This weekend a few friends and I set out to photograph some animals at The North Carolina Zoo. We started our voyage at the incredibly early time of 11 am. Who would wake up that early on the weekend?

We arrived at the park shortly and made our way inside. After buying tickets and snacks we pulled out our camera gear and got ready to capture some animals.

As we walked into the park we quickly came upon a rather odd animal. It was some sort of very large flightless bird. Its eyes stared into mine as I cropped in close for a picture of its face.

Moments later one of the many small children shouted out Ostrich! and the identity of the beast was settled.

It wandered off slowly, obviously in no hurry, picking at the ground as it went.

Moments later a pair of giants walked into my view. I wondered why they would have such long necks and how they possibly could stay balanced.

Our tour guide, a group of small children, was again quick to point out that this massive animal was called a giraffe. The giraffes walked over to investigate why someone was calling their name.

In the distance two giraffes formed in the shape of an X, undoubtedly to warn us of a train crossing ahead.

As I stood wondering when the train would be coming, I spotted something very peculiar in the distance, it seemed for some reason the zoo had painted stripes on their horses. Perhaps the horses were self-conscious about their weight and wanted a slimming effect.

Again a child yelled out ZEBRA!! and the stripes on the horses suddenly made sense. After doing a price check on the zebras we walked a ways along the path and found our way to the lion exhibit.

Both of the lions looked like they were ready for a well deserved nap. I suspect listening to children yelling all morning must be exhausting.

Suddenly the lioness stood up and looked me right in the eyes. She may have licked her lips while standing up but I can't be sure. I don't know if it was because they were dry or because I slightly resembled a gazelle.

As we turned to continue along the path we noticed our path was blocked by this little fellow. He stood there defiantly for several seconds before scampering off to tend to the nut he was burying.

After paying the squirrel tax we walked a ways further until we encountered a whole family of chimpanzees. Some of the youngsters were in the middle of playing while the older ones watched on from above.

Leaving the chimps behind we walked on the find a huge grizzly bear hiding behind a rock.

After a bit of a stretch he gets up and walks away, hopefully to find someone to trim his nails.

A few more minutes of walking and we encounter the great North American bison, the cows of the New World.

A majestic creature, they snack on a bit of grass and stand perfectly still in one spot while staring across the field at the other bison.

We look out and notice that the bison have roommates. A herd of elk have gathered on the opposite side of the field. Suddenly the male sees his chance to woo one of the lady elk. After a bit of failed courting the male calls out in a sound resembling a poorly tuned clarinet.

One elk sits close to us, probably tired of the yelling going on across the field.

The next area was for black bears. When we arrive there was one single strange looking bear tossing out food and telling us the bears would be back soon. I'm still not quite sure how they taught a bear to dress up in a people suit and speak english. A couple of minutes later the real bears emerge from their cave and immediately run to the food scattered all over. They were even too impatient to pose for a single good photo.

Finally with the park almost closing we made our way back to the entrance. We had one last animal to see on our way: the elephants. This elephant appears to be fashioning a stick into some sort of writing instrument. Frustrated with her efforts she breaks it in half and starts chewing on it. I'm sure she will remember what she planned on writing down.

We made our way back to the car and set out for home. Only one thing left to do: eat dinner. After a wonderful dinner we finished up the last of our journey and made it home.

Gear

All of the photos were shot on the following

• Canon T6
• Canon 100-400 mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II lens

I rented the lens for this trip from Lensrentals which I can highly recommend.