Week 6:
New Raptor

July 8, 2021

This week was crazy! We started to get a mew ready for our new raptor, which is a full-grown golden eagle. This eagle came to us from Bramble Zoo in South Dakota. He has an injured wing and needed a place for additional rehabilitation to be released back into the wild. This eagle will be living in a flight cage off exhibit until its wing is fully healed. The flight cage is a building with five mews, two of which hold the bate birds. The bate birds are what we use to catch birds of prey. In one mew, we have pigeons, and in another, we have doves and a starling. To prepare for this new raptor, we had to get one of the empty mews ready. We started out by critter-proofing the mew with mesh, including the bottom of the mew. We then covered the entire bottom of the mew with rocks and created a perch for the eagle. We then cleaned out a big water trough for the eagle. For our boss to pick up the eagle, we had to clean out the van and the travel box for the eagle. We placed a protective tarp down in the van and put the travel box on top. This preparation enabled our boss to easily drive the van to get the eagle early in the morning without worrying about having everything he needed for the eagle.

Along with preparing for the new eagle, we had four programs throughout the week as well. The first program was at St. Morrison park by the Coralville Recreation Center. This program was difficult because the kids were not organized, which made it hard to present because they were not paying attention. There was also construction nearby which stressed out the birds. Having to do a program right after this situation was not ideal. The second program was at Borlaug Elementary school. We presented the birds in the gym. The kids at this program were very organized and well-behaved, but it was difficult to hear them. Due to this, we had to walk closer to the person when someone asked a question. These programs were back to back, so we presented the same birds at each. We brought Tigerhawk, Boreas, Saguaro, and Omaha to these programs. Lyndi and I presented the birds at these programs while our coworker, Amanda, watched to make sure we knew what we were doing. Now that we are qualified to handle all the birds, Lyndi and I will start to do programs on our own.

The next two programs we had were on site with the wildlife camp and a small group of people. We brought out birds for each group, talked about the birds, and allowed the guests to ask questions. In my opinion, the programs on-site are more difficult than those off-site because the groups of visitors have to wait while we take out each bird. Some of our raptors are hard to catch, so it can take some time. I always feel bad for the group when they have to wait because the kids eventually become restless, making it harder for the camp counselors and parents to control them along when we present the next bird. When two people are presenting, it makes it easier because one person can present while the other gets the next bird ready, but that is not always the case. Lately, I have been presenting to the groups onsite by myself, which has been difficult, but great practice. These two groups visited on different days, and they were great groups to present to.

Throughout this internship, I have gotten a few opportunities to see what other people do in related fields of work. This week Lyndi and I shadowed our coworker, Amanda, at the National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium. The most exciting part about this experience was able to go behind the scenes. We watch Amanda prepare food for and feed the water snakes, a large tank full of different aquatic species, and coral. Then we watched the stingray feeding done by guests who pay to feed them. The person in charge of the stingrays showed us how she prepares the food for the guests to feed. After watching guests feed the stingrays, we watched the alligator and snapping turtles get fed. The final feeding we watch was the otters. We were taken behind the scenes where we could hand-feed the otters through a gate. This experience as a whole was so much fun! I learned a lot, and it reminded me of when I went to a zoo camp in Albuquerque, New Mexico, at fourteen.

This week I learned a lot. I am looking forward to doing more programs on and off-site without any help from my superiors. I am also looking forward to learning more about related fields of work. We have a few more opportunities to learn about what other people do for a living. My hope is that these shadows will give me the chance to figure out a career interest.