B:  Another exciting week at Second Chance Wildlife Center! On Monday, one of our wonderful volunteers helped us empty all six of our outdoor squirrel enclosures, taking them to be released in the acres of woods behind her home. Alicia and I spent that afternoon raking up the cages, shoveling out old gravel and hauling tree limbs of all sizes from our stock pile of cage furniture for refurbishing.

A: All of our non-rehabber friends are envious of our tans and muscles - little do they know that they are earned through hard labor! Moving the squirrels into the outdoor cages is a unique reward; being as curious and acrobatic as they are, its a treat to watch them explore their new environments. Getting to clear some space on the side porch (where they had been previously housed) is quite a reward too, as we are now able to better prepare for the next wave of squirrels.

B: Which are slowly trickling in. Baby squirrels weighing under 30 grams come in every day or so and we have been able to keep pace with transferring them to our local in-home rehabbers, who are better equipped to deal with multiple feedings throughout the night. Other new patients include two mother opossums, both with babies, one set still in the pouch and the other clinging to mom's back. 

A: The first mother opossum was left in a trap for three days and came in suffering from extreme dehydration and malnutrition. These conditions were exacerbated by the fact that she was supporting roughly five little lives inside of her pouch. Lucky for us, she displayed typical 'possum behavior and dove right into a big plate of food and hasn't shown signs of losing her appetite yet. She is now back to a reasonable weight and is enjoying an outdoor cage to finish up her recovery and re-acclimate herself to our temperamental Maryland weather. The second opossum seems to have gotten rolled by a car and was picked up by a very caring passer-by. Sadly, she lost ten out of thirteen of her babies as a result of the accident but she is still caring for the remaining three and hopefully, we will soon see them all thriving.

B: They thrive while our staff withers. Alas, our summer interns are leaving us for their fall semesters, right on time for the August wave of baby goldfinches, Cedar waxwings and above-mentioned baby squirrels. We have come up with a solution, though, in the way of fall volunteer orientation sessions! If you are in SCWC's area, be sure to check out our website for more information about volunteering at the Center. We need all the extra squirrel feeders we can fit into out kitchen.

A: Summers are made so lovely by the influx of help we suddenly get; to have it all taken away makes us feel quite bereft. Our only consolation is the hope that new volunteers will attend those upcoming orientation sessions and will find them as exciting as I once did. Fall is a great time to volunteer, not only for the species that Brittany mentioned earlier, but also for our migratory patients. Turtles, raptors and varying types of waterfowl will soon be on the move and encountering various accidents that will bring them through our doors. 

B: Even though they may be admitted due to dire circumstances, we are often overjoyed when a rare-to-us specie comes through our door - Horned grebes, nighthawks and soras to name a few. Also to look forward to will be the glut of American woodcocks we will receive from DC, due to their migration through the marshy areas and their unfortunate collisions with buildings over three stories tall. Though woodcocks tend to heal quickly, they each cost about 20$ a day in earthworms. Lucky for us, they only breeze through our doors twice a year.

A: We are so fortunate to be situated in a migratory corridor here in Maryland. Not to mention living right on the largest watershed in America, the Chesapeake. Everyone at SCWC feels very lucky to have exposure to such a variety of wildlife and Britt and I feel especially lucky to have the chance to expand our readers' exposure here in our blog. Make sure to check in next week for more fun facts and anecdotes!

B: Such diversity lends us the chance to hone our rehabilitating skills, from small sparrows to Great Blue herons. Every week that passes allows us to educate more people: those that bring us our patients and you, our dedicated readers. See you next time!

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.

*Below is a three-day-old squirrel. The white line is the formula in her stomach.*