Trumpeter Swan

I went to the zoo and did my ethograms again today. I even did some clicker training with the green cheek conures. It's certainly more difficult than it looks, since you have to hold so many almond pieces in your hand while also pointing the target stick while also clicking the button when the birds are successful. You also have to watch multiple birds at the same time to ensure you aren't reinforcing undesirable behavior (For example, fighting with each other). And, the birds get jealous when one receives an almond, so you have to make sure they all get plenty of chances.

I hopped the fence and wandered the trees again in search of browse for the muntjac. With the season changing and most of the good branches already used up since muntjac need browse every single day, it's not as easy to do as it was at first.

While I was out gathering browse for the muntjac, the zoo director called me on my walkie talkie. He wanted me to visit his office. When I came in, we talked about how I was enjoying the work so far, and said he wanted to show me some of the zoo paperwork that he as a director was filling out to get a male trumpeter swan sent to the zoo. It was quite the stack, all for one swan. He had to provide information about the zoo, as well as list every animal present at the zoo and their sex.

As I left the zoo for the day, I realized how lucky I am to have the assignments I do. I walked past one boy who was busy cleaning the crane coop, and another girl who was using a giant broom to scrub bird poop from the path near the pond. I've been fortunate to have the opportunity to work with ethograms, prepare enrichment and food, and do clicker training. I haven't been asked to do very much cleaning since my first days at the zoo. I hope I can put all my knowledge to use sometime soon.