Cape Parrot Project: Round 2

Name: Delaney Galbraith
Class: 2018
Hometown: Cincinnati, Ohio
Internship: Cape Parrot Project
Location: Hogsback, South Africa

Always ready for a photo opp
in our zoo shirts!

To begin, I figure that I should start with the general idea of what we are doing here. The Cape Parrot Project is a nonprofit organization that is working everyday to save South Africa’s only endemic parrot. In doing so they have a forestry section that works on community cohesion, planting of parrots’ natural food and nesting trees, and maintaining the forests the parrots call home. They also have a research aspect as well. Currently the project is focused on the movements of the parrots and publishing literature on observations they have made of the parrots while in the field. So how exactly do Dr. Young, Eileen, and I fit into that? Well, Dr. Young and I are conducting collaborative research on the parrot’s vocalizations (hopefully Eileen will join in with her own next year!). Dr. Young is looking at the dialect differences between the believed separate populations of the Cape parrot throughout South Africa. This has implications to possibly show subpopulations of the Cape parrot, which would call for more intensified conservation requirements than are currently in place. My own research is focused on pairing the vocalizations of the Cape parrot with the displayed behaviors; such as when they are in flight they give a particular call or when a juvenile is hungry they give a particular call (juvenile begging call). Identifying these can further elaborate on the separation in communication between populations and more.

Goofy parrot just doing his goofy thing
with eating some pecans

Cassie at Swallowtail waterfall
for afternoon observations.

We have thus far assisted in movement data, recording, catching of parrots, and some added in adventures;). In order to record the parrot’s movements we wake up at about five or six am and head to a number of locations. We record where the parrots are coming from and where they are going, so to one-day figure out what the heck their movement patterns are! That part of our work is for Cassie and his research project of movements but while recording we also help Kate in her newest paper. We record what birds of prey we see and if they pursue the parrots. She is writing a short article on the bird that prey on the parrots so that we can better assess their threats from all ends. In addition to our regular intern duties Eileen and I have decided to make an informational video for the Cape Parrot Project. The video will have basic information for the public on the structure and function of the Cape Parrot Project. We plan to interview the research and forestry teams about what their jobs entail and how they help the Cape parrots. So much work to be done and so much yet to learn from the Cape Parrot Project!

Cassie, Eileen, and Kate counting
and spotting parrots for morning
observations

Now that you have an image of the project and our work with the Cape parrot on to our trip to South Africa’s Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal. Dr. Young joined for these first couple of weeks; we stayed with Kate and Cassie Carstens of the Cape Parrot project at the Project’s research house in Hogsback, Eastern Cape. In beginning recording, we started off by visiting the pecan orchard in Alice, a frequent spot for the parrots to feed. On May 6^th we saw over 300 parrots in the orchard, which is most of the population estimated for our whole province! In one day we saw almost a fourth of the estimated population left in the wild, it was truly an amazing experience! Afterwards, we took part in the “Big Birding Day” organized through UKZN; The Big Birding Day is the annual count of the Cape Parrots present throughout South Africa. Unfortunately, we went from seeing 300 that morning to my group only seeing six due to heavy mist on the mountainL. The rest of our stay in Hogsback was very good though! We visited Stutterheim and King William’s Town, two relatively close cities, and recorded tons of vocals and behaviors! The last day of our recordings in these areas we recorded a vocalization, which is by far my favorite! I like to call it the robot song, but in technicality it is part of a courtship type vocalization that is shared between male and female. We observed a juvenile attempting and practicing this vocalization. A vocalization string that has not been noted in the Cape Parrot, at least yet! (J)

Dr. Young and I rocking
the field work in King
William's Town

On the 12^th Dr. Young and I headed to KZN to record vocals of separate population located in the forests there. After an adventurous drive ;) and some wonderful curry we made it to our destination. We stayed at a birding guesthouse with a wonderful birder named Malcolm, whom we would have been lost without. He led us to numerous forests. On one day he took us to Hoha forest, there we saw over 150 parrots flocking, sunning and mobbing. We were able to see mobbing of an African Goshawk, a bird of prey that is thought to be a predator to the parrots. After recording a number of groups and areas we had enough to assess the KZN population of parrots' vocals so it was time to head home. Dr. Young headed back to the states L and I headed back to Hogsback to meet Eileen J. Since coming back to Hogsback we have had tons of adventures!

Eileen working hard while we wait
 for parrots to fall for our mist net
(yes, those are parrots behind her)

While out in the field we have also had the opportunity to make bunches and bunches of recordings of their vocalizations and behaviors. Basically our job is to watch adorable dorky parrots all summer and I could not be happier! We watch as they flip upside down and poke at one another and overall goof around. The other day we observed a very interesting behavior that I did not get to see last summer, a juvenile begging call! One of my favorite calls so far, except for the “robot song” of course.

After a time of recording and watching the goofy parrots it was time to handle some! Another aspect of the project is collecting blood and feather samples from wild parrots to test for Psittacine Beak and Feather Disease. This disease has caused detriment to many parrot species in the world and has been documented in the Cape parrot; therefore recording its presence is imperative to the parrots’ survival. They are also hoping to catch and put a tracking device on a parrot so to better describe their movement. Starting a few weeks ago we set up a mist net and waited for the parrots to fall for our trap. It took almost a week, hours on hours of sitting and waiting but eventually we caught one! A female, showing signs of the early stages of beak and feather disease but still with a healthy weight- and a strong bite! After sampling and checking various body scores we released her and she flew off ready to get back to her buddies. The next day we set up the net again and even though we crossed out fingers for a parrot, we caught no parrots. We did catch a crown hornbill though, still pretty exciting! We got him out quickly and he was not very happy with us. We set him back to his group and he flew off just as the female parrot did, aka ready to get the heck away from us (lol).

Eileen, carefully, holding the
receiver for parrot tracking

Cassie and the first parrot
in the mist net

Handling my first Cape
parrot!

Eileen and the Big Tree!

Cassie and Eileen relaxing by the
39 step water fall after our Circle
trail hike

Don’t get me wrong though, it is not all work, there is some play! On our first weekend Eileen and I set out for a hike called Madonna and Child. The description said it should be a couple of hours, which wasn’t too bad in our book. However, we got a little lost and ended up making it about a 6 hour trip. More than likely because we stopped at the Big Tree and we took an off trail excursion down the creek to a small pool-ops! The Big Tree is an over 800 year old Outeniqua Yellowwood, which is one of the largest in South Africa. The trail was good training, because one day Cassie goes “I’d like to hike a little hill today.” I have since learned to fear those types of statements by Cassie. He said “little” -this hill was huge! It took us nearly an hour to the top with all our gear walking through mist at the bottom to clear skies at the top. I have no regrets though we got wonderful l vocal recordings and convinced Cassie to do his interview for our video project overlooking the view.

A small part of the pool
Eileen and I hiked to

Eileen and Cassie on our way up
the Circle Trail

The mist over the forest in
Sompondo

The bowl of mist from the out look
in Sompondo

The view once the mist had cleared
in Sompondo

One of our other excursions was the circle trail in Hogsback. Our original thought was to hike to the top of the small mountain, Tor doone; but after about 20 minutes of huffing and puffing we decided on an easier trail. Regardless of changing our course we enjoyed the trek through the beautiful Afromontane forest, and got to see some parrot nest boxes along the way. We ended it off with a little walk to a nearby waterfall and a snack, a wonderful end to the trip that made for a relaxing weekend. The following weekend, we headed for Tor doone, another "small hill" in Cassie's eyes. It us took five hours and a little bit of huffing and puffing; okay, maybe a lot of huffing and puffing but we made it! It was gorgeous as it always it at the top of the mountain along with being super windy. We made it about half way down and got Kate to do her interview for the video. 

Kate and I hiking Tor doone

Almost to the top of
Tor doone!

My backpack and I reenacting
the Lion King because what else
do you do after you climb a mountain
in Africa?

Eileen and I at the top of Tor doone
(We found porcupine quills on the way up:))

Nearly finished and we have already done and see so much! We are learning everyday both about the parrots and the South African culture. It's been such a wonderful and beautiful experience thus far. I’m excited to see our next huffing and puffing excursion and I can’t wait to see what else the summer has in store! 

The Three Hog Mountains
of Hogsback

Sunrise on our drive to morning
observations

The Mist clearing over Hogsback

The view from the property we are stay
at in Hogsback

The sun just beginning to rise
as we drive out to start the day
(yes, that early)

Update from Quentin

Name: Quentin VanHoose
Class Year: Senior - Class of 2018
Hometown: Waynesville, Ohio
Internship: National Research Foundation Intern
Location: National Zoological Gardens of South Africa, Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa

Hello once again from underneath the clear blue skies of Pretoria! Not only is our summer season their winter season here in the southern hemisphere, but here in the Gauteng province it is also their dry season, so folks here in Pretoria are likely to not see another drop of rain until November! With that, the skies here are crystal blue every single day - there’s never a single cloud in the sky! It’s quite the incredible contrast to the all-too-often cloudy skies back home in Ohio.

The view of the perfectly blue sky above the Pretoria skyline, as seen from the top of the zoo’s “mountain”

I know what you are thinking, but no, I have not just been sitting around enjoying the views and the weather since I last updated you all on my South African adventure! Things have been picking up here recently with regard to the research project I will be conducting during the rest of my stay here at the National Zoological Gardens, which will, indeed, be centered around the roan antelope I mentioned in my previous post! I could not be more thrilled! For this project, I will be looking at the immune marker diversity within the herd at the zoo’s Mokopane Biodiversity Conservation Centre in comparison to that of 40 other herds across the country, all using newly developed markers. From there, I will conducting a parentage analysis on the four calves born to the herd this year, as well as on several of the older individuals whose parentage needs to be confirmed prior to sale.
While that certainly sounds like a lot of time in the lab (and it certainly is!), there is no need to fear because I will be escaping from the lab eventually! Towards the end of my time here, I will be going up to spend a week or so at the Mokopane Biodiversity Conservation Centre to conduct a field study on intra and inter-specific competition at the roans’ feeding sites, to ensure that the roan are receiving their intended dosage of parasite medication, as they are a highly susceptible species.
So what have I done for my project so far? Well, slowly but surely I have been chipping away at all of the set-up work necessary and gaining more experience with the laboratory procedures before starting with my immune marker analyses. I first began the process with a day spent sorting through 2,500 vials of roan DNA to find 40 samples from 40 different facilities across the country to conduct my immune diversity comparison on. It might not sound like a difficult task, but when you are trying to find 40 different facilities with animals of known heritage that still have enough DNA left in their vials to actually be used… It becomes quite time consuming quite fast!
After my samples were all sorted away, I began shadowing one of the zoo’s premiere research assistants, Sonia Kropff, who has since taken me under her wing as I have continued practicing DNA extractions, the PCR process, making gels, and preparing PCR products for analysis in the genetic analysers. Over the past couple of weeks, I have grown much more comfortable with my laboratory skills,
and many of these techniques are beginning to become old hat. So far, we have begun optimizing primers usually used to target immune markers in cattle for use on the roan DNA samples, using gel electrophoresis and genetic analysers to see which primers work best on roan DNA; those will be the primers I use on my project. We just put the last plate of primers on the genetic analyser today, so on Monday we will be picking my primers! From there, we will repeat the process on the immune markers before using them together to analyze the roan samples.

A peek into the genetic analyzer

While I have certainly done a lot of work over the past couple of weeks, I have not forgotten to have some fun as well! In fact, just this past weekend, Dr. Desiré Dalton, one of the senior researchers at the zoo and my supervisor, and her family took me out to Ludwig’s Roses for a late brunch. Ludwig’s Roses is one of, if not the, largest rose farm in the entirety of the southern hemisphere, and it is truly
impressive and truly beautiful - there are roses everywhere of all shapes, sizes, and colors! As beautiful as the gardens were, the food was just as delicious! I had an absolutely amazing rose cappuccino, which was the single best cup of coffee I have had during my stay in South Africa, and a delightfully fresh salad, with a plethora of greens, vegetables, and sprouts from the farm’s own garden.

The absolutely divine rose cappuccino from the café at Ludwig’s Roses

On Monday, I also made a return visit to the Mokopane Biodiversity Conservation Centre with Dr. Jennie, one of the zoo’s vets. While this trip was technically work, and I had to wake up at 4:30 in the morning in order for us to be on the road by 6:00am, I still had an absolute blast. The zoo’s vets make a
monthly visit to Mokopane to check up on the animals there, but this trip was special because I was riding along to help collect some new samples for my project! There are two young roan bulls in the herd, one being almost three and the other being close to five, which are quickly approaching sexual maturity and need to be moved out of the herd; however, seeing as these animals are semi-wild, they have not been able to confirm their mothers; that is where I come in! I will be conducting parentage analyses on these young bulls (and this year’s calves, whose samples I will collect on my next visit to the facility), so that their bloodline can be traced and presented to potential buyers.
How does one collect blood from an animal as large and rambunctious as a young roan bull? You dart them, of course! If you have ever seen a documentary about African parks and seen translocations, that is exactly what it was like, and it was such an amazing experience to witness and be a part of… It was so exciting! I was tasked as time keeper, so I had to keep track of when the dart hit, when the animal became taxic (wobbly), when it went down, when the reversal was given, and when it got back up again.. In total, the whole process, start to finish, took only 32 minutes! In addition to sampling blood for my project, blood was sampled for an official hybridization report, as roans must be purebred southern roans to be sold or translocated in South Africa, the animal was outfitted with ear tags and a microchip, and his hooves were trimmed… He got the full work over!

After the young bull went down, Dr. Jennie and the Mokopane Biodiversity Conservation Centre team quickly went to work on collecting our samples and tagging the animal for future recognition.

Mani-pedi, antelope-style!

Needless to say, waking up was a little rough!

But it was not long before he was back on his feet!

I am constantly amazed by each and every once-in-a-lifetime experience that I have had thus far in South Africa, and they do not appear to be slowing down anytime soon! I cannot wait to share them with you all as they come, but until next time! -- Quentin x

Halfway There!

Name: Rebekah Perry
Class Year: Junior-  Class of 2019
Hometown: Huntington, West Virginia
Internship: Wildlife Rehabilitation Intern
Location: New Mexico Wildlife Center, Espanola, New Mexico

I cannot believe that I am saying this already, but I have officially completed 5/10 weeks of my internship here at the New Mexico Wildlife Center. As I sit here about to start my 6th week, I am reflecting upon all of the exciting cases and progress jumps that have been happening alongside all of our hard work. We are currently at almost full capacity in the ICU, and that is bittersweet, because it means that we are getting to help a large number and wide diversity of animals, but it also means that a lot of animals are in need of help. We have been getting in a plethora of orphaned baby birds in need of hourly feedings and constant watchful care, injured and emaciated birds of prey that are in need of essential nutrients that their bodies have been deprived of for one reason or another, and even two new infant bobcats, whose mother was shot and killed, have come in with adorable fierceness and huge appetites. Older patients, who arrived at the beginning of my time here, are now making leaps towards their release as the pronghorn is gaining the strength to run around in an outdoor enclosure and is self-feeding, two red tailed hawks, two great horned owls, four barn owls and an American kestrel are now participating in mouse school and are successfully learning how to live hunt their own prey, juvenile rock squirrels and desert cottontails are moving to outdoor enclosures and many songbirds are being released back to their homes, where they were found as abandoned hatchlings, to finally fly free.
I am still gaining new skills, strengthening the old ones, and have many more to learn in the next five weeks. Yesterday, I had to learn how to butcher an entire mule deer that was road kill that Game and Fish brought to us to feed out to our baby bobcats! Getting road kill from Game and Fish is a super cost efficient way to feed our carnivores, but man is it a dirty job. I am also becoming much better at handling the raptors that have minds of their own, as I gain practice giving physical exams to sassy barn owls, force feeding a cooper's hawk who cannot see well enough to self-feed yet, and tube-feeding an emaciated western screech owl and red tailed hawk. I am learning how to complete a thorough patient intake, palpating for fractures, looking for wounds or signs of disease, positioning a patient for x-rays, drawing blood for testing, and administering appropriate fluids and diet.
I am still loving my time out here and look forward to seeing what the second half will bring!

The other side of Zookeeping

Name: Rebecca Morro 

Year: Class of 2018 

Hometown: Columbus, Ohio 

Internship: Great Apes Animal Care Intern  

Location: Omaha, Nebraska 

As summer comes to end I wanted to write about the other side of zookeeping, the side that only zookeepers know. If you are thinking about becoming a zookeeper, I think it is a good idea to understand this side of what your career will be. I'd like to preface this by saying that I absolutely loved my time at the Omaha Henry Doorly Zoo, but this summer allowed me to realize that zookeeping is not for me.  

I am breaking this up into two parts; your job at the zoo and your life outside the zoo.  

  

Part one: What the Job Description Doesn’t State  

Most people know that the majority of zookeeping is cleaning, but another major part of being a zookeeper is interacting with the public. This includes telling them where the nearest bathroom is or how to get from one part of the zoo to another.  My favorite part is telling the public for the 10th million time to not bang on the glass, despite the posted signs. Doing so can be hard, but you always must have a smiling face because keeping the public happy is the zoo's main goal. Some guests can be rude, but there are people who are genuinely interested in the animals under your care.  

Along with your daily duties for your animal you may have to help if others.  This can include locating free flight birds that didn’t want to train or finding a lost party.   

In addition to keeper talks, some are responsible for doing tours of their animals along with training procedures. I was lucky and my section didn't have to give daily keeper talks, but I know keepers at other zoos that are responsible for 3 keeper talks a day.  

  

Part two: Personal Lifestyle 

Internships like this one allow you to hear personal stories of how people, zookeepers, live their lives.  Many might think we “play” with our animals each day and people would love to have our job, but these people don't realize that the small portion of our day that is dedicated to the animal, rather than cleaning, is usually focused on training and routine health care. Most do not understand that the average salary of a zookeeper in the United States is $30,000. I speak for many that we do love our job and understand we are playing a critical role in conservation to protect these animals.   

Many keepers get part time jobs to help pay the bills that their zoo paychecks can't cover. I have asked myself multiple times this summer if I could live this lifestyle. Could I afford losing the ability to splurge here and there to go see a movie or even get internet in my home.  Living paycheck to paycheck, for me, will not help pay off student loans, car, and future house payments. Many keepers tend to get roommates to help cover costs of normal living.    

Not only was I working forty hours a week, I was also walking around 14 miles daily.  When you leave the zoo after a long day of cleaning, enrichment making, and food preparation, you are physically tired.  By the time you get home you do not want to cook dinner or go to the store, or even stay up to watch your favorite show.  By 8pm all you want to do is lay down and try to calm your throbbing knees to do it all over again. 

Another important lifestyle change for keepers is their weekends are most likely not going to be Saturday and Sunday.  Some could be Monday and Tuesday or Wednesday and Thursday, some might even be Tuesday and Friday.  I bring this up because having a “weekend” day off with a co-worker is very unlikely. You have living creatures in your care that are depending on you to provide all their necessities seven days a week. 

Many people make comments about how they wish they could work at the zoo, but the general public typically does not understand all that keepers have to do to get into the field and just how difficult it can be. Having a Bachelor’s degree in a science related field isn’t enough, you need an incredible amount of animal related experiences before graduation if you expect to have a chance of getting a job right away.   

I have enjoyed every second of my opportunity here at the Omaha Henry Doorly Zoo and all the experiences I have had. The keepers and animals that I worked with were amazing and I am going to miss them. I hope anyone reading this will go and explore all your options and opportunities before making a life decision. This job is meant for some people, but it is important to intern and try this type of work before accepting a position that you might potentially be unhappy with.  

I wanted to thank everyone at the zoo for the gratitude you have given me and all the knowledge that I am leaving with.  I also want to thank Otterbein University's Department of Biology and Earth Science and the  Zoo and Conservation Science program for assisting me with this internship and summer.