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It’s been a while since I’ve been to Brevard Zoo, which gets better with every visit. The expanded monkey habitats are really fantastic, and the monkeys seem to appreciate it. Lions were waiting in the wings – well, in a cage – before going on display for the first time. And work by our friends at Sandsational Sand Sculpting was on display in the multi-sculpture exhibit Life Beneath Our Sea.

Sadly, the birds were pretty much all on lockdown as the zoo tries to prevent infection by bird flu, which is in the area. The flamingos were all together in one enclosure and easier to smell than see, but I hope these measures will keep them safe. Meanwhile, vultures and ibises crashed exhibits all over the place. Maybe not the birds one expected to see, but they were interesting!

This was also a chance to exercise the camera a bit with storm-chasing partner Alethea Kontis. We hope to head to the Plains soon.

In the meantime, here are some adorable critters.

Roll over a photo to see its caption, or click on any photo to start a slide show of larger images.

My storm-chasing partner Alethea Kontis and I had a wonderful chase expedition last year, with lots of beautiful storms, funny moments and all the things that come with an intense few weeks on the road.

There were so many beautiful storms this past year. If we get half as many, it’ll be a good year … but I always hope for more! As well as a safe and healthy trip.

We talk about last year’s adventures in this video I just posted – Chris & Alethea look back at STORM CHASING 2021! And here it is.

If you go to YouTube to see the video, please hit that subscribe button for Chris – and also subscribe to Princess Alethea’s channel!

I so appreciate the amazing support we had last year. It was so fantastic, Princess Alethea has started a gas fund for this year’s chase. Want to donate?

Thank you so much for watching and messaging us and sharing the journey!

We have a bat box in our neighborhood, at Rockledge High School, and every evening – just about the time the first star (or planet) appears in the sky – the bats plunge from their box and take flight. We certainly have plenty of mosquitoes for them to feast on this spring, especially after all the rain we’ve had over the weekend.

Tonight I shot a little video with my iPhone of hundreds of bats dropping out of the box. This is just a fraction of the bats who come out each night. The new video is above.

What? You want more bats? Here’s a video I shot in 2018 with a better quality camera.