Week Four at Oaken Acres Wildlife Rescue Center has come and gone, and this job just continues to get more interesting.  I helped shovel out the future pond, cleaned cages, went around changing water as more animals are moved into outdoor enclosures, fed raccoons and baby birds, made food, cleaned, and generally helped out.

As an interesting side note, last week a call from a reporter for the Daily Chronicle saw me answering questions on the phone due to my longtime experience watching Canada geese.  For the past ten to fifteen years I've studied them pretty heavily, to the point that I feel I have a very solid grasp of their behavior and habits.  I was startled to learn this week that the article wound up being picked up by the Associated Press, carried in a number of midwest papers, and even brought about a few followup interviews by the center's administrators.  I felt I was mildly misquoted at a few points, but it's understandably difficult for any article to fully capture an interview, and I do tend to ramble along happily about any subject that interests me, so I can imagine the reporter had trouble keeping up with me at times.

We have two fawns now.  The first one seems calmer because of this; it's always easier to have friends, after all.  Here are some other pictures of them:

Shaky Stilts
Curious Fawn 1
Curious Fawn 2
Curious Fawns 2
Curious Fawns 3

We also have two screech owls now.  The young owlet is a new arrival, and has been placed with the older one (a permanent resident due to an eye injury) for company.

I also have much better pictures of our great horned owlet, who is looking better every day as it grows big and strong.

Our three goslings rescued from an overhang have added a fourth to their family now.  This foster sibling has settled in well with them, and when they are ready to go back to the wild they will no doubt do so as a foursome.  Here are a few more pictures of them:

Foster Siblings 4
Foster Siblings 5
Foster Siblings 6

Good news: the young black duck we were worried might be imprinted on humans after being hatched by a pigeon and raised as a pet for a few weeks seems to be accepting the mallards kept with him.  This is especially good because black ducks are dwindling as mallards (such as the two he is seen with here, ironically) are taking over their territory.

I paid another small visit to Vinnie the turkey vulture.  Having been habituated to people at another location, Vinnie sees himself as a human, and seems eager to be noticed.  He sadly cannot be released back int othe wild, as he inevitably returns.  Here are three more Vinnie pics:

Vinnie Shows Off 1
Vinnie Shows Off 2
Vinnie Shows Off 3

I also got a few brief glimpses of the coyote pups, moved into a new unit.

There's a lot of wildlife around the center.  I tend to get very nice pictures of the chipmunks, as seen here:

Chipmunks
Chipmunk 1
Chipmunk 2
Just Part of the Tree, Really
Fortress of Solitude 1
Fortress of Solitude 2
Fortress of Solitude 3
Fortress of Solitude 3a
Fortress of Solitude 4
Fortress of Solitude 5

We also have a lot of birds, which can be harder to get pictures of, as seen with these rough pics of a cardinal and a brown-headed cowbird.

On the other hand, the mushrooms on the front lawn don't move nearly as much.

As you may have guessed, the largest part of my day was taken up with raccoons again, feeding, cleaning, looking after in general. We still only have one living outside: Zorro.  I got a nice series of pictures this time:

Zorro 2
Curiosity 1
Curiosity 2
Curiosity 3
Curiosity 4
Curiosity 5
Shake
Paw to Paw 1
Paw to Paw 2
I Can Lick My Own Nose
What's Down There?
Zorro and Me 1
Zorro and Me 2
Zorro and Me 3

As a final interesting event for the day, toward the end of my shift I had a chance to release a baby rabbit back into the wilds behind the center.  Here is a brief recounting of the tale in pictures:

Freedom Part 1
Freedom Part 2
Freedom Part 3

Well, week three of volunteering at Oaken Acres Wildlife Rescue Center, and it just keeps getting more interesting.

Now, I do a lot of work also.  Cleaning cages, shoveling gravel and woodchips to help maintain the paths and driveway, washing dishes, taking down information and answering phones.  But my favorite part, clearly, is the animals.

We have a LOT of raccoons, and I spend a lot of time feeding them.  They range in size right now from this little guy to our eldest, Zorro.  Zorro is all alone outside much of the day since he's older than the rest, and gets pretty curious when I am out there cleaning.  He's not always alone: some of the others are old enough now to take their meals outside across from him:

Raccoon Jungle Gym 1
Raccoon Jungle Gym 2
I Said No Cameras
The Cute Treatment
Just Hanging About
Clever Little Paws
Trouble Trio

Zorro isn't quite as alone outside now. There are others also to look after.  We have a fawn, a shy little thing who spends a lot of time curled up in a corner.  There's also an adult squirrel now, who may well be released again by the time I go back.

The possums have been moved outside, and the baby cardinal, and there's a pair of coyote pups as well.  There's a larger, younger batch of pups indoors, as well as a wild turkey.

Vinnie the turkey vulture also lives outdoors.  Having been habituated to humans at another facility, Vinnie can't survive in the wild; past attempts to free him have always wound up with Vinnie finding his way back.

We're trying to avoid that with a young black duck. Hatched by a pigeon and raised for a few weeks by humans, he might be imprinted on them, which cannot be reversed (and happens in the first 24 hours).  If merely habituated, spending time with these young mallards will hopefully convince him eventually to stop trying to follow humans around.  We also try to avoid paying him too much attention.  Nearby, another pair of mallard ducklings and a wood duck have been placed together.

As well, these three goslings, rescued from a building overhang where there father tended them after the death of his mate, are doing well.

There's also a lot of wildlife.  Many birds, including blue jays, goldfinches to cardinals, sparrows, chickadees, crows, starlings, and woodpeckers, and quite a few chipmunks ( [link] [link] [link] ).

We have many more charges; young rabbits, many birds, some fledglings or nestlings, some injured (robins are most numerous, but also some sparrows and grackles, tiny finches, and a starling), squirrels, more raccoons, a snowy owl, two screech owls (one is a permanent resident, the other a fledgeling recently arrived), and a great horned owlet.  One of my colleagues there even took delivery of an albino hedgehog to look after.

All told, my arms are more scratchd up than ever (that same colleague with the hedgehog calls them battle scars), but I think I am getting some good exercise and I really feel good helping out.  Also, I've been bringing some of my mother's tools I've inherited for them to use; forceps, tweezers, bent-nosed pliers, and the like.

More next week, when I will also be stopping by during the week to see if I can't get one of their phone systems working!

Day 2.  Well, technically, week 2.  Second day of volunteer work at Oaken Acres Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation Center.

While I am once again exhausted at the end, I worked even harder and feel less tired.  Good sign.  I did come better prepared, bringing more to eat, and it was cooler.

Working there is fun, though perhaps not for everybody.  It's exhausting and messy and you have to deal with a lot of ick.

And still worth it all.

Today was quieter but also busier.  We only had two new arrivals, a pair of raccoons with eyes barely starting to open who needed re-hydration and ticks removed.  Thankfully I brought them some forceps my mother had left to me, and we got them sorted out.  Some of the other raccoons are in quarantine for illness; looks like parasites, and they should get better, though one did pass away.  All told, I came away with far fewer scratches despite feeding even more raccoons; I am getting the hang of working with them.

Speaking of raccoons, Zorro, our only outside one still, has gotten more friendly and curious.  He followed me around from inside his enclosure while I washed out cages, and other times I was outside working in his view.  I fed him, got him new water, and when it was time for him to come in I let him ride around on me for a good while as they got his cage ready.  Later, before leaving for the night, I spent some time chattering with him while he tried to take my rings off.  Zorro will be released back into the wild in three weeks' time.  He's a bit lonely right now, being outside on his own a lot, but soon some of the others should be moving out with him.

Vinnie, on the other hand, is a life-long resident.  Vinnie is a turkey vulture.  Unlike the snowy owl with her cracked beak or screech owl with his bad eye, there's nothing physically wrong with Vinnie that keeps him from being released.  It's a psychological issue.  Turkey vultures are highly social birds, and at a previous facility he grew far too close to humans.  He's been released multiple times and always found his way back. Vinnie firmly believes he is human.  He's a prime example of the danger of getting animals too used to humans, and why we try to feed and take care of them but not grow too attached, nor let them grow too attached to us.  Not always so easy for us, of course.  I'm not much worried about Zorro; raccoons as they get older tend to go from cute and cuddly to feral and independent.

I got a few pictures of Vinnie I will share another time.  I've been avoiding taking pictures of the animals in the center; they have guidelines and photographers they work with.  I hope to one day earn the right to be one of those; until then, I'm studiously avoiding snapping shots of the animals, so as to respect their desires.  I do take my camera along to get pictures during the lull times of the wild birds and animals outside; they have a glorious selection.  I've seen orioles, blue jays, red-winged blackbirds, grackles, crows, sparrows, chickadees, cardinals, goldfinches, robins, a red-bellied woodpecker, and many more, as well as squirrels, chipmunks, box elder bugs, and some beautiful old trees.  However, Vinnie is a bit of a showoff; whenever I go to visit him while on break or with some visitors he comes out and presents himself. Today he did so and posed.  I mean he literally posed; he turned his back partially to me and spread his wings wide and just stood there waiting to be snapped.  Rather incredible.  He's a beautiful bird.  He should be flying free, and I hope people can see that.

There were also a lot more birds.  I fed and helped look after tiny baby sparrows, starlings, robins, a goldfinch, a cardinal, a grackle, ducklings, and, interestingly, the goslings I'd been waiting and watching for for weeks.  A goose had built a nest atop a tall overhang; I have pictures, in fact: A Clever Mother.  Well, I've been worried about how she'd get them down for some time, and that I've not seen a mate.  I mentioned it to them, and kept a watch, and apparently I was not the only one to be concerned; Wednesday a concerned citizen working at the university rescued three goslings and two eggs; the mother (or perhaps, she believed, father) goose was beside itself with confusion over what to do.  One of the eggs proved not to be viable, but the other is incubating, and the goslings are just out of incubation and doing fine.  A whole boatload of ducklings and two older goslings are also doing fine, as are the twelve opossums, a number of young squirrels (several of which I fed), and quite a few rabbits.

All told I washed, I scrubbed, I shoveled, I cleaned, I fed, I bathed, I doctored, I soothed, I learned, and then did it all again.  The animals are wonderful and it's really gratifying to be helping them.  If you ever get a chance, try it.  You won't regret it.

Yesterday was my first day volunteering at Oaken Acres Wildlife Center.  It specializes in rescuing and rehabilitating wild animals to send them back TO the wild.

I fed raccoons.  Shoveled gravel.  Fed raccoons.  Mopped and swept the floors. Fed raccoons. Washed the dishes.  Fed raccoons.  Broke down and washed out cages.  Fed raccoons.  Shoveled and raked and carted more gravel to expand the driveway.  Fed raccoons. Fed a tiny Eastern bluebird... or grackle... we're not certain, really.  With an eyedropper. Every fifteen minutes.  Fed raccoons.  Fed possums.  Fed raccoons.  Fed bunnies.  Fed possums. Fed raccoons. Fed baby squirrels.  Fed raccoons.

Side note: feeding raccoons involves first holding them up and rubbing their bellies with tissue while they scramble and scratch until they churr and purr and go to the bathroom, because otherwise they will not.  Normally it is their mother's job to make sure they do, you see.  Then you take syringes full of mixture, which varies from milky paste to a chunky blend depending on their age and size, and try to convince them to suck it down instead of wearing and sharing it.  All while they are trying to climb you every way they can.  They had probably around twenty, twenty-five raccoons and I was there for two-three feedings, depending on which batch.  So when I keep saying I fed raccoons, I FED RACCOONS.

I also met Vinnie the Turkey Vulture and introduced him to several groups of visitors bringing in injured or orphaned animals.  And Zorro, our only raccoon that can be outside right now.  They don't normally do lots of tours, since they don't want to get the animals worked up, but it's early in the baby season and pretty slow yet.

Saw their snowy owl and great horned owlet and screech owl, a baby cardinal and young robin.  Vinnine, Snowy, and the screech are all permanent residents due to various injuries.

Kept a watch on a pair of goslings placed in side-by-side runs outside; they hate each other, and it is hoped they'll eventually get over that.  Brought them inside later to tuck away.  Helped with the intake of an injured rabbit, and a box of orphaned ones, and an orphaned squirrel, and a couple of ducklings, one injured.

Another aside: the possums were rescued when a motorist stopped, walked over to a dead possum on the side of the road, reached in and checked her pouch.  Twelve live babies, all now at Oaken Acres.

My muscles ache.  My arms and hands are massives of scratches and blisters.  I zonked out completely upon getting home, after barely having the coordination left to get undressed.  Totally worth it.  Going back next Friday for eight to eleven more hours.

It's been a long time since I posted anything here journal-wise.  I guess I've wanted to keep the journal about my mother up on the front page as long as possible.  There are times her death still feels surreal, unreal.  And times it hits home as all too real.

I try to go day by day right now.  I've so much to do, so much going on.  Working on clothing and jewelry designs, including ones I can potentially sell.  Taking pictures.  LARP and CoA and KoL and Radio KoL.  Cooking and cleaning.  In other words, life.

I'm getting out more again, which is a good thing.  Meeting people. Taking pictures.  Being me.  Day by day.  It's sometimes the only way to move on.

So after some work, I am finally finished with my goggles.  I'm rather happy with how they've turned out, so much so that they have their own gallery showing off the process.

Also, in other news, I now have an Etsy store.  I am a bit nervous about it, but hopeful.  Check it out: [link]