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A surprise on the rose walk

I have discovered the macro setting on my camera! And not only do I know where it is, I actually remember to use it on occasion. During a stroll on the rose walk in EPCOT this past spring, I noticed that I was in the presence of some of the smallest critters on Disney property – aphids on the roses. If you click this photo, it will take you to Flickr where you can view all sizes, including the one that will show you teeny tiny green and white critters on these rosebuds. I am pretty sure the green ones are aphids. Does anyone know what the white critters are?

While there were plenty of buds, there were also plenty of blooms in April. It was April 24th, to be exact, and although the magnolias and the gardenias were disappointingly barren, the rose walk was VERY satisfying, with fat blooms sprinkled throughout. Definitely a feast for the eyes!

As I was standing there in the middle of the Rose Walk fiddling with the camera – “Oooo, what does THIS button do?”, LOL – I heard a familiar “shhhhhhhush!” sound and looked up just in time to catch the Tronorail passing by overhead. The subject of great debate throughout the many Disney internet communities, the Tronorail has both its fans and its detractors. I don’t really have an opinion as to whether or not monorails should be turned into advertisements for Disney products. As long as it isn’t garrishly ugly to look at, I’m fine with it. The Tronorail is my favorite color, so I guess that means I like it. I did find myself repeatedly looking for it during my last few trips to Orlando, and was disappointed when it WASN’T the Tronorail passing overhead. Yeah, I guess I like it

How about you – what’s your opinion of the Tronorail?

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If topiaries could talk…

Zazu bemoans his fate to no one in particular

IMG_3228-WDW-EPCOT-topiary-Bambi-Thumper

Meanwhile, at the O, Canada! pavilion, Bambi and Thumper wax rhapsodic over the chicks they’ve just encountered

Yeah, just what Stitch needs – sugar and caffeine!

Happy Critturday!

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A marauding mob of African meerkats

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

IMG_3106-WDW-DAK-meercat-sentry-WDW-DAK-meerkat-sentry

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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Random Animal Kingdom trio

This is the Great Blue Turaco. I heart this bird’s colorful plumage.

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.

Here’s a meerkat – for fans of The Lion King, that’s a “Timon”. I like meerkats for the same reason I like prairie dogs and otters – they remind me of cute little puppies.
RANDOM FACT about meerkats: Meerkats are social and live in little colony families. One of them always keeps lookout while the others forage for food.

Saved the best for last. I stalked this Eastern tiger swallowtail butterfly all over creation, it seemed, but only got ONE good shot, and this is it!
RANDOM FACT about swallowtail butterflies: There are over 500 species of swallowtail butterfly that live on every continent of the Earth except Antarctica.

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Tink’s ~~* Links: food, film and fun!

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Hey, I’m back from my whirlwind weekend in Walt Disney World, where I made a leisurely tour of Disney’s Animal Kingdom and EPCOT, watched three of my “sistahs” cross the finish line in the Disney Princess Half Marathon, and mobile blogged the entire time.

You can find a lot of pictures here on My Mobile Adventures *~*~*, but I also posted unique content to the blog’s Facebook page and to Twitter as well (the tweeted pictures are actually over at TwitPic). In addition to the mobile blogging and tweeting, I took a ton more that are still in the camera, including a few lucky shots of the new baby gorilla aka the “girl-illa” who was just recently born at DAK. I hope to get those up on the blog shortly, possibly this weekend in time for Camera Critters.

In the meantime, I’ve been catching up on a little reading. Here are some things which caught my eye, tickled my fancy or provided food for thought:

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SeaWorld, trainer’s family seek to prevent release of video of fatal killer-whale accident

The family of the trainer who was killed by an orca at SeaWorld is seeking an injunction against the public release of SeaWorld’s surviellance video, which captured the incident.

“Use of this video will do nothing more than further sensationalize a tragic event and traumatize our family,” said Charles LoVerde, the spokesman. “Some members of the news media have shown restraint and sensitivity during this difficult time, but many others have not. The conduct of some members of the press has been disgraceful. Our family has a right to heal in private, and we once again appeal to the media to recognize the terrible pain we are experiencing and give us a small measure of respect and privacy.”

My reaction: I hope that any web hosting company, YouTube, Flickr, etc. would immediately remove any photos or videos depicting this tragedy once they were aware of them, and also that the hosting company would deal harshly with the person who posted it. I also hope that anyone reading this who sees such a thing online will immediately inform the host and insist upon it’s removal. If you cannot figure out who the host is, email me and I’ll help track it down (belltinkr at g mail dot com)

It’s morbid, unnecessary and just plain mean to post such a thing. And as we all know, mean people suck. Karma doesn’t like them very much, either….

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Mmmmm, Disney Food!

The Daily Disney offers this recipe from the Grand Floridian Cafe at Walt Disney World –

Chocolate-Crusted Key Lime Pie!

Personally, I generally do not care for key lime pie, but I think the chocolate crusting thing would go a long way toward helping me to appreciate it

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PRINCE OF PERSIA – EXTENDED TRAILER

Prince of Persia is a popular series of video games, available for Playstation 3, XBOX 360 and Windows XP (affiliate links lead to Amazon.com). Now it’s a film by Jerry Bruckheimer and Walt Disney Pictures, scheduled for release in May 2010. Love the Aladdinesque theme – poor street waif becomes prince. I definitely want to see this -part film, part video game, all Gyllenhaal all the time! <3

Here's the official site for the film - Walt Disney Pictures | Prince of Persia. And looky, you can Become A Fan on Facebook!. And finally – feast yourself on the extended trailer (Subscribers – if you don’t see a video right below these words, click through to the blog to view it):

If the YouTube version is gone or won’t play, you can try watching it here here

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DISNEY BOARD GAMES!

I was googling around for something, but you know how it goes – click a picture here, or an intriguing title there, and suddenly I found myself face-to-face with Disney board games! I didn’t even know there was such a thing. How cool are these? (yes they are affiliate links, no they won’t bite you!). There’s something called the Magic Kingdom Game (nope, I’ve never heard of it either), and also the Splash Mountain Edition of SORRY! in a collectible tin.

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That’s it for Tink’s *~*~* Links this week. After I unwind from my whirlwind weekend trip, I’ll get back to regular posting. Enjoy!

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Strike a pose, there’s nothing to it…

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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.

And that’s when he did it…

… the Great Egret VOGUED for me!

(to be continued…)

Happy Critturday!

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Now playing: Madonna – Vogue

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Chinese Zodiac: the final chapter!

We’re in the home stretch with the photos I took of the Chinese zodiac animals at Epcot a couple of years ago. Every time I look at these, all I can think of is how ingenious the person was who thought of it, and how much time and painstaking effort went into the details.

Here’s the dog – he’s so cute, and I love his feet because they look like they might be made of coffee beans.

The rabbit was hiding his face in some leafy foliage when I visited. Rabbits are typically timid, so I’m not really surprised

And now, the star of the show – 2010 is the year of the tiger! I especially like this one because I think it was such a good choice to use dried corn kernels for his fur – just the right shade of golden orange!

This concludes our series about the Chinese zodiac. Kung Hei Fat Choi! And I hope everyone had a great Valentine’s Day weekend, too <3

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Chinese Zodiac Critters, Chapter 3

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I’m watching the opening ceremonies of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games from Vancouver, Canada. There was a part earlier where the totems of the indigenous peoples of Canada were represented – whale, salmon wolf, GIANT bear. They lit up the arena like constellations. And I noted there was not a lot of crossover between the mythological creatures of North America and those of China. And yet, without much in common, they’re still about to play together for a couple of weeks. Rock on, Olympics!