The Superb Fairy Wrens are almost over-running my garden at present. I suspect this little male is a hatchling from late last year.... he has yet to develop the electric blue and black feathers around his head which advertise his readiness to breed. Meanwhile he flits around my garden, building up his strength in order to deal with the many female admirers he will undoubtedly attract this coming breeding season.

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The Meerkats are a very popular attraction at a nearby zoo. Though I would normally photograph wildlife only in natural surroundings, I could not help myself as I watched the antics of these little guys during a recent zoo visit.

I'm familiar with Meerkat behaviour in the wild, however though born into a zoo and familiar with humans, it was interesting to see they still retain much of their wild behaviour. When a helicopter flew over the zoo at very high altitude, the entire group of Meerkats froze in the classic Meerkat posture and watched it intently as they do when a bird of prey appears overhead. They immediately went back to chasing around when it was out of sight.

Nikon D500 camera
Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8E FL ED VR lens (at 85mm)
Nikon SB-900 Speedlight

f/4.5 @1/160s ISO 400
Processed: ACR and PSE14

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Thank you Jan.

Thanks Jack - appreciated.

Thanks G. Crook.

Thanks imagemeister - appreciated. As an aside, I seem to recall you had a somewhat different Avatar!!

Thanks DebAnn.

Thanks SC - certainly a good story in the end.

Thanks Earl - appreciate your comment.

Thanks JB - appreciated.

Thank you Karin

Thank you Fergus - I hope so too. It would never have survived without intervention.

As always SC, I appreciate your taking the time.

Thank you Carol.... appreciated

Thank you Jan. See my response to carlysue above.