Happy Halloween!

Halloween has arrived!!!  These past few days leading up to the 30th we were getting ready for our Halloween event here at the center.  For 3 days we have been setting up haybales, streamers, games, and plenty of spider webb for decorations.  This pumpkin on the right was part of a game as well.  I worked the porcupine station.  Snickers, our porcupine was in the old fox cage.  We had pin the quill on the porcupine, and a guessing game to guess how many quills were in a jar....there were 225.    We also had a bean bag toss, scat trail, Guess the animal, and a special guest from Bird TLC did a Great Horned Owl presentation.  All of the employees were excited to dress up. 

My roomate Meredith dressed as a polar bear.  Guess what I was.....

a porcupine!  Don't worry, I didn't smell like snickers.












Jeremy was our hotdog griller....so his costume was perfect.

Jonathan, the other intern that works with me, was Scat Man.  He worked the scat trail.  We made a fake trail lined with 8 different types of Scat.  The kids would walk along the trail and learn how to identfy what animals had been in the area.

  At the end of the night the group that worked the event possed for a group picture.

From left to right: Scat Man, Aaron who wore a german outfit, hotdog guy, a bumblebee, Mike our executive director wore a pink cowgirl hat, Kelly was a witch, and meredith and I are on the bottom row. 

Today I woke up and looked out my window to see 3 imches of snow!!!!  Winter is here!

 I spotted a young bald eagle in a tree.  The snow brought lots of eagles and ravens today looking for food. 









On my way to work I hopped out of the car to watch the cubs play in the snow.  Shaggy had snow all over her face.

 Taquka had dug out a hole and was laying in it.  He finally looked up when I called his name.

The Roosevelt elk was laying next to Jack the moose.  I tried to get a pic with both of them in the picture.  Jack moved before I could get the both of them. 

 I had meredith take a quick picture to show how much snow we had today. By the end of the day we had 6 inches and still counting! 

 At the end of the day I went to give the calves some donated bananas. 

 After I finished I made a drive around the center to check on the big bears.  Unfortunately they were not posing very well.  I did take a few more snap shots to show how white it really. 

I can't wait to wake up and look out my window tomorrow morning!  We are going sledding and building a snow man.  I will do two things tomorrow that I have never done before! 

Goodnight Lower 48,
ErIn

I'm Baaaaaaack!

I am Back from Minnesota!  So much has happened since I have been gone!  First thing is first, I had a wonderful time visiting my boyfriend, Scott, in Minnesota.  We went to an Atmosphere concert, I met his friends from his fraternity, and he showed me around his home town in Shakopee,MN.  It was also homecoming weekend while I was there.  I got to meet up with an old college friend who is going to med school now. The trip went by way too fast.  I feel like I never even left the wildlife center!  I am very excited for the next trip to MN.  Maybe Mall of America next?

The cubs were very playful on the day I headed out to MN.  they are starting to slowly get ready for hibernation.  I notice that they are laying around more and more every day.  The black bears are even more lazier than the cubs.  Uli, the  7 year old female, has already started napping longer and longer.  She will go days before I see her make an appearance.   

Today I headed into town to pick up some last minute party supplies for Halloween.  This is the reason I haven't blogged since I got back from MN.  There is lots of stuff to get together.  On the 30th we are having a free party for kids at the center.  I will be doing a porcupine presentation, there will be a bean bag toss  (done by my awesome roomate Meredith), live Owl presentation, hot dogs, and other fun games.  On the drive back from Anchorage I whipped out my camera to take a few snap shots...don't worry I wasn't driving. 

I always love taking pictures of the skies.  Something about the clouds that I just love....

While we were in town we ran across a mother Moose and her calf.  They almost seem the same size in the picture.  I believe the mother is on the left and the calf is on the right.  They literally ran right through a school parking lot!

 This is how close they were to our car...

How would you like to look out your classroom window and see a moose in the front?

 Or taking a lovely stroll and come across a mama moose!  Do De Do De Do just enjoying this nice lovely weather on a nice stroll......Oh my goodness there is a moose!  I imagine that's what this lady thought below....

The weather lately has attracted lots of bald eagles at the center.  Yesterday I saw 3 just perched in trees in the black bear enclosure alone!   We could be getting snow any day now.  I can't wait!

This picture below is a juvenile Bald Eagle.  They get their white feathers at 5 years old roughly. 

I am hoping the weather is nice tomorrow so that I can get the party stuff together much easier.  Plus, it is always a good reason to take a break and drive around getting pictures to show my blog readers. ;)

Goodnight Lower 48!

Erin

Thanks to Mrs. Rhonda and Mrs. Sharon for reading my blog!

Vacation on Vacation

Well the time is almost here!  I leave tomorrow for a week in Minnesota!  I have to say that it will be a nice vacation.  But wait a minute.....I already am on vacation!  Some people might say that it's nice to get away from work...in a way I guess it is nice to travel and see someone very special to me (wink).  I will miss the animals while I am away, and snow could be here any minute! 

I apologize for the long absence in blogging.  Until today the weather has been sort of crummy.  I really didn't want to take my new camera out in the rain.  Today, I am working in the ticket booth; and of course the sun is out and the rain is way.  I guess it could be much worse.....

The past few days I have been chucking tangerines like crazy to all the animals.  We have received 2 pallets of tangerines and clementines from COSTCO.  So in order for the fruit not to go bad too fast we are throwing them to the animals every day until they are all gone. 

The lynx are doing well.  They have reached the point when I walk by they recognize me.  Obviously it has nothing to do with the fact that I am only 1 of 2 people that gives them cat food, raw chicken, or moose on a daily basis.....

                            Taquka and shaggy are huge!  They must weight 250 pounds now! 

This is the younger of the 2 bull musk ox.  I was throwing their daily tangerines.  The musk ox probably enjoy the tangerines more than any other animal at the center.

Yesterday, Sunday, we had a donation of bananas brought to us.  Of course I headed straight to the bull moose first.  Jack and Chimo instantly recognized the bananas from the fence.  Bananas are just about the only thing that can make these 2 lazy moose get up. 

On saturday and sunday I fed the big bears.  Now that the bears are getting ready to hibernate they are getting about half the amount they typically get.  Patron may even go into hibernation in just about 2 weeks.  Joe Boxer, in this picture, has a filet of salmon from sunday night's dinner.  Hugo and Joe Boxer will probably stay awake until the end of november. 

Well I better go pack for Minnesota!

Goodnight Lower 48

and Happy Late Birthday to Mrs. Rene!

Yet again....we have another sunny day!

Yesterday I had another day outside in the sun.  I spent some extra time hanging out with Snickers.

He was trying to get me to give him some carrots.  After he was out of the carrots he also had turnips, grain, and the last of our home grown broccoli from our garden. 

Later, I received an email from Doug Lindstrand with this photo:

It was a bull moose in downtown Achorage.  It is hard to imagine our moose calves, Gilly and Nelson, getting this big!  By next year they will have gained about 600 pounds their first year of life! 

We recently received 2 pallets full of tangerines and oranges.  The moose calves didn't know what to think when I gave them some.  We also like to make sure the adult moose also get anything with extra vitamin C. 

Today was a different kind of work day.  Instead of working outside, I actually had to run to town for a few errands.  I also picked up a tripod for my new camera and tested it out on the way home.  As I got to the center I went to one of my favorite spots at the center.  At the end of our property we have what we call "The Point". 

Next blog I will post a few more panoramics. 

                                                 Goodnight Lower 48,
                                                          ErIn

sunny day off

 Today was my day off.  I finally had a day off where it was sunny outside.  I decided to walk around the center and test out my camera again.  The first pictures I took were of Kuma our 7 year old black bear.  He was sun bathing above his den.

Next up our Wood Bison were grazing on a new Bale of Hay.

 This young bull seemed to be enjoying his fresh hay.
















The bear cubs were running around in the sunlight.  It seems that all the animals were also taking advantage of one of the last sunny days of the year.  In this picture Shaggy seems to be as big as Hugo; our 11 year old grizzly. 

Taquka finally followed Shaggy over to the fence.

Once Shaggy realized I didn't have any food she simply layed down. 

Taquka did the opposite......he went to splash around in the water.

 I went in with the lynx when I noticed that they were actually moving around in their enclosure.  When I went in Kaltag immediately was interested in what I was doing.  You can really see the notch on Kaltag's right ear.  This is how they are able to identify between the two sisters.   

 We just received a fresh crate of tangerines from Costco a few days ago.  The musk ox were enjoying a recent delivery of the tangerines.

This is one of the 2 bulls that we have at the center.  This is the younger of the two.  We call him "Fluffy".   

Next on my walk around the center, I went to visit the 3 brown bears.  Hugo had some left over moose from a few days ago. 

Joe Boxer was also munching on some left over moose.  He stayed and played with it in the water for the next 20 minutes.  I was able to get a series of shots of him playing with the bones. 

In this first picture he was hanging out by the bears' favorite spot in the whole lake. 

 Here he would drop the bone and swim under water to find it again.

 Last, he was finally throwing the bone around and splashing around in the water. 

P.S. Just learned how to use my Panoramic Maker...
We call this spot at the end of the property "The Point"