I worked our clinic’s Halloween event yesterday. The kids all had a really good time from the look of things. I hadn’t signed up expecting to work with the kids, but I ran the one game station and had a lot of fun. It was funny to watch how all the kids approached the game differently.
The real fun for me though happened by coincidence. When I got there, they had the red tailed hawk out, but shortly after, someone came out with our red mirror Screech, Harry. She came by and was talking about how she guy assigned the job somewhat last minute so had looked up a bunch of owl facts the night before.
I tried to avoid a relentless assault of owl information, but she seemed very interested in the things I was talking about and she ended up just staying next to my station. She would be answering general questions as I worked my game, but if someone had a harder question and I wasn’t busy, she’d kinda give me a look to see if I knew the answer and I’d fill in missing info.
The best part was teaching people the word plumicorns for the feathers tufts on their head. Even the adults smiled and got a real kick out of the word. I really liked seeing everyone smile and enjoy learning about Harry and owls in general.
She asked why I hadn’t gotten the owl holding job and I said I’ve mentioned knowing stuff about owls many times but only ever really got a chuckle. After the event died down and she put the owl away, she must have passed the info to the director. When I saw her she said I didn’t know you knew all that stuff and I said I talked about it a bunch, I just didn’t want to be pushy or annoying about it. So she asked if it’s something I’d want to do in the future and I said that’s the whole reason I came here to begin with!
So now I’m hoping the next event we have that I’ll be able to hold one of the raptors due the entire event. I’ve held a few owls now, but only briefly, and never any of the other raptors, so if I can get to do it for a whole event, that would be very awesome!
I did get to hold another scary Halloween creature though!
People were hanging out in the classroom between the kids and teens portion of the event so I went to check that out.
There was a young lady there and she looked to be having the time of her life playing with the tank of cockroaches! I went to check it out and she was talking about how cool they were and how they all had different personalities and she looked so happy. So I decided what the heck, and I said pass me one of those.
I don’t know if I found it as thrilling as she did, but it was much less creepy than I expected.
I was picturing it how many people seem to picture snakes, kinda slimy, sticky feeling, but after holding it and looking up close at its face, I decided it was basically just a giant ladybug, which I’ve happily held all my life. Less creepy and prickly than a praying mantis too. Definitely glad I gave it a try, and now they seem much less creepy. Not that I want any in my house or work anytime soon, but I do have a higher appreciation for them in general.
Rooting for you. This genuinely gave me a big smile cause I always love seeing your posts. Hope it all goes well!
Thank you so much! I wouldn’t have gotten to this point without having you all to develop all this knowledge with.
I got ticked at an AskLemmy post yesterday where the majority seemed to be trashing on the platform.
My interest in owls, which was pretty when I first came here, would have gotten immediately washed away on Reddit, and I never would have continued learning, and I never would have seen all these animals up close and interacted with them and I wouldn’t have provided this stuff to you guys every day.
To me, it feels like if you’re not getting something out of this platform, that you must not be taking proper advantage of it. This place feels like the last place someone can shape their own experience, and maybe some here have either forgotten what that was like in the ye olde internet days or are too young to have ever seen a non-commercial web.
There is a lot of dark, gloomy, or brain rotting stuff here, but that’s the experience you’re making for yourself. I have found Lemmy to be life-changing for the best, and bringing some small daily joy to you guys is a huge part of it. As an introvert, I never felt I’d be leading a group like this, but you have all been so kind and supportive you’ve helped me reach a place I never could have imagined. I’m forever grateful to our little group here, 100%!
And were forever grateful for you!
I literally have thought about making a meme several times about how when I see an anon6789 post I upvote it, but I’m not creative enough to think of a meme to post haha.
But that being said, your posts make my feed and day better each time is see one. Thank you!
That’s what I’m here for!
Do you have a favorite for Owl of the Year yet?
I’d vote for this one if any choice
Beautiful! Burrowing Owl is always a hit!
I see you’ve read our pamphlets! ;D
anon6789
Damn it. This where I figured out who posted this!
I love your toots. Do this and post about it, please.
If it’s cool and owl related, you will see it here!
Good on ya, you stood up for your skills in a confident, positive way. Get out there and herd them plumicorns on the horizon, hyah! Hyah! ;)
It can be a fine line for those of us with niche interests sharing our passion vs overwhelming the normal person that makes the mistake of saying “oh, you like x?” 😆
I got to talk about things like what types of owls are in our state, who is the smallest owl, where their real ears are with the families, and with the other rescue workers I got into some fancier stuff like the skeletal system, respiration, the tongue bone, and they seemed to have the most interest in zygodactyl feet and how that worked.
They asked about where I talked so much about this and tried to explain Lemmy a bit, but that was the point their eyes started to glaze over! I tried to make us more popular, guys!
That’s ok, Lemmy will find them lol
I’ve got the 2 Owl of the Year donation plaques in the lobby with the website! It’s right there in front of them!
I forgot to mention, I learned that Harry’s eye is not really removed. She told me that they don’t typically remove owl eyes that are damaged, they just dry them out, and now it makes a ton of sense!
Since owl eyes are so big and take up so much of their skull, as they aren’t round orbs like our eyes that removing the eye would cause some type of balance/equilibrium difference from a significant amount of mass being removed from their head.
I thought that was amazing. I’ll have to see if I can get more details on that.
That’s so strange. How do they do that without it rotting or hurting?
I haven’t gotten a chance to look into it much yet, but I found this quick that gives a brief overview on the procedure.
It’s mostly Greek to me, but it at least gives me the proper terms so I can read more on it later. Hopefully I can find some videos or at least a writeup that is in layman’s terms.
I’ll be sure to share anything good I find. I love the things that make their anatomy so different to ours.
First of all, Harry is awesome, who doesn’t love a Screechie.
Secondly, who is the director of a clinic who doesn’t put anon6789 in charge of the owl activities?? What? Oh you’re Babe Ruth, why don’t you run the face painting booth, ol’ Carl the accountant will run the softball game! 🙄
Thirdly, ‘plumicorns’ totally rules as a word. I can absolutely see those adults smiling as they turn it over in their mind a few times!
The other regular volunteers like myself were talking for a bit about how we all seem familiar with a lot of people at the clinic, but didn’t necessarily know each other’s names or much about each other.
There’s usually so many animals to with in that it really overrides the chance to learn all too much about each other, and that’s why the events are really fun. Those are days where the focus can finally be on humans!
I’m sure plenty of people show up and are like, I like birds, I like raccoons, so one person showing up and saying I like owls probably wouldn’t stand out the way it would anywhere else.
But now they seem aware, so I’m excited to see what new opportunities come up. It may seem like I’m more extroverted here, since I start and lead a lot of the conversation, but I’m usually shy initially in person. Working with the animals is not only a good ice breaker, but my brain sees them as the focal point even if I’m talking. It feels like I’m just the animals interpreter or ambassador, other than it being the other way around, so I get to relax more and be open around new people, and it always feels great afterwards to have been able to explore other facets of myself.
Gotta be honest though, the roach isn’t gonna make my short list for OotY.
It’s happy with just knowing it will survive the apocalypse!
OK, great owl pic but… The other pic… Not quite my style! Still, glad you got to do it :D Halloween is coming soon.
Hah, yes, I suspect that other one may be the most polarizing thing I’ve ever shared here!
I had held a tarantula before, and this roach was more intimidating to me than that, but now it’s been demystified.
I heard there were scorpions there too, but I missed them. I would have nervously held that as well.
All the animals serve some purpose here, and I should at least take a minute to try and appreciate them it’s my take. Most experiences leave me much more favourable of them.
All the animals serve some purpose here, and I should at least take a minute to try and appreciate them it’s my take.
100% agree!
I have love for every living being – we all serve a purpose, we all mean something to mother Earth, and we are part of the same whole. That’s the more philosophical side of it, I guess, but scientifically it’s also interesting to learn about different animals (or any being, really… Mushrooms are really cool).
That being said, for a few of our fellow Earthlings… I’d rather they perform their very incredible, fascinating, and purposeful activities away from me… I am working on this feeling, though. I used to be terrified of spiders, but I’ve gotten much better about it over the years, actually.
Patience and understanding is all anyone can ask!
All animals and plants have the right to live… Outside my house unless invited!
