“Oh give me a home where the parrots will roam”
7.1.07
Well I had a choice of what section to work on today and I decided for my first proper day to stick to what I’ve been doing the last 7 years and opt for the bird section. Plus I wanted to be nosey!
The lady I was working with spoke very little English but after collecting food trays and headed to the sink at the end of the corridor I was soon greeted with a big grin and shown where to throw the food.
Having not done any zoo work for 6 weeks I really enjoyed getting back into it and whizzed through the dishes which again gained another big grin. I was then given a watering can and shown where the water dishes go so I cleaned filled and replaced all of those and stood about a bit. I then went and did another 2 that weren’t on the section I was shown but figured I’d be told that was next and still no sign of Joelma. She then appeared carrying 2 catch up boxes closely followed by a guy with another 2. We then headed to the toucans she caught 2 of the toucans both times I had the boxes open and ready and got given an expression that involved lots of blinking! I then got given the net! I almost had it and then got the net caught on a branch and the toucan promptly flew to the keeper! I joked “mama” and pointed to Joelma and then got a big grin laugh and “sim me bebe” ( yes my baby!) We then took all 4 toucans to the hospital. It turned out we were worming them and whilst we had them caught up I could do cloacal swabs on them. except I’d never done it before! It was explained and I have now done 4 (easy when you know how!) they were then wormed and looked most out at being poked and prodded at both ends.
Having sorted slides and swabs out for Andre I headed back up the bird section and got a big smile and Oi (means hello in portugese not the English Oi!) I then got given a pile of food dishes handed to me whilst being shown they all have a number and the aviary’s are numbered.
I then got to do the last few water dishes to do whilst Joelma got the hose after putting the dishes in I grabbed the broom and started sweeping the water out again a big grin and a thumbs up.
Afterwards it turns out that on a Sunday they patrol for the rest of the day (we used to do that at Drayton every Sunday & bank hol Monday from 11 – 6) so I ended up being a guest at Rodrigo’s family bbq which involved lots of lovely food and lots more beer I have to admit I was quite worse for wear by the end of the bbq.
I think I’m really going to like Brazil.