Baby Birdeeeeee!

 I spy.....

Wow, so 3 weeks went by pretty quickly... sorry about that.

I survived midterms!!! Yay! Did pretty well on all exams except for one... stupid virology. Not failing or anything, but no where near my performance in all the other classes. That's ok, I'll get you in the end, virology.

Lots to update y'all on. Yes, I did just say "y'all". Deal.

Mid-semester break was a blast. I slept. And slept. And ate. Lots of eating. Lots of sleeping. A bit of volleyball and a bit of beach. But mainly, food and sleep. Ahhhhhhh.

One of my friends here is leaving this weekend, he got accepted to a US vet school, and they didn't require that he finished this semester to be accepted to their school, so he got half his tuition back and is on his way back to the states! We're all very excited for him, but sad at the same time. We'll miss you B6! Not to mention he is abandoning his volleyball team too... being the captain and all....  So, congrats to my classmates who're moving back to civilization, enjoy!

Lets see, a got to do my first necropsy, it was very interesting and fun. Sad case of a loved pet falling ill, but we got to learn a lot from it. I even presented our report in front of my entire class (about 130 students) and wasn't horribly nervous!

Bacteriology has proven to be *gasp* fun! We're streaking and plating and culturing, sub-culturing and identifying all sorts of bacteria. I swabbed my laptop keyboard and cultured the swab. A week later, a bit terrified of what I might find, I found myself relieved to have only found a small amount of what I believe to be staphylococcus. Whew! Its normal flora on the skin, so it makes sense to find it on my keyboard. Gooooo vet school!

Ok, I've tortured you long enough with my boring school life, would you like to know what the "baby birdeeeee" title is all about??

Welp, there is a baby bird on our little porch! And a nest. And another unhatched egg, and a mommy and daddy bird. They're a cute little bird family. This is their story as I know it...

About 10-12 days ago Momma bird decided to build a nest on the plastic chair sitting on our porch. I happened to be watering plants later that day and decided to remove the nest. I mean, why would a bird think that a porch we go out on daily would be a good place to nest??? Go pick another spot, Momma bird. Well... the next morning Momma bird had already rebuilt the nest and layed an egg. I guess she was desperate. I didn't have the heart to remove it again, not with an egg already layed! Momma started incubating the egg right away, and that evening we noticed a changing of the guards, so Daddy bird took over for the night shift. Two days later, a second egg was layed! Now I got super curious and wondered how long it might take for eggs to hatch if they were fertile, and how well the birds would incubate the eggs.

Since then, the birds have been there without fail, incubating their egg, running off only when we open the door to water plants and sneak peaks at the little white eggs. Via google, we managed to estimate that it'd take somewhere between 10-14 days for them to hatch, if at all. We waited patiently... er... Matt did, I haven't been able to stop checking every time I walk by the window. Then today, when I came home from school, I was sad to see only one egg on the nest. How could it be??? Only one egg?? What happened to the other??

Mom or Dad bird got spooked and flew off when Matt was sweeping so we took that opportunity to go outside and look for the other egg. To our relief and surprise, one of the eggs hatched! And now we have a cute little wet baby birdy on our porch. And one little white egg that hopefully will hatch in a day or two. And Mommy and or Daddy bird have been attending to this little adorable bird. Soooooooooo cute.

Pictures? Why would I bother taking pictures? uhhhh.... you don't believe me? Yeah, I wouldn't believe me either. Here they are!

The first egg layed, about 12ish days ago

Mom or Dad bird, not sure how to tell them apart

BABY BIRDEEEEEEEEEEE!!!! And egg. See how it is still wet?!?! It only hatched within an hour maybe of me taking this picture considering how warm it is here.

Being smothered/kept warm by Mom/Dad post hatching. And egg.

Stay tuned in for more pictures and updates!!!