jeffwc00's photostream  

This is Gao Gao the panda, at the San Diego Zoo. (He has been the father of five panda cubs born at the Zoo.)

He was laying amid an abundance of bamboo branches, and gave every sign of enjoying himself as he stripped leaves off them for his meal.

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Please do NOT place any graphics in comments; I feel they create too much clutter and will delete them. Thank you.

A view of the full plant that a portion of was first seen here: www.flickr.com/photos/jeffwc00/6606775359/

It's quite tall; I had to back off a few feet to get it all in the frame.

After looking again at the base of it, I realized it must be a variety of agave. Full identification would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

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Please do NOT place any graphics in comments; I feel they create too much clutter and will delete them. Thank you.

During January 6, 2012, San Diego beaches were betting much heavier waves than normal, thanks to a strong storm out in the Pacific Ocean. I ventured out late afternoon to take them in, along with quite a large number of other people.

I went to the Sunset Cliffs area of the Ocean Beach neighborhood. From what I had read, the waves had been higher earlier in the day, but they were still somewhat higher than normal, and also occurring at much greater frequency and more energy than usual.

Here's a diptych of a wave breaking on a rocky portion of the formations related to the cliffs.

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Please do NOT place any graphics in comments; I feel they create too much clutter and will delete them. Thank you.

During January 6, 2012, San Diego beaches were betting much heavier waves than normal, thanks to a strong storm out in the Pacific Ocean. I ventured out late afternoon to take them in, along with quite a large number of other people.

I went to the Sunset Cliffs area of the Ocean Beach neighborhood. From what I had read, the waves had been higher earlier in the day, but they were still somewhat higher than normal, and also occurring at much greater frequency and more energy than usual.

Some folks who were there were willing to get much closer to the water than I was, as seen here!

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Please do NOT place any graphics in comments; I feel they create too much clutter and will delete them. Thank you.

Visited the Birch Aquarium, which is part of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, itself part of the University of California at San Diego.

This is a Moorish idol (Zanclus cornutus). I didn't notice this until I got home and downloaded files to my computer, but it appears to have been carrying something in its mouth.

Lighting in the aquarium is kept dim, except in the tanks. To deal with this I set ISO to maximum, as I didn't want to use flash, and used the Program mode to simplify things. There were lots of families with small children present, and I didn't want to get in their way any more than necessary.

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Please do NOT place any graphics in comments; I feel they create too much clutter and will delete them. Thank you.