Today was my turn to work the bird room at the rescue! There were probably 25-30 in there, but these are the only pics I took since the work was non-stop and I was by myself. I knew bird parents were busy, but now I have a personal appreciation!
Some of these tiny guys eat a ton for how small they are! I keep thinking they’re full and they come at me with open beaks and wings flapping, asking for more!
A cowbird was the most voracious. He would try charging right out of his enclosure and was screeching and beating its wings so fast!
The bluejay was my favorite. It is so pudgy and cute and I love my jays at home, so it was nice to work with one. Five more came in near the end of my shift, so I guess I should be careful what I ask for!
The baby crow was already so huge! It felt like a little dinosaur grabbing me for food, lest it take a bite of me!
There were grackles, robins, and Carolina wrens, and probably some other stuff I’m not remembering. The grackles and crow and another mysterious black bird (who was by far the most unhappy bird) were so loud the entire time, and with the concrete walls, it was quite loud, which seems the top complaint of people on bird duty.
The big walk in enclosure had 7 big robins who could at least partially fly. One eventually landed on me, which was fun. They mostly just parked themselves all in a row in their one tree and I fed them up and down the line until they were full. Then they would all lay down and nap for a little. Quite adorable!
But as soon as they were all fed, the first guys were ready for more, so just rinse and repeat all morning! Momma birds have crazy busy jobs!
Fun! Well except for the volume I guess - do you get earplugs or safety headsets? I always love a good grackle.
I was admiring the adult grackles out the window at breakfast yesterday, but being trapped indoors with them makes one reconsider! 😇
After my first go round and having some confidence, I kinda like birds more than squirrels, as the birds seem to actually want to sit at least a little still and get fed instead of making it a battle of wills!
They still have lots of personality, you could tell some were much pickier eaters, and the volume some tiny birds can eat was mind blowing! Also with how deep the syringe tip can go without gagging then is a bit shocking at first also. With the little birds I was cautious, but the big ones were just all “jam it back there and feed me already!”
I might grab some foam earplugs from work or bring my earbuds and listen to a podcast or something. I think that would help make it more relaxing.
Sounds like a busy day! Are you exhausted?
The buntings are here, very much enjoying s neighbor’s feeder.
It wasn’t bad. I got out not too much after my shift was supposed to end, and the combo of learning new things and just a job that literally never ends made it go quick.
Next week though is open house, so I will be there the entire day, 2 shifts in one at minimum basically, doing who knows what with a bazillion people there. The people will stress me more than the animals I’m sure! 🤯
I’m waiting for lunch to cool and I’m watching this fledgey Robin learn from its parent.
Aw, baby looks a little sad.
Yes, people can be very exhausting; best wishes for that day!
.Did you see the owl/woodpecker post? Can I have a deer bacon bagel?!
I don’t think I saw that. Got a link?
I would make you a bagel sandwich! 😁
We had made around 20 pound before smoking the bacon. I got a deli slicer this year so I didn’t have to hand cut it and I think it came out amazing, though my brother says I cut it too thin. I like it crispy though.
It’s pretty fun to make. I think it’s 2 parts ground deer to 3 parts ground pork shoulder, add the spice/nitrates, beat the holy heck out of it in the stand mixer, press into big cakes, and send off to brother-in-law for smoking. The vacuum packing got very old though. Making bigger packs next time to preserve my sanity.
Wow, I typed a several paragraph reply and the ethers just ate it. And so it is. I’ll shorten it to say, for me, processing days started out fun and energetic and ended being tiring and glad to get the last in the freezer. We never made deer bacon though. Maybe one day!
Eta: I dm’d the link. It was a meme so I wasn’t sure about putting it here. You can, if you wish.
Oh no! That’s the worst when it eats all your work! 😔
At least there is a feeling of satisfaction when you put the last thing away, and that you won’t have to do it again for a while!
If you want an idea of the texture of the deer bacon, it reminds me of gyro/donair meat, just fried up like bacon. Off the smoker it reminds me of that. If you make that donair recipe, the process is essentially the same to make the deer bacon.
At least there is a feeling of satisfaction when you put the last thing away, and that you won’t have to do it again for a while!
Yessir! And the joy of pan-seared tenderloin for a late supper!
I’ve never made donair, but my neighbor has, on skewers on the grill. I’ll have to tell them about slamming it several times, since it wants to fall apart, not sure if that will help on skewers, but we can try! Thanks for that recipe! Cheers!
Working the meat is often not what one wants to do, but in these types of recipes, it’s key to it staying as a loaf.
Stuff like burgers, meatballs, or meatloaf that you want to stay rather ground meat in texture, you want it to stay cold and be handled as little as possible.
But start whacking that meat or running it in the stand mixer will start to bring out, I forget what it actually is, proteins/enzymes/whatever it is, and you start to see some stickiness forming. Think of this like when you’re developing gluten for bread by kneading it vs a biscuit where you don’t want gluten so it stays light and fluffy.
That smacked around protein stuff really fills in the gaps of the meat and gives that firm and smooth texture that makes it great for staying together while cooking and makes it slice easy.
Aw that lil bluejay looks so cute in deed, i guess that’s him.
edit: oh and thanks for the shelter update, i hope you keep us informed :)
There’s always so much going on there! I always see and learn new things and find out we have animals I did t even know we had here.
The baby crow would be cool to see on !corvids@sopuli.xyz or !crows@lemmy.ml
I didn’t know about the corvid community, thanks!
I’ll see if I can get a pic of it next time.
Corvids is almost all reposts of things that get posted to crows, in an attempt to keep away interaction from crows because it is hosted on the wrong instance. Personally i think it is just disgusting what they are doing there.
Yeah, I tend to suggest both because some users have an aversion to .ml. Personally, I’m ambivalent because I don’t get worked up about crowsposting when done tastefully. I’ve also posted magpies in corvids but not crows because it’s distinct from a crow while still a smartypants bird.
Crowsposting, huh? Good one 😁
I don’t think what they do could reasonably considered being “tasteful”. Honestly bums me out on the fediverse, makes me not want to post to crows because i will get angry when minutes later the repost comes in.
My personal policy when posting news or OC is to post to one or two small communities relevant to the specific topic, then ensure the link is present in a crosspost to one to a broader topic or catchall community (oneninetysix, canada, shitpost etc.). Crossposting helps Lemming discover smaller communities they didn’t realize existed. A user even told me as much on one of my recent posts.
There’s a bit of a grey area in the line between reasonable crossposting and spam/aggresive self-promotion. If I were to put a number on the point I get annoyed, it’s probably at the sixth duplicate post.
I’d usually have zero problems with cross posting, it’s usually because someone is interested in the topic or appreciates the post. Good intentions. I have been cross posted a few times before and thought that was neat.
The last post of mine that got crissposted to corvids apparently got removed by the sopuli admin for being “spam” lol, I guess someone reported it.
