Monday @ PPC

With three of us today, cleaning was done early and the afternoon was left for play. With the birds of course.

I cleaned the Humboldt exhibit this morning, this exhibit is outside, and it was a good idea to do it before it got too warm. Guanero, a chick from last summer is molting. I think I have mentioned this but he just is so large from eating a lot and also has been large for several days but doesn't seem to have started dropping his feathers yet. He hides near the doorway, or at least he has the past two mornings. A lot of the birds that molt tend to isolate themselves and/or stay in the coolest area of the exhibit, and often, out of the water. These penguins also are not familiar with me and usually avoid me as I clean their exhibit. The one exception is the two younger birds, Guanero and Tortuga who sometimes come near me to bite the hose or bite my scrub brush. The birds also dislike the mist of the hose when I am near them.

I fed the inside birds their vitamin fish and remembered throughout the process fairly well, who had gotten theirs and who hadn't. With the kings anyway. The gentoos may or may not have gotten their vitamins. Some kings are still being very gentle when I feed them fish. I noticed number 12, Buddy Love, does it as well as number 2, Annie.

During the afternoon, I ended up feeding the Humboldt chick, Guillermo, a snack. I ended up sitting with him again for a while. I put him on my lap and he gets comfortable. Today also, he decided he wanted to be much closer to my face so he ended up climbing up my chest and standing on or around my sternum. This involved lots of scratching because my shirt must have been pretty slippery. He seemed to also look around a bit more when he had come to this higher place. I adjusted and he sat lower in my lap. He also did not like it when I moved my knees or legs and proceeded to peck them with more agression than he uses to test my fingers. I sat with him for a while and at one point he put his beak in my hand and shook his head back and forth as I have seen the Magellanic penguins do affectionately with other keepers. I hope this was a sign that he likes me. A few minutes later, he seemed to want to get down off my lap, and I let him. He then backed up so he was pushed into the crevice between me and the wall. He wanted his back end in a corner it seemed. I sat with my arm around him for a while and he seemed interested in my hair. I then got up to leave and put his rock hut back where it was and he didn't go walking right inside this time and instead came over to me and put himself very close to me and I think wanted to crawl back in my lap. I left wishing I could have spent more time with him and with a lot of scratches.

The Magellanic penguins were calling as we closed up PPC. The males must be coming into their sexual maturity because much more vocal conflict occurs recently between the unofficial dominant male Fidget and the rest of the birds. Also, the two Humboldts who are spending time upstairs in the holding rooms with the Magellanic penguins are doing well. We bled Pedro today, meaning drew blood. The vet who did this was very efficient. He looks very handsome with his new feathers and did not get too stressed during the bleed. His girlfriend Rosie is with him and also molting. Her feathers are everywhere and she is about 1/4 of the way through with bare patches on her belly. She does enjoy swimming though, which, as I mentioned earlier, other birds seem to steer away from during their molt.