Penguins, Here We Come!

Saturday, 1st October 2011

We passed them during the drives. We kept saying that we need to take pictures of them for Merri. Merri studies wildlife biology and she loves penguins (real, toys, souvenirs, etc.) Personally, I am fascinated by the colourful paintings on them, even though I am not an artist.

Days, weeks and months passed until one day I told Mike we got to start taking pictures because we don't know if we would still be living in this city after November 2011. And if we do leave and didn't take the opportunity to show Merri the penguins, I will regret it.

Because of Merri's interest in wildlife and her love for this interesting bird, I am dedicating this blog to her because she inspired me into this - hunting. Not hunting for live animals but sculptured animals, and in this particular project, sculptured birds. I hope she will enjoy this blog. And I hope other people will enjoy it too.

I have enjoyed the hunt. Gave my husband and me the opportunity to explore and know Tulsa better, and also the excuse to visit other cities.

Thanks to the following websites that I found while googling for information and clues to where the penguins are located:

http://tulsapenguinsonparade.blogspot.com
http://jenspicksatl.blogspot.com/2010/11/tulsa-penguins.html
https://picasaweb.google.com/sibloc41/TulsaPenguins
http://www.panoramio.com/user/5433468?with_photo_id=46543753
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4182/is_20110628/ai_n57775689
http://business-video.tmcnet.com/news/2011/07/05/5615491.htm

Thank you, Tulsa Chamber of Commerce, for the listing.

Appreciate Steve who went the extra mile and surprised me with a list from the Tulsa Zoo. I had contacted Tulsa Zoo but was told that they don't keep a list of the penguins' whereabouts after they have been sold. The list had help me a lot in hunting them down and at the same time helped me in putting the right name to the right penguin, as not all the penguins that I found, have name plates displayed. Thank you so much, Steve.

Thanks to all who replied my enquiries (phones calls, e-mail, snail-mail). Just replying, as to whether you have the penguin or not, had helped me tremendously.

Thanks to all who had kindly allowed me to come inside their buildings to take pictures of their penguins.

Last but not least, thanks to my greatest support - my dearest husband, Mike. Without him, I would not have accomplished this self-created project!

I will be posting in the days to come, pictures of all the penguins that I have found so far. Yesterday saw the last of the confirmed 50 penguins. So, check back if you are interested.

If there is any incorrrect information, I would appreciate your feedback via the comments. And I will correct them.

Hope you enjoy this blog and hope it will help others to find them. I know it is a fun thing to take the little children to visit and take pictures with these sculptures.