Sorry Folks! No Post Yet!

I really wanted to get the old posting done by tonight, but once again I am having issues getting pictures into the post. I am getting some bizarro "The Document Contains No Data" error every time I try to upload a piture into the post. I hate to say it, but I may switch blog companies, as this is really frustrating. I will be sure to let everyone know if that happens.

In the meantime, you will have TWO new posts next week.....hopefully!

SEVENTEEN!!

That's how many seals we had in by the end of Saturday. Thank goodness there are 4 now permanently out in the "big seal" pools, as the seal tubs are reaching maximum capacity. Humuhumu and Seaweed are part of this group!

We also had a new group of seals out for their first swim in the big pools.

Yep, that's Kelp....I think....trying to coax our little Sea Star in for her first real swim. She did great and was VERY upset when she was finally removed from the pool and put back in her tub!

This guy came in after being attacked by another seal.

As you can see, he has quite a few head wounds, including one on the area above his left eye. These types of situations are always handled differently, with the examination coats we wear for the initial exam then ONLY used for that particular injured seal, in case of infection.

Here are a couple of crows that we have had in for a bit. One of them, obviously, has only one eye.

I heard that a few weeks ago the one with the two good eyes was actually feeding the other one! That was not the case when I went last Saturday, as the second I put the food down the one-eyed crow began picking out and scarfing down all the meal worms.

We have a new Barn owlet in. Like I have mentioned before, these are one of my favorites to work with at Wolf Hollow. This one, frightened by the onslaught of the feeding tweezers, did the typical wing spread and then bowed his head and shook it from side to side.

I ALWAYS end up muttering "Nope..nope..nope" in time to the head shakes, as it looks like they are in complete denial that something scary is coming towards them. I mean, how do they keep an eye on anything in this position? Luckily, the tweezers weren't there to hurt him, but instead were there to bring nourishment to our wee one. Having determined this to be so, he quickly gave up the defensive head shake to inhale scrumptious mice pieces.

Keeping with the bird theme, we got in a young Cedar Waxwing. I just think these birds are so cute! And they have QUITE the mouths on them!

We also have in what I believe to be Towhees. They move around quite a bit, and quite jerkily at that, and tend to hide behind things, so getting a decent pic was a bit of a challenge.

And lastly, we have a LOT of Robins still in residence. There are ten out in one of the aviaries, so I thought I would go out and check out how they were all doing.

They seem to be doing just fine and are very close to being ready to be released.

That's all for now. I won't be going in this Saturday, as I am off to the Powwow at the Daybreak Star Cultural Center located in Discovery Park in Seattle. I did hear, however, that we got in a Screech owlet and young Bald Eagle during the week. So I am going to try and sneak in on Sunday, when I am back on island, to get some shots. I just LOVE Screech owls! Til next time....

Allow me to introduce you to.....

Sea Star!

While I didn't go in to Wolf Hollow last Saturday due to being sick, I did hear about Sea Star. She is officially the smallest seal they have ever gotten in, weighing in at a measly 11lbs. She is VERY premature(hence the long hair), WAS emaciated, and was barely moving when she was admitted. I was told they were surprised she was even still alive. Needless to say, she has quite the fighting spirit, as not only is she still alive but she is eating like a champ! She has gone from being emaciated to.....well.....extreme plumpnicity.

I mean, LOOK at her! At one point I think I got too close for her comfort level, as she snorted and TRIED to waive her flipper at me. And all I could think about, while trying VERY hard not to laugh, was that scene in the 1971 version of Willie Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, where Violet has blown up into a blueberry and is trying to waive her hands at the Oompa Loompas to keep them at bay. But, hey, better plump than emaciated! Til next time.......

Long awaited Sedna update!

Photo courtsey of Dyanna Lambourne

Sedna, who was transferred to Wolf Hollow on January 22nd after being found in Grays Harbor a quarter mile away from the beach and 30 feet from a road, was released on Wednesday, June 21st. On Tuesday, Sedna was sedated and had flipper tags inserted and a tiny satellite transmitter attached to her head. It then took SIX people to get her Royal Rotundness into the transport cage.

Since her release, she has been spending most of her time in the water making lots of foraging dives of up to 100 meters. When she is out of the water, she has been getting to know the locals, a group of ~1,500 Steller sea lions in residence nearby.

Upon her release I learned that Sedna was THE FIRST successful rehabilitation and release of a Steller sea lion in Washington State! A HUGE congrats goes out to the wonderful and dedicated staff and volunteers of Wolf Hollow who made it happen. I am proud to know all of you and proud to be part of such an amazing team.

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.....

And Away We Go!

Lots of changes are happening at Wolf Hollow. We have more interns arriving and more animals as well. Last year, which is the first year I was there for "baby season", we got our first raccoons in around late April. Not having seen any come in, I was beginning to wonder if we were ever GOING to see any. I came in Saturday morning and made just such a comment only to have 2 rehabbers say, exactly at the same time so it kind of sounded like surround sound, "We have in two." These are older than the ones we got in last year and therefore have a bit more personality. Wanting to take pics instead of taking part in the feeding process, I left the feeding of the two up to my friend Michael.

Needless to say, the one that had to wait its turn wasn't too happy and made sure EVERYONE knew it!


Since Sedna is now gone, and I am hoping to be able to post an update on her release very soon, the otters are now in residence during daylight hours in the wet pen. Now, having this HUGE wet pen to themselves, I went out to see the new setup, fully prepared to be mobbed when I walked in. I opened the door and......nothing. I closed the door and.....nothing. I made my way around the pen, wondering where they could have gone off to, as we don't have water in the pool yet. And then I saw them......

They were crashed out in this doghouse. WHEW! Thank goodness they are out in the wet pen and aren't inside the indoor mew for most of the day. I mean, I was beginning to worry that they felt too confined in the indoor mew. And yes, I AM being sarcastic!! Ah, well, they seem content.

A Loon arrived in the early afternoon. We haven't had one in while I have been there and MAN are they a pretty and feisty bird!


But hey, I will take "feisty" over "lethargic" any day when it comes to animals and their behavior during their stay with us. This bird was fine and was released later the same day. One bird who ISN'T feisty is another of my favorites and one that we, again, haven't had in while I have been a volunteer and that is an Osprey.

They aren't sure what's wrong with it except that it can't fly. It could be a broken bone which can only be seen on an x-ray or muscle damage. He was lethargic enough that I could get close enough to him for a head shot without him seeming to upset.

I must admit that getting to work up close and personal with the raptors is one of my favorite things about volunteering at Wolf Hollow.

I got to do something this past Saturday that I have never gotten to do before. I got to give electrolytes to one of our baby seals and then take them out for a swim in the "big seal" pools! This being my first time "tubing" a seal, there are no pics, but here is my "seal swim" pictorial.

First you take out one seal baby to the island in the center of the pool. And yes, that's me in all my grungy glory.

Yep, it's Seaweed! Doesn't he look all grown up without his preemie fur?!

Then you bring out the next seal baby, as one should always have a "swim buddy". Her name is Kelp!

Then you hope they both hop into the pool on their own accord. Seaweed went in right away. We all know how much he loves the water! Not so with our little Kelp girl!

"If she doesn't go in the water in 5 minutes, hop back over and push her in!" Those were my instructions and it was something I REALLY didn't want to have to do. So we all stood there trying to "will" her into the water. But she had to check it out first.

After finding out that yes, she could indeed blow bubbles in the water, she made her way into the pool without my help!

Getting them back out went exactly how you would expect. Kelp practically threw herself in my arms and Seaweed took FOREVER to get ahold of. He was NOT happy about his swim time being cut short!

Well, that's all for now. I am going to post some pics mid-week of one of my favorite places here on the island......South Beach! Til next time....

So Long Sedna!

And thanks for all the memories! Yes, it's true! Sedna will be leaving us this week and is going to be released in an area where there will be other sea lions to hang out with and an abundant food source. It's hard to believe that when she first arrived she weighed only 93 lbs. and has gone from this scrawny looking thing.........

to THIS regal beauty!

She will be tagged on Tuesday, which I am hoping to catch on video, and then leave on Wednesday. It will be weird not having her around, but I tell you, the bigger she has gotten the scarier it has gotten dealing with her. On Saturday we had to corner her with herding boards to do a final pool drain/clean and she kept leaning against my herding board and bumping against it. I tell you, if I hadn't had my right leg behind me to brace myself and my left foot wedged against the bottom of the board, she could have EASILY knocked me over. As it was my muscles ached from the pounding she gave me.

The other reason she needs to go is that we NEED this wet pen for other animals. I figured we would be putting the 2 million (exaggeration for the sake of emphasis) baby ducks and geese we have in there but nope, in go the otters. The otters, which are BORED in the indoor mew and are wrecking havoc in there. It's just too small for 4 growing otter kits.

We have some Barn Owls in. We have a youngster that is inside but he's almost big enough to go in one of our outdoor mews.

And then there is this group of 4 that were outdoors in one of our mews and were doing so well that they were released yesterday afternoon.

My sister Shannon refers to Barn Owls as the "Zen Buddhist Owls", as they seem so serene most of the time, as long as you aren't trying to mess with them. If you try and mess with them, especially if they are in carriers and can't fly away from you, then they throw these MASSIVE tantrums. And by tantrums I mean screaming, throwing themselves on their tails, kicking with their feet, biting, the whole works! Two year-olds could learn a LOT from them, as far as technique goes. The first time you hear and see one of these fits, it definitely takes you aback. Now I just try hard not to laugh out loud, as though it is hysterically funny to me, I also realize they are petrified and this is their defense mechanism.

The flickers have graduated to one of our outdoor mews, which I like to call the "big boy" bird mews.
Not that they are all acting like "big boy" birds. Some definitely still need to be handfed.
We got THE CUTEST duckling in on Saturday! I hadn't seen one before this and they are seriously "cartoon" cute. Meet our Hooded Merganser baby!

I know! How CUTE is this thing?! He is leaning up against his "mother", the feather duster. Thankfully they are not as prone to stress-induced death as the baby wood ducks are, but they are fish eaters, so getting a diet made up for him was interesting. Until he is big enough for feeder goldfish, he will be getting tiny mealworms, soaked fish food, pond weed, and bloodworms.

Seaweed is continuing to grow. He is also losing his preemie hair. Seaweed is comfortable enough with his surrounding and daily routine now to play the oh-so-fun game of BITE THE HOSE WATER!

After his bath is filled, he does what any other baby does in the bath once they have gotten used to it...he plays!

He really is a goof and I constantly laugh at all his bath-time shenanigans!

And last, but certainly not least, we have our first Virginia Opossum baby in. I just love these little guys. We usually have a couple in at a time, as they are usually found together near a dead mom, but this one came in solo.

You can't tell from this pic, but his mouth is open and he is hissing at me, which is all the baby opossums have as a defense mechanism. Once they get old enough they go outside in our opossum cage and they sleep in this hammock we have rigged up in there.

As an aside, one of my other favorite things to photograph is flowers....more specifically, closeups of tiny flowers. Here is a tiny flower which I found on Wolf Hollow property. It kind of looks like a miniature Morning Glory.

That's it for this week. Stay tuned for next week's update...same bat time...same bat channel. Til next time......

From a Hummingbird to an Eagle......

and everything in between. That is what awaited me yesterday at Wolf Hollow.

Here is a Rufous hummingbird youngster (At least I think that's what kind of hummingbird they said it was. I know, I know, I need to get better at identifying these things if I am going to post pictures of them) who seems to be missing some crucial tail feathers. He (she?) is SO tiny and will drink out of the syringe if you hold it out to him.

I CAN say with certainty that this is a bald eagle. He came in with a growth on his wing, which was removed two weeks ago. He is now in an outside cage and as you can see, is not happy about me sticking my camera in between the slats to take his picture. I am just glad he is doing okay, as the last time I saw him was 2 days post surgery and he was lying on the floor of the indoor mew. And I mean lying, not standing.
We now have 4 otter kits in, one of which is just shy of being completely weaned, which means I got to bottle feed her!

She, along with the other 3 kits, also gets a mixture of formula and mashed soaked kitten food. Needless to say, eating it is rather a messy process.

We now have 4 fawns in, 3 black-tailed and 1 white-tailed, but it was impossible to get photos of them, as they are very tiny and are in an area of the new deer pen with tall grass. Their camouflage serves them well, especially in situations where pesky volunteers skulk around trying to take their picture.

We have our first Harbor seal pup in! The theme this year for seal names is "of the sea", so they have named him Seaweed.


You can tell he is a premature baby seal as that long fur he has usually comes off "in utero". He weighs 15lbs. and is 26" long. Not the smallest preemie we've had in while I have been there, but close. The smallest one we had in was last year and weighed 12 lbs. Her name was Cobbles. Here Shannon is, holding her hand up to Cobbles for a size reference. And you can really see the long hair on her as well. She was VERY premature and VERY cute.

And, as any baby animal will do when it's been parted from its mother, these baby seals will try and nurse on ANYTHING, including the sides of the tubs during "bath time".


We also got in, for only the second time in 7 years, baby Flickers! According to Serena, these birds are the fastest maturing birds. Within the last week and a half, they have gone from bald with a few feathers coming in to.......

They are the quirkiest things! And oh so cute!

They drew blood from Sedna today in preparation for her being released soon. I will try and go in this week and get an updated picture of her, as she is GINORMOUS, to borrow Shannon's "exaggeration for the sake of emphasis" word.

That's all she wrote for this week. Til next time.........