Cuddly animals, tasty goodies, Halloween, and exciting visitors!

I really can't think of a creative title for this blog post today.  Not that any of my titles have been extravagantly creative, but part of me just wanted to leave the "Post Title" Title that's already there.  But I didn't.  What you get instead is my half-assed attempt at something ingenious.  I know.  It's still terrible. 

The last couple of weeks have been fabulous at the zoo, I've started interning in the mammal department and have been gaining all kinds of experience with exotic and native mammalian and marsupial species.  I have had the opportunity to work with kangaroos, wallabies, pademelons, lemurs, Cotton-Top Tamarins, wombats, Dingos, a variety of other species, and of course Koalas.

Now, prepare yourself for the onslaught of photos! Yesssss!

Cotton-Top Tamarin. Enjoying some Peanuts, dog biscuits, mealworms, and raisins.

Tiny little monkeys!

Sugar Gliders stuffing their faces.
All 3 attempting to eat out of the bowl at the same time.

Almost impossible to get photos of these guys NOT moving.
But, I managed to get a couple.  This guy is a Mahogany Glider.   Little cutie.

Now, we will have plenty of photos of the Koooaaalllaaaa.  Cairns Tropical Zoo has around 30 Koalas. Some of which are used for photo sessions that allow visitors to cuddle a koala and get a souvenir photo.

Koalas are very sleepy animals and can sleep up to 18-20 hours a day, so catching them awake and alert is fairly uncommon.  Koalas sleep so much due to the fact that their diets consist of solely Eucalyptus, a very low energy food.

Humphrey. 14 month old Joey.

Busta

Kai-Too.  Big boy Koala. And that nose! 

Male koalas have a scent gland on their chest that secretes a special "koala cologne", that the ladies love.
However, us humans are not quite so keen on male koala smell.

These next two little guys are Asian Short-Clawed Otters.  Curly and Larry.  Very intelligent, curious, and vocal, these otters are certainly a handful.

Larry.  The fatter of the two otters, as he likes to steal Curly's food.
He even has little otter fat rolls!

The next set of photos I have are of some of the Macropods that are present at the zoo. Macropods are a group of marsupials that consists of kangaroos, tree-kangaroos, wallabies, pademelons, bettongs, and several others.

Eastern Grey Kangaroos:

Eastern Grey's are a fairly good sized kangaroo, but are nothing compared to the Red Kangaroos which are easily double the Grey's size.  Red Roo's liver farther down south in Australia, and so the largest kangaroos I've seen so far, are these Eastern Grey's.  Fascinating animals though, and after working with them for the past couple of weeks, I have learned several things.

1)  They truly are bizarre, with their giant feet and rear legs, and tiny t-rex arms.

2)  Several marsupials, including kangaroos, pademelons, and wallabies, will "throw" their joey's if stressed or fleeing a predator.  The tossed out baby acts as a diversion/distraction, so that they may escape and run to safety.  #TerribleMomOfTheYearAward

3) Kangaroos are exceptionally fast and will easily bound away from you and out of reach.  I learned this first hand when given the difficult task to apply an anti-parasitic topical ointment to the kangaroos. I've certainly applied medication to uncooperative cats and dogs, but trying to "tail" a roo, (literally, grabbing the tail of a kangaroo and holding on), and give medication, is a very difficult job.

Action shot: Petting a Kangaroo.

Swamp Wallaby:

Munching on some corn.
Swamp Wallabies may be the cutest of the wallabies I've seen.

Agile Wallaby:

These wallabies are found in huge mobs, (I kid you not that's what a group of wallabies is called), in the fields along Captain Cook Highway here in Cairns.  These guys are the equivalent of Southern Oregon's deer herds.  Found in hundreds and almost always being hit by cars


3 month old Agile Wallaby Joey that was thrown from her mothers pouch and found by a friend of the zoo.
Now being hand-raised by one of the gals in the office.

Pademelon:

Now.  You've already seen several photos of mister Theo.  The adorable Pademelon, but there are indeed others within the zoo.  Annnddd I have couple of Theo as well. Stinkin' adorable little thing.

Marvin.  Another Pademelon who is several years old.  Seemingly cute, but demonstrates some, uhm "unwanted advances".  I unfortunately was a victim.


Never thought I would have blood drawn by a Pademelon... almost pathetic.

Marvin does like his fruit though.
An easy distraction from unwanted advances.

Theo. Again being adorable.

Overeager Theo.

Bandicoot:

One of the strangest marsupials I've seen at the zoo.  It's a marsupial, rat, mouse, thing.  Not sure exactly.  Her name is Bonnie, and she is actually quite ferocious, as many people have told stories of bites and bandicoot attacks upon entering her enclosure.  Why are the seemingly cute animals so vicious.  At least you know with Crocodiles, that they'll bite. Sheesh.

Ring-tailed Tree Possum:

Not the best of photos, but Ruby was cozy comfy in her box, and this was the best I could do!

Common Wombat:

This is miss Pebbles.  I've posted a photo of her before, but after getting this photo of her cute face, I couldn't help but post it here.

So very happy with her lunch.

Moving on from marsupials, we now have the Dingos! Lucky and Frazier.

Lucky.

Frazier.  So incredibly handsome.  And look at those big brown eyes.
Dingos obviously still have the knack for "puppy-dog eyes".

Frazier, enjoying his new straw bedding, after making a huge tear in the bag I brought in and spreading it all over his enclosure.    Naughty puppy.
He made up for it later though by giving me surprise lick attacks as I cleaned out his pond.

So there you have it! Several pictures of the majority of the animals I get to work with on a daily basis!

I really miss fall.  I miss football.  I miss sweaters, and boots, and scarves, and yoga pants, and pumpkin! Holy gaaawwdd, I miss pumpkin stuff. Pumpkin bread, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin spice coffee, (from Trader Joes, THE best out there),  pumpkin lattes from Dutch Bros and Starbucks, and everything else pumpkiney. It's spring/summer here in Australia and so no fall for me. My favorite season.  It's tragic, really.  Don't get me wrong, I'm loving Australia, but there's just something about fall in Oregon that I really am missing here in Aussie Land.  Can't exactly strut outside in jeans, boots, and a scarf, with a pumpkin latte in my hand, when it's 85+ degrees out and 60% humidity.   Plus Australian's don't do pumpkin like we do. Booooo.

Anywho, because I miss fall so much, I decided to stay F-it to it not being fall, and baked my traditional fall goodies anyway.  Then I made my Aussie friends try Pumpkin, American-style. (Aussie's do pumpkin as a savory type schpeel, so soup, roasted, etc.  They were all slightly hesitant, but lovveed it as soon as they tried it. Yeeesss!)

Pumpkin Roll.

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread. Yum, yum, yum.

Halloween was a couple of days ago, as we all know, and is undeniably one of my favorite holidays. Who doesn't love costumes and candy??  However, Australian's aren't as big on Halloween as many Americans are and there are certainly not many huge, costume parties like I'm used to attending at Oregon State. (Man, I miss college sometimes!)  BUT.  I convinced some friends to do a halloween party, (albeit no costumes :(.  I did wear black, orange, and a flashing ghost necklace around all day. Obviously had to.) and so the decorations, and pumpkin carving began!!!  

Pumpkins carved by Matt, Ryan, and Aaron.
For Aaron, Alex, and Matt.  This was their very first halloween pumpkin carving experience.
They had deprived childhoods.

#HalloweenSelfie. (Flashing Ghost Necklace! So exciting.)

In other VERY VERY VEEERRYYY exciting news! My mother and brother arrive in Cairns in mere HOURS.  It's so incredibly exciting!! I miss them tons and cannot wait to see them for the first time since July!  We have so many fun and exciting activities to do!!  And baby brother can go to a bar!! Legal drinking with the brother.  Only great things can happen after that.

Wow, this blog post was a long one, but full of fabulous pictures, so I don't really care.  I'm going to be fairly off the grid these next couple of weeks as the fam bam is here, but I'm sure my next post will consist of lots of family photos here in Australia.

Miss all my friends and family back home and wish that you all could fly over and visit me!   Who knows, maybe I'll stay and you'll have no choice, but to have to. Hehee

Until next time!
Cheers!

My time as a "Birdo", and other exciting things.

Life is great.  Seriously.  I'm so incredibly happy with my life here, all that I have experienced, the people I have become close to, and the ability to have this amazing opportunity. Truly do not know how I managed to be so lucky.  

It's been awhile since I've posted a new blog, (I have been busy, busy, busy), but I certainly will make up for my negligence with tooonnnsss of photos and exciting things! So don't be too angry, people.

For the past two weeks I have been working in the Bird Department at Cairns Tropical Zoo.  It's certainly been a very different experience, compared to the Reptile Department, and is one that has allowed me to work with some beautiful native Australian birds and gain insight into a new perspective of zookeeping.

As a birdkeeper, the majority of my time was spent preparing food, feeding, cleaning, and maintaining the appearance of enclosures.  Similar to what I was doing in Reptiles, but certainly different in many ways.  The Bird Department is responsible for the care and husbandry of a diverse group of birds found in many areas of Australia.  Birds ranging from Pelicans, to Kookaburras, to Red-Tailed Black Cockatoos, to Cassowaries, and everything in between.  I can't say that I've ever seen so many beautiful birds before, up close and personal, as I did during my time in Birds.

Okie, here's pictures, Yay! (OH! Because I just realized this.  If you want to see the photos larger than they appear in the blog, click on them, and POOF, they're huge.  Something to help you all out.  Sorry I've just discovered this.  Never said I was great at writing/knowing how to write a blog. Oops!)


One of the first species of birds I interacted with are these guys below.  These are Red-Tailed Black Cockatoos and are related similarly to the Sulfur-Crested Cockatoos, (also below), that most people, (i.e. Americans), are used to seeing as pets.  Red-Tailed Black's are absolutely beautiful, and even though these pictures fail to capture how vibrant they are, the red on their tail, is strikingly bright. Gorgeous animals. Juvenile Red-Tailed cockies are born with yellow flecks in their feathers, and will either keep that yellow spotting if female, or if male, will turn jet black except for their red tail feathers.

"Crackers", the Sulfur-Crested Cockatoo.  He says Hello to the zoo's incoming visitors. Cutie.

Red-Tailed Black Cockatoos

Indy.  She enjoys being fed sunflower seeds.  Fat little thing.

Female, (Indy), and Male Red-Tailed Blacks.

Love when they "crest" and all of their feathers on their heads pop up!

Baby Red-Tailed Black Cockatoo.  So ugly, it's maybe cute..? I'm not sure yet.

In the same aviary as the Red-Tailed Black's are these cute little birds.  These are Major Mitchell Cockatoos.  A pretty pale pink color, with white, and dark pink head feathers that show when they "crest".

Found evvveerrrywhere around Cairns are these guys below.  These are Bush-Stone Curlews. Some of the strangest and most bizarre little birds I've seen. They have giant eyes, and act so strange when people get close.  I wish I could explain and describe the times of calls they make at night, but it sounds like a woman wailing half the time.  Realllyy lovely at 2 in the morning.

This guy is known as a Brolga.  For the longest time I thought it was "Brolg-ER", because of the way Aussie's pronounce things, and until I actually saw it written down, I was made fun of quite a bit for saying brolg-er.  Being American is tough here. :( 

These next couple of birds are probably my absolute FAVORITE in Australia.  It's a classic Aussie bird, but nonetheless a beautiful one! Their call is incredibly well known and very cool to hear from less than a meter away - The Kookaburra. (And no, he's not sitting in an old gum tree")

Blue-winged Kookaburra. My most favorite of the two kook's I have photos of.

Lunch time for Mr. Kookaburra. Yummy mouse.

Flying around with the Kookaburras are these strange looking guys.  These Frog/Owl/Bird things are Tawny Frog-Mouths.  An Australian native bird of prey that looks as if someone took a variety of animal species, threw them in a machine, and clicked the "create" button.  And the sounds that these guys make when you get too close....let's just say that strange, is an understatement.  It somewhat resembles a frog croak, with a dash of growl thrown in. Google it.  It's that interesting to hear.

Also present in the Bird of Prey Aviary are BooBook owls.  Pretty cool looking owls, that always seem to look very guilty, as if caught in the act of some serious crime.  

I fed him a mouse, and when I went to take a pic, he looked up with this face. 

I told you. Such a guilty, "Oh shit", look. Ha.

In one of the main walk through aviaries, The Rain-Forest walk through, are a variety of tropical birds, ranging in color and size.  I may not be a true bird person, but being able to walk among 60+ birds is a pretty cool thing.

Rainbow Lorikeets.  The loudest little things ever.  Beautiful in color.  Striking blue, green, red, orange, and yellow.  I've never seen anything like them.  However, bring a white bucket into the aviary, and 21 screetching Rainbow Lorikeets will soon appear in full force.  

This one almost fell in the nectar container.  So greedy.

This guy, a Glossy Ibis, was another species found in the walk through aviary, and was a vibrant plum color.  

And that beak! Very cool looking.

During my time in birds, the main supervisor, took the time to show me how to handle and restrain a couple of the birds in the zoo.  Besides the Brolga, (shown previously), I was shown how to restrain and handle this bird below.  A Lesser Sooty Owl named "Ash".  Although, the explanation and description of how to restrain him is much more elaborate, the quick summary, is.."hold him like an ice cream cone".  Strange. But a pretty accurate description, really. 

Yes, that's my nail-polished hand.  Hand around his wings, tail feathers, and legs. 

My personal little owl ice cream cone.

Although, not on display for the visiting public, I was able to feed these guys each day.  These two crane-type birds are known as Jabirus.  The female is the one on the right with the white plumage, while the juvenile male is on the left.  Sadly, I wish I had some better photos, but the iPhone combined with skittish birds, can only go so far.

Hand-feeding Mr. Jabiru some fish. Nom nom.

Australia possesses the largest type of Pelican in the world. Many countries including the U.S. have native pelican species, but nothing as large as these guys.  However, these birds only weigh a shocking 5 kilos, or roughly 11 pounds. Birds are amazingly light.

"Peli". The Pelican. Yes, that's his name.

"Peli", throwing a tantrum after not getting any more fish.  

As a hand-raised animal, he's a strange one and demonstrates his frustration/aggravation in this manner.

Another classic Aussie animal, is the Cassowary.  These birds are infamous for their ability to disembowel animals, (and potentially people), with a swift quick and slice with their middle toe claw.  Unfortunately these birds are incredibly endangered and are sometimes hit by cars, here in Queensland, further contributing to their declining numbers.

"Mamu", the juvenile male cassowary.  

The photo is indeed taken from behind the fence, but I am more than happy with that location.

In addition to the various birds that I handled, worked with, and took photos of, I was also able to give some quick cuddles to a couple of the native marsupials found in Australia.  If you're a facebooker, than you've already seen the following photos, but I'm showing them again anyway.  Because they're just SO cute.

This is baby common wombat, Aleera.  Roughly a year old, she's so incredibly cuddly.  

Most wombats are tempermental in nature, and are not generally a "cuddling" type animal.  

But she's an exception. Bah. Adorable.

This is Pebbles.  Another common wombat, but an adult female.  

Still very cute, but nowhere near as cuddly as Aleera.  I'll just pet her instead.  

Sleepy little wombat in a log.

Aleera and Pebbles are definitely cute.  However, my favorite little guy in the zoo so far, (besides Iggy the Green Iguana), is little Theodore, aka Theo.  Theo is a Pademelon, (a type of macropod, in the same family as kangaroos and wallabies) and is still a youngin'.  He was handraised and is a spunky, mischievous (he likes to escape, and cruise around the zoo), and incredibly cute little guy.  Introduced to him just a couple of days ago, I have quickly fallen in love. Whenever I walk by his enclosure/rake out leaves, I just have to give him some cuddles. I love him, completely.

Ahhhh, look at those little hands. So, so so cute!

Belly scratches for Theo!

Theo was instantly interested in the iPhone, as soon as he noticed it.  

Now that you all are probably insanely jealous of my zookeeping life, and cuddling of adorable animals, I'll go ahead and cease the onslaught of photos, (for this post of course.  I'll be working in mammals for the next two months starting monday, so you can bet your bottom, there will be an excessive amount of cutesy, cuddly photos.)

Okay, so outside of the zoo, I am incredibly excited for a couple of upcoming events.  

1) Mom and brother arrive in THREE weeks! I can seriously hardly contain my excitement.  Seriously. cannotthandleit. I miss them oodles.

2) STEREOSONIC. And a week in Sydney at the end of November/early December.  Tickets purchased and flights already booked!

3) Spending Christmas here in Australia and down on the Central Coast, which is near Sydney.  I've been asked to spend the holidays here, (with a very special guy), and so will be experiencing Christmas, Aussie style.  No snow/Pine trees here!

Well my friends and fam, that's all I have for this post, as if it wasn't enough. Sheesh, practically writing a novel.  Anywho, as I've said before and fairly frequently, I'm completely happy here with my life in Australia.  I've been fortunate to have the opportunity to have an amazing experience and am living the absolute crap out of it.  I'm one happy girl at the moment.

Until next time, Cheers!

Nicole