Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Yesterday was my final training session at Kanyana, and today was my first regular shift there. A woman and her daughter brought in a sick bird, and six of us volunteers were all standing together in the hospital when they came in.  They walked right up to me to give me the bird, asking if I was the supervisor.  I guess the fact that I was clearly the oldest one there, made them naturally assume I must be in charge - ironic since it was actually my first day.  The other volunteers were either high school or college kids, so I guess I shouldn't feel too surprised.

Took these pics of some of the patients: 

This little guy is a Boodie, and everyone initially thought he was a baby, since he's only about 1/3 the size of the others we have.  However, he is from Barrow Island, and apparently the island species are typically smaller.  The volunteer was feeding him milk through a syringe, so he has milk all over his mouth.  Barrow Island is known as "Noah's Ark" because it has so many species found no where else on earth.

 This is a Bobtail, a type of large, heavy lizard with very thick scales like armor.  He was in for the flu, and after being on antibiotics for 2 weeks they are usually ready to be released.  It's important to release them in the same area they were found, since they mate for life and the whole family stays close by. 

These guys are Kookaburras, and when they start laughing you can hear them from a very long ways away, they're incredibly loud.  These two were ready to be released, and while we were in the aviary, a Kookaburra on the outside kept flying down to harass these two.  They seemed to be very bothered by him, and kept flying to the top of the cage and hitting their heads. 

These are the two Tawny Frogmouths used in the education program, and an additional one was brought in later in the day.  They are nocturnal, and during the day they sit with their heads tilted back, looking straight up, only they have their eyes closed (since they're asleep.)  Because they sit completely still on the branch of a tree, and their feathers blend in so closely with the bark, they are very difficult to spot.  They also make a strange, low-pitched  humming sound.  We had to pinch the heads off of mealworms, and then I fed them to these guys with tweezers.  They also eat mice, but someone took the mice that we'd put out to defrost, so we had to tide them over with worms.  I have volunteered to start working in the education program, so once I learn everything I need to know about the animals, I'll start taking them out to schools, retirement homes, special events, etc.  Some of the animals in the program include these tawny frogmouths, echidnas, a python, bobtails, boodies, bilbies, tree frogs and Henry the black cockatoo.  

 
This is Henry, he's pretty obnoxious and spends a lot of time screeching as loudly as he can.  He was raised from a tiny chick by an old man who fed him coffee and toast, and not much else, and he never learned to fly.  So when he brought him to Kanyana, they tried to get him to fly.  It was a windy day and when he opened his wings, a gust blew him into a nearby tall tree.  He was so scared he wouldn't top screaming and they had to call the fire department to get him down.  So since then he's been the resident mascot, with free run of the house.