I happened to be at Ueno Zoo the other day (I went to take a photo of a particular animal for stock photography) and I ended up visiting a part of the zoo I had not been to for years. Aside from the stock photography exercise, it was a beautiful day and Shinobazu Pond was looking particularly beautiful in the sunshine.

Also, you need to go over to the West Garden if you are interested in seeing the interesting creature above – the Shoebill Stork or Whale-headed Stork (or ハシビロコウ in Japanese). What you can’t see from the photo, and what is somewhat jarring in person, is that Shoebill storks are rather LARGE: in fact, according to Wikipedia, adults are 115-150 cm (45-64 in) tall, 100-140 cm (40-60in) long, 230-260 cm (91-125 in) across the wings and weighs 4 to 7 kg (8.8-15.5 lbs).

Here’s a profile shot:

Reminds me of something from The Flintstones…yabba dabba do…which, oddly enough, is the second time today The Flintstones has surfaced in my mind – earlier, when discussing what to do with a pineapple that was staring at me from the kitchen counter, I suggested to LY that we should make an “Upside Down Flint Rubble Double Bubble Cake”, but the reference did not resonate. For those of you who DO remember, it is the episode where F & B impersonate W & B – here’s a clip: