I'm failing at blogging because I'm trying to finish a screenplay and I feel like all my writing time and thinking should go toward said screenplay. BUT I am having such a blast doing my zoo internship that I felt I should share a little bit about it.
There are only three men in my section of the bird department and you can distinguish them by smell. D. is the oldest, has worked there for, like, 30 years, is hilarious and awesome and will talk to you about ANYTHING. He usually smells like BO. But he works hard and is so cool that you just accept it as the musk of a man who works hard all day. I had a conversation with him about what giving birth does to your bladder. No wait, that was my great uncle Bob. Well, D. is the kinda guy you COULD talk to about what giving birth does to your bladder. [No, I have not given birth but I recently read something about what it can do to your bladder.]
On the other end of the spectrum is C. He smells SOOOOOO good. Every day. All day. SO good. He's also funny and cool, really smart and seems to be a hard worker. He thinks I'm the only one in the world who likes Nebraska as much as I do. But he thinks that's cool. He also told me that I probably indimidate half the men in San Antonio because of my height (which isn't that tall...except it is in San Antonio), after I confessed to having an insecurity about my height.
Then there's W. He's freakishly tall and doesn't smell at all. At least I haven't noticed. And what I HAVE noticed is that my nose is freakishly talented. Man, that thing can SMELL. Most of the time, especially at a zoo, I wish it wouldn't. But it does. But it doesn't smell W. Maybe it's because he doesn't work as hard so his deodorant doesn't have to perform or doesn't wear off. He does have nice legs, though. That's gotta count for something.
I don't distinguish the females in the dept. by smell. There are more of them and they're all so different. They all work pretty hard and they're all really nice to the interns. One is scary, to me, but I just try to stay away from her. Though she apparently once through a trash can into a room and hit C. He said it was really awkward. I can imagine. She's so quiet but seems to have an anger issue. Hence why I just stay away.
Then there are the BIRDS. Tons of birds. With tons of birds comes tons of bird diets. With tons of food comes tons of poop. I've been pooped on may times. Just yesterday I was the victim of a fly-by poop attack. I was sitting in Lory Landing with the keeper (she has an injury and can't do much, has to sit, use crutches, etc.) and all of a sudden I thought I felt the rustle of wings by my feet. When I looked down, all I saw was a spray of poop across both my ankles. No bird in sight.
In one area, Big Lake, there are TONS of egrets who don't belong in the zoo. They come and nest and steal food. And because of them, there's a constant rain of poop. It's mostly tiny little specks that look like white paint. But sometimes it's a big dump. I haven't had one of those. Just a smallish dump on my head. But the things that gross you out at the zoo are very limited. After having to slice up whole fish on my first day, I'm not sure what will gross me out anymore.
Just yesterday I got really dirty from a dank, spider-infested hole. Three lories got into a spot underneath the deck in their exhibit so another intern and I had to get them out. Well, in the process, we discovered a little nook that they might be hiding in. I couldn't see in so I had the other intern (who is 4' 11") climb on my back to look in. So my face is smashed into the spiderweb-covered rock wall, spiders staring me in the face, while she's telling me to get closer or move to the side. I'm sure we looked really cool. (Later that day we got schooled by some other lories we were trying to catch-up. They're too freaking smart.)
I almost crapped myself because a condor flew past my face while I was bleaching his pool and I was staring off into space. Those birds are HUGE.
I have hand-fed baby rats/mice to tawny frogmouths. I have hand-fed fish to a pack of pelicans. I have hand-fed fish to a black neck stork. I have hand-fed peanuts to [I think a sandhill] crane. I've had cuckoos dive-bomb at my head and face. I have named a mean western crown pigeon Richard - and it's catching on.
I have cleaned and fed-out numerous exhibits by myself, which is a fun thing to do. I especially like cleaning the flamingoes food pool because there's a family of ducklings that always swim around. [They don't belong to the zoo but they're my favorite birds!]
So much happens on a daily basis that I can hardly remember it all. But these are some highlights of my zoo days.
