Interview!

Sweet on Sarvey is this Saturday! I signed up to work several parts of it, but haven't heard from anyone yet. At this point I think I'll just show up on Saturday and tell them to put me to work. I have the time to devote to it, and I want to help. I'm also curious to see how the feather I drew (paired with an awesome photo taken by Kestrel) will do in the auction. 

No pictures this week, but with good reason. This was the week that I interviewed for the Bird room internship. It's a six month internship where I would have the unique opportunity to learn how to take care of wild birds, and keep them healthy and happy so they can go out into the wild. I've known about the interview for a while now, but I didn't want to mention it until it actually happened. 

I went in this morning at my usual time, not really knowing what to expect. 

Because of the interview it was a much shorter day for me than usual. I believe I left around 4 as opposed to 6 or 7. It's odd being there for such a short amount of time. 

When I walked into the clinic everything was bustling. It turns out there were no volunteers for a few days, which understandably can make things difficult on the staff. I regret not being able to stay longer to make sure everything could get done that I'd normally do. Even so Thursdays right now seem to be doing pretty well as far as volunteers go. Now it seems other days are suffering. I'm happy to go in during the week if there's no one to help out. I just never know there's been a shortage of help until I come in on Thursdays. 

Essentially what ended up consuming my morning was babies. It begins. We've ballooned from one baby squirrel to nine, all at different stages, and with different needs. We also have several baby Cottontails. I spent the first hour pottying, feeding and cleaning baby squirrels. They're wonderfully uncoordinated. I think that's my favorite things about baby animals. They're just not very good at things yet. Things like eating, and moving about, and going potty. Baby squirrels also have a tendency to fall asleep in just about any position. I startled myself earlier when I glanced in one of the greens and saw a baby sleeping on it's back in a very unnatural position. I had to ask my lead if that it was normal. It turns out that they're kind of akin to cats in the fact that they can sleep in just about any position, even those that seem like they should be incredibly uncomfortable.

After the babies, I continued to help out around the clinic. A couple of birds came in, and I jumped at the opportunity to help with intake. For whatever reason I was under the impression I'd be doing an intake as part of my working interview, so I've been participating just about every chance I get (Not that it wasn't something I really wanted to do anyway). I was excited to get some practice in. Of the two birds that arrived, the one I did the intake for was a young Band-tailed pigeon. The bird seemed to be perfectly fine, if not a bit thin, but my guess is that someone noticed a young bird on the ground and panicked. Generally if a young bird is on the ground and uninjured, assuming it is fully feathered, it is probably still being cared for by it's parents as it learns how to be a bird. Let the bird be for a day. If it's still there the next day, then it's okay to assume it needs help. I don't know if that was the case with this bird, but over all she seemed to be in decent health. We did encounter some trouble when we tried to hydrate her though. The LRS did not stay down, and I had to tip her upside down, with her belly toward the ceiling so that she didn't aspirate as it came back up. 

The second bird, a Pine Siskin, wasn't in very good shape. We hydrated him, and set him up in a comfy incubator, but he died soon after he arrived. Pine Siskins are high stress birds, and have a difficult time coping with the difficult process of rehabilitation. Sadly, many of them do not survive the trauma of what brings them to our Center. They remind me of fish in that way. They are such delicate little creatures. 

Shortly after the intake, my lead arrived and it was time for me to go into interview mode. I went through my mental checklist, to make sure I had everything on me that I needed, and while my lead set up the bird room for my working interview, I headed in to my regular interview with the clinic director. Up until I got talking, I was nervous enough to tremble. It was doubtless a mixture of excitement too though, because doing well today could open an entirely new chapter in my life. I'd already taken the first step toward a career by volunteering, even if I didn't realize it when I started. An internship would be the perfect building block to help bolster my grasp on wildlife rehabilitation, biology, and birds in general. Getting to be an integral part of their development would mean I'd have the chance to really observe them, and get to know their individual quirks as a species. Reading books can only provide me so much understanding. Hands on experience will make everything I've read come to life. 

I have no illusion that an internship will be easy. It's going to be exhausting, emotional, and physically demanding, but this is what I want. If I don't have to put my heart into it, it isn't worth devoting my life to. I want to spend my time doing something I love, or at least working toward it. Volunteer work has been a great first step, and it will continue to be a staple for me if the internship doesn't work out. I've gotten efficient at what I've been taught to do so far. 

An internship will mean less pictures, as a lot of my time will be devoted to what I'm doing. Any of what I do take will probably be due to time I put into visiting the educational birds after my shift has technically ended. It will all depend on how tired I am after a shift that day though. I know I'd at least like to visit Iya, as she seems to like the attention. The others, I'm sure, would be perfectly happy without it, but I digress.

I think the spoken interview went well. I don't think I've ever had a bad interview to be honest. Being personable, and enthusiastic has always come easy for me, and I was taught early on to go into an interview overly-prepared, and full of questions. So, while I was a bit nervous (aren't we all), once I started into it I began to feel more comfortable. I realized that I knew exactly what I wanted to say in response to each question. Maybe it can be attributed to passion, I can't say for certain, but I knew what I wanted to get across. We finished the interview early enough for me to ask a few follow-up questions before my lead had the bird room ready.

It was finally time to start the working interview. I won't go into too much detail about the specifics of what I did. Essentially my job was to go in, be given a general run down of what needed to happen (I made a list), and then I was let loose. My goal was essentially to take the room from a state of unorganized chaos, and get it running smoothly. In the beginning I took a moment to read over my list, acquaint myself with what I needed to do, and then off I went. I think it's safe to say I did well. According to my lead I missed two things. One of which was because I didn't realize pigeons/doves aren't generally given nests. Looking back on it, based on the fact that the birds (we used colored marshmallow peeps) were on typical pigeon diet, it should have occurred to me even if my lead had forgotten to state it. I set up incubators for juvenile pigeons before. I'm kicking myself for that one now. The other thing I missed, was writing a date in the wrong place. I think that was a misunderstanding on my part. I must have missed it during the overview. Otherwise I think I did pretty well, and regardless of whether or not I get an internship I'm really pleased with how I performed today. I would definitely say the volunteer experience set me up best for the interview. I would recommend that anyone wanting to go into a bird or mammal internship try volunteering, at least to acquaint themselves with everything beforehand. I can say for certain that if I had gone into it without the knowledge I've gleaned from volunteering, I would not have done nearly as well. Still though, I'm ecstatic that I was able to achieve what I was.

After the interview I had a teeny bit of time before I had to head out. You may remember me mentioning a raptor with a case of Trich (Trichomonus gallinae), an infectious disease also known as Frounce. Well today it was present in a Bald eagle I was asked to capture. So on went the gloves, and off I went to capture an eagle. It's important that we take steps to prevent the spread of Trich to any of our other birds. Therefore, when handling the animal involved, we wear gloves, and wash thoroughly afterward. Immediately, I could definitely tell this eagle was not feeling good. The last eagle I caught was alert, and growling, and boy did she fight back. This bird caught me off guard with how little resistance he put up. I can definitely say that all of that practice on the dog at home paid off. My technique was better this time, even though it wasn't truly tested. This eagle only squirmed a little, and not very hard. His face was even uncovered at one point while I was holding him, and instead of biting me, he just craned his head to look up at me, as if asking me a very pitiful why? Poor boy. I hope he is able to recover fully. There was something very endearing about that look. The effect of it was honestly heartbreaking. I'm happy to know that I've had a hand in his recovery, and I really do hope to see him released. 

My last act of the day was to tackle the baby squirrels again. Though this time I had some help. A couple of the other volunteers hadn't had the chance to do it before. I was happy to walk them through the process, and show them where their resources were. I couldn't stay for entire thing, but I got them far enough to show them what to do with the older squirrels who had just moved to the green before I left. They did a great job, and made sure their babies were happy and full. I was told I'd make a great mom some day. I blame my mom. Thanks mom, I know you're reading this. I apparently inherited your skill with babies.

Since I have no photos of my own to share this week, take a stroll through Kestrel Skyhawk's gallery. She's a fantastic photographer and artist, and deserves lots of love, and support for her work (And everything else she does for Sarvey.) I'm working on a project with her that I hope I'll have the opportunity to talk about soon. I want to wait until things are more into the final stages first before I mention it though. 

I also want to thank Leslie and Melissa for conducting my interviews today, and being such amazing support throughout my time as a volunteer so far. 

Hawks, and Vultures, and Eagles; Oh my!

Thursday was so jam-packed I don't even know where to begin! I had a few firsts today, met at least one personal goal, and in general I had a blast! So much happened in the later part of the day, that I barely remember the cleaning I did early on; and I did at least four straight hours of it. I guess I'll start from the beginning.

....

Right of the bat things were entertaining. When I arrived, and dropped off my things in the lounge everybody seemed to be inside, talking and laughing. Definitely a great way to start off the day. Soon after that, I was on to the cleaning. A lot had already been done before I'd gotten there.

 Although Iya had already been cleaned I made it a point to stop by and visit her. Once again, I found myself with an owl in my face. I'm loving how friendly she's been lately. She glided down to the netting, and twittered until I got in the flight. After a couple quick pictures I took a look around, since I was in there. I was ecstatic to find she'd dropped a gorgeous leading feather from her left wing. It was practically perfect. Way to go Iya! Thanks for the gift! The feather went inside the clinic, to the designated feather bucket, but not before I got some pictures of it. 

I have to say, I really look forward to seeing her now. She's one of those birds that is always surprising me. One day she'll be tucked up in a corner snoozing, the next she'll be down around the feeding tray, poking around. I love that she chooses to come down and investigate me when I show up, and that she doesn't mind me and my camera. Though if she keeps this up, I'm going to run out of ways to photograph her.

If I had to pick an owl species as a favorite based solely on what I've studied, as opposed to what I've experienced, I'd probably choose Burrowing owls. They're kind of the odd one out in the owl world, but in a good way. Iya has really made me fall in love with barn owls though, and I find that I can't wait to go see her when I get to the center. Even if it's just to say good morning, and get a twitter back. 

....

Since so much had been done of my general routine, I was happy to realize that I'd have the opportunity to clean some of the areas that I generally don't end up doing, usually because someone else has arrived and started it themselves. I headed into the building that now houses Chezmu, our Virginia Opossum. 

I was surprised to find him just barely covered in blankets. Usually he's made himself a little nest and buried himself deep inside it. Today though, he perked right up when he heard me enter, and started poking his head out curiously. 

I'm often surprised by the people I talk to about Opossums. I've always really liked the little guys. It seems though, that several people I know, or have met in passing actually seem to think they're vicious. I don't think I've encountered a vicious Opossum yet. They're really good at growling, and drooling, but when it's come down to it, and I've had to handle them, they generally end up stiff as boards. (And still drooling.) I can't say I've even had one try to bite or scratch me. Maybe that's why I'm always so caught off guard when I hear people talk about them in a negative light. The same goes for crows.

Today we had a middle-aged women, and a much older lady whom I believe was her mother, arrive at the center. The older lady was a huge fan of eagles, and that ecstatic for the opportunity to see one. Luckily enough for her, Askate was sitting right at the front of her flight. 

When I bumped into them later, over by the crows, the younger women had begun a conversation about how she found them annoying, citing how they would caw in the mornings and wake her up. I'm always a little sad when people don't realize how special they are. I went on to explain how crows were actually very intelligent birds, and one of the few species that displayed definitive problem solving skills. Take a look at this article on Corvids. It's easy to understand, and show just how awesome they are.

Clever Corvus

....

Everyone was acting peculiar today it seems. I stopped by I'sta and Lil D's flight to clean. At first nothing seemed unusual, but then as I progressed through the flight I'sta started squawking. I think this is the first time I've heard her legitimately make noise that wasn't the result of being startled by myself or Lil D. Sure enough though, she kept it up through the majority of my time in the flight. Not only that, but Lil D seemed to be more adventurous then usual and would inch closer when I wasn't paying attention. As soon as I noticed her she'd think better of the situation and scramble back to a perch, but it's behavior I hadn't noticed her partake in before. 

I also caught Tadita away from her usual perches, and as opposed to choosing to flee back to the top of her flight, she decided to stay put and mantle. Maybe she had some food cached from the night before that she felt the need to protect, but it was too early for it to have been anything fresh. One of these days I'm going to find a way to look up on the feeding tray (It's 6 or 7 feet off the ground. Just a wee bit high for me to reach), and just make sure there's nothing that's been up there for too long. Her flight is always just a little too clean. It's kind of suspicious if you ask me. She's got to have a stash somewhere. 

I believe I've mentioned in the past how I've segregated the flights in my mind; dividing them between easy to clean, and oh my god did your quail explode last night. The worst offenders are definitely the quail eaters. Mostly falcons, who like to pluck their quail clean of feathers, pull off the legs and wings, and decorate with the innards before eating. I inwardly refer to it as animal enrichment, because if they aren't enjoying themselves while making that mess then we obviously aren't giving them enough quail. That's not to say that other species don't make messes as well. Even the easy birds sometimes leave me surprises. I once entered Birch, the western screech owls flight to find the face of a rat stuck to the wall. I actually got a good laugh out of it. The first thought I had was of a rat materializing out of the wall. What can I say? When you prepare enough dead rodent, it kind of desensitizes you. 

....

The last of the educational birds I visited, was Hanble Okinyan. I caught her mid-meal, and was almost reluctant to enter the flight. I never know how an animal is going to react around food until I experience. I've never had a single problem with Hanble though, so I figured I'd chance going in, and keep a close eye on her body language. The moment she started to look uncomfortable I'd leave. Her flight is never all that bad anyway. 

Thankfully, after she gave me her customary eagle salute, she seemed to lose interest in the rat she was picking at all together. She let me go about my business, no fuss. Hanble has always interested me, because she doesn't really act like other eagles I've encountered. She has such an easy going demeanor. Which is great because she generally also wont move from whatever perch she's on, and heaven forbid, it's always a huge mess in only that one spot. If I take things slow with her, I can pretty much do whatever I need to. 

She's a funny bird. If I get down on my knees near a perch to scrub something, she waddles on over, and gets really curious. She'll pretty much just sit there above my head until it's time for me to get up and move elsewhere. Once I'm standing she'll back off a bit though. Generally her somewhat frequent decisions to change her spot on a perch end with me getting a wing to the face. It happened twice today. I swear she does it on purpose. I'm glad to say that's the worst I've ever gotten from her though. She's another case like Iya. She doesn't particularly mind the proximity, and actually prefers it when strangers show up. In situations where strangers show up at her home, she's more comfortable to be close to someone she recognizes.

Since Hanble is also not a camera shy bird, I relish the opportunity to get nice clear shots of her from close by. Had no problems with that this time. Most of the time that I was in the flight cleaning she was within a couple feet of me. She tended to migrate to the side of the perch I was on. There were no visitors today, so I'm chalking it up to curiosity, something I've seen her display in spades in the past. She likes to watch me work. 

 Here's a neat example of Hanble's Nictitating Membrane. The Nictitating membrane is essentially a transparent or translucent third eyelid. It can be drawn across the eye to moisten, or protect the eye while still maintaining visibility. Unlike the upper and lower eyelids, the Nictitating membrane runs horizontally across the eye. In birds of prey, it also serves to protect the parents' eyes from their chicks while they are feeding them, and when peregrine falcons go into their 200 mph (320 km/h) dives, they will blink repeatedly with their Nictitating membranes to clear debris and spread moisture across the eyes. Here's a picture I took previously of Canowicakte with his Nictitating membranes visible. 

....

Our visiting wild ones:

I also dealt with several Rehabilitating animals today. A few of them were acting fairly peculiar as well. I blame the sunshine. The first animal of note was a Bald eagle that is currently staying in an outdoor flight. This particular bird is missing a portion of her upper beak, and is staying with us until her beak hopefully grows back. As I reached the outside of the flight she was in, I had no idea what to expect. That is, until I noticed a note taped to the door. As well as making clear some other information, this note informed me that inside the flight was a bald eagle. Great. I have no problem with eagles. but this was a smaller flight, and while it's still definitely large enough to house an eagle, I've been in that exact flight with eagles before when the big eagle flight was damaged. Scared eagles, in a somewhat confined space is pretty much a recipe for being eagle-body checked. Needless to say I entered the flight with a fair amount of caution.

I can honestly say that nothing went how I expected it to, but in a good way. This particular bird, even with all of the trauma and stress she'd been through, was remarkably calm. Well... at least for a wild eagle. After a few initial, startled flights from one end of the flight to the other, she seemed to realize that I wasn't there specifically to bother her. 

I'm thinking this girl had scoped out a favorite perch, and she was intent on returning to it. The only issue was that I was doing the majority of my cleaning under, or around that perch. She cautiously inched her way back toward the perch, making slow progress until she decided to throw all caution to the wind and land right above my head. Oddly enough, the only thing running through my head at the time was, please don't poop on me, or fall on me. My fight or flight never did work very well. I'm under the impression that it's defective. I once chased down a man with a chainsaw at a haunted house because he startled me. I didn't get very far before the people with me grabbed me, and ferried me along. Fortunately this situation wasn't nearly as eventful. She pretty much adjusted herself on the perch, looked at me for all of two seconds, and then jumped up to the high perch connected to it. She seemed to feel pretty safe up there for the rest of the encounter. Like I said, not what I expected, but a marked improvement over the last time when there were two eagles in that space. Both of them were scared and one of them was directionally challenged. You do the math.

....

Here's miss Turkey, just in case you forgot about her.

The wild turkey that I got to see last week has moved outside. Turkey has also been laying eggs for the duration of that time. I realize Turkey's aren't exactly the most mentally accomplished birds, but I feel like she got comfortable awfully fast. None of the eggs are fertilized, and so they wont hatch. She doesn't seem to do much sitting on them either, so they pretty much end up being fed to some of the other animals. Crows for instance, love eggs. 

I have to say though, after watching her wander around and do Turkey things for awhile, I kind of want a Turkey, (Similar to how I also kind of want Quail). They're like great big chickens, and they make slightly more amusing noises. At one point while I was cleaning she settled down in a little Turkey ball, and seemed to start dozing off. That was also around the time that scout, who's run is beside the Turkey's flight, decided to start harassing the Turkey. Imagine if you will, a cat chattering at birds through a window, and then replace it with a snorting, growling raccoon. If I'd been thinking straight, I would have gotten pictures. It was terribly amusing. The Turkey seemed to be completely unfazed by his antics. 

Remember me lamenting over not having been able to capture the pretty, shimmering colors reflected off by turkey plumage? Well, I totally remembered to do that this time. Voila! Turkey plumage! As strange looking as wild Turkey are, they're awfully pretty in some ways.

....

Once everything outside was finished, the next step was heading inside to work on things. I essentially finished everything in time to feed Baby squirrel. Baby squirrel is no longer kept company by baby bunnies. The three baby bunnies that thrived have now been released. Now there seems to be a recovering mouse in their place. I didn't look much into the mouse, as I only enter the mammal room to feed baby. Today she was eating five times a day, as opposed to the four times a day last week. That meant the schedule changed itself up on me for feeding again. 

After the squirrel I assisted in the intake of a varied thrush, as well as witnessing my first euthanasia, (all the way through the process at least.) The thrush had been attacked by a cat, and unfortunately the damage the cat did to him was not reversible, and would have hindered his quality of life. This is the sad part of the job. It's also something I need to be able to compartmentalize, and understand the process of if I want to go into this as a career. As heart breaking as the experience is, it is also something I can learn a lot from, and hopefully did. 

....

Next up I was instructed to catch a red-tailed hawk, who has a case of Frounce, or as it's technically termed, Trichomonas. Trich is a contagious yeast infection of the digestive tract, and it often manifests itself in the form of  "cheesy" or "white plaque-like" spots in the mouth or crop. This guy definitely wasn't feeling too great, and didn't put up much of a fight when I went to catch him. My lead tubed him while I held on to him, and back in the cage he went to rest.

While I was in with the hawk, one of my fellow volunteers had begun to prepare the Wigeons former cage (She was released today), for the Western Screech owl to move into. While he was putting the finishing touches on the new environment, I caught and held on to the Screech owl. He was nice enough to take a picture right before I introduced the screech to his new temporary home. 

This is actually a good example of how we safely handle wild birds. Wrapping the bird in something soft like a towel, or a sheet gives the handler a barrier between themselves and the animal, and secures the animal in a way that keeps them from hurting themselves. This little guy was only making the short trip over a cage, but this method is incredibly handy, especially when an animal needs to be examined or medicated. 

....

At around that point, the volunteer that I've been helping out arrived, and the three of us made rounds to deliver food to the night feeders. I was originally going to have her make the run by herself for the first time today, but my lead wanted me to have the other volunteer tag a long, as he hadn't done it before. Thus, all three of us set out to deliver dinner. 

When we returned, I had just settled in to pulling food for the next day when my lead walked in and asked if I wanted to catch an Eagle. I was understandably a little nervous, but at the same time, it was something I had wanted to try from the moment I caught my first screech owl for a tubing. So after A brief demonstration on how to hold the sheet, and how to catch the bird, everybody backed off to give me space, and the next thing I knew the dowell doors were open and I was facing down a frightened eagle with nothing but a sheet in between myself and his defense system.

It took me a bit to acclimated. It couldn't have been more then several seconds, but it felt like awhile. The trick was maneuvering the bird with the sheet so that you can come in from behind. And as my lead said, the moment I think I have an opening I just have to go for it. So, that's what I did. I can't say it was a perfect wrap job, but I managed to get my hands on the bird, and I held on. That was my first experience with the insane strength these birds possess. Even with a sheet over his head he struggled. All I could do was hang on to him, and hoist him out of the dowell. Just as an aside, did you know that eagles growl and snort? I had no idea until this experience. Hissing, I've come to expect, but an honest canine growl was something new for me.

 Myself, and my lead with the eagle.

So off to the med room I went with Mr. Eagle for his exam. Eagles in tight spaces tend to get all sorts of crud on their pretty white tail feathers. It turns them green, and makes them really brittle. The big problem with that is that when they break off, and new feathers start to grow, the captive bird with often end up banging their tail around on things and breaking them off again. So what my leads were doing while I held the eagle, was fixing a clear plastic sheet over his tail feathers to keep them from becoming too damaged during his stay. That was the easy part of this venture. Next, they decided to medicate the eagle while he was out to avoid having to stress him again later that night.

That meant maneuvering from my comfortable position with the bird resting on the table, to sitting on a stool, bracing the bird against my body, while securing his feet out of the way. Sounds easy enough, but then you add ridiculous strength into the mix and it suddenly becomes a workout. There was a whole lot of eagle struggling, while my lead attempted to medicate him, and just as of much me fighting the birds attempts to get free. By the time we finished I had broken a sweat. I think the easiest part of the entire process was getting the eagle back in the dowell. I was definitely feeling the aftereffects of it in my arms and shoulders. (In the end it was my abs that ended up sore and the rest of me was fine. A somewhat amusing turn of events in my eyes. My arms aren't even the least bit sore now.)

....

My work wasn't over after the eagle. My lead wanted the male volunteer to learn how to catch a bird. Well, the Turkey vulture needed to come in for a checkup so out we headed with a sheet. I tried to coach him on what to do, based on my previous experience catching the vulture. He managed to get a hold of the vulture, but the vulture also got a good bite on him, and we ended up transferring the vulture over to me so that he could extricate himself. The vulture got a nip on me through the sheet before I managed to secure his head. Luckily I came out of it with nothing worse then a bruise. My partner however managed to score his first battle wound. Those beaks are excellent at tearing flesh, and that is exactly what happened. It wasn't a bad wound, but it definitely bled a bit, and I'm sure it was uncomfortable. I think he did a great job for his first time, especially with as energetic as that vulture is. 

We got the vulture inside, where he managed to bite my lead as well, (I'm the only one who escape without losing blood), and once he was secure again, my lead started the process of drawing blood. I can definitely say that the Turkey Vulture was easier to handle after that. I had the other volunteer do the honor of carrying him back, and we released the vulture back into his flight without further injury. There may have been some hissing on the vultures part though, and boy can they hiss. 

....

After the vulture, my evening started to dwindle to a close. I took the opportunity to eat something real quick before getting back to work. I of course neglected to realize just how late it was, and was just walking out the door to head back to the clinic when the staff member who usually gives me rides home asked if I was ready to go. I had been so busy I didn't even realize it was that late. In fact, it was an hour later then we normally leave. It's amazing how a busy day can distort time so easily.

Babies.

My first baby season officially began not too long ago. So far the influx hasn't been huge (at least in the time I've been there), but not even a day after I learned how to feed and potty baby squirrels, I was dreaming about it, in depth. Everything right now to how many ml of formula to give baby. My brain picks odd things to retain, but I can't say I wasn't grateful for it. Thursday, on my way through the door I was just early enough to to feed the squirrel, and I was able to do it independently, and with a pretty darn clear idea in mind of what I had to do. I think I did pretty well. The little girl managed to eat all of her food, and was still hungry afterward. It's great to see him so ravenous. She repeated herself later in the evening, once again consuming her entire meal. 

....

Soon after, I was on to my usual cleaning. Though, today there was a bit of a twist. It's quite common for Sarvey to host groups of people interested in what we do. A portion of our educational animals are available to view on-site, and I have a tendency to be out there cleaning when a group shows up on Thursdays. This time around it was a group of very inquisitive children and their parents. One little girl in particular was having a splendid time, asking questions about the birds and taking pictures. I was in with Iya when they first arrived. I was happy to show the girl Pellets, and feathers (since everyone seems to be molting right now), and Tell her what kind of owl Iya was, and the types of things I do around the facility as a volunteer. She seemed to soak it all in, and was happy to repeat it to her friends as they joined her later. She had a sketchbook with her as well, which she showed me a few drawings in, as well as a few pictures she'd taken with the camera. As an artist myself, I love it when kids have a healthy passion for art when they're young. In any case, she was particularly taken with Iya. 

As we get closer to summer, Iya has been getting more talkative, and I suppose outgoing. (Can owls be outgoing?) She also however, seems to confuse herself when visitors show up. She can't decide if she's really interested in them, or really perturbed by their presence. In any case, visitors showing up while I'm in her flight generally means Iya comes down to visit. I don't presume to know why she does this. She sometimes visits when people aren't around, but it happens more often when they are. Whether it's because she wants to show off, or she just feels more comfortable being closer to someone she knows, it's pretty consistent. I think the only difference with her visit this time around was the fact that she practically landed on my head, and then decided to stay there. Not once that day, but twice, when I went to enter her flight later on (A friend at the center lent me her telescoping lens, and I wanted to see if I could get pictures of her up on her perch. Instead I got an owl in my face). 

Each time she did it, she appeared  fairly relaxed, and seemed content just to be near me. Especially when their were young, loud children ooing and ahing. I love this bird though, really, I do. Without her antics I would never have the chance to see such a gorgeous bird so close. The same can be said for others, such as Athena, who has cornered me in the past, although that wasn't exciting in quite the same way. For the duration of both visits she simply sat beside me, and stared, fixated. She seemed pretty intent to ignore the small crowd of excited kids, in favor of the exchange. If I talked to her she would twitter back. All together I was pretty amused with the whole interaction. She stood still for pictures (I wasn't about to waste the opportunity, especially with a content, cooperating bird), and then I told her sternly that I needed to finish cleaning her flight, as I had other things to do. This was more to let the kids know I was leaving than for the owls benefit. Even as I left though she tried to maintain the her proximity to me by moving to her perch closest to the door, while I carried out my tools. I almost get the sense that having someone she recognizes nearby makes interactions with the public more comfortable for her. 

....

Today was the first time I had an opportunity to really get pictures of Baxter the bobcat. I've mentioned in the past that we use a solution, called Trifectant to help stop the spread of Zoonotic Disease from one species to another. We have pans of this solution in several places around the facility, ready to step in when entering or leaving the enclosure of any animal that could potentially carry these diseases. Well, today it was time to change out the solution. I found myself the unwitting recipient of the task, and after a small demonstration, I moved on to the rest myself with the help of a fellow volunteer to make the process faster. One of those pans sits in a padlocked area outside of Baxter's run. Naturally, I didn't get close to the chain-link separating me from the cat. Birds are one thing, but Bax is a whole lot of cat, and I've seen way too many when animals attack shows to let myself get within paws reach. However, I had the small advantage of my friends Telephoto lens, as well as only the one degree of separation between us. So while my partner was headed back to dump a bucket of old solution , I took the opportunity to snap a few pictures of Bax.

I'm not going to lie, it was kind of a neat moment for me. It always is the first time I have the opportunity to take pictures of a new species. 

....

I also met Cinnamon for the first time, though I suppose meet is kind of a subjective term, as the goal was to get pictures while staying as far from the Doe as possible. I needed pictures of her for a project I'm working on with one of the Staff, Kestrel. I would have been happy to send one of the staff in with my camera, but instead a staff member offered to go in with me, so that I could procure the pictures I needed. After all, who best to take photos of a subject, then the person who needs to use them directly? This is also where my friends Telephoto lens came into play. She just so happened to have it on her, and we both shoot with Nikons. So not only was I going to take pictures of a new species, but I got to play with a new lens while I was at it. Today was shaping up to be pretty exciting. The staff member and I entered the paddock, and made slow progress toward Cinnamon. Thanks to the lens, we were able to stay a good 30 feet back, while I snapped reference photos. The entire process went very smooth, and I was able to get the pictures I needed. Cinnamon has a bad ankle (which is the reason her leg is at an odd angle), and lives at Sarvey as an imprinter. Essentially, she's there to raise and fawns that pass through, and make sure they act and associate with other deer.

I was blessed to have my hands on the lens for a while longer, and used it to take photos of a few other educational animals I can't normally get close to, such as Ska ska the Merlin, Tadita the Barred owl, and Celi the Short-eared owl.

....

After a quick break for lunch I was done working with the education animals, and I headed back inside to give baby squirrel her second feeding from myself (technically third of the day, as She was being fed four times a day), which as you know went well enough. As I was finishing feeding baby, another of the volunteers I typically work with arrived, and it was time to deliver food to the night feeders. Her timing is usually pretty convenient for me. She still needs some guidance, so I'm happy to assist her, and at the same time I can have her handle and deliver the rats that I'm allergic to. This means I don't have to dig out my gloves, and I can cement a particular task into routine for her and make her experience easier. While we were out there we delivered food to a particularly showing Barn owl. Thanks to this owl, I got to hear the god-awful death screech Barn owls make in person for the first time. She also gives us some brilliant displays of  Mantelling. This is basically Barn Owl for, Don't get any closer! As freaky as it can be to witness in person, this is great behavior for our Barn owl to be displaying. We want the animals we release into the wild to retain their fear of humans. In fact, it's a necessity.  

After the feeding was finished, the volunteer and I headed back toward the clinic. She's gone through this process with me a few times now. I think next time I'll have her do it on her own, and see how it plays out. She's progressed to the point where I can tell her what foods to prepare for the next day, and she diligently goes through the recipe book to make them. I've come to really enjoy the people that I work with. Everybody is friendly, and they've all got personality. Not to mention they all accept my eccentricity. I can be outgoing, and goofy on occasion, but I try to be diligent in my work, as well as efficient and helpful.

That was probably how I ended up helping one of the night volunteers catch and medicate an Opossum. Opossums, in my experience are actually fairly easy to work with. They make a lot of noise, but once you've got your hands on them they kind of freeze up and drool. Come to think of it, this is probably the playing dead, people reference. This particular volunteer is perfectly capable of doing the job on his own. The only reason I was sent out there with him was because this Opossum likes to climb the walls, and therefore make himself into a two person job. This pretty much ended in me holding a stiff, drooling Opossum, while he attempted to medicate it in a way that didn't allow the medicine to leak out of it's mouth with the drool. Opossums are messy. I essentially got drool and medicine all over my shirt. Which I proceeded to proudly announce to everyone in the clinic as soon as we returned. 

The rest of the even was easy enough. I caught an exceptionally pretty duck, to be medicated. I found it was surprisingly easy to do. I'm used to a lot more struggling, and attempts to evade my incoming pillow case or towel. While I was at it, I learned that we don't use towels to secure waterfowl. Instead we use pillowcases. It turns out that towels actually retain more of the detergent from the washing cycle than pillowcases do, and that can be incredibly damaging to the waterproofing of their feathers. I don't remember for certain what type of duck it was, but it might have been a Wigeon.

I also had the fortune of photographing a very well behaved Female Turkey staying in our clinic. She was comfortable in a nice secluded, closet-like, enclosure that we also use to house swans on occasion. Wild Turkey's are surprisingly pretty to look at. Just look at those colors! I wish I could show you the iridescence in the darker plumage.

That's pretty much all there is to say. I'll leave you with a few pictures of one of the cats that lives on-site.

Sarvey, 3/1/12

The day progressed normally starting out. I've definitely worked myself into a routine of sorts, though by no means can I consider it monotonous. There's always too much learning going on in the world of wildlife rehabilitation. I was talking to a recent acquaintance who also spent a good portion of time as a rehabber, and upon telling her I was still in the learning phase, she promptly informed me that the learning phase never ends. I thought it fitting. 

The last week, I've actually been rather busy outside of the center. I've been working on an extensive project as well as trying to figure out the whole living situation deal. My time renting out a room in a friends house it coming to a close as he and his fiancee are getting married soon and seem to want the house to themselves for some insane reason. 

So, I've been doing a great deal of apartment hunting, and just trying to figure out transportation in general. It can be an undertaking when you don't drive (something I hope to remedy just as soon as I have the means. It can be difficult when they only car is occupied for 12-14 hours a day, and the licensed driver is asleep for the rest of that time). I'm still holding out for the bike and bus system route, but that all depends on how things turn out. Looking for places in Arlington is another option as well, as it will hopefully be easier to get to the center the closer to it I happen to live. As it is my prospects are looking a bit daunting, though I'm determined to continue on the path I'm on. Even if that means working nights to pay for volunteering and school. Thank the cosmos I'm still young. I have a feeling the process may be somewhat lengthier then I'd hoped. 

I have a few options. If I can get financial aid for schooling, that might give me some leeway as well. I suppose I only need to work enough to pay for gas and health insurance in the long run. But there's also the issue of the lack of high school diploma coming into play, and I fear that might make it difficult for me to get a job to get myself through school so I can fix the problem, and start working toward what I really want to do with my life. In the mean-time volunteering keeps me calm, and sane, as well as providing me a taste of the life I'd love to pursue full-time. Getting to work around wildlife on a regular basis definitely helps keep me motivated. I think I'd be devastated if I had to give it up, just because life decided to throw me a curve ball. 

You may be wondering why I'm including seemingly off-topic worrying about housing, and work. Keep in mind that while this blog has definitely focused in on my volunteer experience with Sarvey, it's original, intended purpose was to chronicle my journey into an eventual career. Even the annoying though possibly informative parts where I have to work my butt off doing things I don't want to do in order to progress myself just that little bit closer to my goal. I want it to be a guide for anyone with a passion, as well as a warning that it isn't going to be easy. If I can pull this off I'll be able to use it as a basis to offer interested persons practical information about how to achieve their dreams. And just like today, some days it's just going to feel really difficult. 

I guess writing like this is also therapeutic, and helps put into perspective how much I've already achieved. I've learned a lot, done a lot, and experienced things I would never have had the chance to otherwise. It's almost shocking how easy it is to put yourself in a position to be around wildlife like this, and to make a difference. I've only been at this sparingly since October, but I feel like so much has happened. Hopefully I've done a bit of growing as a person since then as well. 

....

The day was actually what I'm consider to be typical by this point, if you can really say that in this line of work. I went about my usual cleaning of flights, making good time as the day progressed.

FPL stuck around for a little bit after I entered, before he took off for his favorite perch.

Nothing too unusual happened until I got to Iya. Now that winter is on its way out she's starting to come out of her sleepy winter phase, (I'm pretty sure it's just an Iya thing), and becoming more active and animated. this meant that she was making noise, mantelling, and even came down to visit me at one point. I'm always excited when she gives me the opportunity to get some good close pictures of her, since I don't have a telescoping lens yet. Getting the close portrait shots I especially like can be difficult with a basic lens. I love it when the birds get all camera-friendly.

 Iya really is a fantastically beautiful bird, and always a joy to be around

I also ended up catching Celi down on her feeding tray and had the opportunity to take a few pictures of her before she decided to go back to her usual perch.

I was really excited to have the opportunity to really get good pictures of her. All of our birds are really so unique, even in comparison to other birds of their own species. That's definitely something I've learned during my volunteering, and as I've gotten to get to know the birds I see on a regular basis. It's mostly a lot of little things like specific shapes of their markings, facial features, and body. It all kind of seems to pull together to create one cohesive personality. It's like of like how I can tell I'sta, and Lil D the peregrines apart by looking at them. Personality factors into it quite a bit as well, but when you're just looking at a static picture of the bird, the little details really pull it together. 

I stopped by to see pretty boy Nanjiska during the day as well, though I didn't linger long. 

Chesmu poked his head out while I was in his run, and got pretty curious in what I was doing. He very nearly crawled out to investigate further, but it was way past his bedtime already, as you can see.

The girls were about their usual selves while I was in with them. Which for Lil D means a lot of flying to the opposite side of the flight, while I'sta will let you get fairly close if she's used to you. 

I cleaned Hanble Okinyan's flight later that evening and took a few pictures as well, before moving on.

Around that point in the day I set up Atka's new permanent home. She'll no longer be staying in the clinic, which is good for a few reasons. With baby season looming we need all the space we can get, so freeing up her former flight was definitely a plus. Also, now Atka has a nice cozy little flight all to herself, in a nice quiet area. Owl heaven.

Keep in mind that I don't actually do all of the education animals in one shot. I definitely have a routine, but it involves rotating my way around the facility as opposed to tackling one group of animals at a time. The reason I sequence things the way I do in my blog, is to leave a clear distinction between our education animals, and our visiting wild ones. Speaking of which...

Our Visiting Wild Ones...


I tackled the outside flights first. working my way through several different types of birds. The majority of what we take in during our off season seems to be birds. They must be especially good at getting themselves into trouble. Especially the Raptors, and Owls. Understandably, most of what I work around are birds. There is the occasional opossum, and so many raccoons, but most of the potentially dangerous mammals are handled by the staff, who have more experience.

My first stop outside was actually visiting the same Sapsucker that I weighed earlier in the week. He's flying well, and is super energetic. I believe at this point we're just waiting for him to gain enough weight to be released back out into the wild, which will be pretty awesome.

We recently moved a Barred Owl outside to hunt. She's in good shape at this point, and just spending some time outside before her release. Barred owls have a tendency to be more approachable as far as owls go, not that I'd recommend it. To me they've kind of instilled themselves as the sweetest owl species I've worked with. Don't get me wrong. They're still wild animals, and they definitely act like owls, which means they snap, and hiss, and bite, and scratch. But there's something about their sweet soft features, and their tendency to be less aggressive that has me placing them in the sweet category, at least in comparison to other owl species.

Here she is enjoying being outside again. She pretty much stayed in the one spot while I moved around the flight, and was content to watch me, and snap her beak if I got too close.

....

The juvenile Peregrine that footed herself last week seems to have gotten past the incident with no real complications, as she's right back outside and her usual energetic self. Falcons definitely have a tendency toward skittish behavior though, at least from what I've seen.

Like I've mentioned in the past, I'm always super happy to find pellets. Found this one while I was in with a visiting Red-tailed Hawk. I imagine that in the wild, these pellets are much different in color. Since a lot of what we feed our birds are your typical white pet-rat, their pellets come out a pretty off-white. Pellets are the collection of indigestible parts of prey that basically gets scrunched together as it gathers in the bird's gizzard, and hocked up later. Since hawks don't generally swallow their prey whole when they're in a comfortable setting, their pellets are pretty much just a lump of fur and anything else they happen to be unable to digest.

There was a second Red-tail in the flight last week who had been outside for quite awhile. I'm assuming he was released sometime during the week. I don't remember him being present on Tuesday either, but Tuesday was a pretty hectic day as far as things usually go.

In the evening, myself and a fellow volunteer tackled the squirrels. We have a tendency to do them together as she isn't particularly fond of them, and by that point in the day I'm beginning to lose steam a little bit, and am happy to accept the help lugging bedding back and forth. Rodents have never bothered me. In fact I especially like them, I'm just allergic to them, (In addition to pretty much everything else, but hey, I try). This means I where gloves while I clean, and make sure to load up on allergy medication before I head in. So far it's been working awesomely well. Especially for the birds. I was ecstatic to find out I could handle them, and work around them without having issues whatsoever. I still get a little asthma-ee when I handle certain mammals, though.

As it began to get dark, and we found ourselves pretty well ahead, I help with medicating a few of the smaller birds, and prepping food/cleaning. I was especially achy today as it hadn't been long since I got a hold of wheat last, but I was pretty well off considering it was my second time in that week. That's all for the day this time around. Thanks for reading!