A New Place A New Zoo
Day 3 took me south to Pueblo and a visit to the Pueblo Zoo — a smaller, quieter spot than I’m used to. It’s probably about seventy percent smaller than Tulsa Zoo, my home zoo, but it had its own kind of charm.
I arrived right when the gates opened. Aside from a few stay-at-home mom groups wrangling preschoolers, the place was almost empty. I slipped on my headphones, picked a playlist, and started wandering with my camera.
It was my first real outing with a larger telephoto lens, and the learning curve hit fast. My early shots were soft or missed focus entirely as I figured out the lens’s image stabilization quirks, but by mid-morning things started to click. Once I got the hang of it, the longer reach opened up a whole new way of shooting — catching quiet expressions and textures I’d never have noticed otherwise.
The highlight (and best laugh) of the day came courtesy of the lion, a llama, and an alpaca. The llama and alpaca were being led around the zoo by their keepers for enrichment exercises — nothing unusual until the male lion noticed. From his perch on the rocks, he locked eyes on them, then suddenly bolted toward the fence. The startled llama yanked its lead free and took off, the keeper in hot pursuit, while the lion paced his enclosure, tail twitching, clearly proud of the chaos he’d just caused. I wasn’t quick enough to capture the full scene, but it was one of those moments that made the chilly morning worth it.
Oh and don't forget to beware of the rabbit....he has a vicious streak a mile wide.
