Birdies are all still birdies. Every Tuesday is cage-scrub day.
Since the releasable patients don't have access to the elements, it's also bird bath day. How does one bathe a parrot? Just squirt them with the hose and, for some reason, they love it. Jack (Red-Lored parrot) and Elmo (Collared Aracari) don't appreciate the spray down nearly as much... and Jack is quite vocal about it. Their enclosures are partially exposed so the spray down isn't really necessary; Jack will even sing in the rain. The White-fronted, Pionus, and Yellow-lored parrots, however, generally hang upside down with their wings spread "asking" to be sprayed down. If you don't succumb to their wishes, they yell at you until you do. Spoiled parrots. It was hard to get a good shot while spraying the hose with one hand and trying not to drench myself / my camera.
Today I held an impromptu training session in the clinic. I figured it might be a good idea to show everybody how to draw up medications and give injections. It ended up being pretty successful and I think everybody appreciated it. A weekly session was requested which is pretty exciting. It's definitely important to get everybody here involved; education is key. Being more hands on leads to being more passionate about conservation, I think. Any suggestions for training sessions would be appreciated. I have the feeling I'll run out of ideas pretty fast...
What's this about field work, you say? Well, I was able to get out in the field and assist with the trapping / radio-collaring study that is happening in the Mesoamerican corridor. A single Paca was trapped on day one. She was processed (ie measurements taken, radio-collared, samples taken). I ended up taking respiratory and heart rates - just the basic stats to make sure she was doing okay under anesthesia. It's a bit tricky since there's absolutely nothing to compare it to. More traps were opened for day two, but none of the animals wanted free snacks. I believe I'll be making my way out there again tomorrow; hopefully we'll have more luck. It's pretty exciting to be a part of something that's never been done before; there are no sedation statistics on a lot of these animals nor are there any real population counts.
Now, time for some more random facts about my life here! The mosquitoes come in waves. I have a million bites but I have no idea of what blood sucking insects have caused them. I can tell which ones are the tick bites since they itch for at least a week and a half after the fact (even with the awesome anti-itch cream that Donna sent me). Thankfully, there aren't any documented cases of Lyme disease here. And what is this rash? It's near the tick bite but I have the suspicion it's heat related. The things you have to find out from experience - the next ACM is going to be over-prepared if I have anything to do with it. At least I already conceded to the fact that I'm going to be dirty for a year... if I hadn't done that early on, I probably would have run screaming from the tropics. Seriously, as soon as I take a shower I'm sweaty again (it doesn't help that it hit 100 at least three times this week) and there are mysterious bugs living in the thatched roof of my casita. I don't know what they do up there, but debris is continually falling from the ceiling. Ah yes, and then there was a tarantula hanging out on my mosquito net the other night; I think he probably just wanted to cuddle with his eight fuzzy little legs. On Sunday night, there was a crazy storm that came through. Crazy rain and wind, thunder, lightning... I even ended up getting wet at some point. The thunder was seriously the loudest I've ever heard in my life. We are situated on a small hill above a little valley so I guess that had something to do with intensifying the sound. I even had to cover my ears at one point because the sound was deafening. The security guard noticed that I had left in the wee hours (4:30 for field work) and asked me in Spanglish if I had run away because of the storm. He was terrified, too.
I got a library card today! Well, sort of. I have no proof that I am a member. Hopefully the lady who was at the desk will be there every time I go in now. I have had a craving to read Harry Potter lately and, guess what! They actually have the first three books at the library. They're all in Spanish, of course, but hey... what better way to practice than reading a novel?
So field work tomorrow morning and the Agricultural Show on Saturday. Who knows what else will happen this week... hopefully no more frightening storms.
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