MARS

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I've been at Mountainaire Avian Rescue Society for almost two weeks. I'd say that, on average, I spend 75%!o(MISSING)f my day cleaning things for animals and 25%!o(MISSING)f my day preparing food and medicine for animal. There is also a tiny bit of filling out forms. It is pretty awesome and I wish I had more time here.

MARS takes in all kinds of birds and small mammals for rehabilitation. They kind-of specialize in rehabbing eagles, of which we currently have three. There are two Red-tailed Hawks and one Barred Owl that are permanent residents and act as ambassadors to the public. I am working with them and have a presentation with the owl on Thursday. What animals we have changes every day, with rescues, releases, and, yes, deaths. The pictures are just of some of the patients I've handled since coming here.

Last weekend MARS was paid to be the official timers for Logger Sports. I started off being one of the timers, and was a spectator of a few events that interested me, but on Saturday my supervisor, Maj, gave me 40 raffle tickets to see if I could raise any money at the event. Despite the event drawing a crowd very different from any I'm used to, and made up of many people whose livings depend of environmental degradation, I sold all my tickets. The next day I set up a proper display in a booth and raised a bunch more money for MARS.

Yesterday, as I mentioned, I was in my second marine environment and my first ocean! It was really amazing. Unfortunately, when the tide came in it ate my cell phone. It's sitting in rice to soak up all the water, but I really don't think it's going to work anymore. Que sera!

I will try to get more cool videos, like in the last entry, and pictures and catch-up on my July.

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Photos

Ruben!
Maj's dog; he is always lying around somewhere.

Sun
Some days it is so smokey here from the mainland fires that the sun goes red.

Merl the Merlin
He is doing great and living in a large enclosure with Kestrel the Merlin. Both are on track for release

Seal Pup
We rescue a fair number of seal pups and then send them to acquatic rehab centres

Seal Pup Close-up
You have to wear gloves when handling seals because they can pass on diseases to humans.

Log Rolling!
It is actually called Birling.

Baby Cedar Waxwings
They eat mostly blackberries so their mutes (poo) are always purple. I love them!

Female Western Tanager
She is doing okay.

Baby Crow!
He is so charming and we're all in love with him. Today he escaped his play pen but I found him sitting just a few feet away on a stoop.

Comments

[Marsha]

Looks like so much fun!
hi sweets, I did not know the fires had a bit of impact on you - yuk! The birds look cure and you look wonderful. Those games looked like a lot of fun (I have only seen like events in movies before!). Hope your phone dries out! Thanks for the wonderful blog, Love ya, Mama