XXX. A chorus of birds at the Nut House Zoo and Aquarium Visitor

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XXX. A chorus of birds at the Nut House

A: My goodness, this summer has certainly provided us with plenty of fascinating cases to tell you all about. Everyday we are lucky enough to be able to help out dozens of injured, orphaned or ill animals with no where else to go. As always, Britt and I are eager to share their stories with you!

B: Patients are still coming in, babies are still clamoring for food and we staff are waiting (with baited breath) for those late summer baby birds. Most songbirds in our region get their groove on in April (or so) and will produce a brood or two over the course of a few months. American goldfinches and Cedar waxwings however, like to wait until later in the season.

A: Our Brittany is famous for her ability to predict and identify the "waves" of birds as they pass through our community. We rely of her to tell us when to expect each species so that we can prepare diets, caging and schedules for them. Each type of bird has specific requirements- for example, Cedar waxwings need tons of fruit and berries, goldfinches need a cache of spray millet and greens and so on. Having a thorough knowledge of our ecology helps us to better care for the hundreds of baby birds that pass through our doors!

B: If my predictions are good, it is only because I learned from the best. Although it gets a little hairy when autumn sets in and we still have a clutch or two of cedars. While our goldfinches stay here year-round, the waxwings must follow their fruit. Why they wait until the end of the summer to procreate is beyond me but we do the best we can, communicating with other Maryland rehabbers and "trading" patients to make sure that every lone baby will have a friend, either in release or in over-wintering. But enough about babies yet to come, let's talk about the babies we have now. 'Possum expert Alicia has some tales to tell about her former "roommate"...

A: I'm very pleased to report that the little baby I have been taking home every day is doing great; he doubled his weight last week and is still gaining weight steadily. I have started to introduce banana and soften "chow" to his diet. Though he mostly just licks at his new solid food choices, I feel confident that he will soon start to actually chew and swallow, which will help him later on when he has to rely on his soft food bowls exclusively for nourishment. All in all, I am very proud of the little guy who came in all scrawny and weak and is now happily wandering around on my carpet before feedings.

B: While Alicia has been happily playing with her 'possum, I spent yesterday scrounging SCWC's woods for suitable furniture for our outdoor raccoon cages. With all the recent windy thunderstorms, there was plenty of furniture to choose from and seven of our former babies are now happily climbing around their new spacious cages. Since raccoons have such a large learning curve, we have to supply them with everything they need to survive when they finally make it back into the wild. This includes a kiddie pool of water (to learn how to fish), large tree limbs (to perfect their climbing skills), Kong toys stuffed with food (to perfect their pick-pocketing skills) and a hammock hung high in a corner (to enforce their arboreal sleeping habits).

A: SCWC is also very happy to welcome a new baby vulture! I checked in the little Black Vulture after his nest was destroyed during the construction of a new building today. he is both adorable and feisty, lunging at our tongs whenever we try to hand feed him. Baby black vultures are covered with a beautiful down and then slowly grow in their pitch black feathers but their heads are black from the day of their birth. We are all very fond of the baby vultures here and particularly the black vultures because of their charming personalities and lively antics.

B: Unlike those wily Turkey vultures who will puke as soon as they see you. We do have a T.V. in residence but he should soon be making his way into an outdoor cage after a 180 degree turn-around from being tumbled by a car. While our baby bird intakes have slowed to a light flood, we did admit a 14 gram baby squirrel last week although we are not sure if mom was very late for the spring season or very early for the fall season. As we received double our usual spring intake of squirrels, we are dreading the fall season. Will we receive double the spring number (as it happens in a normal year)? Keep reading to find out!

A: Fall squirrels are not the most relaxing way to end our summer bird season but we all enjoy the change of pace after months of hourly feedings and flight cages. Although I know we will miss the chorus of baby and fledgling birds as they remind us that their feedings are coming up... speaking of which, I think I hear an increased sense of urgency in those calls from the front room.

B: Ah yes, I hear it as well. The Mockingbirds are peeping my name, as are the Chimney swifts. TTFN.

Questions? Comments? Email Alicia and Brittany at nut.house.ab@gmail.com. Want to learn more about Second Chance Wildlife Center? Simply go to www.scwc.org.

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