Outside of the priceless life lessons that I learned while working with the wonderful people who make up the Avian Haven community, I learned dozens of complicated technical skills while interning at the center. I found a passion for animal nutrition, something that I had never expected to have an interest in. I learned how to hand feed baby birds from as large as a baby owl to as small as a baby chickadee (which is around the size of a penny) as well as how to properly prepare the appropriate liquid diet for insect eating, fruit eating, seed eating, and generalist eating birds. I also learned how to prepare diets for larger, carnivorous animals such as hawks, falcons, eagles, loons, and ravens. Tube feeding is a particularly useful skill that …show more content…
At Avian Haven I learned what veterinary medicines are appropriate for what situations, especially several herbal and organic medicines. Avian Haven tries it's best to avoid using traditional medicines whenever necessary due to their occasional adverse effects on birds as well as traditional antibiotics' tendency to weaken the animal's natural immune system. One example of this organic medicine practiced at the center is if an animal came in with a mild flesh wound, it would often be treated with local, organic honey instead of a cream antibiotic before being wrapped. The natural antibiotic tendencies of honey help to fight off infections in the wound as well as prevent any oils in traditional creams from ruining the bird's feathers. Another specialized aspect of bird medicine specifically is that any bandaging or splinting needs to be extremely light weight to avoid weighing down the bird's naturally light weight limbs and causing muscle damage or even bone distortion in younger animals. One solution to this problem was using a product called Tegaderm, a lightweight and transparent bandage that is used to cover wounds, keeping injuries moist and protected from environmental bacteria. Any splints that a bird needed for bone injuries were made of toothpick , cotton, and a thin layer of bandaging. Finally, every bird that came into Avian Haven was tested for internal parasites both from oral and fecal samples. Birds of special concern such as crows, ravens, rock doves, and mourning doves were tested as soon as possible once they were admitted. Samples were taken and filtered using chemical substrates, and then observed under a microscope for any signs of microbial life. The most common parasites observed were Trich (Trichomonas gallinae), Roundworm eggs, and Coccidia.