Big Bird Up Close

So the other day, I got to go into the facility where the Big Birds are kept. I can't believe I have such an awesome job. Although that day kind of sucked because I am still sick and worked for 17.5 hours. But the next day, I worked from home laying in bed reading. Such is life.

I started worked at 4am. But I was able to nap twice during the day so it wasn't that bad. The first chore of the day was to place a still born calf carcass inside the facility so the birds can eat. The reason we have to go at the dark of dawn is so that the birds won't associate the food with people. We first picked up another calf off a free-flying bird site. And I had to laugh so hard as I watched my vegetarian coworker drag the calf back to the vehicle. Then we removed the old calf from the facility and placed the new one. I was surprised I did not puke, but I survived.

We then spent the next 14 hours watching the birds eat, preen, fly (inth the mesh), eat, preen, fly (into the mesh), eat...ok, well you got the idea.

Flying...

WOW, that's big...

Hanging out...

After all that, we cleaned the pools and then had to drop the old carcasses off. I almost puked during this as the smell was so terrible. And then the maggots crawling on the other calfs in the location we dropped them. AH, I felt like I had them crawling all over me. But I survived the night with no bad maggot dreams. (NOTE: Click on the Title to take you to more photos)