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.
