Visitor Owls at Woodland Park Zoo and our first zoo visit of the New Year

Is it just me or is it also difficult for you to drag your family out of the house on a lazy Sunday afternoon?  I needed to get some fresh air so I told my kids we would either go for a hike in the woods or an ‘urban hike’ at the zoo and if they didn’t choose I would choose for us all.  They were very reluctant to leave the lego-building that we had been doing all morning, but thankfully they chose the Woodland Park Zoo which I was really wanting and we showed up about an hour before close and the sky was overcast and sprinkly which usually means the zoo won’t be that busy.

I really wanted a picture of the sheep, so we stopped by the family farm.

Then we checked out the lemurs who were pretty active.

And this adorable Golden Lion Tamarin ate his lunch or dinner and hammed it up for us.

We visited our favorite friends, the toucans.

And I couldn’t help but get a selfie with this anaconda.  I don’t think I ever realized there was a snake in this tank in the rainforest before.

But the coolest thing we saw at the zoo was just before dusk as the zoo was closing after we marveled at the flamingos for a while.

There was an owl in a tree, but I think this was a wild owl.

And it was amazing.

I wonder if it is a frequent visitor or if we just lucked out today.  Although in all our years of coming here I’ve never ever seen him.  I’ll have to ask next time we go.

So this was a great first visit to the zoo in 2015 and I’m excited about all the adventures that we’ll have there this year.  I’m especially excited about the tigers exhibit which will really make May an exciting month when it opens.

Have you ever spotted an owl in the wild and do you know of other places in Washington where I can look for them?  Or do you have a zoo in your city that is fantastic that we zoo-lovers should try and visit one day too?

(PS. On damp days like today, we love the zoo in Seattle because we get to go outdoors but there are lots of spots to warm up and stay dry while we adventure there too.  I’m very thankful

Terumi

Terumi Pong is a Seattle-based family travel writer and mom of twin teenage boys.  She loves coffee and pastries, shopping local and looking for greener ways to live.  She is also known as Scout’s mom (Scout is a 5ish pound little black yorkie-poo)