It's Starting to Wind Down....

Yes, things are finally starting to slow down, not that they were ever REALLY hectic to begin with, compared with past years that is. I have some long overdue updates and new residents to share with you all, so let's get to it!

The fox kit, remember her?

Well, after staving off many an escape attempt by her...

...notice the nice big hole and subsequent repair job....we decided it was time for her to take her leave of us, and preferably on our terms, not hers. So we decided on a nice, quiet location that would have a good food supply and went down to coral her into a crate. Boy, do I wish I could have gotten the next half hour on video. As it was, I was too absorbed, watching her bounce off the walls of her cage, literally, while Serena tried to catch her and Jen tried to block her from getting over the top of the carrier that we had wedged in the inner doorway.

But get her in we did and off we went. One would think, after the ruckus she made while trying to catch her (Did I mention that she lunged at Serena and tried to bite her face when she finally grabbed her?) that she would have been out of the crate like a SHOT, but.....

..uhhh....hello? Anyone in there? I mean, it's been REALLY lovely having you, but now you gotsta go!! We finally walked towards the back part of the crate, which was enough incentive to get her out.

I don't know if her fear of being in the great outdoors again, this time without her mother, was overwhelming or what, but after she came out, she just kinda stuck around the crate.

It was only when she started walking back towards us and the crate....

...that I finally walked quickly towards her to scare her off. She ran off and I am sure she is doing just fine.

After the raccoons' escape from their own private Alcatraz, they were moved to the large, and their final, cage out in the woods. Even with that cage being so much bigger than the weaning cage, you go down there and it still seems like they...

...are....

...EVERYWHERE!

Actually, with over 15 of them in there, they really are everywhere!

We got this Pelagic cormorant in about a month ago.

It's only the second one we have had in while I have been at WH. It was found on a boat in Anacortes. It was very listless and thin. We gave it fluids and vitamins to get his hydration levels back to normal and to kick start his appetite. It worked VERY well.

This was just after he had been moved to a wet tub. It was after he was moved to the chain-link Mammal cage that he became a real freak about food! Observe.

Here we see the smelt-obsessed freak trying to cram his body through a small hole in the wood barrier to get at his bowl o' smelt. When that didn't work, he got a wee bit pissy and tried another route, this time trying to go through the chain-link itself...

...this time at EYE LEVEL! That's right, this guy is balancing on a 1/4" edge of plywood to try and get at his fish bowl through the fence!! I have NEVER seen an animal SO fixated on food before. What you don't see is what happens next. You gotta be smarter than what you're working with folks and I definitely wasn't in this case. For some stupid reason, I decided to open the door while he was still at eye level, where upon he launched himself at the bowl of food I was holding, causing water and fish bits to go EVERYWHERE, including all over me and my camera. The cormorant couldn't have been happier and before my very eyes turned into a smelt-o-vac, running around frantically inhaling all the fish pieces that were flung to the four corners of his enclosure. After that fiasco, we decided to toss the smelt into his pool from outside the cage. And while I would like to say this story has a happy ending, unfortunately it doesn't. He ended up dying last week and we don't know why. He obviously had something initially wrong with him and maybe a ready supply of food just prolonged the inevitable. We'll never know. It was a huge bummer as we all had gotten quite attached to him. Sigh.

Last, but in no way least, we have an update on our downy Red-tailed hawk. He has grown a chest feather-hair-type thing! WOOHOO!

Can you see it kinda sticking out there a bit? Hey, I know it's not much, but at least it's SOMETHING! We are still looking for someone to take him as an Educational bird...hopefully some place that's warm! Because it's gotten colder out, we have moved him back indoors.

That's all for now. Til next time...

Disconnectedness......

The disconnectedness I am referring to is not in regards to most things in my life right now, which I have been feeling and which has kept me from posting to this blog for a month (Sorry about that!), but it IS in reference to the seals we have this year. And I am not really sure why that is. I mean, look at 'em all.

Cute...right? Yet I haven't bonded with a single one this year. In all the past years there have been one or two that I have felt a connection to...and a strong one at that. Not this year. Maybe it's because we weren't weighing them on Saturday this year. For the first time since I have been there....my 3 year anniversary with WH was last week...we didn't weigh the seals during my watch, hence me not really having to be able to identify who is who. So, with that and the end of summer having come and gone, I find myself releasing seals that I don't even know. It's kinda weird.

Having said that, let's get to our first seal release of the season! Penny, our staff rehabber that started last year, got to partake of her first seal release. And that means, since she needed to learn all the down and dirty bits of seal releases, she had to don those oh-so-attractive seal poop pants, as she likes to calls them!

There's Penny on the right, with Shona, our Educational Coordinator extraordinaire, peeking out from behind Jen (Miss you Jen!), her assistant for the summer. We can be a pretty goofy bunch when we want to!

Another change this year is that, due to the fact that the flipper tags can accidentally get caught on the nets during the weighing process, we are inserting them on the day of release. And I want to tell you folks, this process makes me cringe every time I see it. Now, the tags are sharp enough that you could just punch them through without having to make an initial hole. But, because we are participating in a DNA study of Harbor seals, we must be able to get a tissue sample. So, out comes the leather hole punch.

Ugh! The sound this makes is REALLY gross and it is NOT, even though someone tried to convince me of this, like a human getting their ears pierced. I must say, that after watching Serena do this once, Penny jumped in and did a great job, getting this done as efficiently as possible. The little round of flipper that is punched out is what we send into the DNA study folks. At this point, ice and styptic powder is applied to the flipper to stop the bleeding.

Now, years ago I worked in pet store and had to use styptic powder to stop the bleeding of a bird's toe that another bird had bitten off. It looked painful and the bird certainly made a huge fuss upon me applying this stuff, so I decided to try it out so I could see what it felt like. I used it on this cut I had gotten a bit earlier in the day and I tell you what folks, it burned like a....well, I think you get where I am going with this. This can NOT feel good to the seal, but it's the quickest way, along with ice and pressure, to get the bleeding stopped. I actually started channeling my Dad during this, as I found myself looking at the seal and thinking "The pain is peaking....it's peaking...", a mantra my Dad used on us kids every time we got hurt. And of course, if you say it long enough, it does become true.

Then the tag is inserted into the hole.

After this is done and any residual bleeding has been stopped, the seal goes through the rest of the pre-release process of measuring....

and then into a crate and transported to the release site.

From left to right is Jen, our intern Melissa's dad (Thanks for letting me know Melissa!), Penny, and Shona. It was a gorgeous day for our first seal release and while the first two took off out of their crates....

...the third one...well....

...there's always at least one holdout among the bunch. Serena tried a new tactic this year to get the seal to come out.

It's like a 0ne sided water fight, I know, but it's certainly better than being unceremoniously dumped out of one's carrier and hey, it worked!

After the last one came out, they all swam off.

Bye guys! Take 'er easy! Til next time...

Making a Break For It!!

Yes, for the first time in the 25 years that Wolf Hollow has been in existence, the coons made it out of the Weaning Cage....all nineteen of them. Seems there was an old hole that had been repaired a while ago and either the repair broke down or it was just the weight of all of those babies hanging from the roof, (I mean, we haven't had more than seven or eight in there at a time since I started a few years ago) but no matter what the reason, they all squeezed out....one by one.

And while some of them had a blast and explored nearby trees and whatnot......

others....not so much.

Yes, the world outside the cage is HUGE and can be a VERY SCARY place for a young raccoon, and all some of them seemed to want to do was to get back inside to their nice warm sleep box and food. Not to worry. By the next evening all of them were caught after the staff set up live traps baited with goodies!

Big thanks to Jen and Sharon for loaning me their great pics for this post, as I was regaled with this story after the fact! Til next time...

See How They Grow!

One of the great things about volunteering at Wolf Hollow, especially during "baby season", is watching the baby...whatevers....develop into adult...whatevers. The mergies (mergansers) we got in are a perfect example.

As a refresher, here is how they looked when they came in a few months ago. Here is the Hooded merganser baby with his mallard swim buddy along with the, up until recently, unidentifiable merganser baby. Much debate has ensued over the past few months regarding what type of merganser he is....Common or Red-breasted:

Then they got big enough to go outside to one of the covered wet tubs.

It seemed like their beaks doubled in length literally overnight! So, they stayed in this tub for awhile, practically living in their swim tub.

See how much they have developed in just a week? After being in the tub for a few weeks, they finally graduated to the Wet Pen!

Bigger bird size means bigger bird food! There is quite the initial rush to the food bowls to see who can inhale the most smelt!


The mallard was released a week ago and the mergansers should be ready for release within the next week or so.

UFO ALERT!

This Unidentifiable Furless Object was found on someone's doorstep. While we knew it was a rodent of some kind, we just didn't know WHICH rodent species it was. And honestly, I don't think very many of us expected it to make it through the night, considering how young it obviously was. But make it, it did. And you know what? When it squeaked for food, the chipmunks FREAKED OUT! So, I immediately figured it was either a baby chipmunk or a predator of some kind. But it was just a waiting game to see if it would live long enough for us to unravel the mystery. I mean, feeding it was nigh on impossible!

Any guesses? Come on...what rodent is tough as nails? Yep.....TADA!!

I just love rats and had one as a pet when I was younger. And this one is a cutie!

Speaking of the chipmunks, they, too, grew up and have been released. Here's a few photos, some of which have been posted before, of that process:


It was a week after I took this last picture that I observed an Oedipal-type act occurring in the tank, at which point, after being observed by Serena, they were declared old enough for release. She then left the room, muttering the whole while under her breath that until such time that they were released she hoped the more delicate sensibilities of some of the younger interns wouldn't be offended!

Look at THIS beauty!

This fox kit was captured by our local airport people after they saw it running around on the tarmac. After they captured it, they found the skeleton of a larger fox nearby that looked like it had been dead for at least a week. We are assuming that was his mother. Upon examination, and I'm sure this comes as no surprise, he was very thin. This also was evident by how he ate his food. Foxes are hoarders and even the blonde fox would take half of her meat pieces and bury them in the dirt or hide them in her house she slept in. Not this guy!

He ate EVERYTHING and in record time as well! On a sad note, at the same time I was feeding him, I gave the blonde fox her food as well. It was at this time that I noticed that her head was turned, permanently, to the right...sharply to the right. At first I thought she was blind, but she could definitely see me. Unfortunately, I guess head traumas can clear up and then BAM! the animal can go right back to square one, which is exactly what happened with her. So after having her for two months and with NO improvement a week after her relapse, they euthanized her.

Can you really call a bird a fledgling if it can't fly?

This Cliff swallow youngster was found on Orcas. And boy are his feathers a MESS! Plus, if you look closely, you will notice that he has a bald lower back! He's definitely one of those cases that comes in and we scratch our heads and say "What the hey?!"

Our long term "head scratcher" case study is still doing fine and has been moved to an outdoor mew.

I, along with others I think, am hoping the sunshine and fresh air will do him some good, feather growing-wise that is!

We have in 19 seals....

and TWENTY baby raccoons!!!!

But I have saved THE COOLEST animal for last. Meet our Hoary bat!

Now, my love of bats has been well documented throughout this blog, but I must say this is the most amazing bat we have ever had in while I have been volunteering there! He is at least twice the size of the Little Brown bats we have had in and he just seems to have more character. We initially tried feeding him mealworms, like we did with the other bats, but he was not having ANY of THAT! So then we defrosted some bloodworms and VOILA!

Yep, he LOVED them! So much so in fact that he got all pissey when we stopped feeding him and went to put him back!

That's it for now. We have such a variety of animals in that it is almost overwhelming trying to decide on which ones to write about. So I will write about the ones that didn't make the cut for this posting next time, including a big move for our fawns! Til next time...

WCB: Happy Birthday Riley!!!

Yes, I know I tout this as a Wolf Hollow blog and haven't done a WH post in awhile, but I did want to send out birthday greetings to my not-so-baby-anymore boy Riley. I can't believe it was a year ago that I had given up hope of a friend's cat having an orange and white boy kitten only to have her tell me that night that the last kitten born was an orange and white male and was mine if I wanted him. YEAH I WANTED HIM! And then they sent me this:

Here he is, not even a day old. Who knew this sweet, helpless exterior held the soul of a rabble-rouser? I know I didn't! And now for a quick photo montage of his past year:

Riley at 6 weeks

Riley at 9 weeks

Riley at 6 months-One can see the mischievous glint in his eye.

Riley at 8 months-He likes to help me pic out photos for my blog!

Riley as he is today. He's a big, sweet boy who brings a lot of life to this house and I can't imagine my life without him. Thanks, Susan, for giving me such a precious gift. I just adore him!

For those of you who like cat blogging, check out the Weekend Cat Blogging folks at Sher's website.

Til next time...

Wait for It.......

It's coming....I PROMISE! Til next time...

Hahahahahaha.....

This little, or not so little, guy is actually a Red-tailed hawk nestling. The problem? He should be a FLEDGLING! The down he is covered with is not baby bird down, but the down you would find under feathers. While he has these little grey feather-like things that have come in all higgeldy-piggeldy like on his head and shoulders, he has no MAJOR feathers, or what are technically called blood feathers, coming in. And we have no idea why. Outside of that, he appears to be healthy and he has a voracious appetite! He has got to be one of the oddest, and in my book cutest, young birds we have gotten in.

Wouldn't you agree? I promise to do a more complete post later in the week, but it's late, it's still really warm in my place, and I still have to wash my dog. Til next time...