Chicken Camp

After 2 months of looking forward to it, Chicken Camp finally came and went. It was only 2 days, but it felt like a lot longer. Not only did I have a great time chatting to other animal lovers, playing with chookums, and generally sitting back and watching other people work, but I did manage to learn a lot.

I learnt the basics of clicker training and how to break a behaviour that you want into lots of tiny steps so that you can "shape" the animal one tiny step at a time and build it up gradually to eventually result in the entire behaviour. For example, when getting a chicken to peck at a disk, you first click and reward every time the chicken looks at the disk, moves in the direction of the disk, or lowers its head towards the disk. Gradually you narrow your criteria so that you only click and reward when she is getting closer to the goal of pecking the disk. Eventually she will peck it and then you can narrow the criteria to only rewarding when she pecks it. I was absolutely amazed how well this works and how quickly the chickens picked it up. Once she is consistently pecking the disk and has a good reinforcement history (i.e. she's done it enough times so that she really understands the cause and effect of pecking and getting a treat) you can then make the behaviour more complicated by making it a moving target, or adding disks of different colours and getting her to do colour discrimination and only peck disks of one colour. I couldn't believe how well the chookums did at the more complicated behaviours.

At the end, for a bit of fun, we did "slaying the dragon" by getting the chookums to pick up and throw little dinosaur toys off the table. I don't know if it was because the chickens were used to being trained by then or that the trainers had improved their skills over the two days, but the chookums picked up this trick almost instantly.

I am so enthused about clicker training now. I have my clicker, treats, and training plan all set up for Darcy so stay tuned for some adorable videos of Darcy doing tricks in the future.

Fidget's Visit to The Vet

There hasn't been a vet in Exeter for years, but a little while ago the old vet clinic opened up again and I was very pleased to see that it was being run by the vet from Legana that I had taken Sophie the chookum to. While Sophie's story didn't have a happy ending, I had really liked that vet and thought that she was one of only a handful of vets I've met that I would trust with my animals. Having a vet that I actually like only 5 minutes away from Mum and Dad's is fantastic because Fidget absolutely hates travelling and it stresses her so much that I've always been a bit worried about what we'd do if she got sick. We've been in that situation before, but that time she was so unwell that she didn't have the energy to make too much of a fuss and we didn't have a choice so she had to be taken on the hour round trip to get treatment.

Fidget is in very good health at the moment, but as she is 18 and I wanted to build a relationship with the new vet, I decided to take her in for a check-up. So on Monday morning I prepared to take her into the vet. I was a bit stressed about how she would react, but Fidget didn't seem to pick up on it and was having a snuggle on my lap when it came time to leave. She didn't want to go into the cat carrier, but I got her in fairly easily because I had taken her by surprise. As soon as the car door was shut, before the engine was even on, she started crying. She cried louder and more pathetically than I have ever heard a cat cry before. I nearly changed my mind before we'd even made it to the bottom of the road, but I steeled myself and kept of driving, murmuring comforting words and trying not to feel like a traitor.

We got to the vet and Fidget calmed down a little when she was out of the car, but then went for a scared silence when she was let out of the carrier onto the examination table. She let the vet examine her all over without complaining at all whereas she is usually very vocal in reprimanding us if we touch her tummy and her sore spot in her hips. She was a very good girl and she was given a clean bill of health. The vet said that she was the healthiest and most beautiful 18 year old cat that she had ever seen and that we should keep doing exactly what we have been. I was so proud of my kitten and, with a bottle of anti-inflammatory pain relief for when her arthritis is playing up, we were sent home. It was quite the feat to get Fidget back into the cat carrier, but I managed to ambush her and get her in despite her best efforts to make herself bigger than the opening with all four legs held rigid in different directions. As soon as we were in the car again the crying started, but 5 minutes later we were home.

I carried her back into the living room, put the carrier on her favourite chair, and opened the door. She looked more surprised than pleased to be home. I was ready with bribes of warm roast chicken to apologise for my treachery, but I didn't expect her to forgive me for days. It very much surprised me that, after a lap of the house to make sure it was all still there and there were no vets hiding around corners, Fidget came to me for a cuddle. She forgave me straight away, but by the evil glare she was giving the cat carrier and the very wide path she took to walk around it, she was definitely planning to hold a grudge with it for a while.

Fidget got through her ordeal without any lasting damage and I've had reports that she may have even started forgiving the cat carrier, or at least that her curiosity is greater than her fear of it because she was sticking her head into to it the next day.

Koala Cuddles and Houses for Rent

So, I finally got my 6 month contract with the Devil Program. I got my new contract to sign 4 days before my current contract expires - quite considerate of them to get it to me so quickly, isn't it. It isn't like I need certainty or consistency in my life or anything. I feel like I've been so uncertain now for quite a while waiting to hear about my contract and waiting to hear what my housemate is doing. That's now finally sorted out as well. Alanna is leaving the devil program to go to a really good opportunity in New Zealand. I'm going to miss having her around, but its good to know for certain what she's doing so I can start planning what I'm going to do. With a six month contract at work and no housemate, my course of action seems pretty clear - find a new place that's cheaper and get a 6 month lease, work for 6 months and then go to Africa.

So, that was the plan. But, as always, life doesn't go according to plan. I've been looking for a nice little unit to be my new home for the next 6 months, but I have been having a bit of trouble. All the ones I've looked at have either been too horrible for consideration, or too small to fit all my stuff in it. The other day, I thought I'd found the one, but the real estate agent had already closed applications. Stupid real estate agents.

Speaking of applications, that's the other thing that's complicating my life. I've somehow managed to trick the people at the Phillip Island Koala Conservation Centre into giving me an interview for a Ranger position on Tuesday. I'm very pleased to get an interview, but it does rather complicate my life. Now I have to prep for an interview, have a very stressy day off (because I can't help, but get stressed out when I have an interview) and then wait until I've been told if I've got the job or not before I can sign any leases or get settled down here again. Either way, I'll be moving, but there is quite a difference moving a suburb away to moving to another state. 

Queechy Pond

 This morning was the third BirdLife northern group excursion that Alanna and I have organised. This time we went down to Queechy Pond (only 10mins away from our place) to see if we could find the Nankeen Night Herons that reportedly breed in the area. Nankeen Night Herons are very uncommon in Tassie and are very cryptic, so everyone was keen to get a look at one. We were told that they roost in the willows in the middle of the pond so we set to scouring the willow branches. After a few minutes, we spotted our first and then our second and then our third. In the end we saw 7 adult Night Herons and one juvenile. We were all pretty stoked.

 If you enlarge this photo and look carefully there are 5 Night Herons in this photo. Can you spot them all?


Once we had finished oooh-ing and aww-ing at the Night Herons, we were heading back to the car when we realised that the 3 Spoonbills that we had seen earlier weren't just the normal Spoonbills, but Royal Spoonbills which are extremely rare in Tassie.

 Great Cormorant, Pied Cormorant, and 3 Royal Spoonbills

We had a brilliant birdwatching morning :)

Update

So, my trip to Africa isn't for another 7 months - yes, I will still make it to chicken camp :) - and I've got some other things to focus on right now. I have 2 weeks left on my current contract, but I'm expecting to be offered another 6 months sometime this week. Just to complicate things, though, I'm going to have to move house in the next few weeks. My current housemate/workmate won't be signing on for another contract (at least there's a 95% chance that she won't) and my place isn't very affordable for me to live here without sharing with someone. Signing on for another 6 months at work would mean that I'm also able to sign on for a 6 month lease at a new place, so I'm currently looking for a little one-bedroom to call home for a while. It will be nice to live by myself again after sharing for so long, but the process of moving is never fun so I can't say I'm actually looking forward to the process. I have an open house lined up for Monday and I'm trying to organise a second one at another place. Hopefully, I'll like on of them and I won't have to do too much more looking. Moving within the same city, I should be able to move in a less organised manner, taking most of my stuff car load by car load which might make it a bit easier (and require less boxes).

I've also applied for another job in Victoria, though, so there is a possibility (although, I'd say its unlikely) that I'll get that and mess up my plans.

Project Namibia

I had a phone call from London tonight from a volunteer coordinator about my application to volunteer with the Carnivore Conservation Programme in Namibia. After myconversation with the nice pom lady, the basic outcome is that I've been accepted. I was interviewed for about 40min to make sure that I understood the project that I was applying for and the potential difficulties with working in a developing country and that I was a suitable person for the project. Once I explained what I do for a living, she was pretty happy and skipped a few questions. They will send me my official letter of offer soon and then I can start properly planning my adventure.

Its pretty exciting to see that its actually happening. Its no longer just a daydream of something that I want to do, its now starting to become a reality.

Namibia

So, there's a slight change of plans. I'm now thinking Namibia rather than Swaziland. Namibia is also a politically stable country so I would feel relatively safe there and the volunteering opportunity at the wildlife sanctuary there seems really cool. They run a research program collaring and tracking Cheetahs which I would love to be a part of. So thats the plan at this stage. Until I change my mind again.