My favorite 487, Sven Erich, Stumpy Buddha, Little Chris, and Buster!

Starting things off, Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, and Happy New Year everybody! Above is a photo of 487 and I on Christmas day. Below is a photo taken a split second after he snapped at my face, coming uncomfortably close to my left eye.



Up next we have Sven - Erich, so named by a couple of our German volunteers. Sven is awesome, but could not discern the differences between an edible fish and my arm/elbow/fingers/ankles. Upon entering the pen, Sven will quietly follow you around, and gaze up at you. He doesn't beg for fish as some of his penguin peers do, but he knows how to tug on your heart strings so you're compelled to feed him. He's tiny, soft and too cute for words.

Sven coming over to check out what I'm doing.

Sven attempting to nibble on my elbow.

Sven trying to eat my fingers. There are very few birds I would do this with, as some of the more aggressive/bigger birds would take your finger off. Well, maybe not off, but they definitely draw blood. Sven is very gentle. He was mostly just testing my finger to see if it was fish. Once he realized no part of me is edible to a penguin, he mostly just looked at me as though to say "Okay, so where's the fish?"




This is 417 - one of my stumpy enemies. At least, he was an enemy. Ever since the introduction of a new stumpy friend, 474, the pair of them have been significantly less ass-hole-ish. Now he mostly just sits in the corner, serenely staring into the sun. I've taken to calling him stumpy Buddha. And the other day, I caught him and 474 preening each other. Sadly, I didn't have my camera but it was really cute. I was initially concerned that they would begin teaming up and plotting against us, but so far it just seems like they make each other happy. Laying down and having an afternoon nap below, is 474. Before he got together with stumpy Buddha, he'd never let me get this close to him without popping up, ready to nip at my nearest passing limb. But now they're both nice! Well, maybe not nice. But nicer!







This is a photo of myself and little Chris, aka 489. He weighs less than an empty wine glass and was super sweet. He was really really ill when we had him. I handled him throughout the day without gloves or arm guards, thats how weak he was. I'm only wearing them in the photo as it was during feeding time, and we had a lot of much more aggresive and reluctant birds to feed. We could barely get him to keep down fish tails, so he went back to penguin ICU. From there, it was discovered that he had bebezia. I'm not entirely sure what this is, but it can often be a precursor to more serious cases of avian malaria, so he went to a place where he could get more care throughout the night. Haven't heard recently how he's doing, but as of yesterday he had made it through the night. Fingers crossed for him!


Buster! He's 477. I had him in ICU when I first started working and his wound has started closing and he's getting stronger so he was moved to Pen 2 about a week ago. Below is a photo of his wound, and believe it or not it looks LOADS better. When he first came in, you could see his insides and air sacs. He was bitten by a seal. With a lot of medication and attention, he's looking like he'll eventually heal up and be able to be released!



I'm very attached to him for some reason. I think it's because he came in the day before I started working, so he's been there consistently the entire time I have. And I've gotten to see how much better he's gotten. I hope I'll eventually get to see him released! I'm already at my 6 week point, so I've only got a few more weeks to go! It's crazy how quickly the time has gone by! I hope the next six weeks will give everyone enough time to prepare for me to talk nonstop about penguins. Or at least work on your "tuning out Sona's inncessant penguin ramblings" skills.