baBIES, BABIES, bABieS!!!

It's getting to be that time of year again....babies!  Bison calves are expected any day now.  We had to do a bit of bison wrangling last week after work.  Last year's youngest calf has been limping a bit so we decided to pull him from the herd so we could better examine him.  This first pic was before Scott and I ran into the herd to grab the calf.  Mike Miller is driving the tractor so he could feed the grain out to separate the herd.

 ok it's go time!  Let's go get this bison!

 ok.....that calf was faster than we thought.....he is back in the herd now what?

In the end the calf was captured and was started on a round of penicillin to get his abscess taking care of.  We have been calling him "Rocky".  

 Later, in the week we snow machined out to Spencer Glacier.  It was so cool to be on a lake I went kayaking on last summer.  Kara in the first picture is a returning intern from last summer.  Kara plans on staying in Alaska more than just a summer. :)







Kara, Sarah, and I all went out to the glacier.  once we returned; Sarah and I went out a second time with Jeremy, another co-worker.

Now I can explain the title of this blog.  We have musk ox calves!

 Ok, Ok, I know this is a pink shoestring hanging around this calf, but he is a boy.  In fact, they both are.  We named them Chugach and Kenai is the younger one in the back.  They are named after alaskan mountain ranges.

 On another note; we had a photo shoot using some of our animals.  Roxy, the clothing brand for girls, had some models that they wanted to get pictures of with our animals.  it is not a very close photo but if you look hard enough you might see a little fur ball on the log with the model.  any guesses which critter it was?

Snickers!  He did so well!  In the end they got all the pictures they had hoped for.




We still had the school programs going as well.  On wednesday Sarah and I went to Chugiak Elementary with Snickers.  We then went to another school in anchorage to do another 2 programs on bones and Fur.  Whew!  This has been a busy few weeks!

 So after all that serious work I felt like pulling a prank on someone.  What do you do when you have 133 balloons that need a home?  You fill your room mates room up with them of course!

no need to explain the outcome....

 Oh but just when we thought the calves were done arriving with our musk ox a third one was born!  This little guy, and yes I said it was a boy, his name is Wrangle.  So the 5 streak male calves continues with our Musk Ox.









I ended my busy week with Keeper for a day on Saturday.  We had a group of 6 kids ranging from 4rth-6th grade.  They came ready to work.  we made more paper maches for snickers, bear popsicles, and even taped up hay bales.  Well that sounds like a productive day to end on.

Goodnight Lower 48,
Erin

Keeper for a Day

We couldn't have asked for a better day than to show 11 kids around the center what we do on a daily basis.

The age of the kids ranged from 3yrs-7yrs.  This year the size of the group doubled from last year!  I am excited that word is getting about about all of our programs.  After we walked the kids out to the brown bears and did a bit of training; we went to the barn and did a couple of different crafts.

One of the crafts that we did with the kids was make paper maches.  They were making these for our porcupine snickers.  It was really messy!  Good thing it was just flour and water!

DID I MENTION THAT IT WAS VERY MESSY!

 We also made bear pops.  We layed a variety of treats on the table and the kids would make their own bear popsicles.  We then put them in the freezer and will use these to feed to our Black bears through out the week.   We had celery, crackers, dog food, peanut butter, honey, peanuts, carrots, and then topped the mixtures off with snapple juice.   mmmmmmm those black bear are going to love these goodies.

 Today was an awesome day to spot Bald Eagles around our center.  I think we counted at least 5 or 6 different eagles.  This juvenile flew in and landed just above a mature Bald Eagle.  I don't think the adult eagle really appreciated his space being invaded by this younger eagle.

 Later, once the center was closed, the sun was still out and I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to catch some more photos.  I rarely get to photo eagles perched this close together.  they were hanging around the brown bear enclosure hoping to catch some scraps.














Even the wood bison were photogenic today.  Usually when I approach them this close they run off.  They must have been thinking I was going to feed them or something.  This young female was getting closer and closer.  Notice her horns....she has her left one really worn down.  It is possible for bison to lose a horn.  However, since horns are permanent they do not grow them back if they lose them.

Tomorrow is my day off and I don't know what I am going to do.  If the weather stays beautiful like this I might just have to go on an adventure!

Goodnight Lower 48,
ErIn