Sunday was off to a rough start when I went in for the first feeding at 6:30. I found the smallest woodpecker out of his nest basket and quite cold. He appeared to have aspirated - the day before he regurgitated a bit of food which may have led to the aspiration. I started him on an antibiotic but he continued to go downhill and by 8:30 he had died. Poor kid. I think he was just too small and weak to fight off whatever malady he had. He was considerably smaller than his siblings with his weight more than 20 grams less than them. The other two are doing great though. One little guy started acting a bit down on Tuesday and stopped begging. I started him on antibiotics and he is doing much, much better. Both of them look completely different from when they first came in. Now they actually look like birds since they've grown in quite a few feathers instead of naked mini-chickens. Thankfully, they're feeding well every hour instead of half hour so I'm not completely knackered (sometimes I like to pretend I'm British) feeding 6 babies every half hour. These guys grow up so very fast. The Roadside Hawk was released on Wednesday morning. He waited about five minutes after I opened the hatch door and then took off. Of course, he perched in a tree and the Groove-billed Ani started going after him... that's how he got here in the first place. He flew off though so hopefully we won't be seeing him again. Yesterday evening, I got a call about four Great Kiskadee hatchlings. Their nest had been destroyed but the people were talked into re-nesting. Apparently the re-nesting didn't work out so well because I received the babies this morning. I'm fairly certain they're Great Kiskadees, but as you can see from the picture (insert picture here, but not since the internet is broken again.. go here instead), it's impossible to know for sure. These little guys are tough to rehabilitate at this age since they're so very tiny. For their initial exam, the smallest was 9 grams while the largest was 18 grams! They're supposed to be flighted in less than 15 days. Here's hoping I don't fall over from exhaustion before then! Oh, and Great Kiskadees get their name from their call which is "Kiskadee! Kiskadee!". You can listen to it at xeno-canto.org.
On another note, it has rained almost every day for the past two weeks. It's a nice break, actually. Usually rainy days make me want to just curl up in my bed but this rain has been a nice refresher from the sweltering heat. I actually had to wear a sweater the other night. So weird. Although, one of the negative aspects is the mud. The dirt here is very clay-like so the mud sticks to everything. It's pretty much impossible to get off when it's wet and makes a huge mess. Good thing the clinic has white floor! And then there's the mosquito aftermath.. my ankles are covered in bites. Again. Did I mention I stopped taking the Cholorquine? We won't discuss the reasons, but I'd rather take my chances. Fingers crossed?
So that's all for this week. Minus 2 patients plus 4 more, rain, and.. and.. err... lots of running around like a crazy person?
Less than four weeks until Alison comes as the Assistant ACM!
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