Fourth Day!

This morning after I woke up and picked up Olivia and we headed off to the zoo. My day started off with a bang when we had to go and change a baby Malibu Stork nest material. Now this baby has earned it's nickname of "Monster." This has got to be the meanest bird I have ever met (which isn't a lot, but just go with it). He doesn't like you, he bites, his parents get made when you mess with him, and he makes the loudest, most awful noise (Olivia can do a great impression if you ask her). A zookeeper had to throw a towel over Monster's beak and held him down, while another grabbed the used nest material (which smelled absolutely terrible) and replaced it with new material. Monster escaped the towel and I don't even know how many times the zookeepers got bitten. I just stayed out of the way.

Kinda What Monster Looked like,
But Monster's Uglier 

When we arrived at the Forest Aviary, we started preparing the food bowls and I went out and replaced the bowls form last night. Then Sherry let me hose the aviary, to get rid of all the little birdies presents they have kindly left for all the visitors. So instead of just regular poop, I got to work with watery poop.
After I hosed the aviary, I got new nesting material for the Waldrupp Ibis's because two of the Ibis's have two chicks that they are raising. Walrupp Ibis's are extremely endanger and the zoo is so happy that they now have chicks. Sherry is worried though because it seems as if the Ibis's are caring for another egg, hoping that it will hatch, and Sherry is worried that it might be an infertile egg.

Waldrupp Ibis Chick

 After we took pictures of the chicks, I started walking around the exhibit. As I was walking around, I realized that I can now tell which bird it is just by the sound they make. My favorite bird call is the White- Faced Whistling Duck. It's funny because if your late giving them their food, they will let you know. They go inside the cages and whistle as loud as they possibly can. Then they follow you all the way to where you set down the food. And during this internship, I found out that I can whistle better then I could before. Here's an example of what they sound like.

Speckled Pigeon (African)

Also while I was in the exhibit, I answered questions that the visitors had. I showed them all the food in the bird's bowls and all of the visitor's were shocked to see that the bird's do not just eat birdseed. They all thought that that's all birds eat and were surprised to see meat in many of the bowls. The visitors also usually wonder about the Speckled Pigeon (that are native to Africa) because they all believe that normal pigeons somehow got into the exhibit. I had to explain to many of them that they are not normal pigeons, but they are AFRICAN pigeons.

Wax Worms

Later in the day I started preparing the lunch feeding and I got the lucky job of sorting the wax worms. I think they are grosser than the mealworms because they feel sticky and slimy. But they accept death easier than the meal worms.
As I was preparing the food, I had to remember about Kambui's (The Silver Cheeked Hornbill from earlier) weird diet. He cannot eat citrus and Sherry explained to me that Hornbill's do not drink water, but they get water from the food that they eat. So we have to give him food that is rich in water.
Mrs. Nancarrow and her husband visited me this morning. Sherry and I got to show them where I have been working this past week and the surrounding exhibits. I hope they had fun! They also got a free trip to the zoo.
As I was leaving, I kept hearing the strangest noises coming from the tortoise exhibit, like one was breathing really loudly. I looked over and saw a male tortoise entertaining a lady friend. I pause for a second in shock and the male tortoise hissed at me (I didn't even know tortoises could hiss). I guess he wanted some privacy so I went on my way. It was a very odd way to end the day.

I thought this was cute
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