IN WITH THE OLD

Among my Top 20 Posts of 2009 are four posts which were originally published during 2008.

• 100% of these posts contain Disney-related content
• 50% of these posts were created for the Ruby Tuesday meme, and deal with the topic of Disney characters who wear the color red.
• Dark horse: my “About” page somehow squeaked into the Top 20. Who knew, huh?

SPEAKING OF MEMES…

• The Ruby Tuesday meme, created and managed by Mary The Teach, is responsible for prompting 35% of my Top 20 posts.  The runners up are:
  • Camera Critters (Saturdays, 23%)
  • The Wednesday Trifecta (22%)

  – of the three memes in which I’ve participated in on Wednesdays, Site Meter indicates that it is Outdoor Wednesday, created and managed by Susan @ A Southern Daydreamer, that brings the most visitors.

  • The Monday Trifecta at 9%

  – Well, it’s actually a bi-fecta now, one of the memes having fallen prey to blogger burnout. None of them stands out as bringing in more traffic than the others.

  THE MORAL OF THE STORY: since I’ve been cutting back on meme participation – it was starting to feel like a “gotta” instead of a “wanna” – I should probably concentrate on my Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday memes, if I want to maintain decent levels of traffic.

  SPEAKING OF SITE METER…

  Lots of interesting information about your audience and how they get to your blog each day can be had from Site Meter.

  • Even though I do get a lot of traffic from the photo meme sites themselves, the vast majority of my traffic comes from Google searches. The memes just seem to provide an excellent prompt for what people are searching for.
  • I seem to have hit the nail on the head with several of my post titles in the Top 20. There are many, MANY searches for phrases like “facts about pelicans” and “Disney red characters”.
  • I get a chuckle every time I see that someone has searched on “there once was a man from Nantucket…”
  • Site Meter tells me that I get a lot more visits on the days I mobile blog than I do when I create meme-related posts that are not mobile blogged. This is especially true when I mobile blog from Disney. Visits on mobile blogging days tend to be from fewer unique visitors, yet those unique visitors show up multiple times throughout the day to check for updates. Each post has fewer visitors but collectively they add up for the day to be many more visits than on a regular blogging day.

  THE MORAL OF THE STORY: Services such as Site Meter can provide valuable insight into who your audience is, where they come from, why they’re visiting and why they return. Add to this a little intelligent SEO in post titles and repeat traffic ensues.

  EFFORT COUNTS… sort of!

  It was a difficult year in my day job. I was thrust into something completely new and different and it was a tough row to hoe, for a while there. As the year wore on, my job became more and more carnivorous, devouring my life.

  

  Here we can see that as the year wore on, less and less posts were making it into the Top 20 for the year. 40% of the Top 20 were posted in the first quarter of the year; 30% in the 2nd quarter and 10% in the 3rd quarter. The 4th quarter is not represented at all.There are a couple of reasons for this:

  • That’s the way it goes when you’re in corporate finance; the last quarter of the fiscal year is challenging and doesn’t leave much time or frankly energy for other endeavors.
  • But to be fair, the posts from the previous quarters and even the previous year have been hanging around longer and had a longer time to rack up search engine traffic.
  • Had I been able to put more effort into blogging as the year wore on – posting every day, visiting other blogs – I might have been able to do better, but realistically, this sort of measurement over a finite period of time renders more recent posts chronologically challenged.

  Now here’s something weird. Despite the traffic appearing to slow down, the number of subscribers I have has been steadily increasing all year. Take a look at these numbers from Feedburner -

  

  Despite not having the personal bandwidth necessary to visit other bloggers as much as I’d like to, I was still able to do a few things to gain exposure:

  • TweetMeme – I put the retweet button on my posts, and occasionally, someone actually pushes it!
  • TwitterFeed – I signed up for this and now every post I make is automatically tweeted
  • PicATheme – “elite” group of photobloggers/meme participants who posted to a group blog (group has since folded). While I was contributing there, I noticed some visitors who followed my link from there
  • WaltDisneyBoards.com – my feed automatically posts there to my very own forum. I get exposure, the owner gets Disney-related content. The fact that it is a forum means I can have conversations with the folks there; a busy thread will draw more and more people in, to see what the buzz is about, and many of them end up clicking through to the blog. If you are a Disney fan, I strongly suggest you check the place out. You will find a nice bunch of folks there to chat with about your favorite obsession.
  • Facebook – My Mobile Adventures *~*~* launched a fan page at the beginning of August. At this time, I’m not auto-posting there but I want to do that in the future. So far, I have about 70 fans; I have to assume there is some cross-over from my subscriber base, but a lot of them are real life friends and relatives who were not really aware that I blogged until I created the fan page and sent them an invite. So I gained a few subscribers there as well.

  MORAL OF THE STORY: Distribute your feed and mention your URL via multiple means. It all adds up to more exposure, more requests for the feed – more subscribers!

  CONCLUSION

  These are very modest numbers I’ve been describing. Had I not a day job, I would have the time and the energy to devote to creating more valuable content and publicizing the blog more widely, including those all-important fellow blogger connections. However, modest or not, I think the numbers show that taking action makes a positive impact.

  • There are many venues in which to take such actions – Twitter, Facebook, forums are all good places to promote what you’ve got to offer.
  • Use metrics tools like Site Meter and a stats plugin to observe and measure – what’s working, what’s not working, what’s standing still. The numbers tell a story!
  • Use SEO techniques to attract search engine traffic – name your photos and construct your post titles with SEO in mind.

  Even a blog that is “just for fun” can enjoy some success and steady improvement when a few simple actions are taken. I’m looking forward to more of the same in 2010, and I’m also looking forward to hearing about YOUR blogging insights.

  Happy New Year!

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  2. Attention Email Subscribers [My Mobile Adventures *~*~*]
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  4. LIVE Mobile blogging from Walt Disney World starts Tues 5/12
  5. Speaking of “mobile” adventures
  ]]> http://mymobileadventures.com/2009/12/my-mobile-adventures-top-20-posts-of-2009/feed 2 001-Meme-Related-Blog-Stats 002-Meme-Related-Blog-Stats-Pie-Chart 003-Top-20-Posts-By-Quarter-2009 004-Monthly-Subscriber-Volume-With-MoM-Variance email Twitter Facebook Google Bookmarks Digg StumbleUpon Technorati http://mymobileadventures.com/2009/10/critters-in-bronze-its-jiminy-cricket http://mymobileadventures.com/2009/10/critters-in-bronze-its-jiminy-cricket#comments Sat, 17 Oct 2009 14:41:41 +0000 Tink *~*~* http://mymobileadventures.com/?p=6526 © Copyright 2009 Tink *~*~*
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  Love these little bronze statues that circle the hub at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom. Here’s Pinocchio with his beloved little friend…
  
  “… and always let your conscience be your guide!”

  For a twisted take on Jiminy Cricket = conscience, take a look at this blog post at Disney Every Day. My Twitter friend @AmandaTinney has put together a clever post filled with humorous animal pictures, one of which I tweeted to her earlier this week. Enjoy!

  
  
  
  

  Happy Critterday!

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  ]]> http://mymobileadventures.com/2009/10/critters-in-bronze-its-jiminy-cricket/feed 7 IMG_0064-WDW-MK-Pinocchio-Jiminy-Cricket-bronze IMG_0065-WDW-MK-Jiminy-Cricket-bronze Camera Critters email Twitter Facebook Google Bookmarks Digg StumbleUpon Technorati http://mymobileadventures.com/2009/10/the-dread-jackalope-of-captiva http://mymobileadventures.com/2009/10/the-dread-jackalope-of-captiva#comments Sat, 03 Oct 2009 14:05:31 +0000 Tink *~*~* http://mymobileadventures.com/?p=6436 © Copyright 2008 Tink *~*~*
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  Of all the exotic creatures discovered by explorers when they first set foot on Captiva Island, there is none more respected and feared than the dread jackalope. Entire ships full of pirates and other scalawags were brought down by the resident herd, making it difficult to transform Captiva into a proper pirate hangout. This is why the jackalope was hunted nearly to extinction, and why in later years, a permit was necessary to hunt them. Here we see one of the last known specimens of the dread jackalope, stuffed and mounted, hanging over the bar at Captiva’s Mucky Duck restaurant.
  
  

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  1. “A Neighborhood Tradition” on Captiva Island
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  5. Santa in the Sky! at the Tween Waters Inn, Captiva, Florida
  ]]> http://mymobileadventures.com/2009/10/the-dread-jackalope-of-captiva/feed 7 04202009020-Jackalope-on-Captiva Camera Critters email Twitter Facebook Google Bookmarks Digg StumbleUpon Technorati http://mymobileadventures.com/2009/09/just-call-me-the-cougar-whisperer http://mymobileadventures.com/2009/09/just-call-me-the-cougar-whisperer#comments Sat, 26 Sep 2009 14:15:45 +0000 Tink *~*~* http://mymobileadventures.com/?p=6404 © Copyright 2008 Tink *~*~*
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  While touring the Naples Zoo in Southwest Florida last week, we came upon an enclosure full of cougars. No, not the Courtney Cox variety! These are the type found in the wilds of the western United States. Other words for cougar are panther, mountain lion, even puma – all are part of the same species of big cats.

  I remember reading a few years back about genetic defects found in the Florida panther that scientists attempted to correct by introducing DNA from Texas mountain lions. They trapped a number of female mountain lions and transported them from Texas to Florida, releasing them into the Florida panther’s habitat. When the females gave birth, the genetic defects had been either reduced or eliminated from the offspring. All of the Texans were then returned to their home state.

  At the zoo on this particular day, a pile of cougars lay sleeping on the ground in the shady enclosure, while a significantly larger one lounged on a wooden platform. I stood there silently wishing he’d get up and move about so I could get a good shot of him. Suddenly, as if my wish were his command, he roused himself and looked directly at me with sleepy, patient eyes – and then he stuck his tongue out at me!

  
  

  Just call me “The Cougar Whisperer”

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  ]]> http://mymobileadventures.com/2009/09/just-call-me-the-cougar-whisperer/feed 9 IMG_2068-Naples-Florida-zoo-western-cougar-sign IMG_2067-Naples-Florida-zoo-western-cougar-tongue Camera Critters email Twitter Facebook Google Bookmarks Digg StumbleUpon Technorati http://mymobileadventures.com/2009/09/when-critters-attack http://mymobileadventures.com/2009/09/when-critters-attack#comments Sat, 19 Sep 2009 11:00:43 +0000 Tink *~*~* http://mymobileadventures.com/?p=6342 © Copyright 2008 Tink *~*~*
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  Unsuspecting villagers practice yodeling outside the local pub while a giant bunny prepares to attack the village. RUN, UNSUSPECTING VILLAGERS – RUN!
  
  
  
  (it’s really just the toy train village that’s set up outside the German pavilion at EPCOT)
  
  
  

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  ]]> http://mymobileadventures.com/2009/09/when-critters-attack/feed 1 IMG_4311-when-bunnies-attack Camera Critters email Twitter Facebook Google Bookmarks Digg StumbleUpon Technorati http://mymobileadventures.com/2009/09/my-top-5-funky-facts-about-the-ring-tailed-lemur http://mymobileadventures.com/2009/09/my-top-5-funky-facts-about-the-ring-tailed-lemur#comments Sat, 12 Sep 2009 13:44:20 +0000 Tink *~*~* http://mymobileadventures.com/?p=6320 © Copyright 2008 Tink *~*~*
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  Ring-tailed lemurs can be found in Disney’s Animal Kingdom, pretty close to the entrance to It’s Tough To Be A Bug. I enjoy watching these guys. To me, they look like an odd mixture between a fox (pointy face), a raccoon (rings on the tail) and a spider monkey (general shape of body). I’ve done some reading about them and here are the FUNky facts I’ve discovered

  1) Ring-tailed lemurs are in fact primates, so they are related to all sorts of monkeys as well as to humans. However, they are not of the simian order of primate; they are what’s known as Strepsirrhine primates, typically regarded as less intelligent than simians (although, that has recently been debated). There are several different kinds of lemur, and all of them hail from Madagascar.

  2) Ring-tailed lemurs like to sunbathe, and are often found doing so sitting up in the Lotus position. The sunbathing is to warm themselves during the day, but at night they sleep all piled up with one another to share warmth. Such a sleeping pile is called a “lemur ball”. They are usually found moving about on all-fours (quadrupedal), but are also capable of standing on hind legs for short periods. Whenever I’ve seen one walking around, they’ve usually sort of stalked along, similar to a cat or a raccoon.

  3) While most lemurs are nocturnal, the ring-tailed lemur is dirunal – like (most!) humans, they are awake during the day and asleep at night. They are very social and live together in troops of about 30. The most lemurs I’ve seen at Disney is two, and I often wonder if they miss living in a big troop, and what Disney does for them to help compensate for socializing with the troop. I hope to remember to ask around next time I’m there.

  4) Ring-tailed lemur troops are female-dominant. This is true of all types of lemurs. The hierarchy of females in the troop is not inherited; you don’t get to be the top mama lemur just because your mother was.

  5) Lemurs have scent glands that they use to mark territory, and sometimes they even have stink fights with other lemurs. They soak their tails in “stink” from their scent glands and wave them at the opponent. I have to admit that I giggled when I read this. In my head, I heard the voice of the French soldiers in Monty Python and the Holy Grail – “Hah, I stink in your general direction!”

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  ]]> http://mymobileadventures.com/2009/09/my-top-5-funky-facts-about-the-ring-tailed-lemur/feed 12 IMG_1363-WDW-DAK-ring-tailed-lemur IMG_1364-WDW-DAK-ring-tailed-lemur IMG_1366-WDW-DAK-ring-tailed-lemur Camera Critters email Twitter Facebook Google Bookmarks Digg StumbleUpon Technorati http://mymobileadventures.com/2009/09/ding-darling-wildlife-refuge-pelican-roost http://mymobileadventures.com/2009/09/ding-darling-wildlife-refuge-pelican-roost#comments Sat, 05 Sep 2009 13:14:47 +0000 Tink *~*~* http://mymobileadventures.com/?p=6284 © Copyright 2008 Tink *~*~*
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  Back in May 2009, I took a cruise on Tarpon Bay with the Tarpon Bay Explorers. The cruise was a “thank you for your donation” gift from the local National Public Radio (NPR) station, WGCU, 90.1 FM in Fort Myers, Florida. The narrator is Dr. Jerry Jackson, a professor at FGCU (Florida Gulf Coast University) who also narrates a daily radio spot on WGCU, “Out With The Wild Things”. Enjoy! And for those in the USA, hope you’re having a wonderful Labor Day Weekend.

  I enjoyed the tour of Tarpon Bay – beautiful surroundings, sunny May day, fascinating speaker, what’s not to love? But I much preferred last year’s tour with Dr. Jackson on Rookery Bay. Click this link to see photos and videos from the Rookery Bay tour.

  

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  ]]> http://mymobileadventures.com/2009/09/ding-darling-wildlife-refuge-pelican-roost/feed 5 Camera Critters email Twitter Facebook Google Bookmarks Digg StumbleUpon Technorati http://mymobileadventures.com/2009/08/dinosaurs-at-disney http://mymobileadventures.com/2009/08/dinosaurs-at-disney#comments Sat, 29 Aug 2009 15:08:35 +0000 Tink *~*~* http://mymobileadventures.com/?p=6222 © Copyright 2008 Tink *~*~*
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  click any photo to see a larger version in Flickr

  There are dinosaurs at Disney! Upon arrival at Disney’s Animal Kingdom theme park in Orlando, Florida, Guests are presented with their first exposure to these ancient critters. My friend Robin taught me the value of taking a photo of the navigational signs in the parking lot. If you cannot remember where you parked at the end of a long day at play, you can always refer back to photographic evidence obtained upon arrival. As you can see, on this particular day I parked in the dinosaur section.

  Disney’s Animal Kingdom is set up in themed “lands”. There’s The Oasis when you first enter the park, the central hub called Discovery Island (where the Tree of Life “grows”), then Camp Minie Mickey, Asia, Africa and – you guessed it! – Dinoland! This billboard for the McDonald’s franchise in Dinoland always cracks me up. Can you imagine being a poor Mickey D’s drive-through clerk and having a T-Rex pull up to the window? Yikes!

  Ah, we’ve arrived at Chester and Hester’s Din-o-rama! This area of Dinoland is themed like a midway, with rides appropriate for the younger crowd as well as games of chance where stuffed animals can be won. I have to admit I’m not a fan of this section. I’m no good at games of chance, and one of the rides, affectionately nicknamed by some as “Primeval Hurl”, knocks me around too much. I’m getting too old in the bones to be knocked around like that!

  Here’s a cute critter made of stone and decorated mosaic style. I think he’s located pretty close to the aforementioned McDonald’s “billboard”. I can sometimes become obsessed with photographing all the stone and carved statues of critters sprinkled around Disney’s Animal Kingdom. Hmmm, I think I smell a Camera Critters series coming on! Anyway… can you spot the baby dinosaur in this photo?
  

  
  

  Happy Critturday!

  
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  Every time I visit Disney’s Animal Kingdom, my appreciation for the theme park Imagineers’ incredible attention to detail only deepens. The park is impeccably themed, and I especially enjoy the animal statues sprinkled here and there. Some are carved of stone like idols, while others are made to look like wood carvings but are more likely made of resin – this is Florida, after all, a land where the termite thrives and flourishes Tucked away in a stand of bamboo, congregating in a forest pool or peeking out from behind dense foliage, I delight in happening upon these imaginative and often colorful critters.

  Relatively close to the front of the park, there’s a grouping of orange and yellow giraffes grazing in the underbrush by the side of the path. I remember stopping there once when Nieceling was young to photograph her with the smaller one; there’s a conveniently-placed flat stone for a kid to stand on, in case she’s too short to get both her head and the giraffe’s head in the photo. On this particular day, I was strolling by on my way out of the park – and I admit, it takes me a LONG time to stroll out of this park, so I have to start about an hour or so before I actually intend to get on the bus! Anyhow, I glanced over at the giraffes, and something caught my eye…

  It’s a brown anole, hanging out on the bent back of one of the giraffes. I caught him with his dewlap open! Technically, the brown anole is not a “native” of Florida – more of a naturalized citizen from the Caribbean. However, they’ve been here so long, they seem like natives. Just like all the other Americans, I guess
  

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  ]]> http://mymobileadventures.com/2009/08/native-wildlife-in-disneys-animal-kingdom-the-brown-anole/feed 8 IMG_1541-WDW-DAK-giraffe-statue-upright IMG_1543-WDW-DAK-giraffe-statue-bent-anole IMG_1542-WDW-DAK-giraffe-statue-back-anole-dewlap Camera Critters email Twitter Facebook Google Bookmarks Digg StumbleUpon Technorati http://mymobileadventures.com/2009/08/native-wildlife-in-the-magic-kingdom-the-great-egret http://mymobileadventures.com/2009/08/native-wildlife-in-the-magic-kingdom-the-great-egret#comments Sat, 15 Aug 2009 14:54:21 +0000 Tink *~*~* http://mymobileadventures.com/?p=6145 © Copyright 2008 Tink *~*~*
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  At first glance, I thought this was a statue perched atop the Trading Post in the Magic Kingdom’s Frontierland. But then my brain reset itself and remembered that egrets are often found in this section of the Magic Kingdom – it’s right across the street from the lagoon that separates Frontierland from Tom Sawyer Island. If you take the time to look, you will find that there are egrets flying, wading and hunting all over Walt Disney World. These are native Floridians, availing themselves of the amenities of the Walt Disney World resort – well-maintained habitats and dropped food opportunities

  
  See? Told ya he’s not a statue

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  ]]> http://mymobileadventures.com/2009/08/native-wildlife-in-the-magic-kingdom-the-great-egret/feed 12 IMG_1213-WDW-MK-Frontier-trading-post-egret IMG_1211-WDW-MK-great-egret Camera Critters email Twitter Facebook Google Bookmarks Digg StumbleUpon Technorati http://mymobileadventures.com/2009/08/my-top-5-funky-facts-about-the-eastern-lubber-grasshopper http://mymobileadventures.com/2009/08/my-top-5-funky-facts-about-the-eastern-lubber-grasshopper#comments Sat, 01 Aug 2009 12:00:02 +0000 Tink *~*~* http://mymobileadventures.com/?p=6069 I mobile-blogged a slightly cloudy version of this photo a couple of weeks ago. My niece and I encountered this lubber grasshopper while on line to see the premiere of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. I’ve done a little research and found out some FUNky facts about lubber grasshoppers.

  1) You might have seen one of these critters while vacationing at Walt Disney World or elsewhere in Florida. In fact, the range of this extraordinary creature, so lobster-like in appearance, extends across the southeastern United states from North Carolina to Texas.

  2) Even though lubber grasshoppers have wings, they cannot fly. To get around, they jump or crawl. This one was crawling rather pathetically up and down the cigarette butt receptacle outside the movie theater. It felt around before taking a step, so much so that I thought lubber grasshoppers might be blind. However, I’ve found no evidence suggesting sight issues, so I guess maybe they are just very careful crawlers.

  3) Lubber grasshoppers go through several colorful stages; this lobster color is representative of an adult in a light colored phase. Other phases can include stripes, green, yellow and deep navy blue. They don’t just turn colors; they molt! Man, I wish I could find the shell of one that has molted. It would be cool to have because it would look pretty without actually being a creepy-crawly critter

  4) Females lay their eggs in the summer time; the eggs hatch in the southern part of Florida in February, but wait until March over the rest of the lubber’s range.

  5) The lubber has been known to cause significant damage to vegetable and citrus crops. The best way to control lubbers is to remove their habitat – they like dense vegetation in moist areas, so if swales and roadsides are kept clear of vegetation, the lubbers will move on to denser pastures and not migrate over to chow down on your orange trees.

  More information: eastern lubber grasshopper – Romalea guttata (Houttuyn).

  
  

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  ]]> http://mymobileadventures.com/2009/08/my-top-5-funky-facts-about-the-eastern-lubber-grasshopper/feed 16 Lubber grasshopper on Sanibel Island Camera Critters email Twitter Facebook Google Bookmarks Digg StumbleUpon Technorati http://mymobileadventures.com/2009/07/sand-sculpture-critters-at-walt-disney-world http://mymobileadventures.com/2009/07/sand-sculpture-critters-at-walt-disney-world#comments Sat, 25 Jul 2009 13:52:33 +0000 Tink *~*~* http://mymobileadventures.com/?p=6037 © Copyright 2008 Tink *~*~*
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  Several years ago, the BBC presented a series called Planet Earth, which explored wildlife stories as they unfolded in natural habitats. The story goes, there was footage to spare, and since Disney, like country radio, is all about “the story”, there was enough to form stories about three animal families and release it as a DisneyNature production called Earth.

  

  This past spring at the 2009 International Flower and Garden Festival at EPCOT, the film was being publicized in the form of sand sculptures strategically located in the fountain plaza just outside of MouseGear. There were some Cast Members on hand, as well as activities for smaller children. Me, I just thought the sand sculptures were cool – enjoy!

  
  
  

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  One of my favorite parts of Disney’s classic animated film Fantasia is set to a musical piece known as Dance of the Hours, the ballet section from Ponchielli’s opera La Gioconda. Disney’s inventive animated interpretations made classical music accessible to everyone. In this scene of the film, an assortment of ballet-dancing critters – hippos, ostriches, elephants and crocodiles – were used to portray the music’s charm and humor.

  At the 2009 International Flower and Garden Festival in Walt Disney World’s EPCOT theme park, these characters from the ballet sequence in Fantasia were represented in topiary around the Innoventions section of FutureWorld.

  
  
  
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  I was in Walt Disney World (where else?), standing in line at the big World of Disney store in Downtown Disney, waiting for my opportunity to indulge in some rampant consumerism. The Cast Member who was ringing up the woman ahead of me was inexperienced, slow and giving out some really bad advice about where discounts could and could not be had. Bored, impatient, but trying to be nice and pleasant and Zen about it, I glanced at the ceiling and smiled with genuine delight – there, painted on the ceiling, were the subjects of one of my all-time favorite Silly Symphonies.

  Disney’s Silly Symphonies are a series of 75 short, animated films produced over a period of about ten years during the 1930s. In fact, the very first full Technicolor film was a Silly Symphony called Flowers and Trees. Some of these short films were based upon myths, legends, morality tales and fables. One of Aesop’s best fables made cut – The Grasshopper and the Ants.

  The story features a grasshopper who fiddles and sings his way through summer, when food is abundant, and scoffs at the ants, hard at work setting aside stores for the lean months ahead. Winter finds the grasshopper collapsing on the ants’ doorstep, starved and nearly frozen. In pity, they take him in and care for him, but the arrival of the colony’s queen strikes fear into his heart. He supplicates himself before her, knowing that he’s been lazy, has not worked, has scoffed at them, and doesn’t deserve their kindness. The queen hands him his fiddle and admonishes him… to play! At once, he realizes he just landed himself a position as court musician. He strikes up a jolly tune and the dancing commences. Soundtrack swells, fade to black.

  I once took a sociology class called “The Disney Empire: Culture and Power”, where I learned that both as an employer and as an entertainment company, Disney tends to blur the lines between work and play. There are many examples in Disney’s films of work and play interchanging, but none so pointed or classic as The Grasshopper and the Ants.

  It’s pretty rare in this world to have a job that feels like play. Sometimes, when I watch the young Cast Members, barely adults themselves, playing with the kids along the parade route in the Magic Kingdom to help them pass the time, I’m just a little envious. I know they don’t make much money, I know – I just like the idea of getting paid something, ANYTHING, for playing

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  I found this little guy hanging out in the lily pond outside the China pavilion in Walt Disney World’s EPCOT theme park. I don’t know what he’s doing, but it looks like gymnastics to me! Click the photos – you’ll be taken to Flickr, and you can choose a different size to examine. You’ll see that the poor little fella’s wings are a little tattered and torn – I wonder how that happens, and how it affects his ability to fly?

  
  
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  A red hermit crab has inhabited a very large horse conch shell in the touch tank at Tarpon Bay Explorers, Sanibel Island, Florida. The naturalist on duty at the time told us that the crab had recently molted …..
  
  Here’s the exoskeleton of the red hermit crab – nope, he’s not in there! That’s just his old skin. I think it’s remarkable that it comes off all in one piece like that, right down to the claws. I did a little reading about molting hermit crabs, and discovered that while or directly after molting, a hermit crab can appear to be limp and lifeless. It’s apparently pretty easy to believe they are actually dead, when they are just molting. Many times they will dig down into the sand and do it underground, but they can also do their molting on the surface. How lucky the naturalists at Tarpon Bay Explorers were – they got to see it happening!
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