the end of baby season... sike!

CASA's 100th patient arrived on Friday (never a real day off, right?). He's a Red-lored Amazon parrot who was a previous release from Belize Bird Rescue. Poor kid is a possible victim of a slingshot attack. Slingshots are pretty popular around here with bored kids and they typically take to using our feathered friends as target practice. There's more to the story with the Red-lored, but... we'll just leave it at possible slingshot attack. This picture is from the day after intake. You can see his left eye is pretty swollen. Unfortunately, it appears that he may have lost the eye. However, if he can adapt to having only one eye, I think he'll do perfectly fine in the wild. He'll be much better off instead of being in captivity. I'm not a fan of wildlife being in captivity. And now, I will not elaborate as it will turn into a rant.

The Yellow-green Vireo kid was released on Saturday.. he took off. It's always nice when they're so obviously completely finished with you. The Aracari is all set to be released... if only it would stop raining and the wild flock would return.

I got ahead of myself and started thinking about the end of August and how I'll have several releases and, consequently, some real free time. Ha! I never learn. Wednesday brought me two Clay-colored Robin fledglings. They had been found three days prior and fed bread and water (why, oh why?). Do you see Robins eating prison food in the wild? Hm... didn't think so. Anyway, apparently the nest fell and a dog scared away the mother who never returned. One of the kids didn't make it through the night, unfortunately... but not surprising after 3 days of just bread and water. The other kid is feisty and starting to pick up food on his own. Ahh, not-so-needy birds are fantastic. Can you tell I'm burned out? Eh.

To help with the burn out, frustration, depression, the huge quantities of food that Gracie has forced upon me, and my energy level, I decided to join a gym (only $50/BZD a month - thanks Grandma!). It's located in town in the top of the JNC mall which is a much smaller version of shopping malls in the States. It's all open air; I prefer working out in the evening so the heat isn't too bad, the humidity is another story though. Lack of windows allows for a beautiful view - surrounded by the hills of San Ignacio and Santa Elena. The owner(s) are excellent and helpful. They got me started on a circuit the first day and yesterday they had made me a new workout before I came in! I've never had a personal trainer before... I may be ruined for life when it comes to working out.

My presentation on Wednesday for the Forest Department ended up being cancelled but it will be rescheduled eventually. I was really looking forward to getting away for a few hours, too! The plan was to stop by the Barn and Grill restaurant in Tea Kettle afterwards. It's really a steakhouse but there are some veggie options. It's delicious and owned by some friends so make sure to check it out if you're in Belize. Mile 53.5 on the Western Highway! :)

Friday was pretty amazing. I finally ended up going to Guanacaste National Park which is right outside of Belmopan on the Western Highway. I got a bit of a late start so birding was not optimal... plus somebody forgot their bins. Not that it really mattered anyway since the mosquitoes were out of control so I had to keep moving to keep from being swarmed. There are three trails in the park. The first trail that I took was supposed to take 45 minutes. I got distracted several times though so it took me about 2 hours. I had lunch in the random limestone area (so much limestone in Belize) so I could escape from the mosquitoes. I have come to find out that if there's a (clean) stream, I usually have to go wading in it. After wading around for a bit, I decided that I should check out the waterfall. At the bottom there was a little swimming area, so, of course, I had to slowly make my way down the waterfall in order to go for a swim. It was slippery and almost disastrous but I survived. For some reason, the fish decided to nibble on me whilst I was swimming. At first it tickled but some of them had larger mouths than others and then I got creeped out. Some even larger bit my toe and I decided it was time to get out. I'm still alive so I'm assuming whatever tried to take a chunk out of my toe wasn't poisonous. Good times? I finished hiking around for a bit and headed back to Cayo. It was a good day and definitely what I needed!

Tomorrow isn't going to be too exciting. I plan on spending most of the day in town and then the veterinarian is coming to check the Red-lored. After that, some beers and then some hang out time with a friend. Maybe.