Not Enough Time in a Day

Howdy,

It has been over a month now here in Florida. "Winter" is here but that just means cooler nights and mornings. I have done a little bit on my days off. I have been to Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, kayaking/canoeing here at the conservancy, bowling, bike riding, running, to the mall, and to a couple of movies. It is very convenient if something is within biking distance like the corner store, mall, post office, park, newly opened grocery store, and beach. I try to ride my bike or walk whenever I can. Here are some pictures from the sights so far.

Freedom Park

This is an anhinga that hangs out at Freedom Park, the park we jog to in the mornings.

Same anhinga, it guards the sign at one of the ponds. You can tell it is a male based on its color. Males are black and females are more of a tawny color, at least adults are.

 

This is the anhinga from the park that I recorded as he was vocalizing. You have to turn it up kind of loud, he sounds like a frog, you can see his pouch flare out on his mouth as he vocalizes.

This is a great egret. It flew right by my head and landed...(see below)

 

 ....here! Right on the railing beside me. They are rather large birds.

This is a glossy ibis, they are more rare than a regular ibis so it was quite a sight to see.

 

Freedom Park is a work in progress. It was started in 2008 and use to be an orange grove. The park is there to educate people about the natural habitat, wetlands, and water usage of Florida while restoring and improving upon these issues. It is a great place for wildlife too. Also, a memorial is currently being built. Me and another intern jog to the park in the mornings when our schedules allow it. We like to look for wildlife once we get there as you can tell from the pictures above.

 

Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary

Banded Water Snake

Brown Anole, commonly seen in Texas too but green anoles are more abundant. Here in Florida brown anoles are everywhere, when you walk out the door you see an anole.  

Butterflies

The boardwalk at Corkscrew.

Corkscrew before entering the tall trees.

I thought this was a neat picture.

 

Gator! Can you find him?

 

I think Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary is technically part of the Florida Everglades, one of many parts of the Everglades. We saw numerous birds, a mammal or two, and some reptiles. It was amazing! I could have stayed there all day watching the wildlife. 

 

Like I said before I can not get pictures from work because of the policies and the time constraints, no time for pictures. I will do my best to remember to take pictures when we do something outside of work. If you are on facebook you can see the pictures of the pelican release I went on.

 

Thanksgiving! Gobble gobble :)

A volunteer in the wildlife rehab department invited all of the wildlife rehab staff and interns over for Thanksgiving dinner. Her and her husband cooked us an entire Thanksgiving meal! It was much appreciated and delicious. They were very kind to do that for us. They had a beautiful apartment overlooking the ocean too. We ate, drank, and played a game. Then afterwards all the interns went back to do night feedings because no one was working the late shift.

 

Work Update

I have learned most of the shifts now. I am still learning turtles though because that is usually done by the night person and I have only been on night shift once now. No major disasters so far. I have been on a pelican and opossum release and a coyote rescue. Anddddd I got to rescue an anhinga with Livvy (running buddy) on our way back from our run one morning.

 

I have learned a lot but there is just as much still to learn. I need more experience with phone calls and admitting animals. I never have been a people person so that is something I will have to work on. My biggest fear is doing something wrong that will impact the animal. I also need to work on setting up treatment plans for new patients but that comes with admitting animals. I think most of what I still need to work on only comes with time and learning by doing.

 

 

Till next time, Adios :)



Florida Here I Am!

Hello from Florida,

I have decided to resume my blog for my next internship here in Florida upon popular demand. I will do my best with pictures, but we don't have the time or permission to take pictures while at work.

I just finished my first week of work/internship here at the Southwest Florida Conservancy in Naples, Florida. We are about an hour away from the Everglades and I am just blocks away from the Gulf of Mexico.

For the first two weeks of my internship I am working with the outdoor animals who are either permanent residents or are the closest rehab animals ready for release. They require the least amount of handling and care usually, so theoretically outside is easier to learn than the inside of the clinic. From what I have done so far (only the outside), my duties aren't complicated it is more a matter of remembering everything that I have or need to do for my "outside person" responsibilities. We have giant dry erase boards in every room that keep track of patients' feedings and medications and then in my case we have other boards in the kitchen that keep track of outside duties and feedings. There is A LOT to remember and do in the span of an 8 (usually ends up being 9-10) hour shift. We just keep moving from the time we arrive to the time we leave. We do have an hour lunch break, but it flies by. I have been told once or twice that I am doing a good job and have been thanked by a staff member for working hard. I must be doing ok then for my first week on the job. Then again they could have just been saying that because I am new, only time will tell. It is a very physically demanding job, but I am enjoying it thus far. I even got to drive the huge van already and use the flamethrower to clean a cage! SUCCESS!

In terms of where I live and work, we are housed on the conservancy's property in an intern dormitory which is right next door to all the buildings where interns work: the wildlife clinic, discovery center for education interns, administration building, and policy and education departments. Everything is within walking distance so we walk to and from work and come home for lunch. The intern dormitory has two halls and a kitchen for each hall. We share a common living and dining room area that has a huge table and chairs, three couches, a tv and dvd player, dorm wifi, board games, books, etc. Everyone has their own shelf in the fridge, pantry, and laundry room; it is understood that you don't mess with anybody's stuff. Ww also claim a bowl for fruit and veggies that we want to leave out on the counter. The kitchen is fully stocked with everything from pots and pans to paper towels to blenders. If we run out of something and it is not in storage we tell our intern coordinator. We have access to washers and dryers that we don't have to pay for too.

This is the middle of the two kitchens. As you can see, there are two fridges and two freezers, a sink, a dishwasher (you can't see it, it's on the right of the sink in the corner), a toaster, a stove, an oven, and storage space on both sides.

 

 

This is the side that I use because I am in the left hallway. The pantry is on the left and then you can see our set of appliances now.

Each side of the hallway has a communal, co-ed bathroom with two showers each. There are only 2 guys right now so it's not that bad; there are doors on everything and it seems like we respect each others' privacy pretty well. I currently don't have a roommate so I am using a little bit of the other side of the room too. I don't think we will be getting anyone else for a while. A lot of us don't have roommates right now. I would estimate there are between 15-20 interns at the moment. I am the newest one.

 This is my room, or my side of it at least. I have a desk, a closet attached to my desk, my bed, and a cork board on my wall.

This is me being greedy. I am using some of the other side as storage since I don't have a roommate. 

The interns have been welcoming and kind to me. They invite me to events when they go somewhere. This week we already went to a wine tasting event, the farmers' market, and to the beach. Oh and did I mention the zoo is right in our backyard. It is literally less than a mile away. If you turn right off of our street the next thing you come to is the Naples Zoo! We can here the howler monkeys and lion on a daily basis. Haven't been there yet, it is on my list.

Hanging out in the sand at the beach.  Hannah (intern) and I biked our way to the beach.

This is a shorebird called a willet that was foraging for food while we were at the beach.  

No seaweed!!! Their beaches have a steeper incline than at home. 

It seems that the wildlife interns invite everyone, but most of the time no one goes with them so wildlife interns are a tight bunch. Wednesday night we are going bowling :) Most of the interns are in their twenties with the exception of two who are around 30 and leaving soon. There is a wide variety when it comes to where everyone is from. We have interns from Louisiana, South Carolina, Wisconsin, Oklahoma, Texas, and a few others (no internationals allowed unless from Canada).  


The Naples community is primarily made up of retired people who drive pretty fast considering their age haha. It is sunny here with lots of palm and pine trees, big fancy houses with beachfront property, and lots of wildlife including numerous gopher tortoises. There aren't any HEB stores here of course but the stores are similar to Texas as far as fast food and some grocery stores go.

Some of the animals I have seen so far include lots of cormorants (a shorebird), pelicans, bald eagles (they are awesome!!!), gopher tortoises, the typical raccoons, squirrels, opossums, gulls, barred owls, great horned owls, barn owls, chicken turtles, osprey, and red tailed and red shouldered hawks. We have a resident great horned owl named Morris who is blind and every day we take him outside for the day so he can get some sun and fresh air. The resident bald eagle named Emma looks after him during the day and alerts us to any danger that may be near by. If you have never heard what a bald eagle TRULY sounds like you should watch this video. I didn't know this until about a week ago.  Although I did not record it, it is very accurate and is not what you probably expected:

Bald eagle vocalization: Click on the play button in the middle.

One last thing, if you would like my address here it is:

Sarah Englebert
WRC Intern
1450 Merrihue Drive
Naples, Florida 34102

Make sure you include the WRC Intern because that tells them what department to send it to.

That's all I have so far. See ya!

The End is in Sight

I only have a few weeks left up here in America's dairyland; how the time flies when you are having fun! The two staff members that the interns work with at the center, Chelsea and Mandy, invited the five of us that were left over to Mandy's parents tiki bar at their house. It was a fun night filled with stories from before we got there all the way up to the present. We heard about all their animal nightmares, shared some laughs and fond memories, and just had a relaxing girls night.
 
Since I am nearing the end of my internship, I felt the urge to take as many pictures of our patients as possible so here are some of them below:
 

I see you too. These guys and girls will be moving to an outdoor enclosure soon, one step closer to being released into the wild.

 

 

They no longer fit in their igloo.

 

 

Opossum pile! There are 6 opossums here, can you find them all?

 

 

 I was cleaning her tail when she decided to explore the camera.

 

 

You caught me, I am eating yes.  

 
 

An eastern gray squirrel enjoying its newly replenished food.

 

 



 If you could only hear them when they eat, they make kind of a grrrrrrr sound in intervals.

 

 

 A cedar waxwing, a really neat looking songbird. This little guy likes to perch on the zipper of the enclosure while he gets fed.

 
 

Here are all 6 of them, one is hiding in there somewhere. They have an awesome face mask coloration and then yellow tipped tail feathers which are kind of hard to see in this picture.

 

 

One of the other interns, also named Sarah, cleaning a grosbeak. The grosbeak was attacked by a blue jay, they are one of the bigger birds of the songbird group.

 

 

Mr. Fox, red fox that is, who was released yesterday!

 

 

King of his hill.

 

 

Enjoying the sunlight on his log.

 

 

Daphne was talking to me.

 

I disturbed her from her sleep, once again she is talking to me. She likes to bob her head and stretch her neck forward when she is excited or talking, like she is doing here.

 

 
I saw a muskrat for the first time this week, we had one that was admitted because it was caught in a window well. See below:

Webbed foot of the muskrat along with its muscular tail. Muskrats are avid swimmers and only urinate and defecate in water so he was provided with a "litter pan" full of water.

 

That is what a muskrat looks like from the front, they are very good jumpers. 

 
 

My babies, these are a few of the raccoons that we raised from babies. They are now outside and ready for release any day.

 

 

 One curious raccoon, until you try to touch him and then he acts like a raccoon.

 

 

Enjoying his dinner. Raccoons have a funny way of chewing, their jaw is not very flexible.

 

 

They are getting to be pretty big.

 

 

Exploring one of their toys. They love climbing, naturally.

 

 

One of our smaller great horned owls believe it or not. His cage is getting cleaned and he is given fresh food and water while one of us holds him. I say "him" because in the raptor world males are usually smaller than females as adults. 

 
On my last set of days off I was fortunate enough to get the chance to visit some of my relatives up in Green Bay. My cousin Melissa came to get me and we drove back to Green Bay where we had lunch with my great Aunt Suzie and uncle Tom Englebert. I haven't seen them in years, it was great to get to see them again especially when I am this close.

Tom and Suzie at Kroll's.  

Meliss and I with Lambeau Field in the background. 

Then Melissa took me to Lambeau Field, home of the Pack! Now I am not much of a football fan but even I have to admit that place was impressive and outrageously gigantic, unlike anything I have ever seen.

 

The golden or should I say green gates to Lambeau Field.

 

 

 

 

Packer training center, right across from the stadium.

 



We went home to meet Snoopy and Woodstock, her two shih tzu dogs. I met her husband Roger as well, a very nice guy. Melissa and I took a trip out to a local zoo called the NEW Zoo. It was quite chilly that day but I enjoyed the animals. It was a lot more unrestricted in terms of the animals' enclosures, they looked like they were free to move around more than in a traditional zoo. We got to feed their giraffes too!

 Melissa feeding the shy giraffe who will only allow you to pet her while she is eating, she needs a bribe.

 

Gorgeous white pelican, we normally have brown ones in south Texas. I LOVE PELICANS!

 

This one is for Sis, a beautiful snow leaopard. In the same cat family as her white tiger.

 

A burrowing owl who is a little cold at the moment. I LOVE OWLS TOO!! 

A confused bald eagle. 

Once we got home we had homemade lasagna (big THAK YOU to Aunt Suzie for her delicious food contribution!) with salad and tea, yummmmmmm :) Then for desert we went to Culver's to buy an ice cream cake and stopped at Seroogey's chocolate store on the way. Melissa and Roger were literally like kids in a candy store, they were picking out things I should get to take with me, "do you like this? then you need to take one, Oh you like caramel? then you need one of these, You need a meltaway bar, but you can't just take one so take a few different kinds" haha, it was a lot of fun needless to say. Unfortunately I had to come back the next day because I had work the day after. Even though my stay was short I really had a fantastic time. It's not every day that I get to hang out with my cousins, kind of hard to find them since I don't have any first cousins. Thanks Roger and Melissa for welcoming me into your home and treating me like royalty!!!
 
This week's days off don't consist of many excitng adventures: laundry, bank, grocery stores, cooking, writing letters, etc. Linda wanted to venture in her backyard yesterday when she got home from work so I tagged along right before it got dark. Her "backyard" by the way is all woods so we took a little hike and found the trails that the landlord's son uses for hunting.

One of the few good things about cold weather is that it means fall is here. I am here just long enough to see the fall colors come in.

 

 

Great shot of the moon when we emerged from the woods. 

 
Did I also mention that it is getting COLD up here already!!! We are in the 40s and 50s at night and reach the 70s during the day most recently. We had a thunderstorm roll through with hail so when I went to work at 9am there was ice on my windshield much to my surprise. I am from SOUTH Texas, not NORTH Texas, I miss the heat. It is a good thing I am getting out of here soon. I don't think I could function in snow and ice on a regular basis.

Ice on my windshield!

 
 
My exciting days off have concluded with making homemade guacamole (mhmmmmm) and watching the season premieres of my favorite shows, good enough for me.