so baby season is now in full force. we have the last of our nene on the way. i have included a picture of our newest gosling to hatch. she was the only fertile egg of the two her mother laid and it was such a tiny egg (1/3 the size of a normal nene egg) we didn't think it would make it full term. she made it though and popped out in perfect health despite being incredibly tiny. it will be interesting to see if she ever grows up to be a normal sized nene. either way, her mother loves her and showers her with affection. i guess it pays to be the only child!

our final nene nest of the season is currently at day 24 of a 30 day incubation period. nene, like other waterfowl, are somewhat unique in the way they incubate their eggs. they actually only lay one egg a day but they allow their eggs to sit in the nest without being incubated until they have laid their entire clutch. the eggs can actually lay dormant and not begin growing or die as long as no excess heat is provided to them. this is efficient for nene since they are precotial birds (their young can get up and run around very shortly after birth) and need all of their young to hatch out at the same time so that they can all forage together. this clutch is special in that it actually consists of six eggs which is the most laid so far this year. i know the picture only shows four, but there are a couple more down there staying warm beneath the bark. also, don't get to thinking nene find magical nest tubs full of saw dust out in the wild. normally they would form a scrape on the ground and add a few twigs and some leaves to lay their eggs in, but for some reason we take the eggs out of their own nest and place it in the tub.

our puaiohi have also been going baby crazy. the young parent reared chick has finally fledged and you can see it's cute self covered in juvenile spotted feathers. it will keep those for about six or seven months until they molt into adult plumage. i have also included a picture of our first hand raised chick at day two. this is an example of an altritial bird (one which is completely helpless at birth, unlike the nene, and needs constant parental attention to survive) as it is featherless except for a little fuzz on its head and can't even see. an interesting fact that can be seen in the picture is that for its first three days of life we feed it nothing but cricket gonads. apparently that is the most nutritious part of the cricket. who would have thought!?

i will leave you with a cute picture of a non-native but still interesting creature i often find running around the facility. it is a rainbow skink and they are quite small, only about three inches. this one was hiding out on some old a-frames we put in nene pens so they can hide out from the rain.