Cat Tales May 26th

On May 26th Steve took his AP Biology and Zoology classes to Cat Tales in Spokane, Washington for a field trip. The zoo is also the site of a zoo keeper's school and most of their animals are rescues from private owners or past animal performers and such. As the zoo name indicates, the zoo contains mostly large cats. But, being a cat person, I was just fine with that. They also had two black bears and a large python, but we couldn't get any decent pictures of them. The zoo wasn't the largest, or the best, but you got to stand within just a few feet of lions, tigers, cougars, etc. So, it was still pretty neat. Here are a few of the better pictures we got of all the kitties! Fair warning, there are way too many pictures - typical of me and a blog involving animals....

So first off, here's a student who got a friend to drive an hour plus out of Mabton and back so he could chase us down after missing the bus. Now that's commitment - and a good friend.
Next, on to the cats.
If you look closely in this picture, the people in the cage paid to feed the lion through the protective plastic with some raw meat on the end of a sharp stick like thing.
And of course, after he'd eaten, this big boy did what all cats do best - and what many of the cats did while we were there... sleep!
How beautiful is this guy?
Steve and I were really interested in this cat even though we didn't get many good pictures of him. Apparently there are no real black panthers. Even this guy is spotted, but it's hard to see from very far away. Great new fact!
And some more leopards. They also had one leopard which is one of the rarest large cats.
The students learning from the tour guide about the leopards at the park.
This is Steve's group over by the tigers. Because we had to split up, Steve threatened the whole group of kids with my Dad being a part of the County Sheriff's Department and then my group in particular with water-boarding if they didn't behave. Needless to say the kids were complimented by the guides for being so well behaved!
Probably my favorite cat there. What a beauty he was!
They had LOTS of pretty tigers to look at!
And last but not least - more cats! You can see in the second picture this girl has problems with her sight.
And the proof that we were there. We were trying to get the big lion in the background. Needless to say we failed.
Next year the kids will probably go to one of the larger zoos to the West and see more animals, but this was a great first zoology field-trip for Mr. Bennett's first year teaching!

The Other Baby...

So as much as I might joke with Steve about getting Amelia, the truth is that I'm probably too big a softy when it comes to animals. We had a big storm a couple of weeks ago. As a result we were seeing dead baby birds everywhere. Then, when I went out to clear the yard to mow the lawn on May 21st, I saw these two little naked birds just barely move. Of course, 5 minutes later they were inside on a heating pad. This is what they looked like when I first found them.

We think based on the egg we found near them that they are Brewer's Blackbirds. Also, the bush they were near (as well as all the other trees in the yard) are constantly full of blackbirds yelling at us for being in their yard. The runt of the two just had taken the cold too rough and didn't last more than about a day, but the other little bird is still with us.

Did you know that there are a lot of similarities between baby birds and human babies? For instance, at this stage they eat so fast that they can't breath and end up spitting a lot up on themselves. They also fall asleep while eating and only wake up or interact with you when they want food or something.

This was our next stage of bird development. More crying, and a baby bird that doesn't know when it's full until you stop feeding it and then it passes out. Yes, that is one full crop of food...

And, when she learned how to move around (out of the nest box) she became a lot more work! She learned how to do this over Memorial Day weekend when we were camping with my parents. Yes, we are so cool we took a little blackbird camping with us....
We're now to the stage of development where baby bird wants to explore and run around constantly, but can't or it would make a total mess. Also, it never shuts up... And slowly trying to teach it to feed itself means a much bigger mess than when we were feeding it. But, at least independence is there, which is a good sign for releasing her.
Yesterday I took her outside to get used to the yard a little and listen to the other birds. She then proceeded to fly up into a tree and I had to wait for her to come back down. If she could feed herself at all I would just have let her go, but she still refuses to even try to find food even in her cage. Hopefully only about another week and she'll be a free little blackbird cussing at us with all her friends in the yard!
So after posting this today, our little blackbird died. I don't know why, which is really sad and frustrating, but I remind myself that she was better off living with us for a couple of weeks well fed and warm than if I had never brought her inside. Still a fun experience, just wish she could've gone wild in the end.

Our Girl - Amelia

So, to prove that Steve and I really are completely insane, we recently aquired - Amelia. No, this is not what we're going to name our daughter, although the name is ironic as I liked it and Steve didn't. Now we have a compromise - of sorts. If a reptile counts as a compromise for naming your daughter.... when there wasn't even a fight....? Oh well.

The point is, Steve decided a while back he wanted a chameleon in his classroom as his reptile example (we're slowly filling the major groups of animals as he has fish, birds, mammals, and now reptiles in his class) but we weren't planning on looking until next year - considering the other big "ultimate pet" as Steve puts it that is coming in August (hopefully not September). But, then we saw an ad on craigslist. Steve and I should be kept off of craigslist like alcoholics should stay away from bars. Ok, so mostly me. But in my defense, I find the deals and Steve decides whether or not we should inquire. When it came to an absolute steal for a chameleon, her vitamins, her cage, and a watering/misting system worth several hundred dollars on its own, we inquired. (This is her setup by the way, which was all provided, including the timers for her lights and misting system.)

We sent an e-mail Sunday night when we saw the ad. And as of Monday night, the guinea pigs had a new neighbor in Steve's class. So, meet Amelia.

So most of the pictures were taken on Steve's phone as I have been busy and not in to his class since Monday to get pictures. In this one, she's going for a cricket in the corner. Which is funny because apparently - Amelia has bad aim. We were informed of this by her previous owners, and Steve has since confirmed it. Funny to me after my tree frog Odhran who would smash his face into the glass walls aiming for crickets...
So this is one of the few pictures I got of her Monday. She was not happy about being in a transport box while we got everything set up, and kept hiding behind this branch as a way of protesting. The other way she protested was by digging those tiny, needle-sharp claws into my hand when I put her in her cage. We were informed that veiled chameleons are anti-social and moody. Boy did she live up to her reputation! She clamped down so hard on my hand it hurt for 5 minutes after she finally let go, and she refused to even let up with a single hand for a couple of minutes. After that she took her sweet time releasing the other 3!
These photos are important because: one, they show her neat coloring and eyes and such. Two, when you compare them to the photo above, you get to see how pissed off Amelia really was with us Monday night. Veiled chameleons as it turns out turn black when they're mad. Usually just spots. We saw this when her old owners took her out of her cage. When we pulled her out and put her back in, and she was kind enough to illustrate her fine grip to me, she was completely black. She seems a little happier now...
So, that's our latest aquisition. And yes, even I thought we were totally crazy while we were on our way to get her. I guess there's a difference between realizing you're crazy and wanting to be sane....

Steve - The Chick Magnet

So, many of you knew that Steve was quite the ladies man, and it seems that even now he can't give up his need to be surrounded by cute chicks. See what I mean?
Ok, so beyond the random women at grocery stores that flirt with him, these are Steve's latest conquests.

These are the pheasant chicks Steve is raising at his school right now. The prison in Connell raises them for people who want to release and hunt the males, so they basically give away females to schools that want to raise and release them. These guys have already grown a ton! And I absolutely love their giant feet and how quickly they run. Makes me think of Road Runner...
This little guy showed up a few weeks ago out of nowhere in the finch cage. Ok, so obviously not out of nowhere, but the finches had been laying dud eggs for quite some time and we did not expect anything to come of the latest batch. We only found him because I was going to clean out the latest batch of old eggs and bedding and found a little pink naked bird instead! Only a few weeks later he/she is completely feathered! Obviously, these guys grow up quick. The funny part is that it's obviously a Gouldian (one of our bright finches) because of the green, but the Gouldians lay lots of eggs, and then just leave them there. Then the Society finches (our brown and white ones) come and take care of the eggs - and this baby. Apparently if you want a great nursemaid, hire a society finch. Things we would keep in mind in August if we were finches...

Muskrat Love

So back in February or so Steve was given charge of about 100 salmon for his classroom. He has been caring for them ever since and this week it was time to release them into a local stream. (We figured it was about time since he had 10 or so jump out of the tank and commit suicide and the whole point is to boost salmon numbers and not to do psychological studies on what drives salmon to the edge...)

Steve got in touch with a local man who has a stream running through his backyard. Each fall the salmon return and spawn here and he said that between him and his neighbor they have had as many as 35+ salmon nests in the fall. So, we knew it would be good salmon habitat. Steve invited any students who wanted to come along to come join us. And as usual, kicked into Mr. Bennett mode and had to teach the kids about why this was good habitat and how local stream health is vital to salmon populations. He really is a great teacher.
After that, he took our cooler full of salmon and dumped them into the stream. The students enjoyed trying to spot the fish as they spread out in a natural habitat for the first time in their lives.
After that, Mr. Bennett had to revert back to Steve mode when a student saw something along the shore in the stream. Being Steve, it wasn't enough to check it out - he had to pick it up and show it to the rest of us. So, I bring you Steve and his friend the muskrat.In case you don't know what a LIVE muskrat looks like...


We all enjoyed thinking about how hilarious it would have been if the muskrat had come back to life or had just been sleeping when Steve picked it up. Sorry, the story isn't that interesting.

But, the gentleman welcomed Steve and his students back any time and we hope to take the environmental science class up next fall to count nests and see salmon spawning (and then hopefully make a trip to McNary dam to see the fish runs and ladders and talk about local salmon and the trade-offs associated with the dam/salmon controversy).

By the way, the area was beautiful! And on a totally random note, the man bred some beautiful dogs which were quite funny and friendly companions on our way.