Summer Camp

What have I been up to lately and why have there been a lack of posts? First, a lightning strike killed the staff house internet. Second, and a bigger reason, is summer camp! Camp means that we work an insane amount hours and are with the kids from sun-up to sun-down. Here are a few of the highlights from last weeks forts, fires and fishing camp and this weeks ways of wildlife.

Sunset over Grindstone Lake

A dragonfly I got to stand on my hand :)

Really fun moth - again got it to stand on me!

Swimming Time!

A splash from a rock

At the vet clinic looking at heart worm

We still have a bunch of field trips for wildlife camp - including an overnight at the Great Lakes Aquarium which I am SUPER excited for. I will be sure to post after, if I survive the night ;)

What a Week!

The past week has been insane! We had the Ways of Wildlife Camp with 18 campers and many field trips connected to animals.

On the first full day of camp, my half of the group went to the Great Lakes Aquarium in Duluth. We got a behind the scenes tour and got a glimpse into what it takes to run an aquarium. It was lots of fun and we saw a bunch of fish. As a special bonus, the tall ships were still in the Duluth Harbor when we got there. 

My group in with the scuba diver in the sturgeon tank!

Me and a moose

Tall ships in Duluth

The next day we went back to Duluth to be a zoo keeper for the day at the Lake Superior Zoo. Here we went behind the scenes and cleaned the kangaroo enclosure. Then we got to explore the zoo before rushing back to the center for a Wildcat Sanctuary program. As part of this program we made enrichment for the cats which basically means we used cardboard boxes and paint to make giant cat toys!

Campers in front the the 'roo exhibit

(notice the matching t-shirts we made!)

Me showing my arm span!

The awesome cat toys!

On Wednesday, we learned about wildlife rehab. We took out a bunch of salvage animals and learned how to do a physical and bandages on an injured animal. It was a great lead in to our afternoon at an animal hospital. We took a tour of the vet clinic and rehab facilities in Garrison. Afterward, we took our picture by a huge Walleye (Minnesota's state fish)!

Me in front of the giant walleye!

On Thursday, we started the day in the barn. Half the group did kestrel handling and the other half did barn chores. It was fun to see how excited the kids were to gut the food or feed a herp. That afternoon, we drove down to the Wildlife Science Center. We saw the wolves, bears and other critters that they house.

Four wolves checking out our group!

Friday morning was a repeat of Thursday and then the campers got picked up after lunch. All in all this was a crazy week. It was exhausting because I worked nearly 90 hours but it was fulfilling at the same time. Through the week we got to see alot of critters and the campers learned how much work goes into caring for animals. It was great to see the kids get so excited to see, touch or feed an animal!

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!