Late Shift with the Corvids

It’s getting busier every week with more and more admissions of sick, injured and orphaned wildlife. This week I assisted in near enough every area, but was assigned one room to take charge of myself; the Corvid room. It’s nice knowing that my development is being noticed and that wildlife assistants and supervisors now feel that they can assign me a room to care for myself.

The Corvid room consists of basically a lot of orphaned Corvids!! Corvid's are a specific family of birds which include Rook’s, Magpies, Crows and Jackdaw, all very intelligent birds. I was in charge of hourly feeds, cleans, topping up food and water and if needed assisting in admitting treatments with the aid of wildlife assistants and veterinary nurses. My knowledge and experience of working the orphan room really helped for my lone work in the Corvid room and I was able to get straight to work and monitor any unusual behaviours.

   

During a late shift there are generally fewer staff so we have to organise ourselves to ensure all areas are fed, watered and locked up for the night. I assisted Michelle in preparing and providing feeds to the foxes located outside.  We also fed our pair of otters (which are growing fast) and many other bird species that are now in our aviaries. We herded in the ducklings and ensured everywhere was secure and locked down for the night. I also helped clean and feed the ducklings inside, assisted in orphan room and also helped clean rooms and prepare feeds and stock up on equipment and materials.

  

I was able to observe Katie (Seasonal Wildlife Assistant) admitting some new animals, which included Hedgehogs and a racing pigeon! The staff here take great care in taking as much information as possible on the animals when they first arrive.  Each patient gets a printed card which remains with the animals until their is an end result. All data entered onto the database is apparently analysed at the end of the year so that the team can assess how well they have done with each species.

Laura Thorpe - Volunteer Wildlife Assistant

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