Week in Review

To say the past week has been hectic may be an understatement. We had the first week of summer camp and a school group on top of the normal barn stuff.  When all was said and done, I put in over 100 hours this pay period (and managed to lose my voice temporarily)!

While I won't bore you with the day to day stuff here are a few photos from the week:

Danny and I getting dressed up for a class!

Northern Flicker that came in for rehab (it was found to

have a broken wing).

Red fox that was seen numerous times around the dining

hall by the kids!

Monarch Caterpillar

All in all it was a fun but exhausting week. I am in the middle of working 14 days straight so 6 down and 8 to go. And with that, its back to work for day 7. I am off to an outreach at Chippewa National Forest!

Oreo and Frisbee

Summer camp is around the corner!

Jeff and I have begun working on a project for wildlife camp - training 2 rats. I named mine Oreo and Jeff's is named Frisbee. The bad part is we can't tell them apart except for tail so we are currently calling them clear-tail and dirty-tail.

Wildlife camp is a taste of different things animal related. For example, we are going to the zoo, aquarium, an animal hospital, having kids help out with barn chores AND hopefully run a training session with the rats. Wouldn't it be cool to have the kids be able to give a cue and have the rats do the behaviour? Jeff ideas were that one would run through a cardboard tube and the other would ring a bell. We have started the training process by not handling the rats. Just letting them explore on their own and hopefully they will eventually be willing to climb into our hands.

clear-tail is on the left and dirty-tail has her back to the camera

Clear-tail coming to investigate the camera

After having the rats for a week, the progress is a little disappointing. We got 2 female rats because we heard that they were easier to train. So far, clear-tail comes out to explore a bit and dirty-tail buries herself in the corner. I guess we will see how far we get before camp!

Mourning Dove

Yesterday, a mourning dove came in with a broken wing from the Wildcat Sanctuary. After an exam, body wrap and some fluids the bird was transported down to the cities.

Ojibwe Hike

Today I taught a group of elementary school students a class called Ojibwe Hike. Basically, its a class where we talk a bit about the Ojibwe history and then go out and identify plants that they used. Its lots of fun when the students get into the class.

The students picking raspberries

Our yummy afternoon treat!

One girl had learned alot of Ojibwe words in school, so she was actually teaching me words for a bunch of different animals while we were out hiking. Along the way we found a bunch of raspberries so the group stopped for a snack!! All in all, a nice way to spend a summer afternoon.

Wildlife Science Center

This is a little bit late but I couldn't find my camera cord....

On the 18th, I drove a bunch of kids down to the Wildlife Science Center in Forest Lake. It is a place primarily known for its captive wolves but it also has other large mammals and a few raptors. (http://www.wildlifesciencecenter.org/)

At one point, a cop car drove by with its siren blaring and all of the wolves began to howl. It was one of those moments that gives you goose bumps. Below are a few pictures - I apologize for the poor quality but the chain link makes it tricky!

Black Bear

Wolf

fish and birds

This week was a busy one for wildlife.

First we had to finish putting up the mosquito netting on the bird enclosures. This was a slow job because we didn't want to tear any of the netting and have to redo a panel.

Second task of the week was to give the birds west nile vaccinations. This meant putting all of the birds on the table....including Woody. For, me this meant grabbing my first bird. Our bald eagle. It was a little nerve racking but quite the adrenaline rush. Apparently it is go big or go home around here.

The other big project was gutting fish to feed the birds. This was another first for me (I had dissected many fish for school but never actually gutted one). The DNR was out at various lakes this week gill netting fish. The ones that didn't survive got put in a cooler and given to us. Through the week, we gutted nearly 120 pounds of fish!

All in all, a very productive week :)

Owl Release!

We went down to The Raptor Center today to get the 3 littlest birds beaks taken care of. While at the clinic we found out that the 5 Northern Saw-whet owlets had been released. We also returned with a Great-Horned Owl. This spring it was brought to the Audubon after it was found injured outside of Sandstone. Following an exam, it was transferred to The Raptor Center. After 3 months of rehab, it was ready to be released!