life in belize

two point five months later

2010-12-19T08:43:00.000-08:00

I had anticipated updating this a lot sooner than mid-December. At least I'm here now, right?

I've been back in the States since October 7th. While I do miss Belize - the wildlife, the people, and the overwhelming amount of green, I do have a new appreciation for America. The little things I missed: the convience of being able to go to a store and find what I need, not being sweaty 24/7, driving fast (who would have thought?), traffic lights, and the freedom / ability to go where ever I want and to do whatever I want. The big things I missed: being around people I've known for years and the relationships, the ability to blend into a crowd and not feel like I'm drawing attention to myself, and the familiarity of everyday life in America.

I didn't have too much culture shock upon my return. The biggest difference was the sheer amount of people and traffic. Summerville isn't a big city by any means, but compared to Belize, it was pretty overwhelming for the first few days that I was out and about. I spent the first month and a half driving everywhere and catching up with old friends. There are still quite a few who I haven't seen yet, but hopefully that will be justified soon! I moved in with some friends in Columbia mid-November and started back in my old position as Veterinary Technician at Dutch Fork Animal Hospital. I'm still getting adjusted to my life here, but big things will be happening in my life soon and I'm pretty ecstatic about it all.

My brief stint in Belize has given me a new outlook on life and has changed my attitude completely... I only wish everyone could share the same experiences I have had. The amount of personal growth I underwent is a bit overwhelming when I think about it. A year ago I never, ever would have guessed I would be at this point in my life. The little things seem so petty now and I seem to have less patience for ridiculous people (go ahead and define the term "ridiculous" however you wish, I'm sure it'll apply). I find myself pitying people for being so self-involved. Maybe that's pompous or condescending... either way, it's who I am now and I'm okay with it.

I will visit Belize again someday soon. My next travel plans are going to be concentrated on visiting somebody over in South Korea since she'll be having TWINS in April.

I will update this occasionally as exciting things happen in my life. Thank you, thank you, thank you all for your support throughout this past year!

belize today, america tomorrow

2010-10-06T05:52:00.000-07:00

Well... it's my last day in Belize. I have mixed feelings about leaving, but I'm definitely so excited about seeing everybody I've been missing for the past nine months.

The last two weeks have been filled with travelling and hanging out with friends. I didn't get to go to many places, due to time constraints and finances, but I still got to enjoy the scenery. I got lucky and was able to tag along with some friends to Placencia this past weekend. Hooray for actually seeing the Belizean Caribbean! The town of Placencia is a little beach town. There are quite a few resorts and houses being built though so it's grown a bit over the past few years. I got to swim in the warm Caribbean and enjoy the sunset / sunrise... and I got a little sun! That's a good thing since I'll probably turn back into a pasty ghost about two weeks after my arrival in South Carolina.

Today I'll head to the gym for the last time, get some sun if it doesn't rain, and finish packing. Tonight I'll go to Greedy's and hopefully hang out with a few people who I will miss.

I'm sure I'll have a post-arrival post at some point so be sure to check back!

a resignation

2010-09-23T11:44:00.000-07:00

Perhaps you have heard by now, but I gave my notice of resignation as ACM at CASA yesterday. I am slightly heartbroken at the decision I have had to make, but after a lot of thought I decided that it's the right one. I am trying to remain positive and reflect upon the extraordinary experiences that this opportunity has afforded me. I've had the chance to meet amazing people, work with a huge range of species from the numerous birds to the sweet little margay, and grown personally by leaps and bounds. Not to mention, I have been at the forefront of conservation in Belize for the past 9 months. I never imagined I would have ended up here doing the things I have done. I am grateful. My heart is full. And one day, I will return to visit all the places I didn't have a chance to see during my short time here.

I am taking days off next week. I was hoping to go to Caye Caulker, but other things take precedence now and I'll be visiting people instead. While I will absolutely miss everything and everybody here, I'm looking forward to returning to the States and figuring out what direction in which my life is going.

Thank you, dear readers, for all of your moral and financial support. I couldn't have done it without you. My only regret is that I am leaving my post as ACM a few months before I had expected.

I'm sure I still have at least a few more blog posts left in me to share what's happening over the next few weeks... stay tuned!

rain

2010-09-16T16:45:00.000-07:00

This is week has been full of rain... literally and figuratively. Tropical Storm Karl just missed us down here but it's been monsoon-ing for short stints almost every day.

Patient-wise things are just about the same. Thanks to the kindness of a Belize Bird Rescue friend (I wasn't allowed to transport her myself), the Parakeet was transferred to BBR. She had started losing some of the weight she gained, likely due to the fact that she didn't have any other Parakeets to socialize with. The squirrel is still a squirrel. I'm now just waiting for him to be completely weaned so that I can take a trip to Caye Caulker. The Robin should be released in a week or two.

I have nothing else to say CASA-wise since I'm currently almost at my breaking point with everything that I have to deal with and I'm afraid I will write something that I shouldn't. I'll just say that I'm counting down now... 13.5 weeks, 94 days to go and I won't have to feel like I'm beating my head against a wall. I was so adamant, after seeing the state of frustration that the former ACM was in when I arrived, to not let these frustrations get to me. It saddens me that the ridiculousness has affected me and I now don't even feel like trying to change anything. Must.. keep.. it.. together.. for the birds. That's really all that matters anyway, right? Right. Insert sad face.

On a more upbeat note, I trekked into town on Friday for the Independence parade. I was told about five different starting times for it but it finally started at 4 or so. It was a parade. There are pictures on Facebook. And then I spent longer than I should have at Greedy's for their happy hour. Anguish and frustration leads to more alcohol being consumed. Oh dear. Such a positive blog post, this one!

I'm pretty excited about my little excursion to Caye Caulker. It's a tiny island off the coast of Belize City. Go ahead and google it... and feel free to make a trip here to join me! I would like the company for sure.

aces crocodile sanctuary

2010-09-08T07:57:00.000-07:00

Nothing new here... everything is the same. The Parakeet is gaining weight, the Yucatan Squirrel is getting vicious, the Clay-colored Robin is still growing in her feathers and cannot be released until she is finished doing so. The Woodpeckers are around less but they're still being annoying and needy at times. The Chachalaca.. well.. might just be a permanent resident. At least she's cute? I tried so hard to make her think she's a Chachalaca!

Instead of droning on about my current uneventful and lackluster life here in Belize, I'm going to share a little about the torching of ACES Crocodile Sanctuary down in Punta Gorda this past weekend. If you're friends with me on Facebook, I may have inundated your news feed with links to different articles about this tragedy (sorry!). The news has made it on to CNN and it's a fairly good article. Sadly, the majority of the comments are lacking facts, extremely ignorant, and upsetting. I've had to force myself to stop reading all the garbage people are saying because it's only succeeded in making me depressed and hopeless for the future of the human race. Dramatic? I don't think so. Just realistic. The truth is, you cannot really have an honest opinion about this unless you are here and have experienced the need for all aspects of conservation in this country.

ACES is the only (legal) crocodile sanctuary here in Belize. They work closely with the Belize Forest Department to relocate problem crocodiles (made problematic through people feeding them) and provide sanctuary to those that cannot be released. They're also involved in education, research, and conservation, thereby doing the people, the environment, and ecosystems of Belize an invaluable service. It's unfortunate that there are many, many people out there who cannot see the great work that they have done. Thanks to a mob believing a psychic, thinking that limes on a table were sufficient evidence that the missing (neglected?) children were at ACES, and general ignorance, Vince and Cherie lost everything. Some of the crocodiles on site (endangered species, mind you) were killed and their house and guest lodge were torched. Cherie had been working with the locals to start a Humane Society in Punta Gorda. Stray dogs and cats run rampant around here and the majority of them are not spayed or neutered - you can see the problem. Recently donated veterinary supplies to go to the shelter were also burned. How is that beneficial to anybody? What is the point?

I could go on and on about how ridiculous this entire situation is but I will spare you. You can check out ACES website for updates and here is another article in which it tells you how to donate and help Vince and Cherie rebuild.

Way to go human race, way to go.

psittacines, the squirrel, and independence month

2010-09-02T19:00:00.000-07:00

Since I couldn't do anything else for the essentially one-eyed Red-lored Parrot, he was transferred back to Belize Bird Rescue on Monday. Good luck, kiddo! You'll be much happier over there AND you won't have to be subjected to my man-handling any longer. In exchange for the Red-lored, BBR brought me a juvenile Olive-throated Parakeet. I've gotten in two of them previously and neither of them have been able to be fixed... this one will hopefully be a different story. He was kidnapped a couple of weeks ago and had his wing and tail feathers clipped. Thankfully, they handed him over to BBR. He wasn't eating and is ridiculously skinny so he was sent here for some extra love and weight gain. So far so good.. he's definitely a fan of plantains, pitahaya, and egg. Yum.

I totally forgot to mention that I released the Aracari! She was released about two weeks ago on-site into the wild flock. She hung around for a few days with one of the wild individuals and then disappeared for a week or so. She stopped by on Tuesday to spend some time with Elmo. She's getting so big and her bill is starting to get the adult coloration. What a little dinosaur. I still haven't gotten used to the fact that my patients are basically all species I've never even seen in the wild before I came here.

The Woodpeckers are refusing to move on. Really, their instincts have to kick in soon... right? I have no idea of what to do with them if they don't stop begging and being a nuisance. Ideas? Anybody? Sigh. They're stressing me out. A lot.

In non-avian news, the little Yucatan squirrel is somehow almost thriving. My impromptu formula appears to be working so far... I'm always paranoid about MBD with babies though. MBD is Metabolic Bone Disease which is when the bones are weakened due to incorrect nutrition while they're growing. I've seen it happen with squirrels before. They can look completely healthy but then they jump and severely fracture bones. Only time will tell, I guess. Poor little experimental squirrel.

My excitement this week consisted of a completely random Tuesday night. My nights are pretty slow as of late; I typically take my computer to Greedy's so I at least have a little bit of social interaction. Just as I was leaving on Tuesday, I got sidetracked by the offer of some free beer and conversation. This somehow led to me spending the night "hunting" for tarantulas in a tour guide's yard with a bunch of American tourists from California, Florida, and New York. Hooray for spontaneity? And also tarantulas.

Belize's Independence Day is September 21st. Since Belizeans love to celebrate, September is basically Independence Month. Belizean flags are showing up all the over the place - on cars, buses, houses, buildings, etc. There are supposed to be a lot of festivities and parades coming up soon and I'm hoping I'll get to help celebrate! ... whatever that means.

A constant gnawing of homesickness has taken up residence as of late. It's hard to shake it since I'm generally by myself and don't have very many distractions. Tonight was the first University of South Carolina football game of the season and I have to admit, I actually miss all the Gamecock craziness. We're about to kill Southern Miss though... Go Gamecocks! Oh America, I will see you in 15 and a half weeks.

Last Friday I didn't actually do anything except go into town for a bit. Maybe tomorrow I'll walk up to Cahal Pech. It's been so hot though I'm not entirely sure I would survive the trek or make it back in time to feed the squirrel. Life would be less frustrating if I had an actual vehicle. Multiple days off are coming up SOON though.. I'm excited to explore outside of Cayo!

an empty nest.. almost.

2010-08-26T18:00:00.000-07:00

There were several releases this week! First, the Chachalaca... you know, the one that arrived as a hatching egg back in May. She was released on Tuesday. The Golden-fronted Woodpeckers were released yesterday and the White-tipped Dove was released today. Unfortunately, the Chachalaca and the Woodpeckers found their way back to the aviaries... I'm really hoping that their instincts kick in soon and they take off. In the meantime, they're receiving food supplements until they're completely foraging on their own. The flock of Chachalacas have been calling in the morning. I exposed the Chachalaca to vocalizations when she was younger but so far she doesn't seem to recognize them. This is the problem with raising a hatchling on it's own - no matter how hard you try to make them realize what species they are, the outcome isn't generally ideal.

On Friday, I received a Yucatan Squirrel baby. It was found on the road with a broken tail. He's definitely not a bird, but who can say no to this face?! (Yes, the internet is crap again). Being in Belize, I don't have the ideal formula for raising a baby squirrel so he's really a test subject. He's had his up and downs but he's currently he's doing well. Once again I'm stuck with a single individual BUT he will be releasable! No negative thoughts allowed. None.

Tomorrow for my day off, vehicle dependent, I'll be going to the gym and the Cahal Pech pool. I can't wander too far since I have the squirrel to feed every four or so hours... but at least I'll be getting rid of my awesome farmer's tan.

Can you tell when I don't start working on my blog days in advance? The only other news I have is that I bought my plane ticket back to South Carolina. I'll be returning three weeks early on December 19th. I had the ability to be in town for the holidays so I jumped on it. It was bittersweet purchasing my ticket. I will definitely miss this place, the work, and the people but I'm also excited to be back in America and see everybody. I'm still four months out though so I'm probably getting ahead of myself.

My non-CASA life was a bit crazy this week which took away from an intriguing blog post. Next week will be filled with fun and exciting things! I think.

the end of baby season... sike!

2010-08-19T19:17:00.000-07:00

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.

patients, etc.

2010-08-12T17:39:00.000-07:00

The Yellow-green Vireo had a major break through today - he actually started eating on his own! Soon I'll be able to kick his little self out so that he can start his real life. The Collared Aracari fledgling is doing so very well. I introduced her to Elmo outside of the carrier earlier this week. They're getting along great - Elmo will even feed her when she begs! The wild flock of Aracari have been visiting more often than usual. The fledge is getting along great with them as well. A couple more weeks and I plan to release her into this flock since they appear to have already accepted her. It's nice when it all works out how you hope it will.

The woodpeckers are in an aviary now and they've started eating on their own. It's strange how fast these guys are progressing compared to the other pair I had earlier in the season. They will probably be ready to go within the next couple of weeks as well. Hopefully I'll have quite a few releases before the month of August is over!

I haven't received any new patients recently but the next will be patient number 100! Maybe it'll be something amazing like a Harpy Eagle or a Orange-breasted Falcon... but probably not sense they're almost impossible to find. If it's another Yellow-green Vireo chick, I might cry. (Please google Harpy Eagles... they're so big and they often eat monkeys. I'm pretty sure I would not survive handling one of those).

My down time this week has consisted of going over numerous job postings. So far I've only applied to one. It's a start, right? If anybody has any job opportunities out there for me... just let me know. Job applications and cover letters are undoubtedly the worst. They're right up there with public speaking for me. Speaking of which, I've been asked to do a presentation for the Forest Department next week. Oh nerves, please behave and don't turn me into a nervy spaz.

Last Friday I decided to sleep.. and sleep.. and sleep some more. Throw in reading a book and watching some Dexter and that was my day off. I guess I had a month and a half of craziness to recuperate from though. That's my excuse, anyway. At least I made it out to Greedy's in the evening though for some socialization. But (!) I have another day off tomorrow! It's amazing! I'm really planning on going to Guanacaste National Park tomorrow. There won't be a repeat of last Friday since I really, really need to get out and do something in nature. My sanity has waned every since I've been on my own again here and hiking always helps balance me. By the way, thanks to all of you who showed support during my breakdown this weekend! :)

rain, a broken bird, and trail rides

2010-08-05T17:00:00.000-07:00

Blog overhaul! I am a fan.

The rains are definitely here. It's been raining every day for... who knows how long. It's been a while since there was a day without any rain. I hope it doesn't stop because as soon as it does, the mosquitoes are going to be out of control. Speaking of pests, the army ants were out almost every day last week. Baby powder works wonders as a deterrent - just in case any of you have to battle the secal. Sometimes I feel as if I'm repeating myself in this blog... apologies if I am.

All the kids are doing well. The Woodpeckers are getting ready to fledge and the Aracari kid loves flying around in the evenings when her cage is cleaned. She was introduced to Elmo today. There were a ton of vocalizations and posturing and no aggression. After a couple of days I'll release her from the carrier and let them have actual contact. They're extremely social birds so the company is good for them both. The Vireo is still not eating on his own nor is he showing any interest to do so (arrgg!). The released Boat-tailed Grackle disappeared for a few days but may an appearance today. She's no longer begging and actually runs from me. Excellent.

Monday consisted of a quick run to Benque Road in search of an "injured parrot". We couldn't find the bird or the people who were supposed to be standing around it, mostly because I apparently am no good at taking directions. Thankfully he got a ride to the clinic but unfortunately, the Olive-throated Parakeet had a severely broken wing. The shoulder, the humerus, the elbow, and the radius / ulna were all broken. No hope of recovering. This job sucks sometimes.

Other than the depressing Parakeet, there's no other news to report. Oh, except that the "seed-eating" White-tipped Dove keeps stuffing himself full of the Chachalaca's diet of fruit. Weird and also unexpected. Seed-eater? What does that mean?

Friday was a real day off and pretty amazing. After an early start, we were on our way to a friend's house in the village of Tea Kettle. It has a beautiful view with a ton of birds, but sadly it was pouring so we didn't get to see much of anything. It eventually cleared up and after a few errands, we headed to Blue Hole National Park. We swam for a bit and saw some excellent birds... no cave spelunking though. One of these days I will see the cave there. We headed back to Tea Kettle and I finally got to ride a horse for the first time ever! We did a trail ride through the jungle and saw / heard so many Mealy parrots. These guys are massive! They're the largest parrot species in Belize. After a fairly good Chinese dinner in Belmopan full of meaty spring rolls (blech) and a few drinks at La Cabana (insert a tilde over the n), we decided to stay in Tea Kettle for the night. I ended up being pretty spoiled with air conditioning, a comfortable bed (my current one is a killer on my back), no mosquito netting, and no various creatures / debris falling on me in the middle of night. There were quite a few Mealy parrots flying about in the morning as well as some Keel-billed Toucans and other miscellaneous passerines. It's hard to return to the confinement that is CASA after experiencing how amazing Belize can be.

Alison left on Wednesday. We were all unsuccessful in convincing her to stay even longer but hopefully she'll be back in a couple of months! (hint hint) I had gotten used to having her here... now it's a lonely and boring.

Perhaps I'll have another real day off tomorrow... now just to find something to do that doesn't take 5 hours to get to by bus or cost a ton of money. Hmmm. Guanacaste National Park, perhaps? Or maybe I'll just lay in my bed all day if the tropical storm / wave decides to make an appearance.

an aracari and an adventure... finally!

2010-07-29T08:16:00.000-07:00

We have the internet again! I felt so very lost without it. I might have a problem...

Friday morning arrived with the cutest patient ever... a fledgling Collared Aracari Toucan! She was found on the ground Thursday morning. She has weird miscellaneous wounds and an old leg fracture which has healed correctly. Thankfully she's eating on her own so she doesn't have to be force fed. Soon we'll introduce her to Elmo, the resident Aracari, so she won't forget that she's a toucan. Photo credits to the lovely Alison Kocek (feel free to follow her blog and harass her for not updating in YEARS).

We released the Great-tailed Grackle on Saturday. He's really friendly and is still receiving supplemental feedings. His current condition is a bit disconcerting but I guess all we can do is give him time to figure out how to live in the wild. Monday brought us two Golden-fronted Woodpecker nestlings. Well, three actually, but the other had died in transit. The other two look great though and are eating a ton... as it usually is with the Woodpeckers.

Alison got conned into staying two more weeks! But sadly, she leaves on Wednesday.. unless she can be dissuaded otherwise. I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do when she leaves.

I think I forgot to mention that a couple of weeks ago we saw a Jaguarundi! We were leaving the office one evening and we spotted one about 15 feet from us. We had seen adult and kit tracks on the trail about a month ago. Pretty crazy. The day before yesterday there was a young Fer-de-lance snake on Alison's porch. Go ahead and google it. Uhhh... yeah, just a little scary.

Tomorrow we finally have an adventure! Blue Hole National Park on the gorgeous Hummingbird Highway. We both need to get away from the facility since it's been a month and a half of almost straight working... I am so very excited to get away from it all. I love doing this, but no real day off since Mid-May has gotten to me just a little.

doves and vireos

2010-07-22T11:35:00.000-07:00

Well, we had hoped to get a day or two off to do some exploring but the babies keep on coming. Saturday we got in a White-tipped dove fledgling. No real injuries; it was just found on the ground with some ants attempting to attack it. Monday was an exciting day - we released the 3 Yellow-green Vireos. They were slightly confused but flew into a tree. The two White-fronted and two Pionus parrots were transferred to Belize Bird Rescue in order to get some pre-release flight training. They'll likely be released on-site in a couple of months. Tuesday morning brought us another Yellow-green Vireo. He had fluid in his lungs and was gasping for air, but he somehow pulled through and is doing fine now.

The internet is out again until who knows when so I'm currently updating from Greedy's in town. I would have put together a better entry, but the baby needs feeding back at CASA. One day I'll have another interesting entry... one day.

some birds, some interns, no exciting adventures

2010-07-14T18:21:00.000-07:00

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!

distractions

2010-07-09T07:19:00.000-07:00

Distractions and general ridiculousness led to no update last night. My apologies, friends.

While on a walk down Bullet Tree Road to see some birds on Wednesday, a car drove by us, then reversed and made us weary. Turns out, the family who found the Vireo (Yellow-green?) and brought it to CASA last Wednesday, found two more. We're fairly certain that they're the siblings to the initial Vireo. The woman has dogs and was wary of renesting. One is in good health and the other... had four Botfly larvae. Yum! And also sick / creepy. They were located in his head, chin, and in his left nare. Those were easily extracted by squeezing and pulling with tweezers. The fourth was located on the abdomen but it had been closed off so it couldn't be easily removed. Yesterday, I gave him some pain medications and proceeded to use a scalpel to remove the dead larvae. It was a little crazy; luckily it was only subcutaneous so it was fairly easy to remove and not too horribly painful. The kid took it like a champ and is doing well so far.

On Sunday, we released the Roadside Hawk that had been raised by somebody in Orange Walk in the morning. We had a picnic on the lawn in honor of the fourth with veggie burgers, baked beans, and watermelon, as well as various Belizeans fruits. It was too bad we didn't have any fireworks.

We've acquired a wandering intern. He arrived on Monday. He's pretty young but eager and enthusiastic and from England. I've met so many different nationalities since I've been here.

Alison's mom left on Monday. Time goes by way too fast here. A few more days and I'll have been here for 6 months. An offer was made to stay for another year but it's not realistic to stay as a volunteer... life and bills and my health call.

Hopefully these Vireos will start eating on their own very soon so that Alison and I can actually go out during the day and do some fun things. And now, it's time for breakfast.

minus eight, plus two

2010-07-01T19:01:00.000-07:00

Many of you have probably heard about Tropical Storm Alex paying us a visit. It arrived Saturday evening and had cleared off by Sunday afternoon... we mostly just got a lot of rain and some wind / "squalls". Monday's weather was perfect so it turned into release day! The 2 Golden-fronted Woodpeckers and 4 Sulphur-bellied Flycatchers were released on-site in the morning. The Woodpeckers (above) were completely finished with us and didn't hang around for very long. The Flycatchers were a bit more confused and hung out for a while trying to figure out what was going on. We drove to Bullet Tree a bit later and released the remaining 2 Euphonia (I lost another on Friday morning) into a delicious berry tree. Good luck little guys!

A House Wren arrived on Monday evening. She had hit a ceiling fan in San Ignacio. Her wing was pretty trashed and, unfortunately, she didn't make it past Tuesday. Those guys are really stress prone, plus she probably had some head trauma and who knows what else. Another baby came in on Wednesday. It was found on the ground the road the El Pilar. It's a passerine and... that's all I know. Time will tell, I suppose. He's mostly uninjured. It's always not ideal to raise a kid by itself since they can get confused. We'll see how it goes...

The Chachalaca has been moved to an "outside" aviary ("outside" because she has no exposure to the elements). She's flighted now but she's still got awkward teenage plumage. The parakeet is still a parakeet and the grackle is still sort of a grackle. She is flying a bit though which is promising and she's FINALLY eating all on her own. That took way too long. The Roadside Hawk had surgery on her eyelid last week. So far so good. She's opening her eye all the way but she'll be examined this week to see if the lid has healed together.

I was able to get off the property on Tuesday to "get browse". We did get browse... we just threw a little hiking and jungle machete-ing and birding in there as well. It was nice to get off the property for a bit. We've been invited to lunch in Santa Familia tomorrow. It's going to happen, even if I have to take the baby along with us.

Five and a half months down... how is it July already??

a parakeet and a creep

2010-06-24T17:30:00.000-07:00

Sunday, my patient load came down to 21 as I lost one of the Yellow-throated Euphonia. I have no idea of what happened... he became lethargic so I put him on some antibiotics. Two hours later he had died. The other three appear healthy though and are mostly eating on their own. Monday brought me an Olive-throated Parakeet with a broken humerus and radius. She had surgery on Wednesday to pin the humerus and hopefully the wrap will help fix the rest of the wing. The Roadside Hawk's eyes are looking much better but only time will tell if the torn eye lid will heal correctly. There's a definite ulceration on that eye - caused either by the Grackles or the rubbing of the lid on the eye. She's super feisty though so I guess that's always good. All of the babies are doing well. The Flycatchers have finally started eating on their own. The only problem I have now is supplying enough food. I catch moths, but not enough, and I'm quickly running out of canned mealworms. I don't have a mealworm colony here so if anybody wants to accidently send some larva to get one going, I would appreciate it. The Woodpeckers have been cut off from formula. They're quite friendly though, so I am reluctant to release them near any people. The "tame" Roadside Hawk has been moved outside. He's actually pretty skiddish. I've been "exercising" him in order to build up his flight muscles because he tires quite quickly. FYI: exercising mean chasing him around with a broom. The eight parrots should be transferred within the next two weeks. Finally! Those guys have been in those little cages for way too long... and they're be that much closer to release! I think that's all patient-wise...

Alison and her mom arrived Monday evening. It's so good to see them! I haven't seen Alison in three years, since we worked together on Maui. They've been a huge help so far. They even let me take a nap yesterday. Things have calmed down considerably over the past few days and I'm starting to feel the exhaustion of the past 6 weeks. I'm beginning to feel like a zombie wandering most of the time. I'm so thankful they're here to help out! Having the company is nice, too. Not that I don't love hanging out with birds the majority of the day, it's just nice to have some human interaction whilst doing so.

We had a slightly ridiculous moment on Tuesday night when we went out to Greedy's in town. A creep decided to break into the car and was sitting in the back seat when we walked up. We ran back to the bar and all of the men hopped up and ran to the car to check it out. The perpetrator had gone by then. This car is a piece so no harm was done; it was just a little random... and scary. It's nice to know that there's people to look out for you when you need it. Thank you Greedy's employees and patrons! And now I know where NOT to park. Live and learn... or something.

What's up for this week? I have no idea. Hopefully some field work or maybe a day off. Hmm..

a million birds and a margay

2010-06-17T21:35:00.000-07:00

The case load at CASA has exploded. This week, I got in 7 birds and one margay. I currently have 22 rehab patients and 2 education birds in my care. That is almost triple what it was 2 months ago. Insane! And when I think I can't handle any more, I get in something else. It's really amazing what you're able to do when you have to. I wear my running shoes and shorts to work now. It's kind of a necessity when I run from building to building since walking takes way too long. The intern I've had since last week has been a ton of help. I do believe I owe my sanity to her and my co-workers. Alison arrives on Monday with her mom. She's going to be here for a month and it's going to be fantastic to have some more experience and knowledge available... and help feeding hungry little mouths.

So! New patients for this week: 4 Euphonia (still not entirely sure what species) on Sunday. Their nest was taken by some kids in Santa Familia. These birds are so incredibly tiny, weighing in at a hefty 8 grams a piece. I have the feeling they aren't the brightest creatures since they don't quite get the whole feeding process. Not to mention, every time I open the top of their basket, they all spring out and then immediately flutter to the floor. They've just fledged so they don't quite have the hang of flying yet. Next up: A Margay on Monday. Yes, a cat. A beautiful little wild cat. She was reportedly shot (although I couldn't find any shot wounds) on Friday. Here was the only place she could go for intensive care so I took her in. Thanks to my excellent cat restraint skills acquired from Dutch Fork Animal Hospital, I was able to give her some fluids and other medications. This patient was a learning experience for sure. She wasn't able to urinate on her own so I learned how to express a bladder. Sadly, she took a horrible turn for the worse and had to be euthanized on Tuesday. Another learning experience... I now know how to do an intracardial stick. I found myself saying "thank God" when I got it right on the first try. She was sedated so she didn't feel a thing. Tuesday was Roadside Hawk Day. I got in three. The first I received in the morning and had been found grounded and attacked by blackbirds: a common situation. She has a lot of wounds on her head and she has a torn nictitating membrane on one of her eyes. Maybe it'll heal itself... she's going to be a wait-and-see what happens patient, I think. Hopefully she'll be alright. The next two arrived in the evening. A disturbing and heartbreaking case, no doubt. They had been hand-raised for over a month. One is tame and the second.. well... the second was so deformed and in obvious pain that she had to be euthanized immediately. Needless to say, Tuesday was a ridiculously emotionally-charged day that culminated in my having a slight tear-filled breakdown. But, people here are amazing and I had some good support. I think I broke my personal record for longest work day ever that day. 18 hours. I am a BEAST. Also, this little experience of living in Belize has amounted to a ridiculous amount of personal growth. Who knew?

I often get questions about how I can perform euthanasia and I generally get the comment of "I could never do that". It's a necessary part of my job. Nobody, with the exception of the extremely deranged, enjoys i. I always try to do what is best for the animals that are in my care. If it comes to the point where the suffering is extensive, quality of life is beyond poor, or there is no way the animal can live life in the wild like it is meant to, then the most selfless thing you can do is to end its suffering. It sucks, but it's a part of my job that sometimes has to be done.

But, on to happier things! The Golden-fronted Woodpeckers got evicted this week (happier?). I decided it was time to make them grow up... plus I needed the room as the clinic is overflowing. They're still receiving supplemental feedings in the aviary but they're doing quite well with eating on their own. The Sulphur-bellied Flycatchers get their eviction tomorrow. They might just be throwing worms around in their cage but I'm pretty sure they aren't eating them or the live moths I put in there. I guess we'll see how it goes outside. I'm hoping it will encourage them to stop being so reliant. They've been enjoying their nightly freedom while I clean out their cage though. All four fly around the room, often hanging off of the hardware cloth that keeps them from flying all the way up to the clinic ceiling. The Chachalaca is getting in her adult plumage. She was moved into a larger cage yesterday and I think she's still a bit freaked out about it, but she loves hanging out in front of the mirror all day. So vain. Hopefully my anti-imprinting tactics will work. She gets incredibly stressed when I weigh her every day. It's definitely a promising sign that she runs from me.

I suppose that's all the updates for this week. I am currently bogged down by paperwork; it might be my least favorite part of this job. Hopefully I can catch a few hours of sleep after finishing these Forest Department reports!

a grackle and an intern

2010-06-09T18:48:00.000-07:00

What an insane week! I've been constantly running around and thinking about the next step in my head. I'm actually surprised my brain hasn't exploded yet. To add to the craziness, Tuesday evening I received a baby Great-tailed Grackle from the Belize Zoo. Somebody had found him in Belmopan, fed him sausage (what?) and water, and dropped him at the zoo. Little guy has some sort of infection on his wing but is acting like a normal Grackle fledgling. And by normal Grackle, I mean ridiculously obnoxious and loud. I got very frustrated when trying to do an intake examination because he wouldn't be quiet. After a long day, my patience is trying... so I put him up and tried again in the morning after he had a full belly. The vet is coming tomorrow to give me her thoughts.

Thankfully, I have an intern! She arrived from Virginia on Tuesday and has been a great help so far. I had her feeding birds on the first day. Tomorrow we set up an aviary for the Woodpeckers... if they ever decide to be independent. It seems as if the Flycatchers maybe actually beat them to the independence. They've decided to stop showing interest in the syringe feeding, although they all just fledged yesterday. Tonight I set up the bug zapper in order to catch some delicious moths. I'll test them tomorrow for their fly-catching abilities.

Really, that's all I've got to update. I'm too exhausted to add anything else. I know, I know... a definite departure from last week's heartfelt blog, but that's how it goes. Goodnight, all!

mysterious flycatchers, a chachalaca, and an amazing job

2010-06-03T21:20:00.000-07:00

Well, apparently baby season is in full swing. The Golden-fronted Woodpeckers have fledged! They're practicing their flight skills and their typical woodpecker stubbornness. They've become picky about what they'll eat and they, so far, haven't started eating on their own. The Great Kiskadee chicks are doing well - growing like crazy! Although, they've started making Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher squeaky toy vocalizations (did you click on the link? So not kidding about squeaky toys). Their coloration doesn't quite seem Great Kiskadee-esque either, but I guess I'll know for sure in a few days. Tuesday evening I received an egg. It had been rescued from the ground in Bullet Tree Falls about two weeks ago, set in a box with a night light as a heat source, and amazingly started hatching on Tuesday! The egg was a chalky color, smaller than a chicken egg, and it had a hole about the size of nickel in it. I could see a little beak; the chick was quite strong and peeping away. After a little persuasion (my peeping vocalizations, scratching on the egg), the little guy spun around and started chipping away at the rest of the egg. About an hour and a half after I received the egg, out popped a little Plain Chachalaca! What a privilege to see that little guy hatch. He's doing pretty well so far. Precocial species are a bit less demanding than the altricial species. Chachalaca parents still "hand" their kids food so I've been giving him little bites throughout the day in addition to him eating on his own. I don't have any literature on raising a Chachalaca chick so it's all guesswork. I'm offering all types of food and a lot of protein. Many precocial species easily imprint and to deter imprinting, I've been keeping myself hidden. I wear a sock on my hand when feeding and (get ready to laugh at the image in your head) a hijab made of pillowcases on my head/face. I've gotten laughed at several times and called a ninja but hopefully this little guy won't be human friendly. It's going to be tough since he's on his own.

On a sad note, I received a Great Blue Heron this evening from Caye Caulker. He died within 30 minutes of arrival. A post-mortem showed that he was extremely skinny and had an old open fracture to one of his legs. A old open fracture, especially on a species of bird that has to have both legs in order to survive, is a death sentence. I haven't seen one of these herons in hand before... what a beautiful bird!

Yesterday left me feeling extremely overwhelmed and frustrated, mostly because the woodpeckers weren't wanting to eat. This morning I woke up in a better mood and my devotion (thanks mom!) included Philippians 4:13. So after a fresh start, I started thinking about how I'm thankful that I, for some reason, made the insanely crazy decision to put my life on hold and move to a foreign country for a year.

Things I currently love about my job and my life in Belize:

1. The patients. The variety is amazing, as are the different personalities. Call it anthropomorphism, say they're just birds, but you really have no idea until you're working with them. The woodpeckers are feisty and hilarious. One naughty bird even jumped on my head today. After the spoiled flycatchers start getting full, they don't even beg - they just open their mouths for more... and I'm happy to oblige. I might just be raising some fatties.

2. The creativity. I don't have a lot to work with since most things available in the states aren't available here. Thank goodness a volunteer brought down reptariums... because with my one lonely cage, I wouldn't have had a place to put one of the woodpeckers after the other had started becoming aggressive. The ants are still a huge problem. The little crazy ants (something loco in Spanish) are wrecking havoc in the clinic with all the food available. I've run out of water trays and now I'm down to my last bits of tupperware to dissuade them. How does one even make a waterproof container with next to nothing? But facing these new-to-me issues makes me think outside the box and with it just being me here, I have to rely on my instincts, creativity, and knowledge. It's quite rewarding, really.

3. The freedom. Albeit, I am tied down to feeding every 30 minutes and, most of the time, one feeding bleeds into the other.. but hey, that's why I'm here! I do have the ability to do (mostly) whatever I want, however I want. Also, I can have a beer (or two) in the middle of a 15/16/17 hour work day. With the exception of the past two days, I had been able to fit in a twenty minute nap between feedings... on a sheet, in the surgery room of the clinic. It's the only way to deal sometimes. I don't have a uniform. Generally, I wear a scrub top and shorts. I could probably wear a bathing suit if I wanted. That would help with the sweltering heat (it finally stopped raining about 2 days ago) but I'm pretty sure it would make the rest of the staff feel awkward.

4. The sweating. Sure, it's gross but at the same time, it's kind of liberating. I no longer care that I look like a sweaty mess. The animals don't care, the people don't care, therefore... I don't care either. Really, there's no way to stop it or anything to do about it. The clinic gets so incredibly hot that I sometimes even have to turn off the heating pads for the babies so they don't fry. Everybody's a sweaty mess here and it's okay.

5. The people. Yes I get frustrated, but then there are days like today when all is forgiven and there's hope. Everybody at work was in good spirits even though we were all unbelievably busy. I also met a very promising young person from Pro-Belize this morning and that gives me hope for this country in which there are so many people who just don't care.

There are more things but after a super long day of work, that's all I have time to divulge. I do have to say that my favorite time of the day during baby season is after the 7:00 PM feed. Everybody has gone to bed and it's a bit of an accomplished feeling knowing that everybody is fat and happy and that I had a ridiculously full day of work.

I'm more or less completely exhausted (partially self-inflicted due to having somehow developed a social life) but it's a good feeling. I'm going on week three (or is it four?) without a day off. I'm averaging about 16 hours of work a day and I'm okay with it. For now anyway, who knows when I'll actually crack. Anybody reading this has my permission to punch me if I ever complain later in life about ridiculously long work hours. Seriously, I give you permission.

One of my favorite parts of today was when I was told "I like your enthusiasm" when I was talking about CASA, conservation, and birds. I take that as a compliment... probably one of the best I've had. Today was a good day and my heart is full.

kiskadee! kiskadee!

2010-05-27T21:10:00.000-07:00

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!

babies!

2010-05-20T19:27:00.000-07:00

Well, this week pretty much exploded patient-wise. Monday, I received a call about two baby woodpeckers who had been rescued from a fallen tree in a family's backyard in Roaring Creek. They arrived Tuesday morning and I've been running non-stop since then. They're nestlings so they have to be fed every half hour. Tuesday evening, I received a juvenile Roadside Hawk from Belize City. He was being attacked by black birds, but it appears completely fine... just slightly keely with an old, healed fracture to the leg. Is it possible? An actual patient that's releasable? The veterinarian that is with the Peregrine Fund is going to take a look at him tomorrow and give his thoughts. On Wednesday morning, I received the third of the Woodpecker trio. He was a quite dehydrated and smaller than the other two. He's doing great though.. all three of them are piggies. I haven't had much one-on-one experience with Woodpecker babies; they've always just been in the feeding assembly line that occurs during baby season. These guys are hilarious though; they've each got their own personality and they're very grumpy when awoken for a feeding. It's definitely a learning experience to determine what schedules suites them best. I started out with 14 hours worth of feedings on Wednesday but I had to end earlier tonight because I had to fight with them in order to feed them during the second to last feeding. I just decided to let them sleep instead. 13 hours worth of feedings should be sufficient, I think... and so does the awesome purple Hand-Rearing Birds book. It's pretty much the best book ever for hand-rearing the littles.

So yes, baby season as officially begun! I've only got about 20 minutes between feedings so I've been running around like a crazy person trying to get everything done. Wildlife rehabilitation centers can have hundreds of baby and adult patients during the busy season. It seems crazy that 12 patients and 2 education birds would be so exhausting! Hopefully I can get some people here trained on feeding the kids. We shall see..

No other news. Field work will be put on hold for a bit until I can get somebody trained to feed the chiledren. Off to bed so I can rest before doing it all again tomorrow!

lost birds and four months

2010-05-11T18:09:00.000-07:00

I received a text on Friday informing me that there was a hawk in Orange Walk. That's still all I know about the situation. I'm assuming that 1.) it didn't need immediate attention and healed on its own or 2.) it is no longer is in existence. We'll go with theory number one just so we stay on the positive side of things, yes? There is a third option, however... the hawk may have somehow turned into a Yellow-crowned Night-heron and it was on the island of San Pedro (on the coast), and not in Orange Walk (north of San Ignacio, near Mexico). So on Wednesday, I was invited by the BFD (Belize Forest Department) to do a presentation at the Santa Elena Primary School. The BFD, coming from Belmopan to do the presentation, transported the YCNH to CASA. By the time I had assessed the patient, the presentation was over. At least I'll be prepared for the next presentation - lovely Powerpoint presentation and all! The Yellow-crowned Night-heron, a juvenile, had a broken tibiotarsus. He was easily stressed and didn't end up making it through the night. I'm not entirely sure how long he was down, but he didn't look great when he came in. Hopefully one day I'll have a fixable patient; this is starting to become depressing.

On Friday, as an early birthday present to myself, I played tourist at

the Cahal Pech Resort and lounged around at the pool. The resort sits on the hilltop next to the Cahal Pech ruins and it overlooks San Ignacio and Santa Elena. I had a nice lunch of quesadilla de soya (with soy meat - I'm still not sure how I feel about it) and got rained on a couple of times by the random Hawaii-esque showers. A few hours later and a few shades darker (or redder?), I headed to Greedy's and hung out there for a while, reading my book and enjoying happy hour whilst listening to American music. It was a pretty good day; I hadn't realized how much I missed being able to jump in a pool. I might have to make that a bi-monthly occurrence... even though it's all the way up the hill. It's okay, I like hiking. And swimming. And sunburns. Okay, not really sunburns.

Saturday was my birthday. I played with birds and ate some cake and had a beer. It was a birthday. Now I'm a year older. I've kind of felt like I've been 27 for the past few months and I think that successfully warded off any anxiety / omghowdidthishappen / whatamIdoingwithmylife attacks. Victory! ...for now, at least.

I've been here for four months today. My time in Belize is 1/3 of the way through... I don't know how I feel about this. Closer to leaving, closer to really needing to figure out the next step. South Korea for a year or two or maybe somewhere in the Southern Hemisphere. While I do miss the familiarity of things in the States, I currently don't have any urge to return there permanently. Not as of this moment, anyway.

Tomorrow, perhaps I will help with some field work. Perhaps not, although I'm at a loss of what to do otherwise. Suggestions are appreciated!

purple birds and the oil "spill"

2010-05-05T20:20:00.000-07:00

I've found that I'm really bad at (the list keeps growing) collecting browse for the birds; I blame inexperience with the native plants and lack of knowledge as to the whereabouts of said plants. It takes me f o r e v e r to do it and I can never find enough. Thankfully, Ricky, who once was a chiclero and spent months in the bush, collects the browse for the parrots. On Tuesday, he brought back branches with tiny dark purple berries on it. There's only a Mayan name for it, of which I cannot remember because he only verbalized it and I didn't write it down (apparently I'm an extremely visual person and can usually only remember something if I read it). Anyway, as I mentioned last week, Tuesday is cage scrub day so the cages were all nice and clean pre-browse with berries. Well, when I went to give everybody their PM diets on Tuesday... I had an exciting mess waiting for me. The two Pionus parrots are naughty and always perch on the door to their aviary in an attempt to escape. In a way, this is helpful since I can get a close look of their underneath bits and their feet. Yesterday, their feet were purple. All of the parrots' feet were purple. And their beaks. And their feathers. And the entire floor and bits of the walls. Really, I couldn't help but laugh. At least the aviaries aren't a dull cement gray anymore?

Last Saturday I attended the Agricultural Show. I passed out a ton

of flyers and coloring sheets, as well as got the word out about CASA. I shared a table with the Forest Department and set out some of my flyers and coloring sheets - the kids loved coloring! However, everybody expected a prize for finishing. I guess coloring a pretty picture isn't prize enough. Next time I'll bring candies or something along so as to not disappoint. It was a bit of an eye-opening experience. I didn't attend Sunday since I'm generally the only one around here on Sunday; there were supposed to be more people there since the rodeo was on Sunday. Thankfully the Humane Society got involved and nixed the cock-fighting. I had intended on posting a picture of kids coloring the CASA coloring sheet, but I accidently selected the wrong photograph. Because this internet is awesome, blogger only lets me upload one photo per post. Instead of seeing the kids coloring, you get to enjoy a beautiful sunrise from last Friday. At least it helps getting up so very early even more worth it!

And I got to enjoy this sunrise before going to help out with more field work. I won't share any of the details, but I'll just say that it was a reminder as to how brutal nature can be sometimes. No field work thus far this week. Perhaps next week.

Next week, I may be doing a presentation at a school here in San Ignacio. Thanks to the Forest Department for including CASA, I may get to do some more educating. I am not a huge fan of public speaking, but I always force myself to get over that aspect somehow.

On another note - I'm sure you've all heard about the Gulf oil spill debacle. If you live in South Carolina, Rosewood Market in Columbia is collecting donations for Save our Seabirds in Florida, who is gearing up to help out the avian victims. If you want to help, the International Bird Rescue Research Center has a team down there and could use the donations. MSNBC also has a list of organizations that could use your help. You can contact your local wildlife rehabilitation center for suggestions as well. If you've been reading anything about it, it's easy to realize that this is going to have a huge effect on the environment and all animal populations - including ourselves. Just a few dollars or donated items could help save a life!

bathing birds and field work

2010-04-29T17:48:00.000-07:00

So it seems as if I'm back to (semi) normal after faltering last week. Onward!

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.

rum and the atm cave

2010-04-22T16:40:00.000-07:00

No new birdies this week. No real news either, except that Jack has begun hisher molt. Last year heshe molted in August... perhaps because that was hisher first year? Who knows. Nobody knows. We are pioneers in neotropical bird rehabilitation. Fantastic.

My sister left this morning to return to South Korea with a short stop in the States. Yesterday was a rough day (oh, hello mini-meltdown) for me and I'm pretty sure her subsequent departure undoubtedly added to it. Some of you know what I have to go through down here so you understand where the stress and feeling of helplessness comes from. The others of you who don't know... well, you'll just have to wonder because I won't broadcast these sorts of things on the internet. All jobs have their frustrations, I suppose. Must stay positive and not give up!

Fortunately, we were able to do a lot of things while my sister was here. Not as many as I had hoped, but that's how it goes when you're the only one working a rehabilitation center. We went into town a few times, to Cahal Pech, to Spanish Lookout (Western Dairies' soursop ice cream is a let down, by the way), swimming in the Mopan (and fail fishing), to see Orange-breasted Falcons at the sink holes, browse collecting in the middle of nowhere and at Branch Mouth, and to the ATM Cave. Hopefully it wasn't too exhausting of a vacation for her! On a side note, my tolerance for rum has increased exponentially due to somebody wanting piña coladas, watermelon daiquiris, mango daiquiris, etc etc etc etc. I had nothing to do with this.

One of the highlights of the trip was on Friday when we headed off to the Actun Tunichil Muknal (ATM) Cave located in the Maya Mountains at 8:00 AM. I think I've mentioned the Maya Mountains in some of my previous posts. They were once coral reefs when Belize was under water so now they are mostly limestone. Limestone = caves. Caves hold a huge significance in the Mayan culture - they are the dwellings of the gods. Because of this, many sacrifices (objects and people) were made in the caves; people were killed and pottery was broken (into multiple fragments or with a small piece removed) in order to release the spirit. And now that you know a brief history... we were driven to Teakettle Village and went through part of the Tapir Mountain Nature Reserve (sadly, no tapirs were seen). The road was quite bumpy and we ended up driving through a stream in order to get to the cave. After parking, we hiked for about 45 minutes. We crossed / waded through three streams on the way in and it was a relatively easy hike, albeit slightly rushed with no time for birding. We did minimal research before going on the tour but we did read that the

difficulty was described as "challenging". The hike in left something to be desired in the "challenging" category and we figured the entire tour would be similar... oh boy, were we wrong. We arrived at the entrance of the cave (left - matching outfits not intentional) and our tour guide gave us a fairly lengthy history lesson while we waited to have enough distance between us and the previous groups. The entrance consisted some slippery rocks and a nice plunge into freezing (understatement) cold water for a swim to the bank inside the cave. My caving / spelunking experience is minimal and I've only been in smaller caves... it's a bit difficult to put into words how amazing this experience was. If you're ever in Belize and are able to climb up slippery, wet rocks, squeeze through tight spaces, and swim in a cave with only headlamps to light the way, I would definitely recommend doing the ATM Cave tour with Pacz tours. After wading / swimming for a bit, we came to some small statues and a lot of pottery. All throughout the hike, there were innumerable multi-colored stalactites, stalagmites, and diamond-like quartz. We eventually climbed our way up some precarious rocks to a main cavern with an altar, a ton of sacrificial pottery, and a few bones. We proceeded to climb up a very wobbly ladder to a small chamber that housed a small boy, thought to have been placed kneeling and facing the wall. There was also the only full skeletal remains of a woman aged 18-22. The water levels, which are visible by the water lines inside the cave, fluctuate depending on rain. Quartz is on the entire skeleton, except for a very small portion on the top of the skull, which has earned her the name "Crystal Maiden". I took a ton of pictures, a few of which I uploaded to Facebook. Pictures don't quite do it justice. But really, pictures don't do any of this country justice. You'll just have to come see for your self! I'll be here until January. Tempted?

This week will be spent recovering from late nights and getting together some information for the Agricultural Show. It's going to be held in Belmopan next weekend so if you happen to be in Belize, stop by and say hello! Thousands of people should be there so it'll be a great opportunity to spread awareness and to educate.

Now I just have to wait two more months until Alison comes to be the Assistant ACM! I can do this.

sad egret and a sister

2010-04-15T18:54:00.000-07:00

I apologize for my lackluster post last week. How boring!

To start off the post on a depressing note, the Cattle Egret's wing fracture wasn't able to be repaired. Poor guy. The thing about wildlife is that it's exceptionally resilient... so by the time they're able to be caught, they're pretty bad off. But! All of the parrots are doing well. Jack's been getting some attention from my sister, which I'm sure he (she?) appreciates. The Collared Aracari has warmed up to me a bit and will let me "preen" her. Really, I'm just petting her and picking at her feathers. She makes her squeak chatter-chatter noise that she makes when the wild Aracari visit.

So yes! My sister is here! She arrived on Monday and finally made it to CASA. Piña coladas seem to be the current theme (pineapple chunks + cream of coconut + One Barrel Belizean rum). She's gotten to feed the birds, make bird food, clean mice containers, collect browse, and scrub cages (fun fun!). We've wandered around town a few times and on Wednesday we tagged along with the Peregrine Fund. We went to the sinkholes again and this time the female Orange-breasted Falcon was sitting on eggs! Three, to be exact. It was pretty awesome. The hike in was a little.. exhausting, but we made it and nobody fell off of a mountain. Speaking of raptors and babies, I was able to get a shot of the White-tailed Kite kids in the nest. They're huge now and should fledge in the next week or so. You'll have to just check my facebook for photos, as usual. Tomorrow we're going to the ATM Caves on a tour. It's a big of a hike in, but beautiful from what I hear. Then we'll go pseudo-spelunking (or maybe real spelunking?) and see some Mayan artifacts and burial sites (complete with bones). It should be pretty amazing! We plan on going to the Xunantunich and Cahal Pech ruins at some point... and also drinking more piña coladas.

I went to the Easter Fair in San Ignacio the Saturday before last and I completely forgot to post about it. It was like a fair in the states but a lot smaller. Also there were no lines for the rides or barriers so the crowd doesn't get too close to the rides. If you get kicked in the head by people on the ride that's spinning around in the air, it's your fault. It was kind of funny actually watching people grab others out of the way of flying feet. I've noticed some similarities in this regard between Belize and South Korea. You want to climb a Korean mountain after (and while) pounding soju and balance on precarious ledges? Go right ahead. You want to stand atop a Mayan temple with no guardrails where you can actually look down onto Guatemala? No problem. These things I'm fairly certain couldn't (legally) happen in the US...

A fun bit of advice from my sister: if you're coming to visit, make sure you bring lots of deodorant... you're sure to run out after applying it 17 times a day.

I'm still awaiting the first babies of the season... any day now, I'm sure. In the meantime, I'm enjoying my not-so busy spell and having fun spending time with my sister!

egrets and miscellaneous things

2010-04-08T13:18:00.000-07:00

I was worried that I wouldn't have anything to post this week, and then a Cattle Egret showed up on Tuesday. He has quite a bad fracture on his left wing near his shoulder and another on his radius. It'd be great if there was an x-ray available to see the extent of the fracture, but alas, this is Belize. He was found in somebody's backyard with foam sealant on his feet. You know, the stuff you spray to fill in holes / cracks in houses? It dries and expands quite fast. I don't want to think about how the egret even got into this predicament; I try not to think the worst of people.

These really tiny, crazy ants seem to have taken over the clinic. They're generally harmless but ants are never a good thing when you have a debilitated patient. They decided to flock to the water dish that I had put in the egret's carrier so I had to improvise. The internet is trashed, again, so there is no picture to share... just imagine a picture of a carrier basically on stilts sitting in water pans. Note to self: put the water in the trays BEFORE putting the plycem slab and carrier on top. Fun times with water and a 60 ml syringe. Not.

I keep seeing new birds! There was a pair of Keel-billed Toucans on the property the other day; I had only seen toucans before flying overhead as a black funny-shaped bird. There's also a pair of white-tailed kites nesting next door. They've got four chicks and I was able to watch them feed the other day. Hopefully I'll be able to get a clear enough picture of them to share.

My current list of skills that I really should have possessed before coming to Belize used to stand at two: fishing (I found out today that I am still lacking those skills) and being a car mechanic. My newest realizations include building construction skills and the ability to look extremely intimidating in order to discourage being "hollered at". I have a little construction experience but no knowledge of construction jargon. And it's too bad I'm not 6 feet tall with a scary muscle builder's body.

It's been a fairly slow week so I haven't anything else to update.. except that my sister will be here on MONDAY (!) and my birthday is in exactly a month. Ack!

army ants AGAIN and raging hormones

2010-04-01T18:19:00.000-07:00

How is it April already? I've been here for a little over two and a half months now! It feels like I just got here and also like I've been here for years.

Thursday night the army ants were out and about again. The security guard ran and got me from La Sala (my office / where the internet is) yelling "hormigas! hormigas!". We went running over to the clinic and apparently they had only made it as far as the laundry room. The first troop of secal that I had seen were the ones involved in the dove incident and they were quite large. These guys, however, were tiny and covering almost the entire laundry room. We eventually got them out only for them to migrate towards the BRB (bird rehabilitation building - where the flighted patients are kept). Seriously, we sprayed them for at least an hour with water and citrus oil (apparently applied straight it destroys) but they wouldn't leave! Ricky eventually sent me to bed and said he'd keep an eye on them. Thankfully my Spanglish language partner (aka Mr. Chata, the security guard) was on his toes and caught them as they were swarming the Aracari's enclosure. Ricky rushed in and scooped up the Aracari just as the ants had gotten to her. She had maybe a dozen ants on her and so far there aren't any injuries. Little Aracari got to spend the night in Ricky's house while the ants continued on their way to wherever they go to hide out until their next attack. It's quite hard to explain how overwhelming these ants are. Their numbers and their persistence.. what a nightmare, yet I find myself in awe of these things. They stop at absolutely nothing to claim their victims, take over houses, and cause miniature insect stampedes (the ants are coming! runnnnnn!).

In other CASA news, breeding season as arrived! There are pairs all over the property... there's even a pair of White-fronted parrots nesting in a dead palm near Ricky's house. There's a Yucatan squirrel nesting outside of my room so I can get my mammal fix, too. The majority of the parrots at CASA are too young to be affected by the breeding season. However, Jack, the Red-lored parrot, and one of the Yellow-loreds are at that age. So far Jack hasn't been shown any aggression, but he has been spending a lot of time in his roost box. Now, I say "he" because it is assumed that he is a he and not a she. There is no sexual dimorphism in Red-lored parrots and the only way we could tell would be through DNA testing and that's not really an option. It's entirely possible that Jack is really a Jacqueline and maybe female parrots aren't as aggressive as male parrots during the breeding season. The oldest Yellow-lored, on the other hand, decided that my head looked like a good target for dive-bombing on Sunday. Luckily he has little feet that can't do a lot of damage... I hope. He was pretty insistent on getting me out of the aviary though - he even flew at the door as I was leaving and landed where my face would have been. Ahh... good times with the birds.

Due to the army ant attack and other circumstances, I didn't have a day off on Friday. Tuesday made up for it just a little... I was asked to tag along for Howler monkey health checks. Dr. Isabelle, the CASA vet, and I met Robin who is with the Wildlife Care Center of Belize.

Robin rehabilitates primates, mainly Howler monkeys, the majority who have been confiscated because they make popular pets. Funding is in short supply down here (for everything) but you can help Robin out by donating on her page. Four monkeys in all had to get checked out. One had some blood drawn while the other three had check-ups and got dewormed; none of them were ecstatic about being handled. I didn't actually handle any of the monkeys... I just recorded data and took pictures. It was an interesting experience nonetheless. Since primates can carry several zoonotic disease, masks and gloves are a necessity when working with them (that would be me masked and ready to go on the right). Really, I don't even want to know every single thing I can contract. Sometimes, ignorance is best or else you'll be too scared to do anything. I'm actually surprised that I don't have some crazy diseases. I always take precautions though, because nobody wants Rabies or TB or Chlamydia psittaci or Apsergillosis or parasites or Leprosy or or or... I'll stop there.

This weekend is Easter weekend. It's another four day weekend here so it'll be quiet and a bit lonely. There's the Easter Fair in town on Saturday and Sunday. It sounds like it's going to be a pretty big deal with local musicians (Bullet Tree Boys?) and "mechanical rides" (whatever that means). I'll be in attendance and I'm sure there will be plenty of people from all over Cayo there.

So far I've been relatively unaffected by the Chloroquine, with the exception of some stomach upset. I've noticed the past two weeks that I've been ridiculously tired the day after I've taken it... tired to the point of not being able to do anything except lay in my hammock. It's not an excuse, I swear! It should be interesting to see what the approximately 46 more doses hold. Hopefully I won't have to stop taking it. That might be a little scary.

And now the countdown is on.. 11 days until my sister gets here!

the zoo and guests... so many guests

2010-03-25T13:28:00.000-07:00

The parrots have begun their molt (or moult if you're located anywhere else except America). They've been losing quite a bit of their downy feathers and a few days ago I started finding various body and flight feathers in their cages. One of the Yellow-loreds has a few damaged primary feathers and I opted not to pluck them as it can cause some serious issues. I was really hoping that they would start molting soon so that he could replace those damaged feathers... I got way too excited on Sunday when I found one of those damaged primaries on the ground. I'm such a nerd, but I'm okay with it. Baby season is coming SO soon. I do believe I'm a bit nervous about it.. hopefully I won't go crazy being the only person that can feed them!

Last Friday, I left a bit later than I had anticipated (as usual) and walked to the "bus station" in San Ignacio. I arrived just in time to catch the bus headed to Belmopan / Belize City. After a quick stop in Belmopan, the bus headed on towards Belize City. The zoo is located more or less in the middle of nowhere on the Western Highway in between Belmopan and Belize City. So I got dropped off in the middle of nowhere, paid $20 BZD (ouch, but it's for a good cause?), and ran into a colleague who gave me a personal tour of the zoo. I am not really pro-zoo, but the Belize Zoo is quite different from any other zoo that I have visited. All of the enclosures are natural and there is no cement save the water sources. All of the species are native and rescued; the signage is cleverly written and geared to educate the Belize people. If you ever come to Belize, I would definitely recommend a visit.

From Saturday evening until Wednesday there were some guests staying at the lodge. 16 guests, to be exact. A group of friends and their kids from America / India stayed for a few days. They were all extremely nice and it ended up being a lot of fun having them here. I got to do a little bit of educating and the kids performed a dance on Tuesday evening while the sun was setting. Most of you who know me know that I'm a relatively quiet person; it was a little surprising to me how talkative I became. Relative solitude will do that to a person, I guess. I've been able to meet so many different people since I've been here... I think it's help restore my faith in humanity in a little. Aaand now on to less depressing things!

I was invited to partake in a training session in Belmopan today. It was geared towards the upcoming field study that involves trapping small felids and jaguar prey items for radio-collaring and sampling. I learned how to load syringes for the dart gun AND shoot the dart gun! I found out at my internship in Texas that I am really bad at aiming firearms and sadly, the same applies to dart guns. Although, we were using a pizza box as target practice so I'll just blame that...? We covered zoonotic diseases as well and I learned about a fun one that can be contracted from birds. Hooray! I love diseases and parasites.

If anybody wants to send me a package (I know you want to!), just be aware that one: they go through the package in front of me so no embarrassing items! And two: they charge me to pick up the package, so lighter is better.

I'm determined to improve my Spanish while I'm here and tonight began the Spanglish sessions with the security guard. We somehow understood each other enough for me to be reminded that I was taught Spanish Spanish and not Latin American Spanish. This is going to be interesting since my brain actually started to shut down after about half an hour of "conversing".

This was kind of a geek post but really... aren't they all? I have no idea of what is to come next week, except that it's one less week until my sister gets here. I'M SO EXCITED!

the clinic and falcons

2010-03-18T17:50:00.000-07:00

Tuesday CASA had some visitors! Two wildlife rehabbers on vacation from the states came by and dropped off a lot of donations and some literature. They got some free lunch and got a quick tour. It was nice to see some Americans, oddly enough. Now they're enjoying themselves on Caye Caulker... lucky.

I realized that I haven't posted any pictures of the clinic! Above is CASA. On the right is the clinic, the thatched roof building is the rehabilitation building with the cages, and Jack's enclosure is on the far left. My attempt at uploading more photos failed so you'll have to check out Facebook. I've posted a picture of the entrance to the clinic, the examination room, the office / surgery, and the ICU. If you've been viewing my pictures on Facebook, I've taken too many pictures and had to start a new album. You can view the old one here and the new one here.

Sunday I tagged along again with the Peregrine Fund and headed out to Santa Familia and in to the jungle. The first site was a massive sinkhole (and I mean massive) but there were no Orange-Breasted Falcons to be found. We hiked a bit further to a second sinkhole that was a bit smaller than the first. A falcon was spotted relatively quickly perched on one of the trees that seemed to be growing out of the cliffside. After bit of preening and a quick nap, a second falcon appeared, flew around the sinkhole, and headed off to hunt. The PF needed to get to Mountain Pine Ridge to do some more monitoring before it got late so we set off back to San Ignacio. On this excursion, I learned about the exciting Poison Wood. It's a species of tree, similar to poison oak, that causes a rash if you come in contact with it. Fortunately, I haven't had any experience with it yet. Although, I seem to have some sort of weird resistance to poison ivy (I've practically waded through it before with no reaction) so maybe it's the same with poison wood? At least if I develop a rash after hiking I might have some idea of what it's from.

FYI: I am now two hours behind all of you East Coast Americans... which essentially makes me on Mountain Time. I think. I will miss the longer days... the hours of daylight are pretty consistent year-round here.

Tomorrow I head to the zoo for my weekly adventure. It was also suggested that I go to "Old Belize" which is a large museum dedicated to the history of Belize. Apparently there's a lot of other stuff there too (a pool?). It's only about half an hour to 45 minutes from the zoo so I might as well. It's going to be a long day, but it'll be good to get off site since I've mostly been twiddling my thumbs all week. No complaints though since I know two months from now I will have my hands completely full with bird babies.

Until next week...

cahal pech and produce

2010-03-11T16:24:00.001-08:00

Welll... it's been a slow week here at CASA. No new patients, nothing catastrophic has happened (knock on wood). I've been trying to think of ways to make the day to day routine of the birds less boring. I'm not as inventive as I once was. I'll just blame age. I mean, I will be 27 in less than two months after all. Ha?

I'm a little worried about the summer here... today it topped out at 96 degrees with a bazillion percent humidity. Even the breeze is sweltering. I was told the other day that it's gotten up to 105 in April before... that's only April! What about the summer? Ack! Alison, I hope you're ready to sweat buckets!

Last Friday I went to Cahal Pech, which are the Mayan ruins above San Ignacio. It was more extensive that I had originally thought and it's only about 2-3 miles away... uphill, but that's okay. Who doesn't like a good workout? They had a few relics and even some bones in the museum on site. There were a lot of children on a field trip so it was a bit noisy. I got a lot of "hi miss!" and some waves. I drew a lot of attention in general on Friday for some reason...

They recognize me now down at the market where I buy produce for the birds. Not that it would be hard; how many other blonde (no longer so) white girls buy $35 worth of produce every week? Speaking of delicious local produce, mango season is right around the corner. There are about 14 different types / flavors of mangoes grown here - from the kind you generally see in the US to dark colored ones which are extremely sweet. Apparently they're fairly expensive at first but later on you can get a giant bag for $1. Cheap! Most produce things are fairly inexpensive as long as they're in season. Bananas are 10 for $1 BZD at the market... not bad compared to the states where it's $0.70 or more for one pound. The apples, since they aren't grown here, are pretty expensive. The coconuts (and plantains!) are free, just get one of the guys to climb up one of the many coconut trees here and cut you down some. Yum.

I mentioned the Chinese stores last week; the majority of the 'supermarkets' are run by Chinese families. There are generally five in a row all right next to each other... nobody really knows how there is possibly enough competition for them to thrive, but they do. The stores all consist of miscellaneous items - groceries, soap, random housewares, and pet food. All of these items change with each shipment, so if you can't find something one week, try again the next week and eventually you'll get what you need. I was trying to figure out what the American equivalent to these stores would be and the best I could come up with are the dollar stores with their random factor.

Tomorrow I think I will be headed to Spanish Lookout again. I have to pick up some items for the clinic (yes, on my day "off") and look into some fabric for a particular pushy person (kidding!). Maybe I'll actually take some pictures this time... maybe.

banding and la ruta de maya

2010-03-05T14:00:00.000-08:00

I thought this week would never end. I planned on updating yesterday, but I broke the internet yesterday morning. Oops. I'm currently sitting in a bar downtown that has free internet and listening to somebody's pet parrot... not cool.

Saturday a Pionus (white-crowned) parrot arrived with a broken tibiotarsus (bone below the knee joint) and an ulna/radius fracture on the right wing. He was also missing his tail feathers and feathers off of his lower back. The injuries were fairly consistent with an animal attack of some sort (opossum attacks are fairly common). Surgery didn't go so well on Sunday and he ended up not recovering. Bah.

All of the parrots were banded on Monday and Tuesday. In the near future, the Forest Department plans on licensing and banding all current pet parrots so that no more are brought into captivity. Jack was banded since he is a captive bird. The current patients were banded... hopefully this will deter the poachers from taking them into the pet trade.

Last Friday I went to a concert downtown. There was supposed to be about 1000 people there; it seemed more like a few hundred. It was.. interesting and very loud, but I had fun. I don't like this new thing where it takes me days to recover from staying out really late.

Sunday night there was a "tiger" attack next door (the next lot over which is right next to my room). I'm not sure exactly what species of felid that the locals refer to as a tiger, but I think it may be either the jaguarundi or margay. Either way, he ate some chickens AND a nice sized pig. It must have been pretty hungry whatever it was.

Last night was the cultural festival in downtown San Ignacio to kick off La Ruta de Maya. There was the Succotz Festival marching band and some local Belizean artists. It was interesting to see the difference between the marching bands in the states (thanks to brother and sister for all the band competitions) and the ones here. Early this morning was the start of La Ruta de Maya canoe race which goes from San Ignacio to Belize City. There were about 90 canoes entered in the race from all over the world with three levels of competitors: the super serious with trainers, the not so serious, and the "we'll just take our time" competitors. The most sought after part of the race is from the starting bridge to the low-lying bridge about half a mile away... it was pretty funny to see all the canoes tearing through the water, with the exception of the non-competitors and the one canoe that tipped of course.

My sister is coming to visit in less than six weeks! I'm pretty excited about it. She'll be volunteering, but hopefully we'll get to do touristy things. I found some Engrish in the Chinese stores so she should feel "at home".

That's all for this week, I suppose. I have no idea what next week will bring but hopefully it'll be good whatever it is. This week has been rough and I'm missing the little things...

parrot training, mosquito nets, and busses

2010-02-25T19:04:00.000-08:00

The weather has been a bit sporadic this week. It started out with me having to use three blankets at night, then 90 degree days and hot nights, to crazy hurricane winds on Wednesday. Variety is good, I guess.

I started training Jack, the non-releasable red-lored amazon parrot, by using positive reinforcement last week. I haven't actually done any training before, with the exception of dogs, so this is a new experience for me. The purpose is to get him used to being poked and prodded so that examinations aren't so stressful. Thanks to Tracy, he already knows "step up". I've started using a stick instead of a finger so that he will eventually "step up" onto the stick in the carrier for transport. He loves peanuts as a reward, but is easily distracted and often ends up crawling up my shirt. That's a little.. unnerving since he tries to bite sometimes. Have you ever been bitten by a parrot? Or seen a parrot's beak? No thanks. Tips and tricks for training would be greatly appreciated!

I moved into my new, permanent room on Thursday. My previous mosquito net had two flaps which I could open in order to get in my bed. My new mosquito net has no flaps so I have to un-tuck the net in order to get in the bed. After this experience, I will never take being able to simply get into a bed for granted. In case you ever need them, I have compiled tips for how to get into bed in the tropics: first, pull back the corner of the mosquito net at the bottom of the bed so you can thoroughly check all of your sheets. Second, check all of your sheets inside and out for "visitors" (tarantulas, scorpions, other miscellaneous creatures). Next, grab your iPod Touch (who knew it could be so useful?) or flashlight. Turn off the light and use your iPod touch for illumination. Climb into bed - don't forget to check for visitors again! Tuck in your mosquito netting from the inside, using your iPod Touch to see. Make sure you have all the excess netting tucked completely in so that nobody tries to eat you whilst you sleep. Oh, and make sure you use the bathroom right before you tuck yourself in... because doing this at 3:00 AM is NOT awesome.

Friday was my first solo adventure. I walked to the bus 'station' (ie people standing around) in San Ignacio a bit later than I had intended. Two or so hours and two bus rides later, I reached Blue Hole National Park. I hiked around for a bit, got eaten by mosquitoes, met some people (Canadians, Belizeans, and Americans), and went for a swim in the blue hole. I walked about a mile up the Hummingbird Highway to the first entrance; I was going to check out the cave but the bus was due any minute so I didn't have the time. The area was beautiful, to say the least. I'm saving the second trip for when my sister comes to visit.. definitely going spelunking! Get ready. The bus system is fairly simple... you basically stand on the road and flag down a bus going in the direction that you wish to go. Apparently I looked like I had no idea of what I was doing (which I didn't) so people offered to help. Everybody here is unbelievably friendly and nice. I ended up being serenaded with church and 80's Madonna songs by a man who absolutely detests animals. I tried to explain how animals and nature are important, but he just laughed and probably thought I was crazy. How do you communicate the importance of wildlife and the environment to a culture where the majority of the people just make garbage dumps on side roads?

Today I tagged along on a trip out to the field to monitor a pair of Orange Breasted Falcons... amazing. Another field study starts in a couple of weeks that will involve trapping and putting radio collars on a wide range of mammals and, time permitting, I'll be a volunteer field assistant. I've been wanting to get some field experience for years now so I'm pretty excited.

Tomorrow I will be attending a final draft revision meeting for amendments to the Wildlife Protection Act. I haven't actually done anything legislation-wise before but hopefully I can give some input. Pretty crazy the opportunities I've had since I've been here..

mayan ruins and a jaguarundi kit

2010-02-18T18:17:00.000-08:00

Busy week! This is going to be quite an extensive update so prepare yourself.

There is good news this week for CASA patients! The barn owl was released on Tuesday with the help of our two volunteers who drove her up to Orange Walk. She looked great on her pre-release exam so we built a make-shift carrier and sent her on her way. We're down to eight parrots as our only patients now... I'm sure about ten birds will come in all at the same time now.

On Friday, the two volunteers and I were picked up in a sad little car to drive past Benque and into the jungle. Our mission was to try and reunite a jaguarundi kit with his mom. The hydro-workers who were clearing land had found it; word is that they had scared off the mother. So this sad little car (the driver's side window had just shattered out of nowhere moments earlier) that had already cut off once on the way to CASA, didn't look too promising once it was noticed that it was dangerously close to overheating. We pulled over to a gas station and added some water to the radiator (brave mechanic, seriously) and started on our way again. We made it to Benque and it started overheating again. Another gas station and buckets of water. It actually cut off this time, but the engine temperature had dropped considerably so we opted to continue on. Five minutes later and it was obvious that there was no way this car would make the ten mile, extremely rough drive into the jungle. Enter my first Belizean cab ride! At least an hour and a half after the start of our journey, we finally made it to the supposed site where the kit was found. The volunteers gave some fluids and camouflaged the carrier about a third the way up the hill where we were told that the kit was found. We waited for a bit and did some birding (a keel-billed toucan and a family of aracaris) until our ride showed up. It was decided that we would leave him overnight and have the eco-village check on the kit first thing in the morning. Long story short and the kit was out of the carrier by 10 pm Friday night. Nothing was out of place and no vocalizations were heard so we're hoping that it was a success. Ideally, the kit would have been observed all night but that wasn't an option. Where ever he is, he's better than being in captivity. Thanks to Better in Belize for helping out!

Saturday we walked down to San Ignacio to go to the market and look around. We had made a friend when roaming around town the night before; it's overwhelming how many stray dogs are here. Many of them are very sweet, especially the females. This particular one bounded up to us when she saw us at the market. She eventually got distracted by some snacks left around the market. We picked up another friend who followed us around all of San Ignacio while we searched for Sweet Ting (a delicious and dangerous bakery - with air conditioning!). For future reference, never feed a friendly stray dog or you'll never escape. After some evasive techniques, we finally had to just take a cab to make sure she didn't follow us back.

Our awesome volunteers held down the fort on Sunday while Tracy and I made our

way to the Mayan site of Xunantunich. This site was amazing. A lot of it had been excavated but some of the dwellings and other structures were left as the Mayans intended. Xunantunich actually survived the collapse of the Mayan empire and continued on until about 1000 AD. The Castillo was the main temple which overlooked all of the city with a beautiful view of Belize / Guatemala once you climbed up to the top. We ended up seeing two Black Howler monkeys in the parking lot right before we were about to leave. My first wild primates! On Tuesday, we headed to El Pilar to do some birding at sunset. El Pilar is a predominately unexcavated Mayan site so all of the structures appear as vaguely shaped mounds and hills. It's more forested than Xunantunich with quite a few lookouts over Belize and Guatemala; half of the site is in Belize with the other half in Guatemala. We hiked up to the main lookout for the sunset and some birding. It was eerily quite with few birds around, but I can't complain. We walked back through the woods / jungle in the dark. Creepy? Yes.

I bought a bike today! I bought it from a kid for $75 BZE. The tires are bent and the brakes probably need to be redone but I'm hoping it'll take me further than San Ignacio.

Tomorrow is my day off. The plan is to take a couple of busses to the Blue Hole (not the infamous dive spot). This one is Blue Hole National Park which is located off of the Hummingbird Highway near Belmopan. There are some caves, hiking, and the sink hole from which the park gets its name. It'll be my first adventure by myself and my first attempt at the bus system. No worries, I'll have my cell phone just in case.

Tracy flew back to Canada yesterday. I am now the official Avian Clinic Manager. I'm a bit terrified, but I've got support all around so I think it'll be fine. I hope.

various animals and more downers

2010-02-11T17:49:00.000-08:00

On Friday, I successfully received my volunteer visa. Nothing crazy happened, only a three hour wait because there was a huge line and only one immigration officer. Because of the ridiculous wait, we were only able to stop by Belize Bird Rescue for a few minutes. They currently have a tamandua (soon to be released) that was captured in a seizure by the Forest Department. I held her for a few moments but I didn't get any pictures. Go ahead and google some images... they're really cute - anteaters with prehensile tails!

It's been a down week for the patients of CASA. Yet another difficulty with rehabilitation here is the lack of an x-ray machine. The chachalaca went into surgery on Tuesday to repair her fractured leg. There's only so much you can do with palpation on a leg with massive infection (unlike mammals, birds have solid pus so it's harder to diagnose when infection is involved). After some debriding of the infected area and assessment with her under anesthesia, it turned out that her bone was in multiple pieces and unsalvageable. Some birds can survive with only one leg but chachalacas spend a lot of time foraging in trees and doing some acrobatics in order to reach their choice nutrients. We decided it would be most humane to just let her sleep. The tern was put down today as well. He had shown no improvement in his eyes since the first few days and they need perfect eyesight in order to fish. It's hard when you've spent so much time on a patient. And the owl... oh, the owl. A victim of the lack of transportation. She's had a soft tissue injury to her intertarsal joint (the first joint above the foot), presumably from being extremely active and antsy at night; she's also injured her cere (the base of the beak). We did some rearranging and placed her in a more suitable aviary. While it's still a bit swollen, we've opted to give her a few more days and then release her ASAP so that no other injuries occur. All of the parrots were caught up on Tuesday for weights and physicals - they're all fat and happy. Well, not so much happy. They were pretty adamant about vocalizing their thoughts (cusswords, no doubt) when being handled. These guys are beautiful though. I really should have taken some pictures when when were checking out their wings. The intricacy and variation of color is amazing.

This past week wasn't too exciting. We went out to eat in San Ignacio on Saturday for Tracy's birthday. We went to an ex-pat bar afterwards and met some new people. It's a very small country, so everybody pretty much knows everybody else in the conservation circle. Tuesday was spent wielding a machete (collection of perching material) and herding a pig off of the property (who reappeared the next day and was then lassoed and taken away). Two rehabilitation volunteers from California arrived yesterday to spend the week with us at CASA. They've worked with quite a few barn owls so they've had some advice for the current situation. Anyway, they're my excuse for not writing a very in depth blog this week. Sorry! Next week I will focus on the positive and have some uplifting things to say... and post more pictures on Facebook. Oh, and we may have a baby jaguarundi staying the night tonight. The hopes are that he/she will be reunited with mom tomorrow!

up and downs

2010-02-03T18:20:00.000-08:00

As promised, this week was quite busy... and a bit depressing. Friday started out on a rough note as the army ants had succeeded and gotten past our defenses. We found that the two poor Ruddy Ground Doves had fallen prey to the ants sometime in the night. Poor little guys... I don't want to imagine what they had to go through. We're now working on a way to better spot the ants so that we can react faster and keep better tabs on their whereabouts. The only upside to Friday was being able to help scrub down the Green Iguanas at San Ignacio Hotel. It was interesting, as I haven't ever worked with iguanas. Some of them were fairly docile and enjoyed their scrub down, while others whipped their tails (I got a light whip to the face) and tried to eat us.

Another frustrating part of working rehab in Belize is the transportation and communication. We got a call on Friday that a Barn Owl had been caught in Orange Walk. Unfortunately, we weren't able to get the owl until Sunday night due to some miscommunication amongst other things. She was severely dehydrated but in good spirits (and by good, I mean feisty). Other than dehydration, she has no obvious injuries and is flighted. We're not too sure what happened to her, but possibly a slingshot or she ran into a window. She's eating quite well and is pretty intent of attacking us. On Monday, Belize Bird Rescue handed off a Chachalaca (fun name, right?) that has a broken leg. It's an older break that will need surgery, but the veterinarian wants to go for it. She was emaciated, but we've been tube feeding her and she was a bit perkier this evening. As for the Royal Tern, the prognosis isn't too great. It's more than likely cataracts, but we're giving him another week to see if there's any improvement.

In other animal news, I forgot to check my shoes before putting them on the other night. Surprise! There's not one but TWO tarantulas in my shoes! The first one I found with my heel (gross) and the second was found when I realized I should probably shake out my shoe. Poor little guy... my fat heel squished his little leg. How is one supposed to rehab a tarantula that's hardly the size of a quarter? At least I won't forget to check my shoes again.

I've started compiling a list of things that I wish I knew how to do before coming to Belize. So far I just have two items: fishing and being a car mechanic. Coincidentally, those are also the two things that I'm apparently really bad at. The blue monster broke down (again) when we went into town to get some produce for the birds. I tried to fix it... at least I got to work on my tan while sitting around waiting for a ride.

Monday we went to Spanish Lookout so I could see where I need to pick up CASA supplies. The ride there was beautiful, but we were driving the whole time so I couldn't get any pictures. I did get a picture of the hand-cranked ferry that we had to ride in order to cross the river but it hasn't made it onto my computer yet. Spanish Lookout doesn't really look like the parts of Belize that I've seen, it's more similar to a midwestern town. We got some ice cream at Western Dairies (I apparently love ice cream now). I got the craboo flavor, which is another native fruit. Western Dairies is run by the Mennonites and it's the only commercial dairy in Belize. There's a very large Mennonite and Amish population; Belize in general is exceptionally diverse in the range of cultures.

The prices here are surprising. Some things are extremely expensive, while others are really cheap. For instance, I found a large box of American cereal for $29 BZD (divide by two for USD)! Bananas at the market are 10 for $1 BZD and bed sheets / linens are quite pricey. I had to buy some triple antibiotic ointment because this job has its hazards, a small tube was $8.45 BZD. Movies at the theater are $2 BZD and a bottle of cashew wine is $8.50 BZD. Many Belizeans go shopping in Guatemala because everything is more affordable.

I've started to become a bit homesick this week. The newness of everything is starting to wear off so I have time to think about other things. I do have a phone and an address if you want to show me some love :) I'm going to purchase a bicycle soon which I think should help. I opted not to go for the scooter because it's more than I should spend plus I'd have to pay insurance every month. Technically I'm supposed to get a license too, but that's easy to get around with a simple "the paperwork is still being processed". Good news: hulu.com actually works here! I'll be able to get my American TV fix now.

Tomorrow we head out early to Belmopan to get my visa and to visit Belize Bird Rescue. Hopefully getting my visa will go smoothly but I'm fully prepared (mentally) for something to go wrong, as it generally does. No other plans for this week so far but I'm sure I'll have something exciting to report this time next week.

army ants and green iguanas

2010-01-28T18:14:00.000-08:00

It's been a bit rainy for the past two days. The thing about the rain is that it brings the army ants out from underground in search for dry land. Today I got my first experience with the army, or warrior, ants. Now, I don't know if you know anything about army ants, but they are in HUGE, fast, swarms... and they prefer to eat non-plant material. One of the main concerns when dealing with army ants is the fact that they can easily prey on sleeping birds, especially those that are compromised and cannot defend themselves. Today they decided to swarm on the outside of the bathroom wall near Jack's, the red lored parrot, enclosure. They quickly moved over to, and in, Jack's enclosure. I wasn't entirely sure which tactic I was supposed to take when dealing with these tiny predators so I grabbed the hose and started spraying the enclosure. Unbeknownst to me, I had gotten a bit too close to the swarm and my feet were instantly covered in ants. I threw off my flip flops (which were immediately taken over by little black beings) and jumped out of the reaches of the ants. Thankfully the bites of the army ants aren't painful; I suppose it's just the sheer number that helps them accomplish their massacres. Oh, the exciting obstacles you come across when doing rehabilitation in the tropics.

This week has been pretty slow; it's mainly consisted of fishing for the tern. It's a good thing that I only eat plants anyway because I would never be able to survive in the wild by catching my own fish. What else? Tracy introduced me to Cayo Twist in town; they serve non-dairy ice cream. I think it's soy? I had the soursop flavor and it was so good. I decided to do a little research so I could purchase some of the fruit and apparently consuming it every day is linked to Parkinson's disease. Fantastic.

In bird news, the tern's eyes are improving. We found out that he was a nestling or fledgling when he was banded in 1997 so he's 13 years old. He was moved out to an aviary and appears to be doing well. All of the parrots (eight came in as babies last year) are doing well. The two Ruddy Ground Doves are improving... the youngest actually started eating on her own today. The other that had a horrendous wing fracture had the wrap removed last week and is getting physiotherapy every other day. No new patients this week... quite a difference from rehab in the states.

Tomorrow we get an early start to help wash Green Iguanas at San Ignacio Hotel. The hotel has a breeding and release program to help raise the number of Green Iguanas in the wild. They're a threatened species due to pregnant females who are about to lay eggs being a delicacy here. The resident iguanas need a good scrub every once in a while to get rid of external parasites. It should be an interesting experience!

That's all for now. Check back next week - it should be a busy week and I'm sure I'll have fun stories to share.

release day!

2010-01-21T15:42:00.000-08:00

I have somehow been here for over a week already. It's been really busy and a bit overwhelming, but things are slowly coming together. I suppose I'll start from today and work backwards since my memory has a tendency to work better that way...

Today started at 4:15 AM(!) for me. It was a quick feed all the birds, catch up the white-fronted parrot, and head out to the release site as soon as possible... which ended up being about 6:00 AM. We drove northeast to Caledonia near where the Amazona albifrons was found after she was hit by a car (head trauma, possible shoulder fracture). Ricky set her carrier on the car and opened the door. She wasted no time in flying out of the carrier! It took us all a bit by surprise and I was lucky enough to get this shot of her release (satellite internet won't let me upload pictures to blogger anymore). She flew off into the trees; we got one more glimpse of her and then she was gone. This is why we do this.

Yesterday we got a Royal Tern (Sterna maxima) in from the southeastern coastal town of Placencia. He was found on the beach and with the help of the Belize Forest Department, he was transported to Belmopan where we picked him up. He's a bit on the thin side and his eyes are cloudy - almost like cataracts. The odd thing is that upon staining his eyes with fluorescein, they took up some of stain which indicates damage to the lenses. He started eating live fish from a bowl of water on his own today but his depth perception may be a little off. We'll have the veterinarian come in soon to do an exam to see if she can help with the diagnosis. This particular tern was banded with what appeared to be a brand new band. As it turns out, he was actually banded in 1997 in North Carolina! He's travelled quite a distance and is a bit older than we had expected. Hopefully he'll have a good prognosis and can be released.

And how did we get the fish for this tern? Well, yesterday I learned how to fish Belizean style. Basically, you take an empty wine bottle with a cork and a deep punt (new word!) in the bottom. Poke out a hole in the punt and throw some bait in - we used dog chow, but also rice and bits of corn tortilla seem to work, too. Lodge the bottle in between some rocks or the river bottom and wait for a few minutes. It works pretty well and is mostly effortless. I'm sure the tern is appreciative of not having to be tubed a couple of times a day.

Other than the new arrival and release today, I'm still trying to get the hang of things around here. Yesterday I was introduced to the Forest Department and the veterinarian with whom I will be working. I hope to soon meet Belize Bird Rescue and continue the relationship that CASA has started with them.

In non-CASA related updates, I'm really enjoying it here. I've been fortunate to see quite a bit since I got here. Tuesday night Tracy, the current ACM from Canada, and I went to the 'movie theater' in San Ignacio to see Baraka. The theater was small and a bit... musty, but it had character and it was only $2BZD/$1USD! San Ignacio is a relatively small town but there are quite a few ex-pats. The couple who run the movie theater also hold a trivia night every other Monday.

Tracy has a 'scooter' / dirt bike / motorcycle that she'll be selling when she leaves. She's selling it for quite cheap and I'm considering it so I have an easy way to get around. Now, family members, don't freak out. If I purchase it, I'll be extra safe. She even has a helmet and reflective vest that comes with the bike!

The food here is amazing! Our cook, Gracie, makes delicious meals three times a day. It's pretty much guaranteed that I'll have beans at least once during the day. Breakfast generally consists of a plate of fruit, beans (it's hard to describe how they're made) and a bread of some sort. Usually it's flour tortillas; yesterday it was fry jacks, or fried dough. Everything is fried. Please don't judge me when I return to America and I've gained several pounds. She makes fresh juice every day - watermelon juice is my new favorite. I haven't actually eaten anywhere in town as I'm a little weary but soon enough I'll get over my fear and try something local. I bought a bottle of local cashew wine ($8.50BZD/$4.25USD) the other night in town. I can only take it in small amounts because it's very sweet. It does have a good taste though and I'm guessing it comes from Orange Walk District. The Cashew Festival occurs in that district in May; I was invited today but it may be the start of baby season.. and it's about a 2.5 hour drive.

Speaking of driving, I've driven to San Ignacio a few times in the 'blue monster' - a beat up stick-shift Isuzu Trooper. Driving in Belize is interesting. It's a bit similar to Korean driving where people make up their own rules, just less hurried. You need to stop in the middle of the road to talk to a friend? No problem. You need to pass a car when there's another car barreling down the other side of the road? Also not a problem. It all seems to work out somehow.. so far anyway. There are about five traffic lights in this country. I saw two today and I think the remaining three are in Belize City. It's a small country but driving anywhere takes longer than in the states; mostly due to the numerous speed bumps. You can probably only hit 45 mph then you have to slow down again for another pedestrian ramp. At some of the pedestrian ramps, there are police checks. These are usually used to check insurance and licenses, but they were originally put into place to keep tabs on the smuggling of various items out of Guatemala. Nice, yeah?

I suppose that's all I've got for now... time to prepare diets and do the last feedings of the night.

belize!

2010-01-14T17:32:00.000-08:00

I successfully made it to Belize in one piece! Wednesday was pretty much a non-stop travel day... I think my longest layover gave me about 10 minutes to sit around. New Orleans was crazy, especially after almost an hour delay leaving Charlotte. I was literally sprinting (too bad I hadn't been running in about three weeks) through the airport with five minutes to catch my next flight to Houston. I was running to the next concourse and then... surprise! Security check! And apparently you're a target for individual bag checks if you've packed your carry-on full. So my bag was checked for gunpowder in Charleston then again in New Orleans. The TSA agent wanted to chat about my Belize bird book but I hurriedly told her that yes, I was going to Belize and yes, I was about to miss my flight. Sorry for being a jerk TSA officer if you're out there...

So, somehow I made it to Belize without missing a flight AND so did my checked baggage. Amazing. I took the picture on the left flying into Belize City. Last night and today I've just mostly been observing how everything is done here. I'm pretty overwhelmed by all that I will be doing, but thankfully I will have a month with the current ACM before she leaves. It'll definitely help me get a grasp on everything, I think.

I had about a two hour drive from the airport last night so I got to see a lot of the country. We passed the Maya mountains which were once

coral reef. There are so many birds to see... my life list is probably going to quadruple. The scenery is amazing and Guatemala is pretty much in my front yard (right). It's all so green! And it's cold! I had to put on several layers last night when attempting to sleep... it warmed up quite a bit today, but it's still pretty chilly. This is way better than 20 degrees in South Carolina though.

The rehabilitation facility is actually pretty nice and well-equipped. The eco-lodge is also really, really nice... you should definitely come for a visit if you have the chance!

Everybody that I have met so far have been extremely nice.. I definitely made the right decision to come here. I probably won't be able to update more than once a week, but I'll do my best. In the meantime, I'll hopefully at least be posting pictures on Facebook frequently to tide you over.

Thanks again for all your thoughts, support, and interest in what I'm doing! Stay tuned.

wednesday

2010-01-11T12:00:00.000-08:00

Well, less than two days to go. It definitely hasn't hit me yet that I will be living in a third world country in just a couple of days. It's a little hard to become mentally prepared to live in a sub-tropical climate for a year when it's 20 degrees outside. I'm pretty sure it won't hit me until I get off the plane in Belize City; I'm hoping the stress will miraculously vanish as well.

I started taking my malaria prophylaxis (thanks, mom!) last Tuesday and so far I haven't had any extreme side effects. I was a little dizzy for a couple of hours but I'm thinking that was probably because of the additional VazoBID + amoxicillin for the ridiculously persistent sinus infection. I've heard rumors of intense dreams and illness with malaria prophylaxis, but so far I'm good to go!

Last Monday I went to Columbia for a few hours to pick up donations. My car was packed full and I was overwhelmed by the amount of donations that CASA received. I failed my packing challenge and had to resort to two bags - one is packed full with the majority of the donations. I can't wait to see the faces of the TSA officers when they open the bag to rifle through it. It'll be great when the french catheters and gauze leap out at them...

My flight has four legs: Charleston to Charlotte to New Orleans to Houston to Belize City. Who doesn't love cheap tickets? Two of my layovers are pretty short. I'm hoping that everything is on time and this isn't a typical travel day for me (every time I fly, something goes amiss.. it all started when landing in Dallas and the strut to the wheel under my seat broke when we landed). I'll change carriers in New Orleans and of course the terminals are on opposite sides of the airport. It's going to be an exciting day of sprinting across airports.

The CASA quarterly newsletter was put online a few weeks ago but I forgot to post the link in my last post. So, here's the newsletter if you're interested in reading the official goings-on at CASA.

A huge thank you to all who have donated - from the medical supplies, to the monetary donations, to the advice and support. I will still be able to receive donations via Paypal whilst in Belize. I suppose the next time you hear from me, I'll be in my new home in San Ignacio hanging out with this guy.. oh, and some birds too.

vaccines and student loans and malaria

2009-12-29T12:35:00.001-08:00

15 days left to go! Yikes. Today I went to the doctor to discuss vaccines and malaria prophylaxis. I am not completely pro-vaccine, but I opted to get the hepatitis A and typhoid vaccines. Neither are exactly kosher with my strict vegetarianism, but I did it more for peace of mind. I would like to be able to experience the local food without having to worry about hep A and typhoid. My arm is surprisingly sore considering my last intramuscular vaccine (tetanus) didn't hurt at all. I got a prescription for Ciprofloxacin (just in case) and Chloroquine for malaria. Needless to say, my bank account has taken quite a hit so far this week. The doctor visit plus vaccines was $220 and a year's worth of Chloroquine will be about $250. I'm fairly certain that I won't be filling the Cipro script and I haven't quite decided on the Chloroquine yet. I'll be taking a lot of deet lotion and spray to ward off Dengue fever and other miscellaneous mosquito-transmitted diseases anyway; I'm not entirely sure I can afford both (don't forget you can donate and help me out with my preparations by clicking the button on the right!)

I found out last week that my student loans have been deferred until February 2011! That's a definite relief and a reassurance that this is what I'm supposed to be doing.

I've still got a huge list left of things to do before I leave. Sub-tropical clothing needs to be bought (anybody know where I can find rain gear that doesn't cost a small fortune?), medical donations need to be picked up (thank you!), various items to be purchased, car to be sold, packing, studying, etc etc etc.

No fun pictures this post but I do have a link - my friend Valerie is leaving the same day as I am to go to Kenya for 3 month to work with HIV education efforts. You can visit her blog if you're interested in hearing about her trip! valnafrica.blogspot.com

plane tickets!

2009-12-16T15:36:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since I've last updated, but I've been busy busy... well, mostly. I bought my plane tickets yesterday and I will be headed to San Ignacio (to your left) on January 13th. My car has not yet been sold, but there is a back up plan in place. I won't find out for a couple of weeks as to whether my student loans will be deferred or not, but I decided to go ahead and purchase my tickets and hope for the best. Speaking of, don't forget that 'donate' button on the right hand side of my blog. Anything you can donate would be appreciated to help offset the cost of my trip so that I can help these birds!

Speaking of birds, many of the species that CASA rehabilitates are parrots. I currently have no experience with parrots so I'm researching all that I can in order to be prepared. I've included some pictures of a couple of species they are currently rehabilitating. A white fronted parrot (right) is one of the several species

of parrots that are presently at CASA. From what I understand, there are quite a few parrot species that come in during the baby season. Let's hope they don't sound like finches! There are some species of birds in Belize that are also found in South Carolina... for example, there's the wood thrush to your left (via USFWS website). They're up there on my favorites... look as those spots!

I've gotten a short wish list for those of you who have access or know somebody who has access to veterinary or medical supplies. I'll be posting an updated list sometime in the near future.

Equipment: opthalmoscope, refractometer, centrifuge

Supplies: square gauze, 1 cc syringes, small gauge needles (25G, 26G, etc), parrot hand-raising formula with no preservatives (Harrison's is ideal), good quality cat and dog food.

I'm starting to become overwhelmed with all that I have to do before I leave. Luckily, I've recruited my friend Stephanie to speak to me in only Spanish from now on to help me out in that aspect. At least I'll have two languages of the many to help me get by.

If anybody has any avian / parrot rehabilitation books to suggest, let me know!

oh, the stress!

2009-12-04T13:57:00.000-08:00

My main hurdle right now is selling my car. I've posted it on craigslist if you want to wander on over and check it out. Make sure to pass along the link to friends and get the word out! She's been a good car, but if I don't sell her, I can't afford Belize.

I feel like I've done a million things but nothing can be crossed off my list. In fact, it keeps growing longer and longer. Within the next couple of days, I hope to have that list of needs that CASA has for its rehabilitation center. I can even pick up the items if you have the ability to donate! I'll be contacting some veterinarian offices to see if they can help out in any way at all.

So the more I research the area in which I'll be living for a year, the more excited I get! Did you know Belize is only an hour behind EST? No jet-lag is awesome. Some of you know that I'm kind of a history nerd... I have a little infatuation with all things old (particularly Egyptian and Mayan / Aztec related topics). Great news for me... there are Mayan ruins within walking distance of where I'll be living! I've inserted a picture of said ruins that I've shamelessly "borrowed" from some page on the internet. Above would be the Cahal Pech ruins. There are even more amazing ruins about seven miles outside of San Ignacio.. maybe I'll do a day hike out to those. Or maybe I'll just drag my sister along when she comes to visit (you know you liked it when I dragged you up that South Korean mountain, you even went back for a second dose of punishment!). FYI: start prepping now so you'll be all set to do 14+ miles in a day.

Above is another borrowed picture of Casa del Caballo Blanco. Jealous yet? Just kidding.. but look at what you'll be staying in if any of you decide to visit! I'll have my own private room and bath (and thankfully internet access).

I've set up a Paypal account if any of you want to donate. Just click the button to the right and fill out the necessary information (thanks, Scott!). It's easy and secure and beyond appreciated!

Next blog should hopefully be good news about the car and a wish list of medical supplies for the birdies!

the beginning

2009-12-02T08:05:00.000-08:00

Many of you know that I recently moved from Columbia to Charleston, SC in order to figure out what direction my life is supposed to be taking. While I had initially thought I was supposed to be vet-teching, my recent unemployment has given me plenty of time to re-evaluate my life. Any of you who know me know that my passion is conservation. The amazing thing about all of us being different is that we all have specific roles in this life. I have come to the (re-) realization that my calling is to help protect and save the environment in which we all live. Without our diverse ecosystems, none of us would be able to survive or enjoy the beauty that our world provides.

Yesterday I was offered, and accepted, the Avian Clinic Manager position at CASA, a non-profit avian rehabilitation center in San Ignacio, Belize. The facility is on the outskirts of San Ignacio; I've included a map so you have a general idea of where San Ignacio is located.

Since CASA is a non-profit organization, funds are in short supply. I will be receiving a stipend of approximately $40 a month to cover personal expenses in Belize (thankfully, CASA will be providing my housing and meals). Before I leave, I will be working my hardest to sell my car and defer my student loans so that I will be able to afford this amazing opportunity. If you feel led to donate to my Belize fund, I would be grateful. You can email me at natinbelize AT gmail.com for details. The facility is also accepting medical supplies for the rehabilitation of these beautiful birds. I will be posting a list soon of these items if you have the ability to donate in that aspect.

I will be posting often to keep you all updated on my progress. I have a lot to get done before mid-January.. selling the car, deferring student loans, studying up on my Belize birds and avian rehabilitation, and not to mention finding out if I need to partake in prophylactic malaria treatments.

I would like to thank all of you who have helped me get to this point in my life. It's a huge leap of faith, but I wouldn't be able to do this without the support and experience I have received over the past few years. Thank you especially to DFAH for supporting my decision to move to Charleston, albeit I'll have only been here for a few months. The training you provided me as a veterinary assistant will, no doubt, prove invaluable in Belize.

If any of you are interested in visiting Belize while I am there, CASA is actually part of the eco-lodge Casa del Caballo Blanco. It's just another way to support the program and enjoy all that Belize has to offer!

Stay tuned for more updates!