Goodbye Pittsburgh Zoo, Hello National Aviary

Wednesday was my last day as a gorilla keeper intern, though I will continue to volunteer one day a week until January 2nd. January 2nd is the day I begin my new internship at the National Aviary. It will not be a general husbandry internship as before. No, it will be a husbandry internship in the aviary's veterinary hospital.

Taking care of the aviary's sick and injured birds will not just entail cleaning after and feeding them; it will require physical therapy, close observation, extensive handling, and veterinary assistance. I am very pleased to have been selected for the internship within the veterinary hospital instead of out in the aviary's healthy population for this very reason. Also, everyone at the Pittsburgh Zoo tells me that my supervisor at the aviary, Dr. Pilar Fish, is a really great woman that will make my internship enjoyable and instructive.

One thing that I found fascinating when boning up on bird veterinary care is the mending of broken beaks.

Chips and breaks to the beak are a common injury in birds. In the wild, a damaged beak can mean that a bird will be unable to eat or hunt, but a quick response from the medical team means that in short order the injured bird is not only eating comfortably, but also looking good in front of his friends.

Beak repairs are made using a specialized process that incorporates the same dental acrylics used for human teeth. Many aviaries go a step further by mixing pigments with the acrylic to match the color of the beak so that the repaired area is not obvious. If the damage is too severe to be corrected with acrylic, then bridges or even prosthetic beaks are made.