These two weeks have definitely been a whirlwind. I start at the zoo at 8 AM everyday, which means I have to be up by 6:30 if I want to truly lay in my bed for half an hour before getting up and ready. It’s weird because for my 8 AM classes, I always dread getting up and try to put it off for as long as possible, but I’m excited to be awake before noon if it involves working at the zoo. So far, each day has been thrilling.
I get to go into the Red Wolf enclosure every day. To get into the area, you have to pass through seven different doors, and for good reason. The black bear and wolf indoor enclosures are in the same building, so there are heavy doors and gates between the public and animals. When I’m in the yard, I walk through with Eden, a fellow intern, and we look for Black Crowned Night Herons (BCNH) juveniles who have fallen out of their nests or who have somehow found their way into the enclosure. Handling the live young is terrifying. They’re not very big, but boy howdy are they loud! When they see you get closer, they open their beaks, and if you get close enough, they just scream. They will also try to bite you when you try to pick them up. While I know they’re just little babies who can’t even get back in their nests and couldn’t do any harm with their bite, it’s scary to try and pick up a bird that’s yelling and trying to bite you.
We also get to go out to the island in Nature Boardwalk during the week. We have to carry the boat from its home to Nature Boardwalk. For a while, we were able to transport it with a truck, but the truck is used for fieldwork, so we don’t have it every day. This means that we have to carry the boat about 0.1 miles every day. See below for how we have to carry it, it’s ridiculous. Once at the island, we get to wear waders and set up the turtle traps around the island. We’ve caught two turtles (both female red eared sliders) so far, and I don’t like holding the turtles. They’re not as scary as the herons, but I’ve never been good at being around animals. I like my dog, but that’s about it. I held 1 (one) turtle, and that was enough for me.
I haven’t gotten to my research project yet, but Jazmin is putting me on a project involving bats. I’m really excited for it. The person running the bat project in the Urban Wildlife Institute (UWI), Liza Lehrer, is incredible. I attended a brown bag event for interns at which five people from throughout the zoo talked about their career path. She talked at it, and I loved hearing that most of their career paths weren’t linear or traditional. Liza said she wasn’t accepted into grad school the first time she applied! I felt so relieved. Seth Mangle, head of UWI, was also at this event. He said that he got into urban wildlife through laziness and anger. I,,,,, get it. Being in ENV is such a struggle. Nothing is ever really happy in this field, and it’s frustrating to be alone in caring about something, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t angry about everything.
Moving on. I love working at the zoo. I wasn’t sure if I would. I’ve never been outdoorsy or into handling animals, so working outside and picking up birds is not where I thought I’d be. This being said, I’m glad I’m here. I’m learning a lot, and I’m going to keep learning here. I’m meeting a lot of interesting people who are doing interesting things. I’m honestly sad that this internship is only three months. I know my time is limited, so I have to make the most of it. I’m looking forward to the next few weeks.
Finally, I made a playlist. I’m going to keep it updated with songs that either make me think of work or make their appearance in my work day. Additionally, for each blog post, I’m going to pick one or two songs (songs of the week?) and talk about why they’re on the playlist and why I think they’re important to this internship/this summer. The first, is “Capable” by The Wild Reeds. This song is about doing more than people think you can. It serves as a reminder to myself that I can do more than I think I can. I will hit bumps in the road but I can get through them, and I can be successful. Plus I just love indie folk.
Anyway, thanks for reading! Enjoy these pictures, captions below! :-)
1-4 Pictures taken during Connections, the zoo's orientation for new employees and volunteers
5 A foggy morning on Nature Boardwalk
6 Some supplies we have to take to the island on our boat
7 While waiting for Jazmin on the island, we got to see a couple's first look and wedding pictures! :-)
8 When we go to the island for turtle trapping, we get to wear these hashtag Fashionable waders
9 Our boat at the island
10 The first turtle we successfully trapped!
11 Eden (a fellow intern) and I got to give this heron a pedicure so we could easily identify it in the future! :-)
12 We have to carry the boat to Nature Boardwalk, so we put the heavy side on a pull cart while someone (in this case, me) buckles a lifejacket to a hook on the boat to carry it.
13 A BCNH juvenile yelling at us after we put him in the nursery.
14 I was looking for sticky notes, and instead found a cupboard full of Halloween pumpkin baskets.
15 A bucket nest I made in case a baby heron falls out of a nest and can stay in the nursery.