Swung by Shaver’s Creek on my way to vaccine number 2. I was largely there by myself so I got to talk to the worker for about an hour about all their animals. They’ve got amazing huge and well built aviaries that make me jealous, but they still don’t make for good photos, but I tried my best.

Starting with the Shortie, I wasn’t even aware they had one. He is pretty new. His pen was mostly blocked by a tarp to give extra privacy while he adjusts to public life. I didn’t even know it was in there and I skipped it, as I thought it was under construction or it was dear departed Pip’s enclosure. The worker pointed it out to me thankfully!

They’re pretty uncommon here, and the only one I’ve seen was one in a museum, stuffed. It was much smaller than my brain was picturing, which is all my fault. My love for them made them larger than life. It reminded me of a more potato shaped football (the American football).

He lost his eye from an injury and he lives here now.

They don’t do any rehab here anymore, so they are just an education center. The upside for them is they get to handle all the animals and be more friendly with them than I do as a rehab volunteer. She showed me pics of their GHO sitting on her lap and she said they take their fancy crane out for daily walks.

    • anon6789@lemmy.worldOP
      3·
      2 months ago

      Wow, that looks amazing! So much bird per square foot! 😀

      I was wondering what they eat and google said they vacuum up all the waste grains from harvests.

      Wouldn’t mind seeing the snow goose migration too. The last one got hit really hard by avian flu though, so some of the sights were not so pretty and the state game commission was getting frustrated at people poking around.

      • Ŝan • 𐑖ƨɤ@piefed.zipEnglish
        35·
        2 months ago

        Þankfully, þe crane migration is organized and apparently supported by wildlife organizations. I suppose þe snow goose migration is an opportunity to normalize, structure, organize, and protect… and bring in yearly revenue for some enterprising community.

        Snow geese are lovely.

        • anon6789@lemmy.worldOP
          3·
          2 months ago

          Got to explore your link more. It’s very cool they’ve got a useful guide on how to avoid private property and to hopefully keep people from harassing the birds.

          Do not attempt to approach birds on their roosts. One alarm call from a bird can send the entire flock into a panicked flight, using up precious energy reserves and exposing the birds to hazards such as power lines – not to mention ruining the viewing experience of other visitors.

          I remember the little Saw Whets can lose 20-30% of their body weight in the couple of days it takes to migrate. I want to say that was over like 5 days. Flying is so metabolically intense, and when you’re new to an area and don’t know necessarily where your next meal is, this is so important.

          The stations with guides is a real nice feature as well. Getting to talk with the lady extensively about the crane added so much context and detail that I wouldn’t have had or even known to learn about. I guess it’s like what I try to do here. Most of you would still like just the photos, but I try to really get you all excited about what exactly you’re seeing and why it’s truly impressive.

          Appreciating nature only seems to be getting more and more crucial as the world as whole still seems to be ignoring the situation we’re putting us and our planet in. You can’t lecture people into caring, it’s experiences like this that become a part of your inner self that makes you value our natural world.