Bird Express

Since our bird vet is about an hour away, we like to economize. So, when our parrot, Buddy, needs to go in to get checked, Amanda brings her bird, Doc, who was rescued from our property, and Christina brings her bird, Amelia, as well. Doc is a blue-headed conure and Amelia is a Hahn's Macaw. If you are going to be traveling a while with three parrots, it's important to bring lots of snacks (for the birds, a.k.a. bribes) as well as some ear plugs.

This is Amelia in her travel cage. All birds got checked and also a wingy/beaky/pedi. Rumor has it on the way back a couple of french fries were slipped in, too. Spoiled birds? Never!

Yulee Primary 2nd Graders

The first week of May we had the second grade of Yulee Primary come visit us at the nature center. We did a beach scavenger hunt, played a sea turtle survival game, and showed the kids a few of our resident critters. A couple of the classes sent us the sweetest thank you notes, so we thought we'd share some of them.

Destiny still fulfilling her destiny

Update on Destiny:

She is doing very well, big and healthy. She is a little over 2 months old now and will probably be released after another month. She is lapping milk and will soon be introduced to wet cat food. Enjoy the pictures!

Destiny's destiny

Update:

We named the opossum Destiny. She has been doing great! Her appetite has continued to increase and she is getting stronger everyday. If things go as planned, Destiny is to be released back into the wild when she is ready to survive on her own. Keep checking in for more updates on her.

Possum update

Our little possum that we got a couple of weeks ago is doing great! We are so proud of her, she gets bigger and stronger by the day. Here is a possum-sized yawn!

Baby Opossum

The Nature center got a call last week about 5 baby opossums that were orphaned. Some of the babies were beat up with bruises, their eyes were shut but they had a little hair- they were almost at the age their eyes will open. At this age, they would still be in the mother's pouch. They were very cold and VERY dehydrated when we received the babies so unfortunately, 4 of them did not make it through the first night. There is still the one survivor though and it is doing better every day. There is no guarantee that it will make it any length of time but we are doing our best to keep it as healthy as we can. We will post updates on its story every so often so check back soon.

Why armadillos do NOT make good pets

Even though we put three boards and two bins on top of our armadillo, Hokey Pokey's cage at night, she still managed to escape last night. She had great fun knocking over trash cans, buckets, store items, and pretty much whatever else she came across in the nature center. It was not hard to figure out where she was, we just followed her path of destruction, which led us to a pile of garbage bags. The cardboard box was full of trash can liners, and Hokey Pokey had taken every single one out and piled them under the corner of a desk. After a few minutes of pulling out the bags, there was a very warm armadillo in the very back. It amazed me that she could get so many of the bags pulled in around her to make her "bed". Now, we are boarding up her cage like Alcatraz at nights, so we'll see how long it takes her to escape again!