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Tag: afie

Glow in the Park Penguins?…

Recently we traveled to the Palm Springs area in California on a mission to assist Executive Photographer (and Co Owner of Surrounded By Penguins), Scarlett, with her Birb Biologist job. I love when this opportunity comes up because I feel like I’m a helpful assistant to wildlife caring people. We also are directly helping with research as we are collecting generic samples of the birds we catch. A few choice penguins and I are always happy to tag along and help with these endeavors.

As usual, I tagged on other ventures for Surrounded By Penguins while up there. In the interest of wanting to provide excursions and tours to surrounding wildlife conservation areas to include zoo’s, aquariums, and the like we decided to include attending a special event at the Palm Desert Living Desert Zoo and Botanical Garden. We obtained 3 genetic samples of wild birds that have established territories at the zoo. It’s pretty amazing that this zoo provides sanctuary knowingly and passively to endangered wildlife. The habitat maintained at many zoo’s actually provide the surrounding wildlife with a sanctuary. You’ll see deer at the Safari Park in San Diego for example along with both local and migratory birds and other wildlife. What animals have you seen in zoo’s that cohabitate with the zoo animals?

The Executive Penguin literally surrounded by Penguin Ambassadors before going to the Glow in the Park event at the Living Desert Zoo in Palm Desert
Lit up kangaroo mice greet us at the parking lot gate.
This place has been in existence for 50 years and we just found out about it!?

Since we were collecting genetic samples we got to visit the Living Desert Zoo before opening. During the day we got to see these amazing lanterns already set up for the Glow in the Park event. We could only imagine what they looked like at night.

We wouldn’t get our chance to see the lanterns lit until the the events closing night. The unobstructed colorful views during the day became much more appreciated as we found ourselves shoulder to shoulder much of the time at night. But wow wow wow were the lanterns amazing. Day or night the creative detailed figures were impressive. We were blown away by the correctly coordinated colors, fabric designs, accurate proportions to scale, and many of the lantern animals moved! Not one person in the collective mob was unimpressed and many people were still interested in seeing the actual animals that were not lanterns too. To give respect to the animals, the lights were strategically placed and some areas were off limits.

Maybe some animals that are nocturnal were visible? These naked mole rats are blind so do they know when it’s day or night? Without the ability to see, how else can we gauge if it’s day time or night time?

I found it amazing that they had different ‘rooms’ for different age ranges, toilet use, etc. Even without the ability to see, the moles seems to instinctually know where they belong.

Although it was difficult, I took many many many pictures and will share some below.

Not a naked mole rat. What a trickster!

During the event, Afie, Syd and I decided that from now on only one of them would be on my shoulder while in public. Both of them at the same time proved to be way too much to worry about. The ippies (Mippy, Sippy and Zippy) are definitely the most readily and photogenic of the ambassadors. Syd and Afie seem to enjoy seeing the ongoings from our shoulders and agree to being in selfies occasionally. Most times they are like the family pictures with the one kid that looks hilariously awkward on purpose.

As usual, we all still had a great time. Enjoy!

Of course butterflies are pollinators too.
Birds that consume nectar are pollinators too! Some birds are seed disperses. Others take on other roles. What other animals help pollinate plants?
Many birds fulfill many roles that help us and our environment keep safe and healthy. What vital role do Condors fulfill?
Most people travel to this area for the rare opportunity to see Bighorn Sheep in the wild. Many participate in the annual count. If you see a rock move in the distance here, it might be a Bighorn!
Oooo pegasus drawn carriage? Why not?
Panda walk way! Let’s go!
Whoa…. This was a very large, impressive, elaborate structure. They had many you could walk through, but this dragon might had been the center piece.
The detail in the reptiles was incredible.
Alligator or crocodile? Can you tell the difference?

Happy World Penguin Day 2022!

We celebrated at the San Diego Zoo with the African Penguins last month on April 25th! What did you do to celebrate the penguins all around the world?

From left to right: TooToo, Executive Penguin, Afie, Zippy

Ahhhhhh TooToo looks like hys getting attacked by an octopus arm!

Afie with family
Anyone thirsty?
I was born here! Remember me?

We even went live on Facebook and Instagram! Find the videos on our Instagram! On Instagram Connorbalts4 and pico_space_adventures joined us! We all had a great visit! Thank you both for joining!

TooToo our stuffy plushy Gentoo takes flight!

A few of the Surrounded By Penguins rode the sea jelly swing ride at SeaWorld San Diego yesterday. Some pengie fwens just watched because they didn’t want to ride or were too nervous to ride. Some were even too anxious to watch. All okay feelings.

TooToo and Syd giving each other quick hugs before the ride starts.
TooToo giving some attention and reassurance to the fwens in the clear backpack. Can you see Afie our African Penguin Ambassador in the clear backpack?
Sippy and Mr Bigalow before the ride.
TooToo sees Pickalowlow’s yellow foot and beak hanging out of the wheelchair basket. Pickalowlow must be covering and comforting some stuffy plushy fwens in the basket.

In the video, TooToo really takes to flight 1 minute into it. I didn’t know what to do but hang on and keep filming!

You can’t see the other stuffy plushy fwens in the video but off screen Syd was squawking in fear and excitement the whole time, excited to be flying but scared because we were so high up. During the ride, Mr Bigalow was bouncing around on hys chain. And Sippy was holding on for dear life in their holster. It was so cute to see all of them so excited and happy. TooToo, Syd, Sippy, Mr Bigalow and I were so proud to had braved the ride. At the end we could say we all enjoyed the experience. All the anxious feelings leading up to the moment the ride started were worth experiencing. The ride ended with us wanting to ride again. Good thing we recorded TooToo flying so we can relive the experience when we watch it because I just realized…. Our Penguin Ambassador Fwens were definitely not tall enough to ride the ride! Whooooa! Maybe it was a good thing that we didn’t try to ride it again. 😅🐧🎢

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#penguins #penguin #penguinlove #penguinlover #penguinfan #cutepenguin #cutepenguins #pengui #pengie #pengies #stuffies #plushie #plushy #stuffedanimals #flyingpenguin #plushiepenguin #tootootheplushypenguin
#rides #swings
#seaworldsandiego
#surroundedbypenguins

New Hatchlings!

The Surrounded By Penguins family just got a little bigger! We got 2 new hatchlings that joined the family the day of and the day after Penguin Awareness Day 2022! The first video features TooToo the Gentoo! The second features Afie!

Welcome to the clutch TooToo and Afie! We look forward to seeing all your adventures!