200 hundred eggs, 1 swan, and a bunny on a bicycle

first thing is first. This next week is going to require some extra caffeine.  check.  don't worry I didn't share with Zelda.

Next on the to do list...pick up ducklings.
check.

Every year we raise mallard ducklings at the center.  When it is time they fly off with the other wild mallards and join the migration.

Zelda was very curious what the strange sounds coming from the box were.

For our easter event we placed them in the gift store so visitors could see them at 1 week old.

Jeremy and Linda- (gift store) were posing with these ducklings.

Ok so on Easter sunday we held one of our biggest events of the year.  We had all been preparing for weeks getting ready for the big day.

Starting early in the morning we each set up our stations.  Kayla and Teal are posing at the craft station.  The crafts included egg dying and making some bunny ears to wear as a pin on your shirt.

The egg dying craft required that we hard boil 200 eggs!  We figured better over prepare than not.  Plus; when you have a fox, brown bear, black bear, and lynx that enjoy eggs there is never going to be any eggs wasted.

Now onto the other type of eggs we had to prepare.  Of course we had to have an easter egg hunt!  Sarah and kara were hiding the eggs.  don't worry; the easter bunny helped hide them too.

We stuffed about 1,000 easter eggs!

They look like they are having so much fun.....I think they were just mad that they couldn't find the eggs themselves.

Thug life on easter.

We also took advantage of the beautiful weather we were having by adding the hayride.

We were also showing off our new neon hoodies that we started selling in the gift store.  We also thought that they would be good uniforms to wear on easter.  With hundreds of people it would be easy to spot us.

Everyone agreed....it was easy to spot us!

Funny photo.  How could we resist?











Time for the show to begin!  We started the event with a couple of stories.  Kelly, our education director, also had some of her chickens to show off.
We then followed this with our annual easter puppet show.  

We even had a special guest arrive.  The Easter Bunny!  He even stayed and enjoyed the puppet show.

Next up; the Easter bunny hopped all the kids down to the egg hunt area where they all found the hidden eggs.

I think the Easter bunny loved posing for the camera.

Eggs aren't just for the children on Easter.  At the center, many of the animals enjoy easter.  Some of these animals include the lynx.  We set aside 4 raw, yet dyed, eggs for the two lynx.

Teal was cracking the first egg in the photo on the right.

This photo was taken just before we had an unexpected visitor join us.

This crow was paying no attention to the 2 lynx that were very intensely staring him down.

I was afraid we were going to watch mother nature in action in the middle of a lot of kids!

Luckily, the crow got smart and ski-daddled.

Finally the lynx showed some interest in the raw eggs.  I think the vinegar that we used to dye the eggs were not their favorite.

I will make note not to use vinegar next year.









We even had the lovely Kat join us and grill hotdogs for all the visitors.

Kara was on porcupine duty.  This year we decided to let snickers run around on the observation deck once we blocked the entrance off with hay bales.  I think he enjoyed being able to move around.




So after egg dying, bunny hopping, candy eating, puppet skits, story telling, hay rides, chickens flapping, and egg hunting; Easter was a success!

With Easter; we also know animals are going to be arriving soon.

The first signs of spring is when the birds are returning.  Some of the first returnees include swans.


A few days before easter Doug Lindstrand noticed a young swan on the side of the highway unable to fly.  Kayla, Teal, and I went out to observe the swan.  We decided that it was in an unsafe area and therefore captured it.  Now anyone that has worked with swans know that if it takes about 10 minutes to chase and capture a swan in a large open field.....it must be injured, tired, or sick.

I called Bird Treatment and Learning Center in anchorage and alerted them I was on my way.

Basically we believe the swan may have just been tired from migration and simply needed rest.

So after 3 days of rest we released him back into the wild.
In the below photo the 4 girls: Sarah, Kara, Teal, and Kayla were walking the kennel to the edge of the pond for release.




I snapped this photo of moose scat nearby just because I am a nerd and was excited to see a sign of wild moose in the area.  ok back to the swan.....

Doug lindstrand was also there to capture the release on photo.  I wanted to get a photo of him at work.

I am sure Doug has thousands of photos of people in action but not many of himself at work.

These next 2 photos show how talented Doug is at photography.  You can clearly tell the difference between his photos and mine.

The swan is back in the wild and hopefully enjoying the company of other swans at this very moment.

Time for another pup photo!  Zelda has surpassed the kennel in the truck.  she has now climed the passenger seat.  

We also explored the creek that runs through gird wood for the first time.

Good night lower 48.....although it doesn't look like night as much these days.  It is already staying lighter out later and later.