Smithsonian’s National Zoo, DC, June 2026
At the north end of the park, they have the Elephant Trail, Africa Trail, Visitor Center, Main Entrance, Asia Trail, and Bird House. The Africa Trail was closed for renovation, and we skipped the Elephant Community Center.
Next, we headed for the most important thing in the National Zoo; we headed straight for the cancel stamps. The route took us along Olmsted Walk past the Elephant Community Center and some of the ubiquitous educational signs.
Kate went straight to the Visitor Center (and did not pass Go or collect $200!) to get a cancel stamp. We also wanted to get picture of the main entrance sign, so we had to get our hands date stamped for re-entry. (Park reentry, not orbital reentry.)
When she asked about the stamp, there was a problem. Dun! Dun! Dun!
The Smithsonian is NOT part of the National Park Service. They do not have a National Park Cancel Stamp. Dun! Dun! Dun!
She was bummed, but she did not give up! Dun! Dun! Dun!
She realized the hand stamp was dated. She stamped her book with the official Not-Actually-A-National-Zoo-Cancel-Stamp and just used the hand stamper to date it. The people behind the desk acted pretty mellow about it, but they might have been ready to stamp her forehead repeatedly by the end.
The main entrance sign is just outside the check-in area, which why we needed hand stamps. On the way out, Kate ran into an extra irresistible selfie opportunity. Surprising, isn’t it? (John now measures the time spent at a place in units of selfies instead of minutes or hours. For example, the Stephen F. Udvar-Hazy Center visit was 13 selfies long.)
And finally, the front entrance.
Remember! Your support makes a GIANT impact for animals. Also, Kate saw the baby elephant; John missed it.
On the way to the Panda House, we passed the upper view of the Fishing Cats. The Fishing Cats are a little smaller than the Bobcats and a little larger than the Pallas cats. The looked a little like spotted Tabby Cats with squished faces.
Oddly, one signs says vulnerable and the other says endangered. Google claims they are both correct. Globally, they are vulnerable. In some local areas, they are endangered. Still, they have nothing on SCUBA Cat. (You can read more here.)
The Clouded Leopards are close to the size of a Lynx, but they lay around sleeping more like a house cat.
The Asian Small-Clawed Otters are about two-thirds the size of the River Otter that we saw in Yellowstone. They are just as cute, though. It was hard to get a picture because they would not stop moving.
At the intersection leading to The Bird House or the Giant Panda Exhibit, you can see a large Asian Elephant pen.
And, of course, Kate felt that you should know the relative size of her hand and elephant poop.
Just In case that was not elephant TMI, the bathroom has important animal facts.
A steel truss bridge that was built in the 2007-2008 time frame, when the new Asian Trail was built, constitutes part of the Asian Elephant pen overlook. You can see remnants of an old paved path along the sides.
At this point, we had to decide on whether to go to The Bird House or the Giant Panda exhibit first. Since going to the Giant Panda Exhibit would require us to back track, we decided to do a quick run through The Bird House.
The area in front of the bird house has a few paths, a few places to sit, and the stone eagle. John has a family picture from long ago with him, his brother, and two cousins all sitting on the eagle, but sitting on the eagle is no longer allowed.
The eagle also seems a lot smaller now.
The Birdhouse was renovated over six years from 2017 to 2023. John thinks that he saw the brick archway as a kid on field trips. Searches on the topic indicate that some time in the 1960’s the front of The Bird House was removed and put in storage. Possibly, he is just remembering photos of the arch entrance. The new renovation made the old arch entrance a feature wall in the lobby.
There is also a giant educational display about bird migration in the lobby.
We wandered through The Bird House, but we did not go into the exterior aviary. We saw some new birds, but they do not count for the catalog because they are captive.
A few birds held their wings oddly or seemed to only use one leg. We believe some of the birds are injured, and they are kept here because they would not survive in the wild.
The pretty one above seems to be a Golden Plover male with the female in the lower right picture.
We are pretty sure this is an Indigo Bunting. We have been looking for one of these in the wild for a while. It did not have the brown wings of a Blue Grosbeak.
Among the other wading birds, we also saw a Willet in the seashore room. We have seen a wild Willet in Alabama near Dauphin Island.
Next, we headed to the Giant Panda Exhibit. When we arrived at the outdoor area, the keepers were booting a panda out into the yard. The panda seemed to object. Or he was yawning. It is hard to tell. They are just as cute when they are angry as when they are not.
The rest of the pandas were inside. Maybe the outside panda needed a cage cleaning or he was being punished for something.
And who would not want to see a Giant Panda video? If you say, “Me!”, we are banning you from the web site. (The video is on the right.)
We are not sure the pandas get any privacy because there seems to be a panda control center. If we were conspiracy theorists, we might claim Giant Pandas are extinct and that person is controlling the fake robot pandas!
To be continued …