I volunteered at Uncle Sandy’s Macaw Bird Park. The Park
was started by a man named Sandy who was born and raised on an island where
macaws were wild and free. He developed a love for these birds, and started
adopting macaws. Unfortunately April 30th of last year Sandy passed
away. The mission is to educate the public about these birds and to take in
unwanted macaws and other birds.
I did many different jobs at the bird park. My primary
job was feeding all of the birds giving them treats or giving them their main
meal. I also trimmed plants, fixed & improved aviaries, cleaned out a
storage building, shoveled bird poop, chopped up an old garden border and
removed the nails from it for re-use, and just spent time with the birds which
is also important since many of them like attention.
One of the chapters that pertains to my service learning
is Chapter 10: Evolution and Extinction.
I first-handedly got to experience the power of a macaw’s beak, which has
evolved for cracking open even the toughest of jungle nuts and fruits. One
large male macaw decided he wanted my finger instead of the treat. He bit down
hard and cut my finger. My finger was numb for almost half the day and after he
bit me I felt woozy. Sure I knew that parrots and macaws beaks are so specialized
for eating tough foods, but it wasn’t until I experienced this that I realized
just how well suited they are to this task. Another issue mentioned in this
chapter is habitat destruction and overharvesting. While macaws and many of the
other bird species at the park have destruction of habitat in their native
lands, some of them are wild caught birds. There is a large issue with birds
being caught in the wild and sold as pets. Since macaws normally mate for life,
this can be devastating to wild macaws. Some of the birds at the park were wild
caught or are closely related to wild caught birds. Chapter 10 mainly talks
about the issue of the wild birds of Guam being killed by snakes. Even in
captivity you can have problems with predators so at the bird park there are
animal traps set out to catch predators, each aviary is secure to keep the
birds in and the predators out.
Another chapter that relates to my experience is Chapter 17: Solid Waste. At Uncle
Sandy’s Bird Park I noticed that many things were re-used or re-purposed. They
make use of at least two of the four R’s mentioned in chapter 17. I noticed
that when they gave visitors a plastic cup full of peanuts to feed the birds,
after the visitors ran out of peanuts the park workers would take back the cups
and re-use them again. Also, when I was breaking apart that wooden border, I
was told to take out the nails because they could be re-used. It was hard
getting the nails out, but it felt good knowing they could be used again for
something else. When fixing the aviaries we would use scrap pieces of wire
fencing to patch areas we cut out for placing a perch and we would also use
scrap wood to make a food dish holder for the birds to perch on. In one of the
large flight aviaries, old truck bed covers (toppers) and things were placed
for macaws to perch on and play with. The sleeping boxes for the macaws were
old metal barrels or plastic barrels with a cut out opening for the birds. Even
the food that fell from the off ground aviaries did not go to waste. The
free-range turkey, named Tom, enjoyed walking under these aviaries and eating
up the food that fell.
Finally, the last chapter that I can associate with my
volunteer work at Uncle Sandy’s Macaw Bird Park is Chapter 18: Agriculture. While chapter 10 is mainly about
agriculture, it also mentions the symbiotic relationship between the ducklings
and the rice field. It is this symbiotic relationship that was a great solution
in chapter 18 and something I want to focus on. As I mentioned in the previous
paragraph, I noticed that not even the food went to waste because the
free-range birds would eat the food that fell out of the aviaries. Not only was
this a great benefit for the park, but also the poop from the free-range birds
can even be beneficial for the plants. I personally use my peafowl’s poop on my
plants and it really helps them grow. Bill’s dog helps scare away any predators
or pests (like how I witnessed his dog chase away a mouse) but the dog is
friendly to the birds and keeps them safe. The peacocks can also make an alarm
call and alert people and birds of any predators or people coming. Sure there
isn’t much agriculture going on here, but there are a lot of beneficial
relationships going on which reminds me of the ducks and the rice.
I breed and raise peafowl (www.bamboopeacock.com)
so I already have experience with caring for them and was able to relate to
many of the chores, but I did learn that peafowl are much easier to care for
than parrots and macaws. I made sure to listen carefully about what food to
feed the birds and how much, because parrots eat a different food mix than
macaws. If I was uncertain about my instructions I would ask again because it
is better to do something the right way the first time than mess up and have to
do it over. I made sure I worked hard no matter what the task, although it was
hard to clean out some of the aviaries when the bird wanted to bite you or
crawl all over you! When I finished something I would ask for something else to
do instead of standing around. Doing what I was told to do and working hard
will certainly help me with whatever job I end up having. I was able to see how
the aviaries were constructed and how things were run and these things can help
me care for my own birds.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thank you for commenting you message awaits approval.