The World Famous San Diego Zoo

This cute little guy is actually not a zoo resident, Maverick is the well loved 12 year old sniffer of the household. He takes Joan and me on long walks in the morning where all the neighbourhood aromas are analyzed, categorized, and obviously forgotten since it's always a repeat performance the next day...

Some neighbourhood landscaping needs little or no water, a precious and expensive commodity.

The zoo's sky-train was closed for a week's worth of annual maintenance so we stayed relatively close to the entrance for our first visit. 

This striking little fellow had the wonderful ability to fly up and catch grapes that kids threw in the air; just one of many animal Ambassadors at the zoo.

Here's another Ambassador, a cockatoo with amazing vocalization skills.  The handler commented that this kind of bird might speak or not when you get him/her home from the pet store.  If you get a talker, it can pick up and repeat anything it hears, so beware of your language. The other thing mentioned was that these birds can pick up something that they might repeat all day, or night.  Since they can scream very loudly, this could be quite annoying...  The zoo guy also mentioned that they can live 40 years and bite really hard.  I think he was suggesting that it would be better to let them live in the wild rather than buy them from the often illegal and predatory pet market.

Next is a very striking reptile, about 10" long and very easy to spot.

The zoo has a very nice smallish hummingbird area.  The entrance and exits are double doored behind a chain like curtain.  A system that seems to keep the birds inside.

While there were hummingbirds, they were hard to shoot since they don't pose for long...

There were other colourful small birds that were easier to spot and shoot.

The zoo also has a very good display of snakes and reptiles. Here's a foot long lizard checking out his reflection in the lens.

After the zoo, we returned home and went out to Café Bleu, a small, modern cafe with excellent French food. 

It seems that San Diego has become the micro-brewery capital of sorts, with excellent choices of very good beer.  It was interesting to note that most patrons had beer with their french cuisine instead of the expected wine. 

Our waiter brought us a small apéritif to eat while our food was being prepared: a mouthful of filet mignon wrapped in a puff pastry.  Kathleen doesn't eat meat and mentioned that she was a vegetarian. The waiter promptly gave her serving to Phillip and returned with a mouthful of salmon in a puff pastry.  How accommodating is that?  We may have to return to the Café Bleu...