CAN'T DECIDE

What is your favorite thing about your job?  No really?  I think about it. all. the. time.

FAMILY

 RESCUES

                                                                                                                                                                       BLUE SKIES

QUESTIONS

                                    JOKES

KISSES

MORE KISSES

                                                                                                               PUDDLES

GANGSTERS

PALS

 HAYRIDES

 ZZZZZZ'S

    SELFIES                                                                                                                                                                

                                                                     MEMORIES

CONSERVATION.

Goodnight lower 48,

E and Z

sorry Dave and Mrs. Connie

well well well..... it has been entirely too long and I am embarrassed how long I let this post go before posting.  Where do I begin?

babies so far that we have had this summer:

2 musk Oxen: see how big they have grown! Tsuni and Nami!
  But wait they were born on May 12th and May 26th which means now they are nearly 2 months old!  They are now getting 4 bottles a day starting at 8AM.  8am 12pm 4 pm and 8pm.  We give them a mixture of milk matrix and foal lac formula.  when they are about a year old we re-introduce them back to the herd.

Photo credit: Doug Lindstrand 

next up...Richtor and Tectonic.  Well Tectonic wasn't being very photogenic.  

Richtor came from Willow,Ak when he was caught by people, placed on a chain and put in the back yard!  Please, please, please, leave wildlife alone even if you think it is injured or orphaned.  Call your local fish and game and let them handle the situation.  90% of the time you see a baby animal; the mom is somewhere nearby.

Moose calf bottles are held daily at 9am 1pm and 5pm (subject to change once older)

photo credit: Doug Lindstrand

but wait there's more......3 elk calves, 12 mallard ducklings, 26 bison calves, and even 1 sitka black tailed deer named "solstice".  Solstice was born to "Solo" and "Leia"  on the longest day of the year in Alaska 6/21.  Leia has been a great mom and we are very excited to have our first Sitka Black Tailed Deer calf born in captivity.  He turned 1 month old yesterday.

 shows you just how good nature's camo can be...

When fawns are born they spend around 2 weeks just laying in the tall grasses in order to conserve energy and hide from predators.

Solstice really enjoys laying on the hill in his enclosure.

all 3 previous photos credit to Doug Lindstrand......where would my blog be with out him.....








just an update on the yearling musk ox calves from last summer.  Remember Chugach and Wrangle?  Well this is Wrangle 1 year 3 months later and about 250 pounds heavier.  Look at those horns!  also do I need to say....photo credit Doug Lindstrand

 Well I can't do a blog without updating you on my fur baby "Zelda".  She must have weighed in at 30lbs the last time I posted about her.  She is at least 55lbs now (the scale broke so I can't weigh her)  and a handful.  how do people raise human babies?  I mean seriously!  Credit to my parents I must have been a handful!

This picture was taken in front of Virgin Creek Water fall.









our next adventure together was hiking up Northface on Alyeska in Girdwood,Alaska.  We were a little tired in the end....

 Then I took my cousin, Lindsay, up to Portage pass hike in Whittier, Alaska.  We did some yoga poses at the top.  ok, ok, so we only did one yoga pose for this picture.  But we look like pros right?

Next adventure....hiking to Barber Cabin.  If you live in Alaska you have to reserve this cabin!  It is amazing!  It is only like a 3 mile hike in and you stay in a cabin on a lake that you can fish for trout in , have a campfire, and a stove fireplace in the cabin.

Our group was a little excited to say the least.

Talk about excited...Jade the red fox was a little excited for intern Hanna to be giving him a snack.  

Today I snapped a few photos of the elk browse feeding.  A daily chore that we do is to cut browse (branches from trees like cottonwoods, alder, and willow), and then feed them to the Elk, musk Oxen, Moose, sitka deer, moose calves, musk ox calves, reindeer,  and porcupine.

This photo was the before the elk noticed we added fresh branches.

still the "before"....but the ducks new something was going on....
















                                                         "after"!!!!!

We also gave our local celebrity his share of the browse...

Well that was a mouthful of a blog and I apologize to Dave at Bird Treatment and learning Center and to Mrs. Connie in Wisconsin for not posting a blog in so long.  I have let yall down and will get better at it now that I have a new house that I am  living in and the baby animals are doing much better.

Goodnight Lower 48,
Erin and Zelda

fur babies

Skies are blue. babies being born left and right. bottles being made 6 times a day.
yup.  summer is here in full blow.  The bison are still calving and we are at around 30 calves running around in the field together.  It is really hard to actually get a correct number on how many we have now!

   This time of year we also rotate the bison on pastures.  You can see this pasture was ready for a break.  The bison are grazers so of course we get free lawn mowing at the center when needed.

We always have 2 or 3 pastures available with fresh green grass so the others can recover when the bison are rotated.

Every year someone gets the wonderful job of "dragging" the fields on a four wheeler.  Dust is everywhere!  But I am sure you aren't just covered in dust if you think about what else is in the ground......yuck!   However if blood, fecal, and whatever else animal related grosses us out, we may be in the wrong profession.

Sarah had to drag all the pastures so she could then spread grass seed on it to get it growing again.

So reindeer are just domesticated caribou.  They are currently growing their antlers which are covered in velvet.  The velvet is supplying the antler with nutrients causing the antler to continue to grow.  These are just about done growing for this year.  When we notice a white coloration appearing this means the velvet has already started to die off and eventually the velvet is shed and we see the common antler appearance that most of us are familiar with.    Sven is sitting in the front.
He is a 2 year old reindeer that we use in education programs.  He gets his daily walk at 10:45am every day to meet visitors and teach them about reindeer.  they are also shedding their winter coat which is why he has a bad hair day.

The moose don't want their winter coat anymore either.

now onto the fur babies!!!!!!

  

 We had a musk ox calf born on 5/12.  We wait about a month nearly before introducing them to the public.

Meet Tsuni

This picture was when she was 2 days old.

She may not seem to thrilled to be getting this bottle and she wasn't.  However we still offer them a bottle and just the presence of us gets them use to us sooner.

Tsuni was more interested in trying to nibble my chin.

Tsuni was very excited to see Doug Lindstrand taking photos of her.

She isn't camera shy.

Oh did I mention we have another calf?  

Meet Nami.

Nami was born on 5/26 and definitely see Tsuni as her big half sister.

Intern Allison Dahl from Fairbanks, AK was lucky enough to have Doug Capture a feeding she did.

All the photos in today's blog were captured by Doug Lindstrand.

Thanks Doug!

more fur baby photos coming soon.









Now for a picture of my fur baby.

goodnight lower 48,
Erin and Zelda

Trails and puppy dog tails

If this blog title would have sounded good with bison tails in the title I would have added it.  However, it just couldn't roll of the tongue.  May 1st brought us our first calf of the season!  Since then we have had at least 13 Wood bison born!  luckily we don't have to bottle raise these critters.  Their moms do a great job.  We just sit back and literally watch.  We are expecting around 40 calves this summer!

                                                       PHOTO CREDIT:DOUG LINDSTRAND

 Meanwhile the new interns have started rolling in.  Kara was showing newbie intern Jeremy Brooks how to walk a reindeer.

Jeremy is from Montana.  We also have interns this summer from Ohio, Florida, Minnesota, Georgia, New York, and even one from Canada!

I left a few states out but off the top of my head that's all I can remember.

PHOTO CREDIT:DOUG LINDSTRAND

 The black bears are finally awake!  These 2 slept in for nearly 6 months!  I was actually surprised at how long they slept since we didn't have much of a winter.

They must have really liked their new dens.

Kuma was enjoying his view from the top of one of his dens when Doug Lindstrand snapped this photo.



This is a view of one of the bison herds we have here at AWCC.  This herd consists mainly of pregnant females.                              PHOTO CREDIT:DOUG LINDSTRAND

 Meanwhile I still needed to have some summer adventures with the puppy.  The weather we have been having since nearly Easter has just been amazing!

It has been in the high 60's nearly the past 2 weeks!

Zelda and I have really been enjoying the trails opening up early this year with there being hardly any snow on the trails.

You can sort of see the mountain fading out behind us in this photo.

On monday we packed my truck full of backpacks, interns, water, food, and 1 dog; and set forth to conquer Bird Ridge trail.

This 5 mile round trip trail proved to be worth the work when you get paid in views like these!

This photo on the right shows Turnagain Arm directly behind Beth.

2 newbie interns Connor and Jeremy also joined Beth and I on their day off.











 Don't worry she isn't a close to the edge as she looks.....

On wednesday I wanted to stretch my legs on my day off.  I also was VERY sore from that Bird Ridge hike 2 days prior.

After having some coffee I took Zelda out with Tug (my bosses dog).  They immediately jumped into Placier River.  Did I mention that we don't have sand beaches.....they are mud flats!  So I had one dirty dog!

After cleaning Zelda off we loaded up a vehicle once again and went to do a short but scenic hike over in Whittier,AK.  Other than me the other 4 people on the hike had never been to Whittier.

You literally drive through a one way tunnel to enter Whittier.  The tunnel only opens on the half hour to enter.  It opens on the hour to leave.

Talk about literally getting stuck in a town!  the tunnel closes every night at 11PM.

Well we couldn't leave without getting a group photo!  Portage glacier is directly behind us.

We were lucky enough to even see the glacier calve 3 times!

What is calving?  Calving is basically when a glacier has pieces of ice break off it into the water.





Before we even left Whittier; Zelda was passed out in the car and ready for a nap.  We both were!
Tomorrow all the interns and I are off to Seward,AK for some interpretation training.  we only have to leave at 6AM!

I better go get some shut eye!
Goodnight lower 48,
Erin and Zelda