Hummingbird Rescue

Pretty much the only people who read this blog are the other people who went to Maine with me and can already tell what this post will be about, but I'm going to share anyway. I was in Maine this past weekend, catching up with some awesome Drew people, and we had a bit of an adventure. Cori had just climbed into the kayak with me against my will when we heard the people hanging out on the docked boat scream something about finding a huge bug in the water. We paddled back and it turned out that they had fished a tiny, very wet hummingbird out of the water. Lucky for us Cori spent 6 months as an intern at a wildlife rehabilitation center, and she jumped out to save the day. She wasn't very optimistic, because we didn't know how long the hummingbird had been in the water (let alone how it got there), and the metabolism of a hummingbird is so high that they pretty much need to eat constantly. We gave it a shot though, and tried to dry off the tiny wet hummingbird.
As you can see, he is tiny and adorable. And in this picture, quite wet. He could also be a she, for all I know. Cori said he looked nearly full-grown, but I think he was a young bird. First, once we dried him off a bit and he got over what must have been the very shocking experience of being in the lake, he starting making these high-pitched squeaks that sounded a lot like begging calls. When we started feeding him, he also opened his long beak wide while squeaking, just like other baby birds. I'm not a hummingbird expert, though, so who knows.

At first we thought feeding him might be a problem, because we didn't have a syringe, but I suggested we use a straw and cover the opening so that the suction would keep the sugar water in. (Who knew something I used to do to entertain myself while waiting for my food at restaurants would come in handy?) Once he had eaten a lot and seemed to be out of crisis, Cori set up a little box for him complete with a twig for a perch.


We named him Flit, after the hummingbird in Pocahontas. We fed him for the rest of that day and tried to release him, but he flew away kind of awkwardly and then sat on a bush looking confused. We kept him overnight, and the next day got ready to release him. We thought at first it might not work, because he kept sitting by the house and peeping. He even tried to fly back in at one point. However, eventually he flew away. I hope he's alright. I'm a little worried, because he didn't seem like a very strong flier, and if he's young he might not have all the skills he needs to survive. But we can't have a pet hummingbird that needs to be fed every hour, and at the very least we saved him from drowning in a lake. All in all, a good deed.

(That's me looking way too excited about Flit sitting on my hand. He loved me, and I loved him. The end.)

AZ in Animals

Hello there...so as you can tell by the fact that I posted once in June and never in July, I am terrible at keeping a blog. I should have known this would happen - after all, I was never able to keep up a diary as a child despite numerous attempts. But to be fair, I've barely been home this summer. I went on a bunch of trips for my research, and I just got back recently from a 10 day animal behavior field course in Arizona. This will be the subject of my post today. Introducing, the animals I met in Arizona!!
It turns out, Arizona is much prettier than I expected. All I really knew about the place is that it has the Grand Canyon and Sonoran Desert in it. I thought it would be flat and made of desert, but as you can see, it's actually much greener than I thought it would be. And everywhere I went, in AZ and New Mexico (we were right next to the border and spend a lot of time in NM), I was surrounded by mountains. It was awesome.

Part 1: Amphibians

Surprisingly, I saw a bunch of amphibians in the wild. One night, while driving back from the Rodeo Tavern in New Mexico, we found this guy on the road.
He is a huge, fat, spadefoot toad. I am holding a baby here.
Part 2: Invertebrates

This was the first cool animal I met in AZ. It is a walking stick. We found it in the desert. I put it on my head.
This is called a vinegaroon. He resembles a scorpion, and was pretty creepy looking to tell you the truth...
...but I held him anyway.

What you are about to see may confuse you.
What is in my mouth is, in fact, this:These are honey pot ants, and the big yellow balls are actually the swollen abdomens of the ants who serve as repletes for the rest of the colony. That is filled with a sweet, delicious substance that feeds the rest of the colony. And, on special occasions, animal behavior classes.

Part 3: Birds
I didn't get to hold any birds, for obvious reasons, but here is a hummingbird. We spontaneously drove 2 hours to a place that has the record for the most hummingbird sightings in one day, and we saw 8 species. The record is 13.
Part 4: Mammals
This is me feeding Mickey, the deer. Her mom was raised at the station, so she has lost her fear of humans and hangs around and lets people feed her pretzels and apples. She is awesome. Her tongue was sticky.
This dog was awesome.

Part 5: ReptilesI met a lot of lizards in AZ. This is a grumpy looking horned lizard. He is actually very sweet - when I tried to release him he just stayed sitting on my hand. He was being kept temporarily with tons of other lizards in an observatory by a researcher at the station.

This guy, Sceloporus jarovii (Yarrow's Spiny Lizard) lived on the wall between my room and the guy behind me's room. We tried for days to catch him. It was much easier once we got nooses, which are long pieces of wood with a piece of string tied into a slipknot on the end. Slip it over a lizard's head and pull, and WHAM! He's yours.

This is a Western Hognose Snake that is kept in the office. He was cool. We also saw three species of rattlesnakes in the wild: Black-tailed, Banded Rock, and Mojave. I have pictures of them but I am getting sleepy so I'm not going to post them.

That was a lot of pictures, so hopefully that makes up a little for my lack of posting. I hope you enjoyed them!!