This certainly beats having a day job!

The view of Table Mountain from Dolphin Beach, walking distance from the house in Table View

Cape Town in the background, near the start of the cableway up Table Mountain. It was too windy to ride the cable way up to the summit, but I'm planning on it sometime soon.

I've gotten crazy busy (aka lazy) and need to play catch up on the latest events, so here goes:

Two day total of bites: 3, 2 that drew a teeny tiny bit of blood

Two day total of times I've been pooped on: Immeasurable. I've accepted that while I'm working, I more likely than not am covered in guano. The sound that is made when the penguins poop is hilarious though - I swear it sounds like it should be straight out of a cartoon. 

Summary: South Africa is awesome and penguins are incredible, (and stronger than one would think).

So lets see, I worked on Thursday and Friday. Thursday I was in Pen 2 - this is the pen where they house birds that aren't quite ready for release or have just been moved out of the ICU. 

I worked with two lovely ladies, one a former Brit who's living in South Africa longer than she did in the UK, and another Cape Town native. They were both lovely and very helpful. I also got a kick out of how the referred to me as "love" all day. For example, "Could you get the water, love?" or "Would you mind hosing the guano off the mats, love?" 

Along with that, they were both seasoned vets when it came to working with and handling the birds. I learned quite a bit from both of them, and they were great in helping me get more comfortable with the little guys. 

The next day, I was back in ICU and I put the skills I acquired during the week to good use. I finally handled, fed, and tubed all on my own! It's amazing how much more comfortable I feel with the birds than I did when I started. To be honest, I was scared out of my wits at first! But now, it's really fun! And I have a great sense of accomplishment after a successful feed/tubing. Granted, I haven't tried working with any of the adult birds that are at full health yet, those buggers are much stronger than you'd think and their beaks pack quite the bite. 

I had my first and only weekend off, so I got to do a bit of exploring around the city, which was very fun. I took one of those open top bus tours with a fellow volunteer, Jon. Our day was cut a bit short after lunch in Camps Bay, when the weather went from lovely and sunny to windy as hell and rainy. Still, was a nice way to get around the city. The next day was spent wandering around Dolphin beach and watching the kite surfers and taking in the incredible view of Table Mountain.

I will DEFINITELY publish more picture of penguins soon - for now though, it's time for bed and my internet connection's speed is driving me nuts. 

Did I say "hate" before? Yeah, I definitely take that back.

                 These are some of the penguin blues (babies that aren't chicks) that I was taking care of in ICU 

Number of times I was pooped on today: More than 4, Less than 7.

Number of times Lionel snapped his monstrous beak at me: 3

Number of times something adorable or funny happened: Too many to count.

I immediately regret saying I hated birds. Today was AWESOME, and I'm really starting to grow quite fond of the little poop and fish regurgitation machines. You get used to the smell after a while, and they've all got funny little personalities and ways about them. I think some of them are starting to grow fond of me, as well. I won't go so far as to say some of them like me, because I'm sure they'd still tear one of my fingers off if given the opportunity.

I learned the following things today:

1) How to tube. This is the process by which you administer fluids to the penguins. A brave handler or volunteer with take the usually unwilling bird, hold him against their body, open the birds beaks and push a tube connected to a large plastic syringe down the birds throats. They then push the contents of the syringe down the tube and effectively into the birds stomach. It's important to be the tube down the throat, and not the air hole. Doing this could drown and kill the bird, which is why I was understandably a little nervous to give it a go. I didn't actually hold the birds while I tubed - that'll be for tomorrow. My volunteer buddy was a lovely British woman who held their beaks open while I tried my hand at tubing. She took a few nips in the process, and was still a total sweet heart to me the entire time. I love older people with accents.

2) How to successfully carry the penguins around. Sometimes those cheeky buggers don't really want to be picked up, and you've got to hold their bodies for dear life or they'll squirm around and either bite you, fall to the ground, or both at once. I got much better at it as the day progressed.

3) There is such a thing a projectile poop. And that shit can go far. 

(Sorry for the pun, I couldn't help it).

4) Do not look Lionel directly in the eyes. 

Lionel was walking about outside his enclosure today. I was enlisted in helping a fellow volunteer clean out his enclosure while he was having his stroll around the outside of the pen. This was tricky, in that Lionel is not terribly fond of me, and I had to enter his personal space (I give his personal space about a four foot radius). One of the times I made the mistake of looking him in the eye as I backed away, he extended his prehistoric wings and made a snap at my face with his giant beak. I let out a little yelp and jumped back about a foot, but I don't think anyone saw me, so I was saved the embarrassment of being scared in front of everyone else. 

When the enclosure was clean, I offered to assist my co-worker with getting Lionel back in the enclosure. This is when it got interesting. We approached the pelican from either side, trying to trap him against a door that led to the swimming pool for some of the penguins. Lionel, sensing our intent, managed to jump up on the thin gate that separated his area from the pool. He teetered there off balance for about 5 minutes, while we stood there scratching our heads. He then found a perch on the side of the pool, where he spent the remainder of his day lounging. He'd occasionally flap his wings (which are longer than I am tall) and snap his beak together. There was a time when the ICU penguins were going for a swim, and he longingly watched them like a fat man on a diet at a buffet. 

All in all, I'm starting to love it. 

First Day with the Penguins

               I'm very excited to be holding this plastic beaded penguin before work. 

In making the decision to come to South Africa and learn to rehabilitate penguins, I seem to have forgotten an important aspect of my personality. That being - I hate birds.

Well, hate is a strong word. I'm sure that in the coming weeks, I will grow to love these darling little tuxedoed fellows. After my first day, I'm already much less scared of them than I was when I first walked into the enclosures and saw the amount of shit they were standing it, and snapping they were doing at each other.

I am not, however, any less afraid of the pelican, Lionel. In fact, I'm fairly certain Lionel has it out for me. He snapped his gigantic beak at me on at least 3 separate occasions today, and as I was scrubbing the poop out of his enclosure, I could feel his eyes boring into the back of my skull. And I don't think I'm being a big wuss when it comes to Lionel. His beak is the entire length of my arm and he is large enough, to paraphrase Martin Lawrence, to be declared "a thick ass bird". 

The first thing that strikes you of the enclosures is the smell. It's not quite fishy, and it's not quite poopish. It's the actual smell of the penguins. I imagine it could be likened to that of sex panther; a raccoon caught in a copier would only be slightly worse. The really bizarre part is how quickly you get used to it. It really doesn't bother you again until you get home and you can't get the smell off your skin and spend an hour in the bathroom scrubbing away at your arms until you give up and just spray a bunch of green tea body splash on yourself and hope that no one notices.
(I feel bad for the girl who is sleeping in the bunk next to mine).

My actual activities of the day varied. I was assigned to the ICU, where penguins and other sea birds, such as cormarinds, that are weak or injured reside. I had an orientation with the volunteer coordinator for about an hour in the morning, then right into the pens.

It was a lot of cleaning, observing, cleaning, learning how to hold the birds, getting pooped on, cleaning, getting pooped on again, observing more, etc. The volunteer I was following was a super nice, French girl. To hold the penguins, you have to grab them by the sides of their heads and sort of support their bodies against yours. Some birds are... resistant. 

During my orientation, I was told it's not a question of getting bitten. It's a question of how often you get bitten. It was said sort of implying "if you don't suck at this, and aren't a complete f-up, you will learn how to avoid getting bitten".

I have a feeling I'm going to be coming home with a lot of penguin bites. 

More updates to come as my week and (hopefully) skills progress.

Leaving LA, Heading to Capetown

Firstly, for the JGA: Boobs. 

Dawson's Creek sucks.