Working!

Tuesday afternoon was another rainy day here in Florianopolis. Apparently the cold winds from the south and hot winds from the north have collided in a way that has been giving us some very impressive thunder/lightning/rain storms! I found a time during the day when it was dry enough to let me walk to a store down the road a little so that I could buy gloves and gum boots for work the next morning. This was another fun little solo adventure where I got to practice some more portuguese and ended really successfully! Because of the weird weather I feel like I need to dress warmly - that is so wrong. It may be wet but it just makes everything muggy! Just walking home from the store (about 10 minutes at a leisurely pace) and I was sweating like crazy. That night I was having a hard time falling asleep. Then I was having a hard time staying asleep. Then the birds started singing and I couldn't stop listening to them. They stopped for a little while (maybe about 45 minutes) and I finally slept a little bit. But around 5:30 I was woken up again by the loudest thunder I have ever heard! I swear it was right above the house. The storm was going at full force in no time and I couldn't help but lay in bed just listening. Soon enough it was about time I was awake anyways so I gave up on sleeping and started getting ready.
The storm stopped barely long enough for me to walk to the bus and then started up again - so lucky that I got to dodge that one! An hour and a half bus ride would have been made a lot worse if I was soaking wet. About 9AM there I was; at R3 ready for my first day of getting my hands dirty. I wasn't working on any specific projects but I helped out with a lot of different things:

Penguins
First was cleaning and feeding the penguins! Cleaning was pretty much just scrubbing the area they hang out in while they're waiting, not so patiently, in their feeding room. This wasn't so bad until it started to rain again. Hilda had leant me her jacket which is a little more waterproof than the one I brought (but still not completely waterproof) and it didn't take long before I was completely drenched! Other than my feet of course because of my awesome gum boots ;) I didn't care too much though because I was hanging out with penguins and I knew I had brought a change of clothes with me.
Feeding was more fun than cleaning because this is when we actually interacted with the little guys. Apparently something in fish depletes B12 levels (for penguins and the fur seal for sure - who else? I don't know) and so 3 times a week they stick a little B12 under the gill of one of the fish that each penguin is going to eat. After there was one B12 fish for each penguin it all started! the little room they were waiting in was blocked by a gate-type contraption designed so that only a couple are being fed at a time. Two of the sides are fixed and the other two can slide up and down; first to allow them in for feeding and second to let them out to the rest of their area. Some of the penguins eat really well and you can feed them rather easily. Some others tend to be more grabby and tear the fish appart which could result in them not getting the vitamins and also makes a huge mess. For these guys Vanessa would kneal down with one between her knees and hold their beaks open so that they couldn't bite at the fish. Then she would place the fish far enough into their mouths that they could just swallow it right up!
Once each penguin was finished eating they were carried over to the pool to clean themselves up. Fish oils on their feathers can make the penguins really dirty so they always have time in the pool after a meal. The way that we would carry them was one hand on their head and the other under one wing. They are really strong and we have to be careful around them because their first attack is to go straight for the eyes! Kind of scary. So first step is to get a firm grip on their head in a way that they can't wiggle around and hurt themselves while still protecting you from potential attack. Then the second hand just goes into their pit and voila! You are holding a penguin! I think that I probably had the most ridiculous smile on my face the whole time that I was carrying them around.

Tagging and Weighing
There were a couple new birds that had come into R3 and there is a routine that each has to go through before they are allowed in the bigger cages with the other birds. First they get some deworming; it takes a total of 3 days to be completely through their system and so that's how long they stay in their smaller cages. They also need to get their ankle band and be weighed so that their weight can be monitored during their stay and when they are released.
To weigh a bird you need to put it into a black bag small enough that they can't fly around and be crazy but not too small to restrict them completely. The scale was set to zero with the bag on it so that the reading would record only what the bird weighs. The problem is closing the bag without letting the bird escape. One of the birds that we weighed was not too happy about us doing this to him and got out of the bag before it was closed! It was ok though because every door is closed behind you right away just in case of this type of situation. This must happen a lot because Vanessa caught him again in no time.
The banding process is super easy. First you need to measure the diameter of the birds leg to determine which size/colour is best. Second you us some small plyers to push it open wide enough to get around the leg. Third step is simply squeezing it shut! Done and done.

Amputation
The final thing that we did Wednesday was operate on a seagull that had a broken wing. It was so bad that after the joint his wing was just hanging there - you could even see the bones sticking out. Before they could get started they needed to weigh him; using the same method as for the smaller birds. Once he was sedated they started assessing the wing and where they were going to amputate etc. It was really cool to get to watch and I think I'm going to be able to sit in on all types of surgeries during my time here! There's one scheduled in a couple weeks for a sea lion; not sure what they're amputating but I bet it's going to be cool.

And that was all accomplished before lunch!

Today I don't have much to report. I went to a couple meetings at CCA; I won't go into detail because it's nothing worth blogging about really. The only thing interesting is that we talked about what we're going to do the next couple of weeks at R3. Tomorrow (Friday) we're going really early to take some blood samples and a final weight for some of the penguins because later in the afternoon they are going to be released! I'm not sure where they will be released or if they have enough room for me in the car but they said if there was space I am more than welcome! I'll try and get pictures if they let me go :) There are also some things to be done with the parrots but I'm not sure exactly. And then if there is still time we're going to start tagging my turtles, measuring their legions for a starting point, and then possibly starting to build the fence that will separate them from the tortoises.
Next week Vanessa is out of town so I'm not going to start data collection with the turtles yet. We'll just be working on their set up mostly and I'll be helping with whatever anyone needs me to do! During this week I also have to research about what other people have done with turtles and if there is any information about legion incidence and severity depending on substrate provided.
And so it begins...