Giraffe

[TitusvilleSurfer]

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r236/TitusvileSurfer/Animals/Mamal/_MG_6043.jpg

[ludnix]

Haha, that's a great photo! Where did you did you take this at?

[TitusvilleSurfer]

Brevard Zoo in Melbourne, FL. One of the parents made me delete the better photographs because you could see their kid's faces. -_- I'm no pedo, I hate people like that. But I deleted every picture and argued for this one.

[ludnix]

That's a shame, especially since legally you had no obligation to delete those photos. I've avoided taking pictures of children for that reason though, it's not very comfortable trying to defend yourself as a photographer.

I wonder what they would have done if you used film?

[TitusvilleSurfer]

I wouldn't have backed down!

I was photographing birds in a lake near my house recently. The lake has a well kept playground/volleyball court/fishing/boat dock within gates locked after dark. A sheriff squad car pulled into the park, which I noted as it entered. Having just arrived myself, I positioned my tripod and went back to the car for my camera. As I bring my Canon 40D and 70-200 f/2.8IS telephoto lens out of the cab of my truck, an obnoxious and frightening honking sound came from the one way road. The sheriff pulled behind my truck with blue lights strobeing like a rave party. I didn't know what to do or think other than glance at the children in the playground and my paparazzi camera lens.
I panicked because there was no other logical reason for a sheriff car to check me out.
Deciding confronting the officer head on was my best bet, finding my mother riding shotgun and laughing historically was a bit of a shock. She works as a lead records clerk for the county sheriff's office and was taking a field trip ride along that day. Noticing me off to take photographs, she convinced the officer it would be a good idea to pull me over. It turns out they really were at the park to catch pedophiles, but I wasn't actually a suspect. Scared the crap out of me though.

[Saurdo]

I went to the same zoo at the beginning of the year. The aviary is really awesome. They give you little cups filled with fruit juice and tropical birds swarm at you to try and get some.

It's a fun zoo, very interactive. We did the kayak thing as well.

The giraffe on the kid's head is hilarious.

[TitusvilleSurfer]

Oh I love the aviary! Here is a self portrait:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3390/3546987135_5c3c54cc72_o.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3544/3546987329_a720a29b79_o.jpg
I didn't dare a self portrait with this carnivore, but I did let him rub his face against mine. Easily the chillest bird I have ever handled.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2481/3562408664_f06031ae75_o.jpg
While I'm at it, this was a random duck.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2470/3570683279_c72a08db99_o.jpg
I did the African kayak tour on this last trip. Although my boat never came close to tipping, I left my equipment high and dry with the operators back at base camp. The wild river otter was very entertaining. Apparently he just showed up in the river one day and decided to never leave.

[ludnix]

I don't think I could let any of those birds hang out on my shoulder after having juice. Whenever my pet jenday conure gets a hold of any fruit juice he turns into a poop machine. Did you have problems with them getting interested in your camera? I have given up trying to take pictures of my bird outside of his cage. They all end up looking down his through because he's trying to chew on the camera lens.

When I was in a very cool small zoo on the big island in Hawaii they had a Cuckatoo named einstein that would reach through the cage's bars and steal people's cellphones and cameras to play with. He tried to take my Canon Rebel XT when I wasn't looking but it wouldn't fit through the bars.

[TitusvilleSurfer]

I was leery of the kingfisher, one good peck could do $2000 worth of damage to my camera. He probably would have been fine though. He sat on my shoulder for a good 5 minutes before I shooed him off. He flew back onto my shoulder as I was walking away haha.

[TitusvilleSurfer]

I re-edited the giraffe picture and think I did a much better job this time around!
Origional
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r236/TitusvileSurfer/Animals/Mamal/_MG_6043.jpg
New (no cropping at all but its the colors and such that make it better)
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r236/TitusvileSurfer/Animals/Mamal/_MG_6043A.jpg