green except too damn hot @green@awoo.space

the quartet of bear cubs have been woken up from hibernation and did a lot of hilarious gronking during the morning. we also have a new fifth bear cub, a female who was found eating garbage and dealing with resultant digestive illness, but aside from being malnourished seems otherwise fine. she's been put in an enclosure next to the other four, with a very strong grate between them; hopes are to integrate her into the bear pack next week.

I retrieved the tray while the rehabber grabbed the rat (this bald eagle will only eat rats. won't eat any kind of fish, or quail; just--rats. THE MAJESTIC RAT EAGLE, EVERYONE) and tossed it back onto the perch, and we exited hastily. EAGLES ARE REALLY BIG. so that was exciting. XD

other than that... washed dishes, cleaned stuff, tidied the nursery in preparation for the coming squirrel avalanche.

and so--the Critter Report!

who doesn't get much more excited than walking up and making "skrerk" noises with his mouth open, so he's easy. the other is an adult female and I have to admit I was pretty damn intimidated by her flying around, occasionally grabbing onto the walls, and hissing at me. the rehabber helped distract the eagle as we looked for leftover food (there wasn't any), then I put the medicated food on a perch and the eagle POUNCED ON IT, knocking the food and tray onto the ground.

kingfishers do not deal well with being in enclosed spaces, and we tried to be very unthreatening as the poor thing was literally flying into the walls, but there's not much we could do to destress it other than give it the medication and food as efficiently as possible and then leave it alone.

we didn't have to handle the eagles, just leave them some fresh medicated food and take out any uneaten food items. the other volunteer handled the juvenile male--

It was mostly dull, as usual in midwinter. one of the other volunteers and I that have been there long enough to quality for senior volunteer training got some pre-training, general stuff about how to read the med/tubing charts, prepare the meds/tubings, and document it in the computer system afterwards. we helped (well, watched while the rehabber did the work) treat a white pigeon, a belted kingfisher, and a couple of bald eagles.

oh wow--"one in a million," a yellow cardinal, in AL! http://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/2018/02/one_in_a_million_yellow_cardinal.html so pretty!

I have returned! safe and unfallen, although there's definitely ice developing in shady places--if you're going out this evening, be careful! and if you can avoid it at all, don't go out tomorrow--it's going to be a lot worse, if it does snow again tonight. ice under snow = bad news. :|

okay, braving the snow (and possible ice) to Costco. wish me luck! :p

trying (and pretty much failing) to motivate myself to Go Do A Thing. :P

went to hang the hummingbird feeder back up, after bringing it inside to thaw out (the food was a solid chunk of ice), and there was a nuthatch on the suet feeder, which is about a foot and a half from the hummingbird feeder stand. I expected the nuthatch to fly away when I opened the door, then when I stepped out onto the porch, then when I slowly hung up the feeder--but it went to the far side of the suet instead and kept right on nomming. HUNGRY NUTHATCH DON'T CARE XD

looked out the window... I can't tell if it is currently snowing right now, but there sure is quite a bit of it on the ground. :D woot! I'm likely heading to bed soon. <3 dream well and drive careful tomorrow, Seattlites!

I can't tell if it's snowing any more. XD

cooking anxiety! not--cooking the anxiety, but anxiety over cooking dinner. so I will write up volunteering stuff tomorrow.

okay maybe "it's snowing" is a bit overly excitable for an average of two tiny flakes per minute. BUT STILL.

aaaand it's snowing. :D and Nar is chasing his tail and yelling at me, which means it's time for me to go hang out in the living room to give the meow beasts some playtime and attention before their lunch. <3

forecast calls for possible snow showers this afternoon. I believe it--if there's any precipitation, it's very likely to be snow. it's *frickin cold* out there. and chilly in here, too.