Bouncing Baby Bongo

Finally! The newest addition to the bongo herd has arrived.

Iguanas Ready for the Cold!

Even though south Florida doesn't get too cold, sometimes it gets a little too cold for our scaly friends, the iguanas. Today we decided to clean out their hibernation box and get it all prepped and ready to go for the winter. Here are some snap shots of the staff helping out Sammie and Yoshi for the future cold snaps.

New Employees at RSCF!!

RSCF wants to welcome our new staff employees Uziel and Danielle! We put together a little bio on each of them to get to know them better.

Uziel was born and raised in Maywood, Illinois. He graduated from the University of Illinois at Chicago and recieved a Bachelor of Science in Biology. This was where his interest in the animal field began. From there he took internships at Cosley Zoo, Brookfield Zoo and volunteered at Willowbrook Wildlife Center. One of his favorite animals, that he's worked with thus far, are kangaroos. Uziel's animal dream would be to work with jaguars. At the moment he wants to continue working in the animal field and is open to where his future may lead him. Outside of working with a diverse group of animals he enjoys scuba diving, going to the beach and any other outdoor activities. At home he's got a sulcata tortoise, two sun conures, a peacock and miniture pincher.

Danielle was born in Japan but raised in Lake Worth, Florida. She is part of a navy family and was moved out of Japan when she was six months old. Danielle recieved her Bachelor of Science at the University of Florida in Wildlife Ecology and Conservation. Her internships include sea turtle work in North Carolina and Juno Beach and has had the opportunity to work with manatees at Crystal River in Ocala. She would love to work with medium to large sized mammals and stay in the realm of conservation work. Danielle is interested in creating crafts out of recycled items, a regular wiz in transforming trash into treasure. Other interests include spending time with her dog, reading, and drawing. Her pets include two dogs and two lovebirds.

They both are looking forward to working with RSCF and seeing where their paths will go from here on out.

Dead Pine Removal

Here you see an old dead pine being taken down by Paul's ropes and tractor. We periodically take any dead pines down so we don't have a collapse on a fenceline, cages, or any expensive equipment. We first cleared the area with machetes so Paul had access to the tree which he then scaled with an extension ladder and tied a rope 3/4 of the way up to help pull it down and direct the fall. While the rest of us stood at a safe distance Paul used the chainsaw to carve out an angle out of the trunk and then made his way to the tractor where tension was put on the rope and, as you can see, the tree was retired. Hope the video is as enjoyable as it was for us to witness. Also, the tree made a nice heavy exhaling thud as it hit the earth.

How to Compost Rare Species style

Here we see Hollie teaching us how to reduse, reuse, and recycle through composting. Hopefully this video will inspire others to do the same. Also, here are some links with more info on composting:

How To Compost

Wiki How

Red Worm Composting

Compost Guide

2010 Pygmy Babies!!

Hey everyone! RSCF wanted to put together a little slide show and video presentation of our latest pygmy marmoset babies of 2010. Starting at the top of our list is a juvenile male, born at the end of January, who is very curious and loves checking out the camera. Following him is a little girl born in May. Then we have the juvenile male's sibling born in August. And capping it off with our latest twins, born late August. These guys are really hard to get a picture of. They flee when they see us. We have to wait until they get older and start to venture on their own. This is when they cling to the cages and we finally have the chance to sex them.

A Vinaceous Greeting!

Here's a little snip-it of our only pair of Vinaceous Amazon parrots. Unfortunately these guys are on the IUCN list of endangered animals. Their populations in South America are depleting. RSCF just wanted to share a little visual so everyone can see how pretty they are.

Help Wanted at Rare Species Conservatory Foundation!

RSCF is seeking a qualified, part-time animal care specialist. Must have experience with exotic wildlife, work outdoors, weekend, and holidays. Duties include the daily care and management of a 30-acre wildlife center, animal care, records keeping, diet preparation, and property maintenance.

Candidates must be fit, able to lift 50 lbs and have a working knowledge of basic farm equipment (ATV, tractors, etc.).

Hours: 20-30/week. Wage: $10.50/hr

Send inquiries, resume and contact information to:
info@rarespecies.org

RSCF is located in Loxahatchee, Fl. www.rarespecies.org

Bongo Update!

Here are just a few snap shots of our bongo. Excuse the quality of the pictures but we still just wanted to share what we've got! Don't worry, better pictures and videos are soon to come!

Lunch Time for Susie & Sammie

Check out our new picture and video of the week. Our picture is of Susie, our female golden-lion tamarin, taking a lizard from fellow keeper, Hollie. They love their lizards. It's a special treat that they don't get on a regular basis.

This is a video of our large male iguana, Sammie, chowing down on his lunch. During the warmer months their appetite greatly increases compared to the winter time.

Spring Cleaning!!

Yesterday, we cleaned out one of our 50 foot cages. It was unfortunately covered in weeds. It's important to clear them out to make sure there aren't any potential threats growing or hiding in the vegetation. For instance, there can be invasive plants, such as Brazilian pepper taking root inside the cage. Or there can be snakes, hornets or other pesky critters, that aren't welcomed. Here is a little slide show of some before and after pictures. Hauling out two large trash bags filled with weeds. And an unfortunate hornet stinging incident with one of our keepers. After all the work and slight injuries the cage was restored to it's cleaned out self, so it could be kept at a level where the pots could be monitored for not housing anymore unwelcomed friends. Unfortunately a lot of the plants/trees in the cage look like twigs, but that is because the birds love to land on them and rip them apart. They are the birds' natural play toys.

Pic & Video of the Week!!

Check out this picture Rose took of a native black and yellow argiope spider. Interesting fact; after females lay their eggs in the autumn they die. Eggs hatch in autumn, but they stay in the sac until spring. And males usually have a zig-zag pattern in the middle of their webs. I think this spider is a boy. Very cool!



This is our female red-browed amazon parrot that goes by "Bow Wow Bird." Here's a little clip of her making a trilling sound and saying her name. While she also gives kisses to the camera.

Invasive Plants on the Prowl!

During the drier months the staff at RSCF tries to go out and tackle some invasive plants and nuisance weeds. It may be the hottest time of year, but it's the easiest time to be able to get into certain areas without being flooded down with water.

One of the biggest weeds we tackle is Cesar's weed. It is native, however when it starts blooming it can shoot out to higher than 6 feet and take over the landscape. In the beginning of the following video we have our intern, Neil, hacking some pesky weeds down.

Lead keeper, Rose, gives a little synopsis on Brazilian pepper. An invasive plant sometimes confused with native holly. This species of tree produces a dense canopy that shades native plants from access to the sun. They are usually found in warmer climates and do not fare well in cold regions.

Finally, David shows us a little sneak peek on the invasive plant Ligodium. This vine usually starts at the base of a tree and begins growing upward. Without being tackled it will grow out towards nearby plants strangling them and stealing all their nutrients.

The best way to kill invasive species is by pulling them out, making sure to get the root. Hang them somewhere upside down so the roots cannot reach soil and regrow. However, with Ligodium, since it becomes such a tight knit knot of a vine, it's best to spray it with herbicide.

Make sure to check out which invasive plants may be in your backyard that you can maintain and prevent from spreading. Let's try to keep Florida's plant and wildlife as native as possible!!

Bath Time!

When it gets hot, we all like to cool down with a nice shower, especially the Red-browed Amazon parrots. Here are some shots of bath time via shower by hose. The birds love this, and end up soaked to the skin. As you can see, they hang upside down, spread their wings and thoroughly enjoy themselves!

Pic of the Day!

We discovered new pygmy marmoset twins this morning. Mom gave birth late last night or before dawn today. Hard to photograph in the best of circumstances, so all I could get was a shot from the outside. Mom is VERY SHY. I'll try to get more over the next days and weeks when the babies are a bit bigger. These are fresh from the oven! Mom is great, nursing both at the same time. SO TINY!!

Adorable Pygmy Marmoset Photo of the Week!

One of our new babies...SO CUTE!!!

2010 Babies!!

We thought you would like to see some photos of this year's baby red-browed Amazon parrots. The "Fantastic Five" are now fully weaned and living most of the time in their new flight cage. We bring them inside during the hottest part of the late afternoon and overnight. Soon they will be completely acclimated to thier new enclosure and will stay out full time. When we bring them inside, they are usually hot and tired. So, you will see in the last few photos that they enjoy a good bath to cool off!

We will soon know the sex of each bird, we sent off some feathers for DNA sexing just last week. We'll keep you posted!

Pygmy Marmoset Munchies...

We have a new FlipShare video camera, and we're all having fun figuring out how to use this neat little device. Here is a short video of a couple of our pygmy marmosets enjoying mealworms and crickets for lunch. Forgive the shakey quality--we're learning! We promise, the videos will get better with practice!!

Baby Bongo!!

On Friday, July 9, 2010, we welcomed a new addition to our bongo family. Although, she wasn't discovered until Sunday. This is due to the fact that usually the mother will hide the baby when it's first born. It gives the baby time to acclimate itself and get its foot barrings. We believe our new little baby is a girl! Off first look usually the head gives away the sex. Males have larger heads. So far the baby has been doing very well these past two weeks. She's been hanging out with one of our big male bulls. Clearly she feels safe laying around with him. Below we have a few small video clips. It's a little difficult to see her. She definitely stays away from us, so it's hard to get a really close up visual on her. She's strong and running around. So far this year we have a total of five new baby bongo! One of the videos includes the other older babies, laying around with a couple of adults. You can tell the difference by the fact that they don't have horns yet and if they do they're very little.

Summer and More!

Well, summer is finally here, and the farm is alive with activity. We've been so busy we haven't had time to post lately! Our parrot breeding season has been extremely successful, with five new baby redbrows almost weaned and ready to take flight in the new enclosure we just built for them. We have four baby bongo on the ground and running, and our pygmy marmoset colony has increased as well, with new babies everywhere. All are doing well, more photos to come soon!

We also have some new and returning staff members on our team. Neil Grossman, who was our summer intern last year, is back for the month of July. We're happy to have him and put him to work immediately!

We also have welcomed Tony Sheets, our new Director of Operations. He will be managing our 30 acre facility, which will be a BIG help. Tony is from Daytona Beach, and has been a volunteer with RSCF over the past few years, helping out with our overseas program on Dominica and lending a hand on the farm whenever he could. We are very happy to have him as a permanent addition to the staff! Tony will be residing on-site, so we welcome him to his new home!

Here are a few pictures of what we've been up to, many more to come!

Love Your Mother - Celebrate Earth Day with Us!!

Earth Day is this week! What better way to express your love of nature than through art? Art and Nature are linked, you can't have one without the other. This Friday, we plan to show you that link with our Celebration of Earth Day from 6:00 to 9:00 PM. The gallery will be filled with amazing art reflecting our natural world, and we have partnered with 1000 Friends of Florida, the Lake Worth Tree Board, and the Oceanside Green Market for the evening. We'll be giving way trees, wildflower seeds, and great information about how you can help preserve our natural world.

This evening is brought to you courtesy of Gallery artists Karen McGovern, Karen Windchild, Edith-Perla Smith and Tracy Rosof-Peterson.

Mico the Mighty Marmoset Takes Over the Web!!

Our resident, famous pygmy marmoset, Mico, has become quite popular these days. He's met hundreds of RSCF visitors and has quite a fan-base. In fact, he now has his own Facebook page! Please take a moment to visit his page and "friend" him. Our goal is to become the monkey with the most friends on Facebook! Be sure to read his profile to find out just how Mico came to be such a famous character.

Besides Facebook, Mico also has his own on-line retail store hosted by Zazzle. Here you can find T-Shirts and sweatshirts, notecards, even a scateboard all with Mico's image! He even has his own postage stamp! RSCF recieves a portion of every sale, so please visit the store--you'll find great one-of-a-kind gifts and support RSCF's wildlife conservation programs while you shop!

Photo Op!

Thought you might enjoy some new photos from around the Farm. Spring is here, and all the critters are very happy to welcome the warmer weather. This past winter was the longest and coldest in many years. We are so glad to see longer, warmer days! We've been busy, planting trees and sprucing up the property. The aviary is especially active right now, with the Red-browed Amazon parrots beginning their breeding season. We check nest-boxes for eggs every morning--tricky business, because not only might there be eggs in the box, but also a very angry parrot! We then artificially incubate the eggs, and in 26 to 28 short days a chick hatches! We'll keep you posted....

We also have a new addition to our bongo herd. Last month a new baby was born with a very unusual stripe pattern near his rear. This squiggly line has earned him the name "Doodle". He's a very fiesty young bull and already running with the big boys.

We Have A Zazzle Store!

Now you can buy all things RSCF related at our brand new Zazzle store! A portion of every sale will be donated to RSCF, so please get your credit cards out and take a look! T-shirts, stickers, note cards, even a SCATEBOARD are available with images of Mico, or pygmy marmoset spokesman. More to come, bongo and parrots on the way, so check back often!

Create a personalized gift at Zazzle.

Name That Bongo!!

We'd like to introduce you to our newest baby bongo, born February 14th. He is adorable, and we discovered he has a very unusual stripe pattern on one side....One of the stripes sort of wanders.

So, we need to name this guy! Submit your suggestions to rscfstaff@gmail.com. We'll pick a winner and let you know!

RSCF "Wild Things" Art Show a Wild Success!!

On Sunday, February 21, RSCF held its fourth annual art show called "Wild Things". The show features artists from around the country offering works inspired by nature. Twelve artists participated this year, and the show is held in the private studio of an RSCF friend and supporter.

The night was so fun! Christen Mason of Busch Wildlife Sanctuary joined us with education animals from their rehabilitation facility. The crested caracara and barn owl were huge hits with the guests. Another special guest was best-selling author Tami Hoag. She signed her new book, Deeper than the Dead, and donated 100% of book sales that night to RSCF!

Over 250 guests attended the event, which raised much needed funds for RSCF's wildlife conservation programs. Take a look at our slide show of images...As you can see, we all had a wonderful evening!