Wildlife Care Association

Working at the WCA is getting to be really exhausting! I know I've said it before, but it really takes a lot of work. But it also hits home how much work other put into simple yet extremely influential service projects, and even if they may put in hundreds of hours, they are not recognized for what they do. I still have the rest of the summer ahead of me working here, but I'm going to do my best to work my hardest and not complain either out loud or in my head, because there are others who put in so much more time and don't complain about anything.

Piano Lessons

I'm getting closer and closer to finishing "Primavera" by Ludovico Einaudi, the piano piece I am currently working on. I found the song when I was listening to a CD of my dad's and I fell in love with the song. I've been working on this song since about April, and even though I love it, it's really hard. I am really having to practice a lot and not just playing the piece a few times and saying I "practiced". I am spending half an hour to an hour every day working towards it, slowly. The strange thing is, even if it is hard work, I love doing it. The fact that I like the song so much to begin with really motivates me to work on it so I can hear the finished product.

Wildlife Care Association

Today was another 5 and a half hour day at the WCA. The smell of the food we give them, Basic Nesting Diet (BND) is starting to get frightningly disgusting the more I smell it. Especially when one of the birds isn't feeling coorparative and decides to shake all of their food everywhere when you try and give it to them.
I was also in charge of the incubators today. There are SO many tiny birds in there! We have two incubators, one for birds with no feathers yet, and one for those who have developed feathers. the tiniest birds are nearly impossible to feed because their beaks are so tiny, and they only require a small amount of food.
Although I really enjoy helping these birds recouperate and be released back into the wild, I had no idea how much work went into it. When they said they needed volunteers, I thought they needed a few, but in actuallity, they need hundreds. There are the interns in the hospital and who can come in to help, but mostly rely on volunteers to come in for 5 hours a week to feed these birds. At first, it was hard to believe that that so many people would be needed for something as simple as feeding birds, but after spending a few weeks doing it, I completely understand.

Wildlife Care Association

I've been working at the WCA for about a month before, but this is my first time I've used the hours for CAS. I started doing 2 hours per week, but I'm now at 5 or 6 hours. The first hour or two, we feed the baby birds that are grouped by species in laundry baskets with food and water. But most of them don't eat the food unless they're weaning. After that, we start the dishes, and becasuse there are hundreds of birds and anywhere from 20-50 baskets, that's too many dishes to start at the end of the shift. While I usually do that, the other volunteers cahnge the newspaper and paper towels in the bottom of the baskets, and change the food and water.
I had no idea so much work went into rehabilitating birds. I thought you fed and then released them, but the birds need to be fed every 30-45 minutes, which takes up a lot of time. By the time you finish one section for the first feeding, it's time to start the next feeding back where you started!