Long time, no update!

^The reason why we were so busy the past few weeks! These little cotton tails take so long to feed, fortunately some have grown up, but sadly others didn't make it




^ I finally got a good view of the Island from Young Hill, a nice little hike on the west side



^Our Red Tailed Hawk got released back into the wild! Yay!




^ Shrike and Eskimo...two of the newest harbor seals! We now have eight! Eskimo is "my" harbor seal because I got to name him...at the bottom there's a video!



^ Barn and tree swallows...some of our MANY birds!


Sorry I haven't updated for a while! I've just been getting lazy I guess!

I've done a few harbor seal midnight feeds so far and at first it was a little spooky! It's very dark and quiet out there but after a while things feel like a normal work day. My first night was the worst though, because earlier that day one of the interns asked if there had ever been any gruesome murders on the island because she's always scared when she's out there. Of course that's all I could think about, but we have Mr. Whitenose the cat to protect us, so it's all good! (BTW there haven't been any reported murders)

Exciting news...I got a library card! I had to bring in a note from the center saying I'm living/working here on the island, but now I'm in! I've been getting old movies to watch here with the other interns, like An Affair to Remember. After seeing Sleepless in Seattle I always wanted to see this movie, all the other girls said the same thing...we all loved it, talk about an emotional roller coaster!
Last week I went on a little hike up Young Hill, that had an amazing view of the west side of the island. Back home there are so many hills and mountains to climb, I was really missing that! It was good to get a view my surrounding, maps just aren't the same! On the way back I stopped at a little country store to buy some eggs and fresh ice cream. There are so many little farms around here(even an alpaca ranch), but unfortunately I have to work during farmer's market, so this was a nice treat!
One new thing I got to do at work was practice holding the owls! It's tricky because you have to wear these giant gloves so it's hard to tell if you have a grip on their little legs or not. I guess I didn't quite have a grip because while we were feeding the Barred Owl it reached out and clasped onto the other girl's finger! I felt so bad, fortunately there was no blood but it was still shocking!
I have a lot of homework to keep up on, but I'll update if anything new and exciting happens!

If you ever see a harbor seal pup on the beach, don't interfere. It's actually a federal crime to touch, harass, or even come within 100yds of a marine mammal! A lot of people don't know about that, but people have actually been prosecuted. Some of the seals we get were separated from their moms because people didn't know she was just out fishing and they decide to move the pup, and then the mom can't find them. Here's a little clip of Eskimo so you can hear how loud these little guys can be!