week of 6/6/13 at Drumlin

So sorry for the delays everyone, my blog posts have to be reviewed by my boss and his boss before I post anything, so it takes a little while.

The week of 6/6/13 was pretty hectic. The interns are all starting to get into a routine where everyone is able to do certain jobs on their own. This was the first time I completed the duck pen cleaning on my own. It was a lot of fun herding them all and misting them with water. It was really hot that Friday so we spent a lot of time hosing animals down. Orville the turkey vulture was brought outside to bask in the sunlight.

Once the ducks were clean I moved on to Pidge the pigeon's cage. She had laid an egg a few days earlier so the staff took it away and give her a wooden one to brood on. She really wasn't happy when I had to move her off of it to clean but I gave her some straw to make a nest with after. She enjoys spending itme foraging for leftover straw from Paddy the Peking duck's cage.

After Pidge I cleaned some of the mammal cages and helped with the mice. There was time before heading over to clean Bird Hill so enrichment ideas for the crows were thrown around. I decided to make a toy for Po; a yogurt cup with layers of fruit separated by newspaper balls. He ignored it at first but eventually had some fun ripping it apart.

Stella the skunk enjoying her clean cage!

It was really hot when we got over to bird hill. Raptors were hosed down and given fresh water to keep their internal temperature in homeostasis.

The day before, Thursday, was a lot of fun because we got to watch the anual cow checkups done at the farm; across the street in the main barn. The cows were given their shots, and checked for any injuries. There were two calves that got a special procedure done. One was tagged on her ear and the other was dehorned through cauterizing around the unformed horn stub. The whole process was really cool to watch.
I also got to see a broad-winged hawk get restrained for a very mild case of bumblefoot. Special gloves are used when restraining as opposed to handling to allow the hawk to associate each with positive or negative connotations.