So I think I could really get into photographing wildlife. I just wish there were more opportunities near home. In a way, it's much like photographing sports. Everythings always moving and you don't really know what will happen; you just hope you press the shutter at the right moment.

"Jefferson", a rescued bald eagle. He was not able to fly because of an injured right wing. Not really sure how he got that way.

So I learned an interesting fact about eagles. You have to have a special permit to own eagle feathers. The keepers at the zoo collect the feathers that fall off and send them to some sort of federal agent.

A few of the large mammals from the Virginia Zoo.

Lion cub- born last May

Masai Girrafe- tallest species of giraffe,

also the tallest land mammal in the world

A few of the small animals.

Meerkat- I happened to cough once while photographing these guys and they all ran off. Had to wait for them to come back out. They were a little jumpy.

Prairie Dog- these guys had a severe case of ADD. They would not stay in the same place for more than a second.

This past weekend, we went to Chesapeake to visit with family. I snuck away for a few hours on Friday and went to the zoo in Norfolk. The weather was gorgeous. I think it may have gone past 80 degrees at one point.

You would think if the zoo's name was the "Virginia Zoological Park" they would have had a lot more there than they did. Of course the DC zoo is pretty big in comparison (we went there last summer while in DC). But I always seemed to remember the zoos I went to when I was little having more (but then again when you are little everything seems huge).

A few shots I liked from the day.

I used a little fill-flash for these two. I haven't used it before on animal shots outdoors, but I think it improved the exposure. More on fill-flash here.

You don't see many buildings being built like this one anymore. I wonder how long it took to design and build the columns and the trim work. I would have loved to get a shot of this at night with the street lights on.

I believe this may have been a post office building, but I am not entirely sure. I shot this last summer in Norfolk, Virginia.

Ok. I've officially had it with winter. Next season please. You know you've had enough snow when the kids at school complain about snow in the forecast (knowing that if it snows enough, they get a day out of school). Of course by now, they've figured out you have to make those days up. Anyways, I think I am more ready for spring this year than any in the past.