Zen Moment

And I mean just a moment...





I've been so busy since I got back to town and I leave again July 22. I've had to play some catch up with hours at the Wildlife Rehab and the Zoo and have done some wonderful new things:

**Bottle fed a baby deer just Tuesday

** Today took my first animal ambassador out on zoo grounds on my own to teach the public about waterfowl, a Runner duck who was very well behaved and who I LOVED being that close to.

** fed a newly hatched vulture. Great story behind that one.

** saw and fed for the first time ever 5 coal black, noisy little chirping chimney swifts, a trio of night hawks, terns, barn swallows, a bluebird, many bluejays, grackles, starlings, screech owls, kill deer, herons --all babies or fledgelings.

** Met an all white baby lamb who followed us around and did little leaps much like the baby goat....

The list goes on and on. I've so many little stories to tell, and some pictures/videos to go along with them but I just haven't had the time to write anything up. Even if I could, I for the last few months I've had trouble downloading new pics. My hard drive is full and it's been a complicated thing to get it clear enough... Suffice to say, you see why the tranquility brought on by this 30 seconds of a clear natural spring rushing over the rocks (from a fall trip to Virginia, hence the leaves) is such a nice little moment of zen...

Enjoy, and hopefully I'll be able to get some new things up this weekend.

With Many Thanks

A big bowl of gratitude goes to Grace at Graceful Yoga for this blog award. What a wonderful surprise. Grace is a recent follower of Adventures in Nature so I am doubly honored by her.

I also received this award the same week from Linda at World of Spirit. I am a fan of their blogs. Please check them out and say hello as you know, we all live for comments.

Of my three blogs, this blog is indeed my favorite. I could post on it all day and never run out of ideas. I have had so many experiences that I still haven't posted about!

Some of those are:

* More of what it was like to feed the lions, tigers, leopards and bears as a carnivore keeper Aid at the zoo. And why I had to stop for now.

* CIG training which I did in early March, which gives me a few initials after my name and makes me official in what I do here naturally --interpreting nature.

* Taking Animal Handling training as an extension of my docent training at the zoo. Now I can take out the animals ambassadors and interact with the public. My faves -- a running duck, a gorgeous chicken, a mischievous, wiggly ferret, a little baby gator and a giant Welsh rabbit (I'm too allergic to take him out DARN! It set me back a weekend just being near him for the training). I'd love to take out the owl but that is for staff only...

* Training for how to clean wildlife affected by oil spills, which I just took on Friday at the Wildlife Rehab and Education Center. I hope I never have a reason to use those skills.

* Trying to catch that orphaned baby bird in The Park to bring into the Wildlife Center so it won't be on it's own (not a good thing for a duck) and will have a chance at a good long life.

*Spotting ANOTHER chicken trying to cross the busy road.... in the middle of the city!

* New pics of the baby giraffe at the zoo and stats on how much he's grown.

I'd like to pass this blog award on to:

RIVERDAZE

TRANSIENT LIVES

CIRCLING MY HEAD

WINEDALE PORCHSCAPE

WANDERING LIKE A NOMAD

LOTUS MARTINIS

GARDENER TO FARMER

TERRY AND THE CATS OF FURRYDANCE

(Scroll down to check out kitten videos on this one!)

STUFF FROM ELLEN'S HEAD

Please stop by those blogs by clicking on their names... I hope you enjoy them!

Thank you Grace and Linda!

What's THAT?

Now here's an animal I'd never seen before volunteering as a Carnivore Keeper Aid at the zoo. It's called a fossa. It is the size of a really large cat and while feline in appearance in many ways, he has more of a doggie nose, and is incredibly strong. He also is quite agile. Related to the mongoose, not like that's very common either, but at least I'd heard of those.

If you've seen the animated film Madagascar, you've seen a fossa, who co-starred. I just recently saw it, because when you are educating children about animals (which I do at both the zoo and am training to do as a volunteer for the Wildlife Rehab and Education Center), it helps to see every modern animal movie out there so you can help them relate.

We do have clown fish at the aquarium, and when I say "Who here knows what Dora was" all the kids shout, "A CLOWN FISH". But that 's another post....

Take a look.




I love this little guy. On the mornings I worked in the Tiger House making breakfast for the lions, leopards, tigers, cougars and the fossa, he would rapidly pace around in the shape of a figure 8. You see, his little indoor house was right across from the kitchen door and he could see me cutting up and weighing meat for everyone, including him. We used to give him a big white rat on certain days (they are pristine, bread for food and not at all as funky as it sounds) and he'd playfully flip it up in the air over and over. I thought he was starving but apparently he just wanted to party.

As you've guessed, he's a carnivore. And in doing research I've read that they live up to 20 years in captivity... and oddly, can live 60 years in the wild. I'm not sure about that figure, as usually it's quite the opposite. Life is extended in captivity, for obvious reasons -- quality health care, protection from predators, loving care of devoted humans. I have no idea if that's right, but if I get a chance to ask his keeper at the zoo (the guy you hear talking), I'll report back.

My question is, have you ever seen one, and regardless, do you like this one?