Thursday, September 07, 2006

Let's NOT Talk About Seals!

I wouldn't want you all getting burnt out on seals as that's all we may have at Wolf Hollow very shortly. I can't believe how few animals we have in right now compared to last year at this time. Don't get me wrong, it's a good thing, just very interesting in comparison. So let's get down and dirty with the other temporary WH residents from the last couple of weeks!

A pheasant arrived at our establishment. I am not sure why exactly, but don't believe it can fly.

We haven't had one of these in before. She's pretty...isn't she?!

Our Virginia opossum is doing well and getting bigger by the day!

I guess this little guy decided he needed a break from his cage one night a few weeks back, as the morning shift found him curled up asleep under the sink(he's in a small closed off room which we call the Quiet Room), WITH the pillowcase from his cage! Needless to say, his cage was secured more thoroughly. He has now graduated to our outdoor Opossum Cage, which has branches for him to climb on and a hammock for him to hang out in...no pun intended!

These are it! The last of the Swallows that we have at Wolf Hollow.

These guys were still being hand fed as of last week. Hopefully they will be past that stage this week. It's time for them to fly the coop...um...I mean, leave the nest...oh, you know what I mean!

The eagle is loving being in the flight cage. They were initially having to capture him on a pretty regular basis to give him Viatamin B, which can NOT be an easy task considering the size of that cage, so he tends to be a bit...flighty...for a day or so after that!

But usually he is stting on that perch, which is RIGHT above the door. So when you walk in and look up, you see this!

It can be pretty intimidating to say the least!

This beautiful Cooper's Hawk was found on the ground right by the front window of someone's house.

He can't use his legs and, as you can see, his pupils are dilated to differing degrees, which usually means head trauma of some kind. I hope he will still be there this weekend but I am not holding my breath, as I have seen few if any cases like this recover. Another good reason to put some kind of deterrent on or hanging in front of the windows of your abode!

The otters are still doing well. We have put a HUGE kibosh on people going in their pen every day, as they really need to start disassociating themselves from humans.

Otters that walk up to people in the wild usually don't live too long, as they can be seen as a nuisance! And we don't want that for our guys!

And lastly, we have seen some grey squirrel babies coming in from the mainland.

Squirrels, at least grey squirrels, have 2 batches of babies a year, so it's not uncommon for us to have some around this time. We readied the Squirrel Cage for the older group last week. And they should all be out there in about 2 weeks. This cage has a double door to ensure that we don't accidentally release any, which wouldn't be good, since they aren't native to the island.

Til next time...