some birds, some interns, no exciting adventures

I finally had a day off on Tuesday! Well... sort of. I went to the Cahal Pech pool and then we got two birds in so I helped out with those. Now I am slightly burned and semi-well rested. I was able to sleep in for the first time since May and give some attention to my poor neglected hammock. Thanks Alison!

Two more birds on Tuesday. One was a Rock Pigeon, a non-native species. They're the species of pigeon you can see all over the world. He had an older humerus/shoulder fracture which was already beginning to heal and I suspect there was some infection in the bone. Needless to say, he wasn't with us the next day. The second patient was a Golden-fronted Woodpecker fledgling. He's more or less blind. He's been put on antibiotics in the hopes that it is caused by an infection. He kind of hurts my heart... and that's all I'll say.

The Yellow-green Vireo kids are taking their time with being independent. It's become frustrating! Our little botfly larvae guy (lovingly nicknamed Bitey Botfly and/or Bot 2) is doing great! It's amazing how he was inundated by larvae and had minor surgery but is now doing great. They're pretty cute, just extremely frustrating with their inability to feed themselves.

The grackle who arrived about six weeks ago with the shoulder fracture is flying all around his aviary. A bit more flight practice and he'll be ready to go. He's sharing his aviary with the Chachalaca and once her feathers are hard-pinned (no feathers growing in), she'll be released. Four of the parrots will be transfered for pre-release conditioning very soon. Hopefully they will be leaving on Saturday. They've been here since last year and it's definitely time for those guys to go. The Roadside Hawk with the torn eyelid is doing fantastic. He still has a small hole in that eyelid, but he can catch live prey and fly pretty well. It's amazing to think of how he looked when he first came in and how he looks now. He'll be released tomorrow.

Nothing else too exciting has been going on. We went to the Cahal Pech ruins on Saturday for a couple of hours but the random kid who followed us around and said about 20 words the entire time made it a little awkward. We saw some Blue-crowned Motmots and a few others species though so it's alright.

I'm hoping something miraculous happens before Tuesday so that Alison and I can at least go to the zoo or to Blue Hole National Park. Fingers crossed? Off to feed some babies!