I wanted educational experience and I believe I got it today. I was not shoved into any situations but nudged to the deep end of the pool before courageously jumping in. In other words I somewhat gave a tour today and did better with the phone calls; I answered at least six calls I believe. Most were messages for the permanent staff members, one involved a possible land donation, and another was about a bat trapped in a chimney. I think I did decently well with the phone calls compared to previous times which makes me feel a lot better.
For more serious calls involving rescues; need some major work there. I don't think it's a matter of losing confidence but the fact that I do not know much about animal related situations since I lack experience with such animal related issues. I need to crack open the binder and study it HARD so I have at least a little more background. Especially when Northwoods acquires their advanced license; it will not be just raccoons and birds we will receive calls about but loads of other species for sure!
Anyway, started off the day sweeping all the educational areas, windexing the windows and aquariums, and answering any calls. One of the education staff members taught me how to prepare a bird for a program (how to hook up the leash and other equipment) since there was a program today for pre-school/kindergartners. We talked about what was going to occur when they arrived and she went over the process of anything purchased at the gift shop again since I asked. Mainly if someone bought something you write a receipt, then re-write it in a book for inventory purposes, then later update the inventory. There are plenty of gifts I am interested in purchasing for people and myself; the gift shop has a lot of awesome nature stuff. I really want a jacket with the Northwoods logo but I think it was around $45; which I do not have. So hoping to save up for that.
While waiting for the children to arrive, and after gift shop talk, I looked over the resident section of my binder more so I could remember names and any details about them. I mainly looked over indoor residents but did peer over the outdoor residents as I had before. If I could just regurgitate all of the information I am taught I would have an easier time with everything but I have a horrid memory. Eventually it will all soak in but when is the question. There is still so much to learn.
Once the children arrived, I continued to look over the binder while the education staff member gave a short program about three of our birds; the American Kestrel (TJ), Broad-winged hawk (Rory), and Long-eared owl (Leo). When they were finished she took half the group outside with her and gave the other half to me. I had the kindergartners first, whom I gave a tour too on the inside. The most interesting event seemed to be the three young Red Squirrels running around, playing, and eating in their cage. We easily watched them for a good eight minutes it seemed. Eventually I filled in the rest of the animals and they went outside while the pre-schoolers came in. Along the way everyone was filling out a scavenger hunt list provided by the one staff to help me out; so glad they had it. It made things 10x more fun for the kids but helped eased some nerves off me too.
When the pre-schoolers came in they were honestly all over the place. They did not want a tour because they wanted to see everything themselves. I stayed back and answered any questions when necessary. If someone was interested in a particular animal then I would simply walk over, introduce the animal(s), and talk about them a little. I had them guess our turkey vulture's age, helped them with their scavenger hunt by providing clues, and pointed out any moving/appearing animals that normally hid or stayed still. The chaperones with them honestly seemed highly interested in volunteering so I answered some questions they had and gave them three sheets. Hopefully they will come back and volunteer. Hopefully the kids will one day return as well to visit or even help. Oh and a girl drew me a picture haha :)
Through out the process the phone honestly kept ringing and donations were coming in. One lady wanted to know where we took cans, a man gave us blankets/sheets/towels (and some bras too...may be an accident), and another man brought in meat. The phone call was about a bat whom was trapped in a chimney but Absolute Wildlife Control was called to take care of it later in the day. We waited patiently for someone to call back about the deer fawn but no one ever did... and sadly it passed later in the day. A mother's care is the best and although we did our best to rehydrate it and provide nutrition it was not enough; when it came in it was very emaciated and poor health as well.
In other news, I was able to update the excel sheet for all of our patients past and present. It was last updated sometime in April so its all caught up now and one less thing to think about until we start to get more patients in. Which I believe we are getting 2 young raccoons in tonight and we may get an owl tomorrow that will need to be taken to Regi depending on the mother owl; if she renests or not. This said owl I am talking about fell out of her nest and so rehabers here put it in a bucket and strapped the bucket to the tree for her to renest as said.
Oh, with all the donations was one lady who filled out a memorial donation in dedication of someone's mother she knew. Very sweet of her and she was really nice, loved chatting with her. A fish hatchery man donated a bunch of fish as well and gave us his card. It's ABSOLUTELY AMAZING how many donations we get! I am so used to Ohio where we honestly cannot seem to get any donations or anything. People here truly care for wildlife and I love it.
I honestly am not sure what else to say besides answering phones, the half tour went well, possibly gaining more volunteers, having a lot of donations come in, being able to handle a lot at once (phone calls, donations, and more), cleaning, and finishing the patient sheet. Wish I had more pictures for today but the busier I am the less pictures I have but the more stories I generally have. Today was mostly busy work but I had some very big accomplishments personally regarding the communication aspect and people. Building confidence for sure but have a ways to go yet.
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