Since things have been a little slow at IBRRC, lately, four of us got to go release one cattle egret. This egret was a youngster when he arrived August 16, but today he passed his tests - mainly, good bloodwork, and the ability to fly well.
Monique, a fellow volunteer, is on the left. Thomas is a new intern from the South Bay area, and Dana is an intern from New Zealand. Interns live at IBRRC in rooms about half the size of a prison cell. Here, we anticipate the moment we have all been waiting for...
Drumroll....
The egret was so fast shooting out of the box, that no one actually got a picture of it. I guess that is a good sign. Oh, well.
So, it was back to IBRRC and time to do the afternoon feeding. This handsome, strong, Brandt's Cormorant wasted no time going for his fish.
We still have a few gulls on the mend.
Kramer was particularly pesky, today, almost grabbing fish out of my hand that I was trying to toss ("biff") to a loon. He looks very much like the cattle egret we released.
Donna and I were in charge of this sweet, but extremely thin, little Aleutian Goose. She only weighs 905 grams. We think she made good progress today. She has not been eating, and has to be tube fed 3 times a day. This morning, we took her out to a spa with several ducks. Ducks and geese are very social, and often just having company changes their will to live and eat. This seemd to be the case today, because this afternoon, she was dabbling in the water, and it looked like she was eating sprouts from Marie's sandwich. When we brought her in at the end of the day, she seemed to have a new perkiness. We hope for the best. Since she had to leave her duck friends behind, Donna thoughtfully provided a mirror so she would have a companion.
The egret was so fast shooting out of the box, that no one actually got a picture of it. I guess that is a good sign. Oh, well.
So, it was back to IBRRC and time to do the afternoon feeding. This handsome, strong, Brandt's Cormorant wasted no time going for his fish.
We still have a few gulls on the mend.
Kramer was particularly pesky, today, almost grabbing fish out of my hand that I was trying to toss ("biff") to a loon. He looks very much like the cattle egret we released.
Donna and I were in charge of this sweet, but extremely thin, little Aleutian Goose. She only weighs 905 grams. We think she made good progress today. She has not been eating, and has to be tube fed 3 times a day. This morning, we took her out to a spa with several ducks. Ducks and geese are very social, and often just having company changes their will to live and eat. This seemd to be the case today, because this afternoon, she was dabbling in the water, and it looked like she was eating sprouts from Marie's sandwich. When we brought her in at the end of the day, she seemed to have a new perkiness. We hope for the best. Since she had to leave her duck friends behind, Donna thoughtfully provided a mirror so she would have a companion.
1 comment:
I hope the sweet little goose gets better.
Post a Comment