Oh my god, BETTY!

Look at this GORGEOUS seal we got in last week. Her name is Eddy, meaning "a circular or contrary current." I'm not sure why they didn't hold off on giving this name to a boy seal, but, there you have it. She is definitely the darkest seal pup they have had in since I have been volunteering there. She was pretty emaciated when she came in but has been eating like a champ and is doing well so far.

We also go in another little girl seal in and they named her Hookuhooku.....um.....Hoopohoopo.....darn it! Humuhumunukunukuapua'a. MAN is that hard to say, let alone spell! For those not in the know, that is the name of Hawaii's state fish. Here she is hugging Seaweed right before she dragged him under the water (Humu is on the left)!

Let's see, what else is going on at good ol' WH. Oh, we got in a VERY adorable Kestrel baby!! She was one of my photographic challenges this week, as I even went back Sunday to take pics of her as none of the ones I took on Saturday were in focus. Oh, the joys of having a cheap digital camera with a very small view screen. Everything LOOKS in focus until you go home and download them. But look how cute this little one is. She is definitely worth the trip back to WH.

My other photographic challenge was a request by Shona, WH's Educational Director, to get a decent photo of ONE of the Brown Creepers. These birds are just fascinating and are constantly in motion. I also took more pics of them on Sunday for the exact same "pics not in focus" reason. It's hard to describe how they move. They kind of hop along but when they hop their heads go down and their tails go up, like windup toys! Again, they just fascinate me.

The otters are doing well. They are now putting a small amount of water in the pool for them to play in. The otters have now moved from the roomy confines of the doghouse to one of the hollowed out logs that is in the wet pen. They seem to feel safer in there and my guess is that it is probably cooler in there as well.

Remember the two fawns we helped initially put outside in the mobile pens? Well, two fawns have now turned into five, four of which are permanently out in the "big fawn" pen while the most recent one we got in has two broken legs and is in the "Quiet Room". I haven't been able to get any photos of them since then, as they don't come out of hiding unless you have food. Luckily, we got to feed them this past Saturday. Not having seen them for a month or so, I honestly thought they would be bigger than they were.

They still are getting bottle-fed along with browse in the form of Ocean Spray. Here they are all lined up and drinking from the bottle rack. The bottle rack is there so they won't get too habituated to humans or associate humans with food. And while I often wondered how well that works, since they come running over when they hear the bottles, they don't come running when they just hear a door opening, hence my lack of pics. It's a good thing, since they do allow hunting on San Juan Island.

I think I have mentioned previously that we have in ducklings and goslings, so I finally got down and took a pic of our Canada Geese goslings. They are all different ages, with some almost ready to be released and some still all downy.

Meet Mocha. Mocha LOOKS like a regular Mallard but is almost three times the size of one. They think he is a cross between a Mallard and one of those large white ducks. The staff has nicknamed him Gigantor and made pseudo-jokes about whether his normal Mallard-sized wings will be able to lift him off the ground.

That's it from my end. I still have a Sedna update coming along with those pics of South Beach. Til next time.....