Because slugs are adorable, and I love them. 😀
So, the first picture is one I took out on my back patio, of a pair of slugs who had just finished some frisky business. (At least I think that’s what they’d been doing. It sure looked like it).
Eventually, they’ll be head-started at a local zoo until they’re about 10 months old, at which time they’ll be released back into the habitat where we collected the eggs. The first picture is of a baby working on getting out of her shell. And the third picture was taken literally seconds after she emerged from her shell. (I was too slow with my camera, or I could have gotten it on video. I’m hoping one of the other babies will oblige; we still have a lot of eggs that have yet to hatch). Also, sorry the photos were so crappy. I need to bring in my real camera and get some better shots.
See this? This is a turtle egg. This is a turtle egg with a hole. Do you know why it has a hole? Because the baby turtle is TRYING TO GET OUT! WHOO HOO! We call this “pipping,” and it means that sometime in the near future – maybe even tonight – THERE WILL BE A BABY TURTLE HATCHED IN MY LAB! 🙂 🙂 🙂
(Plus, being able to wade out into the pond is kind of the most fun thing we do all year. The water level was low this year, though. Last year, the water was up to my armpits).
By Jordan Carlton Schaul of University of Alaska; Grizzly People on August 17, 2012
National Geographic Archives
Read the entire article here: http://voices.nationalgeographic.com/2012/08/17/bay-area-zoos-sonoma-state-university-to-release-western-pond-turtles/
Turtle #201, aka Neville (they asked me to give him a name when he needed to have surgery; apparently, they like to make things more personal like that at the zoo). This is just a teaser … I’ll post more photos of the baby turtle release once I get them off my camera; this photo was taken by someone else. (Haha, obviously). But yeah … ME AND MY BB! Who is now swimming happily in the lake where his mama lives. I didn’t actually cry when I released him, but I came close. <3 <3 <3
Photo: Stephen Lam, Special To The Chronicle
Read the entire article here: http://www.sfgate.com/default/article/Oakland-Zoo-to-release-turtles-to-wild-3777354.php#photo-3309244
Yes, I spent the afternoon feeding baby birds! For the past four years, I’ve volunteered at a local wildlife rehabilitation center where we work almost exclusively with songbirds. This is the first shift I’ve worked this summer, because I’ve been busy with turtle stuff. But today, I finally made it out there, and I got to spend the day feeding the most adorable babies! (These aren’t the actual babies I fed; this is a compliation of some of the pictures I’ve taken in past years. But they’re representative of the different species I worked with today).
Today, I fed western bluebirds, white swifts, vaux’ swifts, mockingbirds, a black-headed grosbeak, American robins and four species of swallows (cliff, barn, violet-green, and rough-winged), and Pacific-slope flycatchers.
SO CUTE! Their little faces, their huge gaping mouths! I probably won’t do a whole lot of shifts this year, but I’m going back again next weekend. Because, BABIES!!!! (And also because the woman who runs the hospital is a good friend, and I like helping her out). Plus, BABIES!
