The first few days

Well here I am, living another island life. Don’t get uber jealous b/c this is a cold weather island. That is I am back up on San Juan Island. Not in another college program or an internship this time with a real actual paying job.

I am employed in a wildlife rehabilitation non-profit called Wolf Hollow. It has been a fun first few days getting orientated. Day one consisted of learning the layout and the current animal population. And we even had a few animal intakes, 3 to be exact. One was a Fox Sparrow that another staff member brought in b/c it was beside the road flopping around and couldn’t really fly except in circles. By the time he/she got here the sparrow was alert and flying around just fine so the staff manager took him home for release. The other 2 were Snow Geese from “mainland”. These guys had been attacked by a bald eagle and had done some damage, but didn’t stick around to make them dinner. Unfortunately we had to euthanize one, b/c it had been bitten right through the wing tendon meaning it would never be able to fly again and quality of life was just not well. The other one had a huge laceration down its left wing and a puncture behind its right wing. The avian vet that lives across the street came over and took a look and agreed it will be okay, so we spent a few hours stitching up his wounds and got him set up in a cage.

Today was a bit more uneventful, except the rain. The day was spent feeding and cleaning. We moved a Barred owl into the Heron flight cage and placed some live mice in a tub to see if he was able to catch pray on his own. He was doing well other than that so we will see if he is ready for release soon. I got to go out and feed the Cooper’s hawks that are doing quite well. And I also helped change, clean, and feed the feeder mice we have.

The only downsides right now… I live on site and it is in a “hollow” imagine that by the name, so my cell service is non-existent. Plus the internet in the housing was sending all the rest of the tubes into a frenzy, so I have to use the office for all my computer stuff at night. I miss having internet at my ready disposal to do with however I want it. It is also dreadfully quiet here and kinda sucks to be out here by myself. I feel the need to run into town every night just for human interaction, but end up ditching that idea b/c I don’t want to drive the few miles to town, like 4, and spend money. I already feel like I was getting some strange looks the other day in the grocery store b/c they don’t know who I am and they wonder who this new girl is in their community that is obviously buying more food than just someone who is here for the weekend in their sleepy little town.

Tomorrow will be another learning day of just some small stuff that we need to take care of logistically, and then Wednesday we will be taking one of the Cooper’s hawks in to the vet to have pins removed from his wing, I couldn’t tell you what bones they are in b/c it was an injury that predates me being here.

Not much else to add, I will have to take some pictures and post some pics from my last days at home, plus piano bar stuff when I get the chance. Until then… rock out with your socks out.