PPC: Pre-thanksgiving

I headed straight for the penguins as I visited the zoo the day before Thanksgiving. I was ecstatic to see them.

I sat with the Magellanic penguins

They look quite beautiful post-molt. Fidget even came up to inspect me and hit his bill against my hand. I wasn't sure if he was being affectionate or agressive so I moved my hand away. Alejandro was biting my jeans and my skin a little too. They were all interested in me, except Marco who lost interest quicker than the rest. Fidget also sparred with another bird very briefly.

After I left the room, they began calling and sparring uproariously.

I later went downstairs to visit Woody, the rockhopper, but ended up in a nest room full of kings and gentoos.

The kings, well I heard King Tut anyway, were trumpeting. They like to go on walks which don't start yet but anytime they can go into the nest room, they are happy.

The Gentoos, Tracy, Darcy and Double were all very happy to see me and eager to bow to me

That is how I was able to get this close up of Miss Double. She stood at my feet the whole time and fended off other birds. I enjoyed interacting with the birds agian. Woody, however, did not come too close to me. He hopped around, in and out of the nest room, more ready to follow my coworker. I made my way outside to the Humboldt exhibit as I left and spotted Guillermo, and also noticed that there were no visitors around so I immediately started talking to him loudly and in the same voice that I talked to him with over the summer. He perked up and looked right at me. He also called a couple of times and fluffed the feathers below his beak

He is a fat healthy baby boy. He also started to walk towards me and almost got into the water a couple of times. It was wonderful to know he remembers me.

PPC Visit: Thursday October 21, 2010

While home on Fall Break, I had to visit the PPC to say hello to my coworkers and especially the penguins.

I had called in advance to show respect to what other activities I might be interrupting and luckily, I chose a perfect day to visit: Humboldt Round Up day. This being the day when they collect data on all of the Humboldt penguins. I had asked to help but with a complication I will explain momentarily, I was advised to simply watch. This was good enough for me.

It turns out, Pedro, a Humboldt penguin, came down with Chlamydia. I didn't inquire to how a penguin came down with this human STD. I would be willing to guess that it is a somewhat different virus and that there are some variables in how the penguin caught it and etc, but I'm not sure. Either way, they removed Pedro from the other birds and brought him upstairs, I assume when they noticed his sickly behavior. However, they then learned that he had the disease. They then realized that since he had been with the Magellanic penguins, they too might have it. The whole area is quarentined as of now. I remember Pedro as a sweet bird who, even though he did not know me too well, would always show affection with me: I would sweetly say his name, approach him, and he would begin to shake his beak back and forth quickly, as is their sign of affection, and I would pet him.

The round-up went very well. It was very smooth as each bird went through several "stations": first they were brought in and weighed. Next they were handed over to a Vet for blood to be drawn. Next, they were sent to another Vet and vet tech for an x-ray. The blood work would be sent in for analysis and the x-rays were analyzed on the spot to look for foreign objects that the birds might have swallowed: anything that a visitor decided to drop into the exhibit. Only a few birds were overly aggressive but the keepers knew which birds these would be and expected it. I was anxious to see the birds. Tortuga had molted fairly soon after I had left when they didn't expect her to molt until next season. She looked beautiful and I could still tell that it was her. I was anxious to see my baby Guillermo and when I did, I was surprised. This bird easily doubled its weight since I saw him last. And they had had him sexed and he is a male. He is very affectionate too, raising his "crest" when one keeper spoke to him and attempting to vocalize when myself and the keeper were talking to him. His "crest" isn't typical and is rather the feathers beneath and around his beak that he raises more erect. It is noticable if you are looking for it. I want to say that Guillermo recognized my voice but was confused by my appearance: I was not in my yellows (work overalls). I had walked by the outside exhibit before going inside and was saying his name and he seemed to be looking around, at least reacted. I like to think he remembers me. Two pairs of Humboldt penguins are sitting on eggs including a pair that has not laid yet at the St. Louis Zoo. This is fantastic of course and what is better is that as the birds were being x-rayed, we did not bother the pairs on eggs, another female showed an egg inside. Needless to say, the next time I work at the zoo, there will be more babies.

Inside, there is a King penguin pair sitting on an egg. Also, I got to stay with baby Woody the rockhopper penguin. Now, it could simply be his friendly demeanor, but he seemed to remember me. I got to spend a few minutes alone with him and he was not afraid to check me out. He climbed onto my lap at one point to try and chew on a button. He is just as sweet as ever and is doing well. Trouble, the Gentoo penguin, came to say hello to me and she seemed very sweet as she let me pet her with no resistance. The vet tech drew blood from Woody and the puffin chick too. This is the puffin chick that I witnessed hatch. She is growing big and looks healthy too.

PPC: Hoy es martes el trece de julio

I had a feeling that today would be a great day when the man at Kaldi's told me to have a beautiful day.

I cleaned exhibits this morning, was informed with the sad news that the puffin chick that had hatched was found in the pool yesterday morning. Evidently the parents were not exactly sure what to do with it. It was their first chick so even having it hatch is a start.

When I cleaned rockhopper side, things went pretty much as they always do. Cuatro would see me and begin his ranting. When I cleaned big penguin, Woody followed me around and was very interested in my hair, which was naturally frizzy and moving in the air. When I was scrubbing the bridge, Double was up there and at first, she didn't seem to want me scrubbing, as she was attacking the brush, but when I moved on, I said hi to her and she bowed to me. There is something very flattering about having a penguin greet you. Everytime I said hi to her, and told her what a pretty bird she is, she would tilt her beak down, turn around to face me, and then bow. She did it several times and I always pet her afterward. Woody was still following me after I cleaned the bridge and then Kong had come up to me. He seemed to be interested in my hair as well and was, at one point, leaning most of his body weight on me to reach some of the hair on my head maybe on the other side. That or he was trying to mount me.

We finished up the morning by cleaning Humboldt. I found baby Guillermo and was talking to him and petting him right off the bat. He seemed to remember me and is at least friendly to me. Many of these birds are molting or have molted. More have than have not. They are grouchy and chubby. My coworker, as she feeds them, grabs some of their feathers and then throws them in the air like confetti.

In the afternoon, we candled two puffin eggs, a horned and a tufted. The horned egg is fertile and doing well while the tufted egg is not fertile. Hopefully the horned puffin chick will hatch.

I cleaned the holding rooms in the afternoon. The magellanic penguins are not too familiar with me and don't much like the hose so they stayed in the opposite room from me. However, I can imitate their call well enough that sometimes they reply. I have noticed that one in particular usually replies if not more of them, Marco. Also, as I was filling one pool and finishing up cleaning the other room, the birds were hanging out near where the steam was coming from. There was steam because the water filling the pool is not cold and the air conditioner is trying to cool the room. A couple birds were standing close to where a lot of the steam was and they were fluffing their feathers and the patches of skin near their beak and eyes were a deep pink color. This, of course, is their way of cooling down, pumping blood to the bare skin to allow it to dissipate body heat. I thought it was interesting that they were enjoying heating up a little bit.

When I picked up plates and fed this afternoon, I hand fed many capelin to Barry, the king penguin, and I fed two herring to Woody. Woody doesn't seem to be able to handle three herring but I hope sometime he will. It is amazing seeing a bird that small gulp down a herring. But Barry sang to me when I was feeding him. Also, the gentoos like to feed out of the water so I usually throw several handfuls of fish into the water for them. And, naturally, the crowd loves to watch. I went outside to observe my coworker feed the Humboldts because I normally am not involved in this process. I ended up sitting with Guillermo for a while but was immediately bombarded by the other young bird, Tortuga. She is extremely jealous of Guillermo and was observed today swimming with Guillermo and not allowing him to surface.

We finished the day by placing the ramp on the pool and Trouble coming out of the water to my coworker at her command. Trouble was even in a good enough mood to bow to me as well.

Birdhouse: July 12, 2010

Today I was the keeper in West and had a lovely time when I decided to clean out exhibit 7: the Tawny Frogmouths.

There is a pair of male birds in this exhibit and they are pretty cute. They sit together in the same spot, pressed up against one another. They were not happy when I was cleaning their exhibit but afterward, I thought I'd offer them a shower if they wanted one. The idea is to spray the hose in one spot so if the bird is interested, he will go in the mist and bathe. If not, he won't be annoyed or afraid of the water. I tried this, putting the stream nearby where the two birds were sitting, but, as usual, they did not react. These birds are stoic, as a coworker put it, in that, they tend to sit very still and sleep all day. I believe they are nocturnal. Also, if they do notice you and are awake, they will give you quite a glare. Anyway, I had the hose running and decided to purposely spray them a bit so that they knew I was offering a shower. I did so and they didn't have much of a reaction. I decided to be a little bit more agressive and just put the mist on them so that if they wanted to react, they would. Slowly, I noticed that they were fluffing their feathers, and more importantly, not panicking. I was happy to notice that they were beginning to fluff their feathers and even rub their beak on the branch. Soon, the two birds were spreading their wings in the water. I began laughing when one of the birds spread out both of his wings, they hung down below the perch, and put his head down with the feathers on his back ruffled up. He was practically lying down in the mist. I had never seen these birds so happy. Or at least, I had never seen this much reaction out of them. I enjoyed showering them and I think that they enjoyed it thoroughly.

Another thing I noticed today, I have noticed it before as well, when I shower certain birds, they react by first scratching their beak and/or rubbing their beak on the perch. For example, just today, I showered the rhinocerous hornbills, the bearded barbet, the red billed toucan, and the tawny frogmouths. Each of these birds, as they are first misted, reacts by stretching their foot behind their wing to scratch at their beak, or by taking their beak and rubbing it on the side on a branch. Even the tawny frogmouths, who have significantly less prominant beaks than the other birds mentioned, rubbed their beaks on the branch as one of their first reactions. I wonder if maybe this has developed because the beak is a very important part of the birds life and it is priority when it comes to being clean. Well, to take that further, I guess feathers are top priority, but when water is involved, the birds may see it as an opportunity to clean the thing they use to maintain their feathers: the beak. I find it interesting that this happens again and again.

Birdhouse Goings on: July 11, 2010

As far as bird interaction today, I didn't have too much.

I changed waters in the basement as well as pulling night plates. The birds have the same behavior as I have ever noticed. Some of the tinamou decide to come towards me when I am changing their water rather than running away. The Kookaburra was trying to be vocal when I was changing his water and those around him.

Noteably, but not new, the Sunbittern upstairs on display was sitting on the railing letting guests pet him. I shooed him into the exhibit and the keeper in that area told me that the bird is too much of a hassle to deal with anymore and cannot be ignored. Luckily, by the end of the day, the curator decided that we could put him in a "time out" in the basement for a while, and then put him back on exhibit to see if his behavior changes.

Also, it was noted by a coworker and I observed it as well, the Red-billed Hornbill has been pulling apart a plant in his exhibit and then taking the leaves and holding on to them and smacking them against the branches, which is an interesting behavior.

PPC: July 10, 2010

Today had some interesting highlights:

This morning, I cleaned the Humboldt exhibit and I found baby Guillermo fitting in quite well. He was swimming when I saw him and I talked to him and then cleaned the exhibit and finally got to where he was sitting. I talked to him as I had before and he seemed to recognize me because he chirped as I talked to him and he didn't mind me petting him. I was happy that he remembered me.

I moved inside to clean rockhopper and was amused by some of the rockhoppers. Several birds that hang out up top and barely move even for me to clean enjoy the mist of the hose. This was my impression anyhow. It seems that they don't even mind the full flow of the hose and they don't even mind having it on their entire back. It is fun watching them bend over just a little bit as the water runs over their back. They also tend to fluff their feathers a bit. One of these rockhoppers, Cuatro, tends to vocalize nearly the entire time I am cleaning where he prefers to stand. I can say his name and he puts his head down as if he is going to start vocalizing.

When I helped clean big penguin, I started scrubbing and was approached by a king penguin. I assumed that it was Barry or maybe Kong, who normally approach me but to no avail. It was number six, Mikey, who decided to be my friend. I think at first he walked up very close to me, and then maybe checked out my boots. Also, he began to trumpet. I was flattered to say the least. I continued cleaning and he continued remaining very close to me and also trumpeting numerous times, at least 10 times I would say. It was interesting to be approached by another penguin. Especially since number six has never really been outgoing in any particular manner. I was happy.

When feeding this morning, I believe I gave Woody a herring and that he ate it. Also, when feeding this afternoon, Woody ate a herring from me and also a trout that had was in with the herring. I am impressed with how large a fish such a small bird can consume.

A tufted puffin egg pipped on Thursday but today had not made any more progress. We ended up removing some of the shell where the bird had broken through the shell. The hole is in the airsac so the chick is alright with some fresh air. Later, after lunch, we hadn't seen any more progress so we opened the hole a bit more and saw the bird's beak and heard it chirping in a very healthy fashion.

PPC: July 7, 2010

I cleaned exhibits this morning. I forgot to write yesterday about tufted puffin 7 who is ill. My coworker observed her breathing very heavily in the exhibit at the end of the day. She was taking extremely exaggerated breaths and heaving with an open beak for each breath. She was in the water but my coworker mentioned to me that the last puffin to act like this died the next day. We caught her up and put her in a brooder box with a tube supplying oxygen attached. She was kept in the box overnight and seemed to be doing better. The puffin was moved the next day to the brooding room upstairs and was heaving at the top of the little area that was given. She was still observed breathing by heaving her chest visibly with each breath. She was taken to the hospital where, during x-rays, she began crashing so was then taken care of to become stable. Once back in the brooding room, she was put back on oxygen to help her breathing.

I cleaned exhibits, as I mentioned, and noticed some fairly normal behavior from the birds. During feeding, one of the king penguins, Captain, has been eating many many herring. When I go to feed the other birds, Captain will take his beak and rub it on the back of my leg. It certainly tickles and I believe I gave him another fish just so he would be content.

Later, when I fed the birds in the afternoon, I had some extra herring from the morning and they were fairly small. Woody was following me and hopping along near me so I assumed he was hungry. Normally, Woody does not do anything more than awkwardly bite at herring but when I offered him a smaller herring, I guess his hunger won the battle as he ate not one, but two herring. One of which, was a decent sized fish especially for a little rockhopper penguin. I was proud of him. Also, he continued to feed when I helped him with the tray of fish. When I had come back to feed herring to the kings, one of the trays I had put over in the far area was already empty. Later, I found more fish that I had not put on the trays for the exhibits.