Munich Zoo - Sea Lions and the rest

Unfortunately, this is the final photoblog from our June day at the Munich Zoo.  After the baby elephant, lions & polar bears, and various birds, we'll finish with sea lions and other creatures we caught on camera.  (But surely we'll go back to the zoo this Autumn.)

While they were swimming and playing, California sea lions were some of the most difficult animals to photograph because they move so fast, and often underwater!  So we pointed our lenses at those sea lions "kissing" on the edge of the pool:

At the far side of the pen was a mom and baby.  She was usually shielding him/her from sight, and we had to be quick to capture this shot:

Further down the zoo path was the house with tortoises.  I think these are from the Seychelles (definitely not Galapagos)... I need to remember to take a photo of the information plaque as well as the animals next time!

Surprisingly they were quite active, because it was lunch time: 

The baboons were not so active.  The young ones played, but many like this guy just sat around munching on something.  Wonder what it's thinking?

I looked through the entire list of Munich Zoo animals and think this next one is an Indian Gaur -- the largest species of wild cattle.  Its horns are less curvy, but other Google images indicate that this is the closest match to the zoo's list of residents.  (Yes, I really have to take better notes next time.)

In the next photo, a Vicuna (native to the Andes) and an ostrich are standing together.  It's always funny what animals the zoos can/will put in the same pen.  The ostrich comes from Africa and and Vicuna from South America! 

Small creek-size branches of the Isar River run through the zoo.  This next photo was just outside the zoo while crossing a bridge.  The fish in the water is bigger than the duck (and swam right under)!

We almost didn't get this last one, but he emerged for a moment at dusk, just as we were about to leave.  The giant anteater hugged the fence on the far side of the pen, and hustled away to hidden places.  We figured it was time to go home as well. 

More Changes in Munich

We've attended a couple of really fun public events at the Siemens world headquarters.  From watching Germany destroy Argentina in the 2010 World Cup to sledding down the slope last winter, we've had some fun at Wittelsbacherplatz! Annual events include the Hamburg Fish Market and a Christmas market, as well as special events.

Over the next four year, both Siemens and Wittelsbacherplatz will be getting a major makeover.

A jury including the Siemens CEO and Munich's Mayor have awarded the commission to Danish firm HenningLarsen Architects.  Given the significance of the location and Siemens place as a local leader of industry,  this is a project that will receive great scrutiny.

Architecturally speaking, it will be a headquarters comprised of 6 buildings, linked together to foster communication and creating 6 courtyards which will encourage interaction - both among employees and between Siemens and the city. The 3rd pillar of the plan (after Communication and Interaction) is Innovation, which will utilize Siemens innovations (and I'm sure, others') to construct a building that surpasses most current sustainable building standards. In fact, it's targeted to get a LEED Platinum rating - the highest "green building" rating -, which is rather impressive given that it's a refurbishment and not new construction.  If you're not familiar with the LEED Ratings, you can check out info from the US Green Building Council. (Those look a lot like solar panels on the roof...)

Rendering by HenningLarson Architects

According the architects' site,

The top floor is well-suited for public events such as art exhibitions and allows the visitors to enjoy the skyline of the city while exploring the exhibitions. The public access to Siemens’ new headquarters creates a continuous flow of guests and passers-by and signals that corporate architecture of the 21st century should be open and inviting.

They've done a good job of holding public festivals and events in the plaza, so I'm excited to see what will really be open to the public in the building. I'm sure the courtyards will be open and will have a few nice cafes. But we'll have to see how the public events work with the tight security of most headquarters.

Rendering by HenningLarson Architects

We hope they keep this in the plans:

For more pictures and detailed plans, check out the architects' site.

via ArchDaily

Munich Zoo - Birds

This is our third photoblog-style post after a visit to the Munich Zoo in June.  First a baby elephant, then lions & bears, and now some birds.

Like a number of zoos, Munich has peacocks and peahens that are free to roam the grounds -- although they prefer to stay in one of the large protected pens.  We photographed them in various states of "dress".  At first, we were surprised to see one perched on a low hanging tree branch... you usually see them on the ground. 

    

We also found them walking around with their plumage simply trailing behind...

And then, of course, the peacocks had to try and impress the ladies.  Out came the full display of color and texture.

In the same area were the Grey Crowned Cranes (Grauhals-Kronenkranich auf Deutsch).

This pair had built a huge nest in the pond, not much more than 10 feet from our viewing spot. We'll have to go back and see what hatches from the eggs. We have no idea what the babies look like!

These guys come from sub-Saharan Africa. Despite the fact that they weren't competing for mates (and that the guy has obviously already found one!), the cranes liked to join in when the male peacocks were showing off, fluffing up their feathers and sounding their loud calls to compete with the peacocks. Gorgeous feathers!

To be honest, I'm not sure if this is an Emu or an Ostrich (the zoo has both), but you'll find him wandering around the field with the llama and some other small animals.

And at the end of the day we have the Great Comorants. Not at all endangered, these diving birds have beautiful feather patterns, which they often show off for us when they dry their wings.  It almost looks fake - very cool.

Comorant mating season also is in full swing, with nesting pairs throughout the exhibit. This guy was determined to ruin a good picture with his bathroom break!  The perils of trying to shoot animals....

Next to the comorants we have the African Pink Pelicans. These most likely are juveniles, as they still have some brown in their feathers.  It's late in the day now, and time for them to sleep after a long day of sunning, preening, and being fed by the zookeepers. Wait, are we back at the lion exhibit???

And finally our burst of sunshine, a Blue and Yellow Macaw snacking on some fruit.

   

Kocherlball

On Sunday, Herr J and I got up early to attend the Kocherlball, one of Munich's many summer festivals.

This one is a little different from the average beer+wurst+crepes+bandstand that is put up in any square, especially because it takes place early in the morning. 6:00-10:00, to be exact. And I HIGHLY recommend you arrive early if you want a seat. By 5am would be best - you won't be the first ones there....plenty of folks will be there early to stake out a prime table, and will enjoy breakfast and conversation by candlelight until the sun rises.

As usual, you are welcome to bring your own food, or to buy various breakfast foods (weißwurst, kaiserschmarrm, bread/cold cuts, various meats, and other sinfully wonderful variations on fried dough). Many groups will cover the beergarden picnic tables with fine table cloths, vases of flowers, and even silver candelabras. The drinks (beer, coffee, etc) you buy from the beergarden.

The point of the festival, however, is dancing.

In the last decade of the 18th century, the cooks and domestic staff met each year early on a summer Sunday morning to dance at the Chinese Tower (in the English Garden). Hence the name loosely translates to "Cooks' Ball" and takes place early in the morning before they had to go back to work. The tradition continued for a century or so, until it was banned in 1904 for being of questionable morality.

The event was revived in 1989 for the 200th anniversary celebrations for the English Garden and it continues today.

In addition to the dining and drinking, they have bands to play traditional music continuously in front of the dance area.

You'll see old and young alike, many in trachten or even older traditional uniforms. Even this sleepy little guy is decked out in his finest Bavarian duds:

And the dancing certainly is nothing scandalous today - it's traditional folk dancing, mainly from the Oberfalz (Upper Palatinate) and Niederbayern (Lower Bavaria) regions...polkas, waltzes, and other traditional dances.  Not that many people actually knew the steps, but everyone still had fun trying something waltz-style or following instructions from the band leader.  Apparently the Münchener Francaise is one of the popular local dances (especially after it was taught for Munich's 850th anniversary).  I'm not sure how there is enough room to do it here, but there are German instructions online if you're curious like me. I can picture a ballroom of men and women in formal trachten, dancing as in old Vienna!

For those who want to learn the dances (or brush up on long-forgotten skills), the Culture Department (das Kulturreferat) of the City of Munich offers free Bavarian folk dancing courses on the three Thursdays leading up to the Kocherlball. Herr J and I did briefly join the fray for a dance or two, but perhaps next year we'll prepare ahead and learn the steps.

Until next year, here's a video of the dancing:
 

A lovely morning at the Chinese Tower!

Munich Zoo - Large Carnivores

Lions, tigers, and bears.  The stuff of classic movies and some of the main attractions at every zoo.  Munich is no different, especially with their new Polar Bear exhibit.  We posted photos of the new baby elephant recently, but we also captured shots that day of some even wilder things.

Lions are funny, because we know they can be ferocious but usually find them sleeping.  All day.  Fortunately, the zoo lists feeding times for the lions & other animals, so this is the chance to see them actually move.  We found the lioness initially lying down, but when she heard the keeper's keys jingling she raised her head in interest.  Barely.

 

She then yawned a half-dozen times, stretched, groomed, yawned again, and THEN made her way to the food.  Still looking half asleep and completely oblivious to the people crowded around watching.  I have heard that their house-cat cousins are much the same...

 

After dining, she paced around for a few minutes.  It's the easiest wildlife photography we'll ever do -- an animal moving slowly about the same circular path, over and over and over.  Then she was back napping.

 

The Polar bears have a new exhibit, and it's great (for us and them, it's claimed).  The pen is long and relatively narrow, giving the bears room to roam but always in sight of the visitors.  This overview from the Zoo web site:

The bears have lots of toys, as usual - here is one of the two hanging out in the water, chomping on a plastic drum.

 
There are two of them - male and female.  Honestly, I'm not sure who this is playing.

The highlight was when one of the bears climbed out of the water and up on the "rocks", then dove into the water!  Frau A was quick with the camera and caught it in photos!  A real crowd pleaser - hugh splash but not nearly wide enough to get over the "panzer glass" lining the pen.

 

Frau A also got a great photo of the bear shaking off water after the dive.  There was a lot of activity from the bears, so a large crowd amassed and stayed around the exhibit.  We had to pull ourselves away to see other animals.

Lions... bears...... but no tigers in this post.  Sorry.  We didn't make it to the tiger part of the zoo this time.  How about European Wolves, key figures in German fairy tales (Little Red Riding Hood...)? 

 

The wolves were also quite active, in a dog-like way.  They would circle their large area constantly, taking occasional breaks to lie down or socialize.  They weren't running, but moving pretty fast though, and the light was somewhat dim -- so we learned then how difficult "wildlife" photography must be.  It took a lot of failed attempts before we captured good shots of the jogging wolves, especially when they're coming at you (continuous focus is easier when something moves across the frame, equidistant from you -- rather than toward or away from you).

 

When they paused to kiss, Frau A captured the moment.  In this "wildlife" photography we really learned the advantage the professional cameras like her Nikon D700 bring, vs. my nice-but-clearly-amateur Olympus Pen (and for sports too).  She could focus faster, maintain focus, and get off more shots per second.

This one stopped and ventured right to the edge of their area (before the "moat" and fence that keeps them from escaping).  He looked up briefly to check us out, then went back to jogging and playing.  European wolves are smaller than their North American relatives, but just as beautiful.

 

Coming in a future post - sea lions!

2018 Olympics: The Decision

The 2018 Winter Games were announced today, and (sniff, sniff) Munich did not win. They'll be held in Pyongchan South Korea instead.

After months of campaigning and signs everywhere, Munich held a day-long party culminating in the broadcast of "Die Entscheidung," or The Decision at a couple of public viewing points.  The biggest festivities were at the BMW World by OlympiaPark, which would have held many of the games.

We stopped by Marienplatz to watch the announcement.  It was far more crowded than the average summer tourist Glockenspiel viewing - actually very close to the point of being dangerous.  Rather unusual for Germany and its usual efficient crowd control!

Despite not having a win to celebrate, they went ahead and released the balloons and shot off some cannons or fireworks or something from the tower as the crowd quickly dispersed.

All in all, it was a nice bit of sun on an otherwise busy work day! And any perfect summer day is a day worth celebrating!

P.S.....I really don't know what this was, but had to take a picture. If anyone knows the story behind these types of vehicles (and the related crazy Austrian backpacks), I'd love to know! I'm not sure how to describe these in English, so I have no idea where to begin Googling them in German! But I'm curious.

Here's the Austrian cousin we saw at the World Cup downhill skiing event

Munich Zoo - Elephant Baby

One thing that always drives traffic to a blog... baby animals!

On May 6, the Munich Zoo welcomed a new Asian elephant boy -- 117 kilograms and almost a meter tall at birth!  (No name has been given on the zoo web site yet.) Frau A and I went to see if we could "meet" him.  Even though the Elephant House is closed for renovation, we got lucky:  the weather was nice enough so they let mom "Temi" and son outside for a little while.

Here he is:

 

The time outside was a mixture of fun and training (training for Temi only, of course).  At the start, Temi marched out carrying a tire (with ease), and the new baby at her side.  She stopped for a pose and we grabbed a photo.

 

The keepers had a watermelon on the ground for them.  Temi stepped on it right away to open it, but baby was more interested in playing with a pink towel.  They eat the watermelon rind too, by the way.

 

Sometimes his trunk did not have the full dexterity needed to pick up the towel, so he used his foot to help.  So cute.  He'd thrash the towel around a bit with his trunk, then get bored and turn back to mom.

 

Temi really liked in the watermelon and chowed down.  (BTW:  notice the towel in the keeper's pocket for playtime, and the stick for training.  Also, he would tell onlookers what is happening with the wireless microphone, but only while interacting with other adult elephants, NOT mom and baby.)

Since Temi did the work to open the melon, baby could grab a snack too.
From a nice safe place underneath mom, of course.

 

Here's another gratuitous close-up of the baby.  Really adorable, afro & all.

 

After the snack, the trainer worked with Temi for a few minutes on training and tricks.   Here she is practicing with the keeper's hat, taking it off and putting it back on again.  The trunk is amazing - strong enough to throw a tire around but nimble enough to manage this.

In this shot, the keeper used his training stick to ask Temi to sit.  She then rolled onto her side close to baby and startled him - he shrieked for a second.  Then everything was back to normal.

 

Yup, this guy is really cute, but Temi is beautiful too.  There are some of the animals that you wish you could get in there and interact with... Frau A would take 'em both home if she could.

 

We'll head back later this summer to see how baby and Temi are doing...