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Zoo Journal Fall 2001 - Bird Department
08-30-01 My first day! I was so excited, but surprisingly not nervous. Jaima (or Jayma?) And Tammy both met me at the time clock (or whatever it's called) and Tammy took me to meet G.T. He's so cute! It's so weird to see silver fuzz turning into scarlet feathers. He's the baby Macaw, btw. I think it's Macaw... I learned so much stuff today that it's getting mixed up. Anyway, Tammy had to go to the doctor after that so Jaima took me to meet the penguins (Yay! I was SO excited.) We met up with Amy and they took me through the penguin work room then, the very first penguin I've ever met was Jell-O. She was so adorable! I fell in love immediately. It was wild touching a penguin. How many people can say they've actually petted a penguin? I was on so excited. Today I met all 13 penguins the names I remember are Jell-O (of course), Gypsy, (she came up to me too), Sylvester (I had a conversation with him), Iggy (he/she bit me), Jerry, Willard, Meg, Tennessee, one name starts with a D and I can never remember his name. He did bite me though. Those are all the penguin names I can remember right now. After Amy took me through and explained a bunch of stuff we gave the penguins their vitamins. We had to insert 2 pills in the anus of the fish they eat, I can't quite remember the fish name (why didn't I think to take notes?) Mark came in soon after that and then he got out the pressure washer and we went through scrubbing the rocks and nests. Baking Soda takes the hide off of hands. Next time I'll wear gloves. We don't use many chemicals in with the penguins, just vinegar on the windows and baking soda on the rocks. That's all that I know of so far, anyway. There's so much to talk about with the penguin house! It was just totally fabulous and fascinating to me. One note though, it definitely smells fishy. My two kittens were smelling me all over when I got home. Jaima got me after Mark and I scrubbed the penguin rocks and she took me to the bird house. Tammy was back from the doctor so she was doing the bird's food for tomorrow. Jaima and I took Matthew to his cage out in the park. Jaima appears to adore him. I think the feeling is mutual. After that we came and cleaned out his room and the Two-Toed Sloth's room (yes, I know he wasn't a bird, but he wasn't feeling very well. He's so cute!), then the Myna bird's room (they are exquisitely beautiful) then the African (with 1 Asian) bird room. I thought the brown bird named Kitty was going to eat me. I fed her a raison, but she still didn't like me much. Gretal and Hannah did like me though, I'm feeling pretty big about that because they apparently don't like everyone, or as Tammy said, they hardly ever like anyone. Maybe they just said that to make me feel special (it worked, too). I also watched Tammy prepare the rabbit for the condors. That was unpleasant to say the least. I felt very bad for the rabbit (it had a bad kill). It was a FABULOUS day... And I was only at the zoo for 4 hours! I know I've written a book already, but oh well Maybe next week Mark will let me do the pressure washer! -Oh, one note on something I learned, our penguins are black-footed or jackass penguins, not Humboldt as I thought.
09-06-01
Today Jayma and I worked in the penguin room and we worked pretty hard. We hosed down the rocks, changed Gypsy and Gray's nesting box, changed Cramer and the penguin who's name starts with a D (that poor bird, you'd think I would remember because he hates me so much) nesting box, pressure washed, scrubbed with Gatorade (Jayma did that), vacuumed the pool, swept & skimmed the pool, did the feeding and vitamin fish. Meg took like 3 vitamin fish, he stole them from Jell-O. We only gave out 7 fish and Jayma managed to force one on Jell-O. Then Gypsy, Cramer, and D all got 1 while Meg took 3. That was my fault, he came and got his then stole the one I was giving Jell-O then stole the next one I gave Jell-O. Jell-O is so sweet and she loves Jayma. She follows her everywhere. Since Cramer and D are in the nursery now (they split up D and Iggy and Cramer and her mate so that D and Cramer might mate. I doubted it would work when I first heard the plan because a penguin mates for life, but Cramer let D in the nesting box so we'll have to wait and see. Iggy and the other penguin are doing well in the infirmary too.) Jell-O can't get in and she stands at the partition and looks pitiful. I was standing there talking to Jayma and Jell-O climbed up on my foot. I thought she was being sweet but Jayma said she learned she can sometimes hop over the partition if she's on someone's foot. All of these birds I've met are brilliant. Poor Tennessee is molting and it's an especially stressful time for her. Meg watches anyone that gets close to her with a very dark penguin glare. He's very protective of her, it's so sweet. I hope TN comes through her molting well. Since her lungs are compressed (because of the hump on her back) it's lucky she survives molting. Well, that's all that happened in the penguin room, we just worked a lot. I did learn the other bird in there is a Lapwing, and Gretal and Harriet (not Hannah) are African Turacos. I'm getting the names better. I hope to have all species and names straight in the next couple weeks.
09-13-01
Penguins are amazing. Every time I go in the penguin room I'm thrilled. I think I have all the names down now and I know who pairs with whom and where they next. Durben is now with Cramer, Iggy and Dude, Jerry and Willard, Meg and TN, Sylvester and Morris, Gypsy and Gray, and little Jell-O. TN looks awful from her molting, but she seems to be doing OK. Tammy was relieved because she lost some of her weight. Gray and Durben and Meg are molting or will be molting soon. Iggy and Dude are still in the infirmary and probably will be for awhile. Poor Durben sulks all the time. With that and his molting, he looks ill and cross. I'd feel more sorry for him if he didn't hate me and try to bite me all the time. He didn't bite me today, though he tried. Today Sylvester or Morris, I couldn't tell which, bit me. I was too close to the nesting box. Since Tammy's hand was incapacitated, I did most of the heavy work in the penguin room and she did the windows and some easier stuff. We finished really fast, too. Tammy probably shouldn't have done as much as she did, but I get the feeling she loves her work and likes to stay busy. It's crazy how the penguins are so constant. Here our country is going crazy because of some terrorists and it's just another day to the penguins. I love how that is. Anyway, Jell-O is so sweet. She followed Tammy around and hopped on my foot again. Everyone loves her. After penguins we went to the bird house and I cleaned out the Toucan's room, she watched me warily the whole time and I kept ducking in case she felt like pecking me. Then I did P.J. The 2 Toed Sloth's room. He's feeling better. Then I did Matthew's room, and he's incredibly messy. While I was doing the outside P.J. Came out and stuck his nose to the fence to watch me. I adore him, he's like a cross between a puppy and a teddy bear, only more lethargic and mellow. Then I did the Bali Mynas, Digby & Memphis. They weren't too messy. Then I just squeegeed the floor and I was done. Jayma gave me some bird feathers before I left. I'm going to index them and put them in an album. I got some of Heather's feathers and Turaco's Harriet and Gretal. There were others that I can't quite remember now. My memory is getting a lot better of species and names, though. Oh yeah, Heather played a trick and tried to bite me, but I was too fast for her. So she tried again, but I was still too fast for her. Better luck next time Heather.
09-20-01
Today was fun. Tammy got her stitches out so her hand was sore, so I helped her in penguins again. I love the penguins. I never get tired of being in there. It didn't take very long to go over the room, just about 3 hours. Jell-O nipped Tammy because Tammy wasn't paying attention to her. It's so funny how she's like a domestic cat or dog or even a little kid. Not much happened today in the penguin room. A lot of school groups came and some lady took a picture of my back. I should hunt her down. Anyway, in the bird house there's a new Macaw named Jaycee. She was donated by some guy who'd had her for like 27 years. (Working with birds really makes me feel young.) She's a really small Macaw, too. I'd say baby Marie (AKA G.T.) Is about her same size. Jaycee didn't seem to like me much at first, but at the end of the day I coaxed her on my arm and she climbed to my shoulder & neck, which isn't good. Tammy told me it's easier for them to attack you there if something scares them or they just want to bite you. After a little while, I got her to stay on my arm, but she never would get on the perch. I think Heather is a little jealous. I also cleaned out the African room and gave the Turracos, Gretal & Harriet, some raisins. One of them kept following me while I cleaned, then the other joined her and they both stalked me for awhile. When I was trying to scrub a spot on the window one flew down and landed on my neck and hopped up on my head. I was a bit nervous since they're known to attack, but which ever one it was just flew off again. I think they were laughing at me after that; I probably had a very strange expression on my face. It was probably their game of 'Torment the Intern'. I'm glad they like me, though. I think they're on my list of Top 10 Favorite Birds. Some notes on the penguins I forgot: TN has finished molting, Durben is just ending, Jerry is in the middle of molting, and Meg is just starting. Cramer took a vitamin fish from me, then I think Jell-O, Gypsy, Morris, Willard, and TN got vitamins. I noticed it was only the females. Poor Cramer, Durben keeps attacking her if she gets too near the box. I was thinking of trying to get a job at the zoo while I'm in grad school. Tammy suggested that I could do my thesis on penguin mating and how they're affected when their partnership is broken up. I think that's a really good idea and I like that topic. It's interesting. I was thinking of doing something on how they locate themselves, but hers would be easier to research. I'll have to give it some thought.
9-27-01
Today was extremely cold. Well, not extremely because it warmed up, but when I first woke up and got to the zoo, it was painful. But then when I got to the bird house Tammy and Jayma told me they were leaving me by myself in the penguin room, so I was pretty excited. My understanding of it is that they don't often leave interns alone in the exhibits, but when they do it's usually closer to the end of the program. This was only my 5th day working, so I felt a little proud of myself. Of course, Tammy was there for most of the day (I think she was a little nervous about leaving me alone so soon. I don't blame her.) So I didn't have to rely totally on memory. That's good because I wasn't positive on how to hook up the pressure washer and I like to have someone with me when I do vitamin fish, because the penguins gang up on me. I had an amusing experience with cleaning the windows, however. A little girl was interviewing Tammy for a school project, and while they were doing that I went around and checked the birds and turned on the water fall and then I decided to do the outside windows. I got the sponge thing and the squeegee and I was looking for the spray bottle of vinegar and I came across a spray bottle marked "Cat Shit Remover". I'm not joking. I was very confused. So I kept looking around and I never could find anything to use on the windows. Finally there was a brief lull in the interview and I asked Tammy where the vinegar was to wash the windows and she said "Oh, we have window cleaner now!" And she pointed towards some jugs on the floor. Well, I picked out the one I thought she was pointing at and went outside. I had to pour the liquid on the sponge, but the liquid was really thick. I smelled it and it smelled like flowers or sweet something. I don't know. Anyway, I was having a hard time trying to get it to absorb into the sponge and after I did 1 window, I was like "OK, this is enough of this." And I went in to find a bucket to pour the stuff in so I could clean. I never could find one, so I finally just gave up and went back in and grabbed a jug of vinegar. I finished doing the windows with that, by pouring it onto the sponge. After I was done I went back in the penguin room and said, "Tammy, what in the world is 'Cat Shit Remover'?" She started cracking up and I was still confused. Apparently 'someone' (I won't say who) donated that bottle because the old one had broken and it was used to clean up, yes you guessed it!, cat 'shit'. It really had window cleaner in it. And it turns out the jug of stuff I used on the first window wasn't window cleaner, it was bleach. Highly concentrated. That's why it smelled so different. So at least 1 window got a good disinfecting. Everyone in the bird department thought it was very amusing. Another thing, before Tammy left, she was sweeping the pool while I was hosing the rocks and I turned around to ask her if I was in her way and my foot slipped off the rock (luckily on the land side and not the water side) and I kind of lurched. I thought Tammy was going to have a heart attack because she thought I was falling in the pool. That was kind of amusing too. The little girl who had been interviewing Tammy had asked me earlier how deep the water was and I said "Maybe 6', I'm not sure. I haven't fallen in yet!" (It's really about 4' - 5', Tammy told me later.) So of course I almost fell in 2 times today. It was pretty funny. And after Tammy left I was unhooking the hose from the pressure washer and it still had water in it and it shot up into my face and all down my front. I'm sure that was totally comical had anyone besides myself been there to see it. Amy told me that it's happened to everyone. Well, at least I'm learning! It really was a fun day, even though I made some mistakes. It's cool that the people who run the department can just laugh at them and say "We've all done that, it's OK." I really don't feel like an intern at all, they treat me like one of them. It's wonderful. Now some news on the penguins, Meg is just finishing his molting, so he has feathers all over the place. We made 9 vitamin fish and 1 wasn't taken and Sylvester got 2, Morris got 1, Gypsy got 1, Jell-O got 1, Gray got 1, and Willard got 2. I got to fill out the vitamin fish chart for the first time, yay! Jell-O is the most adorable penguin ever, btw. Tammy brought her out for the girl to photograph and Jell-O was so adorable. I think you could put her on a leash and walk her around the park and she'd be just like a dog. She's so loving. I finished the penguins by 11 and Amy came to get me and I think she was a bit surprised I was done. Oh, another note, the bears smell really awful. That was off topic to my note, but I felt I should point it out. I asked the girl who works with them what they fed them, because I was just curious, and she said they were getting frozen juice and peanuts right then. I thought that was pretty interesting. Anyway, then Amy and I went back to the bird house and I talked to Heather for awhile. She was really mad at me Saturday when I dropped by after the lecture. She's so jealous of Jaycee. I gave her 2 peanuts today and she let me pet her, but she still tried to bite me twice. Of course, I'm too fast for her. I think it's becoming a game to her, to try to bite me when I'm not looking or when she thinks I won't move fast enough. Then I cleaned the Bali Myna's, Digby and Memphis, room. Their walls were really dirty, so I scrubbed them a bit. Then I squeegeed and that's basically it. It was a very good day, but not a day I'd recommend a lot of people to get half soaked on. I nearly froze into an ice figure! But it was still really cool that the people in my department trust me enough to turn me loose in the penguin exhibit. I was kind of surprised because it feels like I just started. But it's cool. I'm still finding my way around and making a few amateur mistakes, but nothing major and I'm learning and getting better every day. And now I know which bottle the window cleaner is in!
October 4, 2001
Today I got bit for the first time by a penguin. Gray took a huge chunk out of my right index finger. It's a spectacular wound, too. I was all bloody, with fish guts and blood dripping off my hands. Pretty picture, huh? Perhaps I should start at the beginning of my day. I got there at the usual time and Tammy told me I was doing penguins with Mark, which was cool, because I've only done penguins with him once before. Anyway, Amy and I took Matthew to his cage because Jayma was off today, then Amy unlocked penguins so I could get started before Mark came in. I did the regular fun stuff, turned on the water fall, checked the birds and nest boxes. Then Mark came in and some carpenter dudes who were fixing the little wood sections in the nursery. I cleaned the windows and changed nest boxes 4 and 6 (Sylvester & Morris and Jerry & Willard) then started doing the fish because I couldn't do anything with the hose while the guys were working in the nursery. After all that they finally finished in there, so I took the hose in and did the regular wetting down of the rocks, then I pressure washed. I couldn't find Mark after that so I decided to go ahead and give out vitamin fish and feed everyone. First off Durban grabbed one then dropped it in his box. Cramer wouldn't touch any. Then Meg and TN just glared at me when I offered them one. Then Morris tried to take one, but Sylvester wouldn't let her, because Sylvester is a crabby old man. Anyway, I got Jell-O to take one, she let me open her beak and put it in her mouth. Then instead of spitting it out she swallowed it. I think she felt sorry for me because she knew I'd have trouble giving anyone else any fish. She's the sweetest penguin in the world. After that I went to Gypsy and Gray's box because I can count on Gypsy to take a fish. Gray grabbed a fish and got my finger just a little, it didn't hurt or anything and I just assumed he accidentally grabbed my finger. Of course he dropped the fish then. Then I tried to give Gypsy hers and just as she was taking it from my hand Gray lashed out and latched onto my right index finger and bit a hunk out of me. At first I was just kind of surprised because I wasn't expecting that at all. I've been getting more confident because I've managed to not get nailed yet by any of the birds. Even this morning I managed to get the nest boxes out with the penguins in them and I didn't get bit. Anyway, it didn't hurt that much at all and I was just kind of mad because Gray bit me and I called him a few names. I learned afterwards that the sound system had been repaired. I hope Mark didn't turn it on while I was in there or some of the people outside might have heard all the names I was calling Gray. Well, Gray deserved it. After I got my finger back I was shocked to see how deep he bit me. I don't know, I'm bad at judging measurements, but it might have been a millimeter into the skin. I don't know but it was deep. And I also had fish guts all over me from his nasty beak and all the fish I'd been handing out. Then my finger started to bleed a lot and I had blood and fish guts dripping off my hand. It really looked quite impressive and didn't hurt at all. To anyone else it would probably have looked like Gray gutted my finger with his beak. It's right on my middle knuckle. The back of my finger is just slightly scratched, but the palm side looks like it has deep trenches cut into it in beak formation. Anyway, after that I had blood dripping all over the place, soI tried to keep my finger hidden from the people standing at the windows. And I was confused because I still had to try to give vitamin fish to Jerry and Willard. So I went to give them some and they glared at me so I gave up and went to put a couple Band-Aids on my finger. I must have looked pretty mad or upset because Amy came about the time I was digging the Band-Aids out of the box and she stayed and tried to cheer me up a bit. She's very nice. She's always telling me not to worry about mistakes I make or when a penguin latches onto my shoe because it's happened to everyone. She was getting ready to give her talk to the aquarium people. So after I was bandaged I went back to the penguin room to clean the pool. Gray glared at me and I glared back the whole time. His glare was one of those "You want some more of me?" And mine was more like "Buddy, I'll pluck you like a cheap feather duster, just give me a chance." Mark came back while Amy and I were talking about Gray biting me and he hung out with me in the penguin room the rest of the time. Maybe he was afraid of a war between me and Gray. I talked to him while I cleaned the pool. He's loosened up quite a bit. The first day he was so shy and reserved. While we were working on the pool Amy started giving her speech so we were kind of stuck in one place after finishing with the pool. They were all out in our penguin work room so we couldn't get to any tools. Mark finally managed to slip out and I stayed around and listened to Amy's talk, it was good. I took her Jell-O for the visual. Jelly is adorable with people. She'd go up and grab onto someone's camera strap or shoe string. It was cute to watch. Picking up a penguin is another wild experience. They're so solid, unlike most other birds. Anyway, after Amy's group left I squeegeed off the windows inside the exhibit and then left because it was after 12. I went to the bird house and told Amy I liked her speech then we told Tammy about Gray and she and Amy made me wash my finger in peroxide (not alcohol, for some reason they cringed when I asked if I could). After that I was done, so I left to go get ready for work at the Vet School. Truth be told, I'd rather work at the zoo, even with Gray the Biting Demon Penguin, than the Vet School. The zoo feels more like a family and it's comfortable. Next week is Fall Break so I won't be working. No journal entry, how sad.
10/18/01
It got so cold so fast! And I was out working in it! Today instead of helping Tammy drain the pool I got to go with Amy to the field. It was really very cool and I had a lot of fun. I also took a camera with me today and got pictures of the Macaws, the Turracos, the penguins, and some other birds. That was cool. The first thing I did was clean the windows at the penguin exhibit, then Amy came and we took off to the field. The first thing we did was the Crown Crane cage. They are beautiful birds. I got some of their feathers to add to my growing feather collection. I actually found quite a few feathers today to add to it, including my penguin feathers. Anyway, we cleaned the cage and saw the crane babies. Then we moved on to the other Sand Hill cranes, Thelma and Thor, and fought with them for awhile to get into the cage, then cleaned and left. I saw the lioness Sarah. She was really cute, she reminded me of my kittens. Then Amy told me that she wasn't playing and she was actually stalking me because she wanted to eat me. Well, that took some of the cuteness away. After that we did the Stork. Since I couldn't go into the cage because she gets nervous, Amy had to do it and I waited and shivered from cold. After that we did the Aviary, which is the worst part of the field. I didn't realize they had to drain the duck pond every day. So today we cleaned food bowls, hosed down the floor, drained and scrubbed the pond, went over the mulch and cleaned it up a bit, and counted the birds. We found them all except one Boat bill. Not sure where he was, probably hiding. After the Aviary we went to Triton's cage. He's a huge bird, I forget the name but it has the word Screaming in it. He looks a lot like a turkey to me. There was also a pheasant in his cage with him, but he doesn't have a name. At least Amy didn't know it. I got a picture of him, but it took some work. He looked a lot like a multicolored nun. Very pretty. There were tons of kids all over the park today. They asked tons of questions too. Then we did special exhibits. I met the other sloth, Sammy. I fed him an apple, that was cool. I had to just stick it in his mouth. That was about all we did today. It was cool to do something a little different. I hope I can do the hill next. I did go see the penguins, though. I can't come to the zoo without visiting them. Jell-O was well. She wanted to jump into the pool while Tammy was cleaning it, but it was full of chlorine so she couldn't. She looked so cute standing by the side of it, though. It was a fun day, even though I was tired and kept running into things. I think I hit the door of almost every cage I was in today. And I ran into the golf cart too. It was fun working with Amy, I haven't done that before. She told me some stuff about enrichment and a bunch of other stuff. I bet all the keepers are amused by me, I ask questions constantly. I'm not sure what I'll be doing next week, but I hope it's warm. I might have to go purchase a parka soon. Oh, I forgot something that happened. I was taking some pictures of Marie and Matthew was out walking around and he came into the nursery with me and Tammy and jumped into Marie's little box and got into her food and made a big mess. Well, Marie didn't like that at all, so she jumped down from the table where we had put her and she jumped on Matthew and we had a little parrot brawl. Tammy had to grab Marie while Jayma kept Matthew back with his perch. It was interesting. Marie is still just a baby, only a few weeks old. Of course, I was rooting for her in the fight; Matthew has an attitude. I should have thought to get a picture of it. Of course after the fight Matthew sulked and refused to get out of Marie's box until Jayma took the food away. Then he had to spend time locked in his cage for punishment. It was interesting to see that Marie is actually bigger than Matthew. She probably could have taken him if they had let her. They were more afraid of Matthew hurting her than of her hurting him. She was pretty mad at Matthew though. It was a very interesting experience.
10-25-01
Today was exciting. I got to work the hill for the first time with Jayma. Since I couldn't help her with the Condors, Ozzie and Humpty, I went and finished helping Amy with the penguins. The hill is kind of neat, I had a lot of fun meeting the new birds. First we went and did the Finch room in the gift shop. That was kind of cool because I also got to see the Marmosets. They have a very distinct odor and they're really cute. The Finches are really beautiful, tiny birds too. I think they need a better exhibit because the only people who can appreciate them are the little kids who can climb in the rocks to see them. After that we went to the Thick Billed African Parrot and Kookaburra bird exhibit. I mostly just scrubbed food bowls and watched how Jayma cleaned their cages and I asked questions. It was neat. After we did the cages in those areas we went to the off exhibit area. That was interesting. We had to de-leaf all the outside cages, which wasn't pleasant but had to be done. It's hard to pick up wet leaves off concrete, but I managed. I'm a trooper! Yeah, anyway, we cleaned the two off exhibit Boat bills, Petunia the Toucan, Iggy and Dude the penguins, Diablo the evil Turraco, and Rokie the good beautiful Turraco. After that we went up to see Buddy the African Eagle. That was really cool, he's such a beautiful bird. I really hope they get him on exhibit soon. I hope they put Rokie on exhibit too, he's too great to miss. After we cleaned all of that we went to Klondike the Snowy Owl's cage. That was really cool because I had no idea that the Snowy Owls had feathers on their feet. He looked like a Dr. Seuss character. He was totally beautiful. Like Hedwig from Harry Potter. Jayma and I discussed that book a little while she cleaned his cage. I couldn't go with her or he'd get nervous. Some little kids from a school group got us to take pictures of him for them. He was down on the ground and you couldn't see him from the spectator view. Owls are really cool birds, I especially liked Klondike. Anyway, after that Jayma took me to meet Ozzie and Humpty. They both had to get close and check me out because I was someone new. I couldn't go in and help her do them though, because they're not used to me and they hurt when they bite. They were really cool, though. Ozzie is a lot bigger and he has a crest thing like chickens have on his head and he has brown eyes. Humpty is much smaller, no crest, and she has gorgeous red eyes. Usually red eyes look evil but hers are very pretty and fitting. After I met the Condors I went back to penguins and Amy was just finishing. I just vacuumed and skimmed the pool. I got to see Jelly, though, which is always great. They're starting a new enrichment project and instead of elephant paintings they have penguin paintings. Jell-O is a true artist. I saw some of the stuff she did and it's great. I'm going to have to get up the guts to ask if I can get a copy of her work sometime. I think that's so cool, penguin paintings. Anyway, after that I went to the bird house and talked with Tammy for a little while. She's cool. I cleaned out Jaycee's cage and Jaycee let me get her on my hand and put her in her cage and she didn't bite me! I was shocked. First time for everything. I also saw P.J. I adore that little guy. He came up and stuck his nose to the fence while I was cleaning out Jaycee's run and he's so cute. Words can not adequately describe his adorableness. Anyway, after that I did the big room with Harriet and Gretal. They were in a playful mood. I gave them raisins and they kept flying over to me and they followed me around the whole time. It would have been OK except they kept spontaneously landing on my head. And add to that the Buster, Kitty, was in a venomous mood and she kept trying to flog me. I had to shield my legs with the garbage back and she kept stabbing it with her beak. Then one of the Turracos would land on my head. Then I'd look down in time to stop Kitty from attacking me. She chased me all around the room and then a Turraco would get on my head. I swear, this happened like at least five times. I know they were laughing at me. I got backed into a corner at one point with Kitty advancing and I had to keep shielding with the garbage bag and then here comes a Turraco and lands on my head. I must have looked so amusing to the public. When I tried to leave the bird room Kitty chased me out and I was like "NO, STAY" and then Tammy and Amy started laughing because I showed them the garbage back and it was full of little beak stabs. I forgot to mention that the baby Macaws are getting bigger very fast. Marie is already just a big pet, but the 2 chicks are growing like weeds. I held one of them and I didn't think it was going to let go of my finger. Just another exciting day in the bird house!
11/01/01
Today I got left in the penguin room by myself again. There was a lot of work to be done on the hill with all the leaves falling and everything, so Tammy did the field, Jayma and Amy did the hill, and I'm not sure exactly what Mark did. But I did the penguins. It was a lot of fun, I've missed the little guys. I'm working out my own routine, too, so that's awesome. Jayma and Amy took me and went over a bunch of last minute instructions. They were nervous leaving me, and I can't blame them. It's a big deal to leave anyone with an exhibit. We pulled next boxes 7 and 4, which was the nursery and Sylvester & Morris. After Jayma and Amy left I gave out vitamin fish first to get it over with. I made 6 fish and Jell-O, Gypsy, and Durban all got 1. Either Willard or Jerry, or Sylvester or Morris got the other 2 and then 1 just kind of disappeared. Anyway, I didn't get bitten, which was a definite plus. After that I did the windows, they were disgusting. Notably disgusting, no less! Then I did the regular penguin stuff, just in my own order. That was kind of cool. It's great to have a job where everyone encourages you to come up with your own way of doing things. It threw me off at first, but I really enjoy it a lot now. For instance, I did all of the hosing and pressure washing before I put the clean nest boxes in and most everyone does it opposite. Anyway, it was a big deal to me at least. I made 2 mistakes that I can remember. They weren't big deals, though. I forgot to rinse the fish (but they seemed to like the fish better that way) and I forgot to fill out which nest boxes I cleaned on the paper. Not too bad. Mark and Tammy and Amy and Jayma checked on me periodically to make sure I was doing OK. Things went smoothly and I had a lot of fun. I think Morris is getting ready to lay an egg. When I cleaned out that nest box it had fish and other nesting material in it and then later while I was vacuuming Sylvester attacked my foot. I was a good distance away from their little cave but he just ran at me. Morris was digging into the aspen and he was outside the box watching her. Then after he attacked me they both jumped into the pool and grabbed more nesting material. I bet she has an egg in the next couple days. Gypsy kept following me around, wanting fish. I'm not sure why she didn't just grab some from the bowl. And I tried this thing with Jell-O. I took my hair down and dangled it in front of her and let her play with it. She's just like a kitten, it was so cute. She'd grab a strand and pull on it and jerk it around. She followed me for a little while after that and she sat on my foot some more. I forgot to ask Amy and Mark about the penguin paintings, I should do that next week. Well, I spent most of today with my penguin friends, so I didn't really see anyone but Matthew and Heather in the bird house. And I made a point to go see P.J. After I was finished in penguins. Heather hates birds, it's so funny. The bird house is pandemonium this time of the year because there are so many birds in there right now. Marie and Dickey and Mickey, the new Scarlet macaws, Heather of course, Matthew because it's so cold he has to stay in more, and Jaycee. All those macaws make a terrible amount of noise. Not much excitement today, but it was nice to see my penguins again.
11-08-01
Today was incredibly busy. Probably one of the busiest I've had yet. Today Tammy and I did penguin physicals, which required catching all the penguins. That was most exciting. The guys thought so too. First thing when I got in, besides give Heather and Matthew a peanut to shut Matty up, was visit Marie and the two new chicks. They just had some blood work done and one didn't go over well, so one chick hates people now. I hope it's only temporary. But the chicks are huge and beginning to learn how to speak a little. Marie can say Hello and some other phrases, but I forget what. Anyway, after that we went and fed the Scarlet macaws, Rhett and Scarlet and their other new babies. The Scarlets went nuts when it came to breeding this year. We now have like eight Scarlets. And we did have only 2. Impressive. After that it was on to the penguin house and the real fun began. Apparently the pool system shut down for like 2 days and the water just sat there, so the pool was extremely nasty today. Luckily the system was back on so we were able to drain the pool. We did the usual cleaning stuff and changed nest boxes. We had some complications with the pool draining and the physical because Morris and Willard both have eggs. They don't have actual eggs because they aren't allowed to breed. Tammy had to pull their eggs and replace them with water eggs, but the birds still think they're incubating a baby. It's so funny to watch the male penguins. Especially Sylvester. They run around and dote on their mates just like a new father would do for his wife. It's really sweet to watch. When we did the physical and they were in the nursery and the females were still on the nests, I thought the poor fathers were going to go nuts because they couldn't be with their females. Especially Sylvester, Jerry wasn't as concerned. Maybe that's because Willard is mean. Anyway, we scrubbed down the pool and rocks with bleach, but we had to work fast with it so the fumes wouldn't bother the penguins. We use highly concentrated bleach and it's really toxic to humans and especially penguins. So it was a rush bleach job. We also herded the penguins, except for Morris and Willard who we left on their nests, into the nursery to begin the physicals. That was interesting, we just walked them in there. They didn't like it much, but Jell-O was so happy because she got to be back in the nursery. That's her special room. We locked all the penguins in there then Tammy got the scales ready and put a bucket on it. I had to tare the bucket because that's what we put the penguins into to weigh. Everyone except Jell-O and Gypsy, that is. They're nice and tame. My job in this was to write down the condition of each bird's cloaca and feet and weight. Most of the cloaca's were unfeathered, but that was because of breeding season. Morris's was really bad and prolapsed. It was really really red too. She had also lost a lot of weight. She was down to lightest penguin, where Jell-O or TN usually are. It's probably complications from nesting, but I hope they check it out soon. Any kind of change in a bird's health could be indicative of something seriously wrong and could result in death in a very short while. Birds are really hard to treat and really hard to tell when they're sick. Anyway, the actual grabbing of the birds was handled by Tammy, thank goodness. It didn't look like fun at all. She had to grab onto the penguin's neck/head from the back and hold them really firmly and then grab their flippers and hold them down to their sides while I was checking feet and cloacas. Then she had to drop them into the bucket and I slammed a lid down on them before they jumped out. Cramer put up the best fight and she smacked Tammy with her flipper. It's going to leave a huge welt, it was already starting to bruise. Most people would be like "Big deal" when I say this, but a penguin can reach speeds of up to 50 mph when it swims, and a lot of times more than that. And when a penguin is afraid, especially Cramer, and they attack, it tends to be even worse. So imagine being hit with something going that fast. And their little flippers are pure muscle, too. I'm glad I haven't been hit with one, yet. That was the only injury she received though, so it was a good physical. Gypsy was easy to entice up on the scales, we just held a fish for her and sat her up there. She was the biggest penguin, by the way. All of that we did by 10:30 am, so I was really surprised. We did a lot and really fast. I was trying to hurry though, because we had so much to do. So after penguins we did special exhibits. Just cleaned bowls and put out some food. Sammy the sloth was asleep. They are so cute when they're asleep. Then we went back to the bird house and Tammy had to make a call so I stayed with Marie and the chicks for about half and hour and just played with them. It's good to play with them a lot and get them used to different people. Marie is used to everyone. After that we took Matthew outside because he was driving us both insane. When it's too cold to put him out at all, I don't know how they'll stand it. He only really behaves for Amy and it's so cute to watch him with her. After that we let Jaycee out into the room on her perch. She likes me a lot more, but she still tries to snap at me. I figured out she's not really going to bite me, but she's testing me. She'll get up on my hand and try to get on my shoulder. Heather gets jealous, though, so I try not to fool with too many other macaws but her when she watches. The last thing I did was the big African plains room. Harriet and Gretal kept up their usual landing on my head game. They really think it's amusing as anything. You can practically hear bird laughter. And Kitty, the Buster, kept chasing me around the room. No matter what I did, she chased me. I picked her up several times to make her run away. She hates to be picked up and she'll usually run away from everyone else. But not me, she wanted to eat me. She pecked me a little, but it didn't hurt at all. I was surprised, her beak looks really sharp. So after that room was cleaned in it's usual chaotic way, it was time to go home. Oh, I forgot! Tammy said maybe I could help with Jell-O paintings next week and they'd make me one. I think I'll have it framed and put in my bedroom. So I'm really excited about that. And that's about it.
11-15-01
Jayma was sick today so she couldn't come in. That means I got to do penguins all by myself again. What fun! It actually was pretty neat. It's cool that everyone trusts me enough to just turn me loose in there. They check on me, of course, but I'm mostly alone with the birds. I started out normally, checked the birds and pulled nest boxes 2 and 6 and cleaned them. We were out of bleach so I had to use regular dish detergent soap. That wasn't cool, bleach is much better. Then I did my regular routine, I hosed down the rocks, did the windows, pressure washed, vacuumed the pool, skimmed, all that fun stuff. I managed to give out 4 vitamin fish to Gypsy, Durban, Jerry and Willard. That was cool, I beat my record of 3. The penguins were acting really hungry today, it was weird. I took out the food bowls and I had flocks of penguins around me. It was amusing. Willard and Morris are still on their water eggs. Sylvester is still flying at anyone who even looks at Morris. Jerry doesn't care that much about Willard. I think it's because Willard is mean and steals food out of his mouth. The way to give her a vitamin fish is to give it to Jerry, she'll steal it. But that's about all I did. It was a calm and uneventful day, thank goodness. One interesting note, I saw some fish in Durban and Cramer's nest box, so maybe they're getting ready to have an egg.
11/29/01
Today Tammy and I drained the pool again. Work goes a lot faster with the pool drained. Vacuuming takes forever and it's the part I like the least. We zipped through the penguin room really fast. I gave vitamins to Willard, Jerry, and Gypsy. We used some really super concentrated bleach on the rocks and I think my lungs imploded. My eyes started burning too. Tennessee and Meg are about to lay an egg. Willard and Morris are still on theirs. Nothing too new or exciting in the penguin room. I give my zoo tour this Saturday and I'm going to go behind the scenes in there and talk and have Jell-O out. That should go over well. I spent a lot of time with the baby Macaws today. Marie and the other two that don't have names yet. Orange is a boy and Blue is a girl (their band colors). We have five baby Scarlett Macaws and one other zoo owns three of them. We're waiting on them to call and say which ones they want. Then the bird show people want the other one. The bird department insists on keeping Marie though, and I don't blame them. The Orange and Blue babies were really cute today. I was cleaning their room and got distracted playing with them and Marie. They're a lot of fun. I also saw PJ, of course. I fed him a monkey biscuit and half a boiled egg. He's so cute. He was knocking at the door to let us know that he wanted something to eat. It's very interesting to watch a sloth knock on a door. I also cleaned Digby and Memphis's room, they're the Bali Mynas. And I cleaned Jaycee's room, she's a mess. I think she's going to attack me then she steps up on my hand. Scarlett Macaws are odd creatures. Poor Heather is so upset with all the other birds that she's plucking her feathers. She has bald spots starting on her legs and chest. Poor thing. Matthew drives everyone crazy. Since it was so warm out today we let him outside in his cage earlier. I took him on the perch because Tammy said he didn't get up there for her. That was fun, I haven't handled him before. He did his little 'HACHACHA' thing. Oh, and I also touched Triton. I forget what kind of bird Tammy told me he was, but he's super soft. He has air pockets under his feathers that helps him to walk on top of water vegetation in marshes and stuff. He's a really cool looking bird. He runs away at first but when he's caught he just kind of sits their and doesn't fight. He's really cool. I can't really think of anything else that happened. I watched Amy from East Mammals making the bears their snacks. She made them molasses sandwiches. It cracks me up how they feed the bears. I might like to work with them someday, it seems like a lot of fun. They gave them freezer burned ice cream the other day and said that the bears loved it. And I guess that's about all.
12/6/01
It's almost my last day, how sad. Not really, I'm coming back next semester and working some through Christmas break. I think I'm addicted to the zoo. I was standing around talking to Amy and Mark, actually I was mostly listening, and they were mentioned some of the special exhibits and new exhibit ideas that are being proposed to the zoo board. It's really exciting and I hope I'm around for a lot of it. The idea of a Polar exhibit or Arctic exhibit was really awesome and I'd love to be involved in that. Or a penguin exhibit with Emperors or Kings. I think the zoo should work on getting some donations and build a really awesome penguin exhibit with an aquarium type tank so the viewers can see the penguins swimming underwater. We could build a building with maybe 20 different tanks, regulation sizes, of course, and have at least 6 penguins to form a coloney in each one and we could have all the different species. That would be really awesome and I bet it'd bring in a lot of money. Especially if we had it in the polar exhibit. I bet we could get Rippley's aquarium or the Chatanooga aquarium to sponsor us and donate the aquarium stuff. In return we could help them out in their rain forest exhibit or something like that. It'd be totally awesome to put together. I would be very interested in working on something like that. Anyway, today I worked up on the hill with Amy. I did the building while she did everything else. The spoonbills are in for the winter, so I hosed down their lot and fed them. Daddy boatbill did his little head weave thing when I went in to clean his cage, but he didn't bother me. Iggy and Dude were a mess, so I cleaned up their little area and let them run around out in the room for awhile. Iggy is getting a lot more tame now that she's away from Durban. Dude just walks around looking confused. He acts like he's not sure who exactly the penguin is. But I'm very sad to say that Dude, Iggy, and Gypsy are all going to the Memphis zoo sometime after Christmas. I'm very upset that Gypsy is going because I adore her. I'm going to come say goodbye, though. Ah, well, anyway. The little heron almost went nuts when I went into it's cage, so I just worked really fast and left it alone. Petunia almost drove me nuts with her little screeches. I cleaned her cage and she kept a close eye on me. Then I went in and did the Turracoes, Diablo and Rokey. Rokey wouldn't come near me, so I just cleaned and fed him. Diablo came up to me and took a raisin. He likes me, which is very cool. He hates everyone even more than Harriet and Gretal. He let me get in his cage, though and clean. That's really cool. I'm glad the Turracoes seem to like me. Then Amy came back and did the finches, because she was afraid they'd get out if I did them. They probably would have. They're tiny birds and if they got near the other cages the other birds would probably have killed them. Especially Petunia, she's a grouch. Anyway, after the hill we were done really early so we went to the nursery and I cleaned the runs and took Jaycee out of her cage, and fed PJ and talked to him, cleaned Digby and Memphis's room, cleaned the African Plains room and Kitty is sick, so she didn't chase me. I got done a lot faster without her chasing me. And Gretal and Harriet didn't land on my head, either. It was a good day. Then I scrubbed the baby macaw room, and those 3 went nuts. They love people. They love to climb on people. They're getting really huge and the 2 youngest keep flying into the windows and giving Tammy a heartattack. I like the boy, he's really a sweety. He lets me cradle him in my arms while the female likes to climb up my shirt or skin, whichever she can reach, and sit on my shoulder, head, neck, or back, depending on her mood. Their room was a huge mess, but we got it fairly clean. Then it was pass time for me to go and I said I'd come on Saturday and help because they have a big lecture to give. So, that's all.
12/13/01
Today was my last official day as an intern. How sad. But only until next semester. Of course it rained. I was late too because of a misunderstanding with final exams. My last exam was at 8 AM on Thursday, not Wednesday. Oh well, I made it. With my sister in tow. Tammy let my sister go back with us until the zoo officially opened and Jen got to meet Jell-O. Then after that Tammy and I cleaned the penguin pool. She drained it, but the system was acting really weird so it was touch and go there for a bit as to whether it would actually drain out or not. Eventually it did. I wish they would buy us a new pool system, ours is ready to blow up. Oh well. We finished the room in a couple hours. We have a new penguin in quarantine. Her name is Cleo. We're breaking up Gypsy and Grey, actually, we already have. Grey is in the infirmary with Cleo because she wasn't eating. They're already in the nest box together, so that went really well. I don't think there was as much of a connection between Gypsy and Grey as there was between Durban and Iggy. It's interesting to tell the penguins who are actually connected and the ones who aren't. Morris and Sylvester are, Tennessee and Meg are, Iggy and Durban and from what I understand Dude and his earlier mate Elane (she died when the egg she was carrying ruptured and now Dude is in a perpetual state of molt) were. Cramer and Dude, Willard and Jerry, Gypsy and Grey didn't/don't have much of a connection, they're just together because they need a mate. Anyway, Cleo wasn't eating so they put Grey in the infirmary with her and she's doing much better. She still has to be force fed sometimes, though. But I think that Grey and Cleo will get along well. I think Grey would get along with anyone well. I was wondering about splitting up Durban and Cramer and mating Cramer to Grey. For some reason I think that would go over better than Cramer with Durban. Maybe it's temperment. I haven't seen Cleo yet, though, so maybe she wouldn't work with Durban. I know that after all this work with Durban and Cramer that Mark wouldn't be too interested in trying another pairing with Durban. At least Durban let's Cramer in the nest box now. Anyway, Tennessee is on her egg, Morris is still on hers, I think that Willard is, but she and Jerry have been leaving their box a lot, they want to steal Morris and Sylvester's box, which isn't going over well with Sylvester. He's a really tiny penguin and both Willard and Jerry are huge, so it's amusing to see him stand up to both of them. Poor little guy. Well, after penguins we went to the nursery and the baby Scarlets are going insane. They're so wild, they're almost unmanageable. I fed P.J. One of his monkey buscuits, then it was time for me to leave. So, that was my last day as a fall intern in the bird department.
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Christmas Break Zoo Journal 2001
12/15/01
Today I got to work with Martha and two volunteers that I haven't met. Amy and Mark were there too, so I wasn't totally lost or anything. Mark had a big tour and lecture to give in the afternoon, so I did the penguins so he could prepare for it. I brought some cameras with me again today, disposable since mine is still incopacitated. I should invest in a good camera, but I know I'll break it. Oh well. Or I'll drop it in the penguin pool. I dropped one of the disposable cameras in the penguin pool while I was leaning down to feed Gypsy a fish. The camera fell out of my pocket and hit her. She looked very offended. Her expression clearly said "This ISN'T a fish!" I think she got mad because she bit my foot later. Anyway, I cleaned the penguin room. I brought Jell-O out while I prepared fish and let her walk around a little. She likes to pull my hair. She was into everything too, she went in the refridgerator with me and walked around for awhile looking at stuff. She's really cute, but I can tell she doesn't like me as much as Tammy or Amy or Jama. She kind of looks on me like she does Mark. I think it's because I don't get in her face and talk like a baby as much and I'm not blonde. I'm not sure. I let her pull my hair though, so she hangs around me if she doesn't know anyone else in the room with us. I have a hard time talking like a baby to most things. I do sometimes to my cats or Trixie, but rarely when other people are around and for some reason I just don't do it with the penguins. I have no idea, interesting though. Anyway, I got some great pictures of Jelly and Meg and Tennessee and Sylvester. Which reminds me, Sylvester was porpoising today. It was really cool. I was pressure washing and the hose was in the water and he started speeding around and popping above the surface. It was really cool to watch. He got two vitamin fish today. Jell-O got 1, Gypsy got 1, Meg got 1, and Willard got 1. I beat my vitamin fish record, yay! They were all really hungry today for some reason. I think their evening food rations get pulled earlier on Friday afternoon. Not much else to tell with penguins, I finished really early. Before I went to penguin I weighed the baby Scarlets. They are going absolutely crazy. The little female got in my back and bit the crap out of my neck. It's still sore. The boy was also on my back at the same time and they both started flapping their wings. It was an uncomfortable position to be in. I think they need to be put in a bigger outside cage sometime, they're driving everyone nuts in that little room. Orange band flew out and landed on Martha's neck and just sat there. They also land on the door on the vent part and start rattling it. You'd think a motorcycle gang was trying to break down the door, I swear. Anyway, I got some cute pictures of them. After that I left early and walked around the zoo asking keepers for pictures. Mark gave me a great picture of Humpty, our female Condor. I got the elephant guys to take some fabulous pictures of Tonka, too. Tonka posed, it's so cute. Hopefully tomorrow I'll get a lot more from the different keepers. Anyway, I'm coming back tomorrow to work, so until then.
12/16/01
Today traffic was great. I love Sunday morning traffic. OK, anyway. I worked with Amy and Martha today. First we went to clean out the Scarlet exhibit and I got pooped on by a baby. That was lovely, I smelled pretty nasty the rest of the day. Then, after I scrubbed my clothes, we went to the clinic and saw Cleo, the new penguin. Even though she and Grey are in the same nest box, Amy doesn't think it means anything. She thinks that they're both just really scared and they're sharing the box from fear. Also, I've seen the enclosure and there's really no where else for a penguin to get but in the nest box. We're still force feeding Cleo since she won't eat. She also has to take a pill. Today she regurgitated everything that was put down her. I really hope she starts eating soon because she's lost weight since last night. She's really boney and her skin is baggy. She's a beautiful bird, however. She has pale peach feathers above her eyes. But, since she wouldn't take any food, and that includes her pill, she had to take an injection, which wasn't fun. But after that was done I went to work with the other penguins. Not much happened. I had Jell-O out with me while I weighed fish and soaked nest boxes. Usual stuff. The birds were ravenous today. I gave out 7 vitamin fish. Gypsy got 2, Meg got 1, Morris got 1 (I was surprised), Durban got 1, Willard got 1, and Jerry got 1. Cramer wanted one but she was afraid to take it from me. Sylvester was giving Morris a break on the egg, so she was walking around and swimming with the others. That's good for her, she needs to move around. Tennessee is still on her egg. Willard and Jerry's egg was already pulled. I think I really hate splitting up nesting pairs. Gypsy wanders around looking kind of lost without her mate. Grey is getting over the shock of being in the clinic and he's started going after the guy who looks after him. I really think that splitting them up causes too much behavioral damage. I wish they'd switch to artificial insimination. That'd save everyone a lot of trouble and a lot of heartache from watching our penguins go through so much stress. It's horrible to see the impact that splitting them up has on the birds. Anyway, I finished the penguin room really fast then headed to the nursery to feed P.J. He got his egg and a carrot stick and an apple slice. Then I headed to the hill and helped Amy finish up. There wasn't a lot to do, but I went in and said hello to Iggy and petted her. Then we did the Thick-Billed Parrot and the Kukaburra. After that I was pretty much done so I went around and collected some pictures from the keepers. Amy Flew had some great ones of Feeber and the otters and a rhino and a baboon. Mark Graves, Amy's husband had one of Asafa and another of a snow leopard. That was about all that happened this morning.
12/23/01
Today was a really exciting day. Iggy, Dude, and Gypsy are all gone. They made it to the Memphis zoo safely and everyone thinks they won't have a problem fitting into the new colony. I'm sad to see them go, though. Cleo and Grey were released back into the exhibit along with Cramer and Durban. Cramer and Durban have split up and they're in separate nest boxes again. Everyone's afraid that Cramer might hook up with Grey since Cleo won't get in the box with him. So most likely after Cleo starts to eat again, Cramer and Durban will be locked back up in the nursery. But right now we have four penguins (not counting Jell-O) in a nest box alone. So we just have to wait and see what'll happen. I was actually afraid at one point today that Jell-O was about to get into the nest box with Grey. That'd be an interesting twist to the penguin drama. Anyway, on to Cleo. She's a very pretty bird, but she won't eat. They have to blend fish with medicine and tube feed her now because she regurgitates everything that they force feed her. She's losing weight and everyone's really afraid she's not going to make it. She grabs at fish, and pecks them and has even stolen them from other bird's beaks, but she hasn't eaten one. So the birds diet has been totally changed, they all eat out of one bowl now, to get a crowd together to entice Cleo to come steal some food from them. In New Jersey they said that since she was from such a big colony she was used to stealing food from other birds, that's how she ate. She's not used to being alone. But for some reason she won't eat here with us. We can't pressure wash the exhibit either, because she's still so jittery. I had to go in and scrub with baking soda. Anyway, today Amy went in with me to explain the new feeding process. She went in and tried to get Cleo to eat, but she wouldn't. So after filling the pool (it has a leak in it so we're losing a lot of water over night) Amy left to go do the field. I started scrubbing the rocks and doing all that general stuff. I took Jell-O into the kitchen, she loves to go out there with me. She likes to be picked up and sort of swung around like she's flying. She's so cute, she flaps her little flippers and tries to fly. Then I was in the nursery scrubbing the floor and Cleo came out of her box and kind of checked me out. She went on out to the penguin pool and swam for a little while then came back in and kept watching me a little. I talked to her but didn't approach her or anything. I heard this thing about penguins and music once, that it calms them, sort of. So I decided to try whistling to see how she would react. I kind of made up a melody and she watched me from her nest box, not really defensive or anything. So I went on out and scrubbed the rest of the exhibit and when I came back through the nursery I saw her standing in her nest box door looking at me. Amy had lain three fish down on a rock in front of the next to try to entice her to eat. So I bent down and picked up a fish and held it out to her. She pecked at it like she wanted to eat it, she'd closer he beak on it a few times but never had a really strong hold. Then she'd kind of shake her head no and drop the fish. I've seen Jell-O do that before and usually it's when there's something on the fish or a fin is out of place or it doesn't taste good. So I started thinking about what could be different with this fish from what she's used to from New Jersey. Then I got a thought to try feeding her a freshly thawed fish without rinsing it (we always rinse the fish we feed the birds in cold water). So I had a very cold, unrinsed fish and I went back in to try. She started getting a more firm grip on the fish and she tore some of the skin a little, but then she dropped it again. I was encouraged, though, because she was more interested than she had been, so I left to go find a smaller fish that she might eat. As I was coming back, I was actually in the doorway, I saw her dart her head out and grab the fish that I had just been trying to give her and she swallowed it and she didn't regurgitate! I was so excited, you have no idea. But after that one fish she went into a corner of her nest box and wouldn't even really look at me again. So I could only get her to take one fish, but at least she took one! She hasn't eaten on her own since she got here a couple weeks ago. So things are definitely looking up for Miss Cleo. I was really excited because the keepers and vets have been trying to get her to eat since she got here. I guess she finally just got hungry and being in the exhibit with the colony probably helped a lot. Heh, God helped a lot too. I'm sure everyone in the bird department has been praying for her. It's really amusing because going in this morning Amy and Martha were joking around that if I fed her I could get an automatic A in my internship for next spring and I wouldn't even have to come in. Well, I think I got my A, but I'll still come in. I really didn't expect to get her to eat at all, though. I just hope she continues to eat and that this wasn't a freak incident. I'll keep this updated about her, I go in again on the 29th. After Cleo ate a fish I finished up in the penguin exhibit and went to the bird house and waited for someone to show up so I could let them know that she ate. I cleaned out Matthew's room (he's back there to muffle the noise) and he got out and was a pest to get back in. He climbed up on my shoulder and I was scared to death because he has the sharpest and strongest beak of all the Macaws. He shreds plywood bird toys in like a day. Imagine what that could do to an eyeball. He was climbing all over my shoulders, neck, and head though. But luckily it was just me and him in there and he didn't bite me or anything. He eventually got back on his branch in him room and I gave him some peanuts. He's not a bad bird as long as Amy isn't around. He absolutely loves Amy and then he hates everyone else. Anyway, then Martha came in just as I was finishing with that and I told her about Cleo. She was so excited she was just like 'THANK YOU'. I was amused. She really hated force feeding her. Anyway, then I left. But I called back to see when I work again and Amy answered and said that Martha was working with Cleo trying to get her to take a fish, so I really hope that everyone will be able to feed her and we won't have to worry about tube feeding or forcing fish on her anymore.
12/29/01
Today was rather exciting. And cold. Good news, Cleo is still eating! We're all very happy and relieved. She took up to 11 fish one day. She took 6 today. We're pressure washing again, thank goodness. That place gets disgusting without the pressure washer. Some interesting notes on our little penguin love fiasco, Cramer is now in Grey's box. I thought that she and Grey would make a better pair than Durban and she. Their personalities clash horribly. Amy thinks that Durban kind of likes Cleo. He acts all sweet towards her. So that's how it's broken up. Cramer and Grey, and it looks like Durban and Cleo, but she acts kind of disinterested towards any penguin except Jell-O and only because Jelly sometimes goes into her nest box. Because Cleo is staying in the nursery where Jell-O loves to stay. So Jelly goes to check out her box and see what's up with this new penguin. She snaps at Cleo though, because Cleo has been getting a lot of attention with Jell-O's humans. And Jell-O snaps at other penguins sometimes when they get around her people, because she's protecting her 'mate'. She's very amusing, she thinks she's mated to Tammy and Amy and Jama. I'm very interested in Cleo, though. She reminds me of Iggy. Kind of sassy. It'll be interesting to see how she developes and fits into the new colony. Another interesting thing that happened today, Meg and Durban got into a fight. I took Durban's nest box to clean it and before I put the new box in he must have tried to get in Meg and TN's box or Meg and TN got too close to Durban's area, but Durban beat Meg up pretty well. Poor Meg, he's so much bigger than Durban, but Durban is a 'street fighter'. Out of all the penguins he's probably the best fighter. Iggy used to help him fight when they needed to protect their space. But anyway, Meg's beak was bleeding, it kind of looked like it had a crack in it. Durban was shaking but when I put his box back he got in it and sulked for awhile. I wasn't sure about Meg so I radioed for Martha or Amy and Martha came and we checked him out. We had to chase him around the exhibit awhile, he wasn't about to let us catch him, he'd already been beat up by someone smaller than him. Martha's hand couldn't fit around his neck in the bulky glove, so I offered to catch him. That was exciting, I haven't caught a penguin before. Now I know how to though. You have to grab their necks really hard (it doesn't hurt them) and hold them up, watching out for their flippers and beaks. My one mistake was when Martha told me to watch out for Meg's flipper, I reached down to hold his flipper against his body with my free hand (ungloved) and he shot his neck out and nailed me on my left middle finger. Not bad though, it just raised a blue welt. I didn't drop him, so that was good. We looked at his beak and decided to let him go and just watch it to make sure it didn't worsen or anything. After that I just finished my regular work and took off. It was pretty cold in the penguin pool, Jell-O and Morris were swimming around with Durban (I think) and they kept fluffing up their feathers to ward off the chill. I stuck my hand in when I was vacuuming and it was like liquid ice. That was basically it for penguin news. In the macaws, orange band is being taken by the Bird Show. No one is very thrilled about that in the Bird Department. He's the sweetest macaw too. Marie is going through a phase, she nailed my right hand when I was trying to get her off the girl who volunteers head. I can't remember the girl's name right now. So when I left I had two swollen hands.
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