Birds

I happened upon these photos today of birds of prey. They struck me as good examples of the ratio of bird "body" to bird "wings". It helps explain how the birds are so lightweight. In addition to lots of feathers, the birds have hollow bones and some of their organs shrink when they don't need them (reproductive organs). A Barn Owl, shown in the last pic, is about the size and weight of a mini Nerf football. The Osprey (first pic) is the size and weight of a full size Nerf football. The eagle in the middle can grow up to 15 pounds with a wing span of 6 feet.

I share this info because I had expected the birds to weigh more. When I picked up my first bird last weekend, I was so surprised at how little it weighed, at just 600 grams.

Countdown to Fall Semester

Work has been pretty tough lately, so much so that I have kept a "school countdown" for about two months. After today I have only two full weeks until I go part time. I can hardly wait, and I spend every task-free moment at work Googling animal-related careers, images and information. In the meantime, I'm putting more hours in at CRC. I have arranged to work eight hour shifts this Sunday and next, and a few hours after work on a Tuesday. Working additional hours is exciting to me because I get to feed the nocturnal birds, who I haven't met yet, plus I will get to meet new people at CRC, which is always good. Every person I have met at CRC, I really like, as opposed to the people I meet at work, who I mostly dislike.

This fall I am taking my first college level science courses:

Statistics

Chemistry 1

Geography

All are four credit hours each. Chem and Stats have labs, and Geo is online. My schedule is totally manageable:

Monday - work a full day

Tuesday AM - school Tuesday PM - school Tuesday late PM - school

Wednesday - work a full day

Thursday - full day and night of school

Friday - study

Saturday - study, volunteer and recreation

Sunday - volunteer

This is a very easy schedule, compared to the veterinary medicine schedules I have seen online. It's much more challenging when you're taking 25 hours of courses, which is what most vet programs require. Remind me of that when I'm whining mid-October about homework.

Not So Common Sound

I almost forgot to share my Common Barn Owl experience. These owls hiss very loudly when they feel threatened. The sound freaks me out a little because it is so loud. At CRC there are four of them in an enclosure that's on my list to clean and change water on Sundays. I start to chuckle a little when I first hear them but then I just get scared and get out of there, so they're doing a good job.

Here's a video from YouTube, make sure to turn your volume up nice and loud: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akwc82DOb4k

Carolina Raptor Center Excitement

Today at CRC, the same hawk came after me. As I walked up to his enclosure, I sighed, then worked at psyching myself up to go inside. As I started to open the door, he buzzed it and I hesitated, then quickly got inside and closed the door behind me. I stood in the corner, waiting for all five birds to calm down. Red Shouldered Hawks are notoriously freaky. So I waited, then all of a sudden, he swooped right down at my head. I held my leather gloved arm up to block and he landed on my hand. I stood there in a little bit of shock, freaked out because I could really feel him holding on to me, not that he was hurting me, because of the glove, but I could feel his talons holding onto my hand. He stood there for a few seconds, then I shook my hand a little and he jumped down to the ground, and stayed there, just a foot away, while I cleaned his water dish and refilled it. He seemed so fearless. Man I hope we get to release him soon so I can avoid injury.

After I finished my cleaning duties, I asked Carly, the volunteer boss, if she wanted to show me something new. She asked if I wanted to "grab". Grab a bird? Of course I do! I was nervous but very excited. We needed to move four Barred Owls from one enclosure to another, so they can attend "mouse school", which means they learn how to hunt mice rather than being fed dead mice. So she showed me how to grab, then I got to practice. It was so cool. I will never forget holding on to the first owl, by the legs, cradling it sort of like a baby with my other hand, and looking into its eyes. I feel so fortunate to have figured out "what I want to do with my life" at 34 years of age.

Today is Thursday Tomorrow is Friday!

I am ready for the weekend, as usual. Hopefully the weather will be nice so I can get a little sun.

My bruises from last Sunday's run-in with the hawk are still blue. They were actually a little worse than I had thought prompting a couple of people to ask me about them; I explained the whole incident in detail. The funny thing is that as soon as I start talking about the birds, it puts me in a great mood. It doesn't matter how rotten I feel or how crummy of a day I'm having, talking about the birds lifts my spirits and makes me smile. I love that I have finally found something that makes me so happy.

On a totally different note, we're thinking about taking a weekend trip to Washington DC for Labor Day weekend to visit The National Zoo (it's free!), some Smithsonian museums (they're free!) and to hear the National Orchestra at a, you guessed it, free concert Sunday the 7th. Flights are cheap and we can use public transport while we're there, so a bulk of the cost will be for lodging. I'm going to put an ad on Craigslist for a place to see what comes up. Under $75 in a decent neighborhood and we're going!

Raptor Center

Today was my 8th Sunday in a row at The Raptor Center. Something I have noticed is how relaxed and confident I feel while I'm there and after I leave. There is no question in my mind that, at 34, I'm finally on the right path.

I was able to do a couple of new tasks this shift. I got to feed three bald eagles (they eat fish), feed live mice to some hawks, and I also was able to see some tiny little baby Barred Owls. Next week I will get to do some "Rehab 2" duties, such as feed some birds in ICU and maybe grab one of them for a treatment. I'm so excited about grabbing.

One of the Red Shouldered Hawks swooped at me while in the enclosure today. He buzzed right by my head to give me a warning and I stumbled a little to the ground. I didn't leave, because I still needed to clean the enclosure and replace the water, so he came at me again, this time landing right on my back. I was a little freaked out, but after a second (it felt like a minute), he flew back up onto his perch. I can remember a few weeks ago when something like this would have left me really shaken and I would have exited the enclosure immediately and let the staff know I couldn't clean it, but I'm not afraid of the birds as much anymore so it really didn't bother me much. I would prefer not to be dive-bombed by hawks though.

Next week I'm going to try to bring my camera to take some good pictures.

Weekly Recap Tidbits

Today I paid my tuition bill for fall and purchased one textbook. Since I'm going to community college this semester my books will cost as much as my tuition. I love to read and appreciate books but $250 for a used book makes me nauseous.

This has been a summer of reading, with about nine books so far. The last was The Secret Life of Bees and it was good. Next is James Herriott's All Creatures Great and Small. One of my favorites was Tell Me Where It Hurts, written by a small animal emergency vet. Marley and Me was great too. I think I should read a non-animal related book after Creatures to broaden my horizons a little.

I lost three pounds!

I'm no longer an anxious ball of nerves!

This weekend at The Raptor Center I'm going to talk to the resident vet or the volunteer coordinator to see if I can start to focus on some duties other than cleaning cages and feeding. I'm happy to do both, and I know they are vital but I really would like some more exposure to medical procedures. I'm going to suggest expanding my shift two hours from 10-4pm so I will have time to clean, feed and learn new stuff.

One of the guys at the check-in counter at the gym told me I looked pretty today. That's always so nice to hear.