I have perhaps the *best* job in the whole wide world! I work back in Baby Land (the Nursery) at the Wildlife Care Center in South Florida. I also work with a vet that does house calls and on the side as an artist. So at times I work 13-14 hour days, but I love every minute of it. Here are some of my best pictures. I can't say that any of these are my favourite animals because I could never chose.
This is what I get for working with wildlife. I got this from a 7 foot Columbian Redtailed Boa (BIG snake). There are 27 holes in the back of my hand, along with a hairline fracture in one of the bones. It was *NOT* the snakes fault, I had just been working with the mice and I went to handle the snake, dumb.
We are two little Blue Jays that fell out of our nest. And we want FOOD! When we are old enough we will be released back into the wild to fly around and be birds. Please, if you find a baby bird don't try to raise us yourself! Not only do we need a special diet, but we are *very* easily tamed, and this is BAD! We can not make it in the wild if we are 'human friendy', and it is against State Law to keep any native bird as a pet.
Make sure if you find a baby bird that it truly without parents, sometimes they leave the nest of long periods of time. When we first start to fly we will be hopping around on the ground and we don't need your help. If we have no feathers and are on the ground look around for the nest and you can gently place us back inside. It is a *myth* that a mother bird will not return to a nest that has been touched by a human!
Hi! I'm a little Redwing Blackbird. I know that I'm not black yet, nor do I have a red wing stripe. But if I am male I will get them. If I'm female I'll keep this colouring, any problems with that?!
I'm I baby Killdeer. I get very stressed *very* easily and it can kill me. If you find one of me on the gound don't assume that I don't have a Mother, Killdeer don't make proper nests, we nest on the ground. Just keep an eye on me from a distance and see if anyone come to feed me. Give Mum and hour or two before you bring me into a Wildlife Center. If I need to be taken in put me in a dark box and don't bother me. If you work at a Care Center and you can't get your little Killdeer to eat try dried Water Fleas in a shallow dish of water.
FEED US!! We are young Northern Mocking Birds. We are the Offical State Bird of Florida.