Partygoers flock to zoo in DC for an adorable panda birthday bash

They came from near and far Friday morning to see Qing Bao a big black and white ball of fuzzy cuteness celebrate her fourth birthday. Shortly...

They came from near and far Friday morning to see Qing Bao - a big black-and-white ball of fuzzy cuteness - celebrate her fourth birthday.

Shortly after 9 am, as keepers lifted the gate to let her go to her outdoor enclosure, a crowd of 200 - parents, grandparents, kids, teens and passersby - watched intently. Some were from D.C. Others from as far as Massachusetts, Texas and Japan. They oohed and awwed as Washington’s most famous animal Qing Bao, a giant panda at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo, lumbered through the grass.

She first nibbled on some carrots that her keepers had sprinkled in her yard to lure her to a multitiered fruitsicle cake, shaped like a 4 and made from diluted beet, apple and pineapple juices and decorated with some of her favorite treats - blueberries, apples, peaches and strawberries. She reached up into a tree and batted one of her birthday gifts - a new ball - down from a branch. She took a few more steps and nibbled on one of her birthday boxes and the sweet potato she found inside.

Then she moved closer to the cake.

As kids perched on their parents’ shoulders and others held their cameras above onlookers’ heads, visitors squealed with delight and broke out in huge grins, gushing all at once.