IAATE Part III

Saturday morning brought another round of thought-provoking paper presentations, though Saturday sessions tend to be more sparsely attended due to late nights spent socializing in the hospitality suite. Energized by caffeine and genuine interest, I was present and taking copious notes on all the speakers' topics.

In the late afternoon we were released to sit-in on round table discussions or have a little free time before the end-of-the-conference banquet celebration. I opted to go for a stroll in the nature reserve nestled only minutes from our hotel.

It didn't take long to notice the drastic difference. between Minnesota's winter vegetation and Washington's. Everything was brown and bare and the sun blazed. We saw an eagle's nest and a small river, as well as quite a few airplanes, due to our proximity to the St.Paul airport.

Eagles' nest in the tree; airplane in the sky

There was still time after our visit to the nature reserve for me to take a quick trip to the Mall of America for a couple of souvenirs. I went alone on the hotel's free shuttle, then darted in and out of the mall, dodging hordes of shoppers and amusement park visitors. Because the shuttle ride had only been about five minutes, I assumed I could walk back to the hotel, but pretty much immediately second-guessed my route choice. I asked an older couple waiting with me at a cross-walk if they knew where the Crowne Plaza Hotel was, and they employed the services of their grandsons' smartphones to get me directions. The stereotypes about Minnesotans seemed to all be true. The locals I met spoke with an accent that was almost Canadian and they were unfailingly kind. The couple offered to drive me to the hotel in their Escalade, but I declined.

I walked back to the hotel as the sun set, enjoying the view now that I was certain I was pointed in the right direction and wouldn't get lost after dark (and without my phone!) in an unfamiliar place.

Back at the hotel banquet room, I took my last chance to chat with some of the other conference attendees and had the fortune of sitting at the same table as Steve Martin (the bird trainer, not the comedian), though he was off mingling a lot, his attention being much in demand.

The board presented awards for the best poster and paper of the conference, as well as for behaviors trained by IAATE members throughout the year. And as a grand raffle prize, a painting from the performance artists at Splash!, who create giant, visually stunning works of art, created through choreography and whose aim is to connect audiences to endangered species.

 

The next morning I took the airport shuttle with a bird trainer from England and we passed the time waiting for our flights by discussing everything from red-legged seriemas to BBC.

 I can hardly wait for next year's conference in Tampa, Florida!

IAATE 2012 Part II: Zoo Day

The next morning after another breakfast buffet at the hotel, I went to a workshop focusing on environmental education. I love exchanging ideas with other people in the field to see how they convey the complexities of flight, conservation, or bird anatomy to their audiences. Educators from the Minnesota Raptor Center provided the group with some props for teaching about owl casts and owl hearing that were particularly fun.

We also learned that a regular chicken egg, when put to the test, will hold anywhere from 40 to 100 pounds!

Afterwards in the mid-morning, we all piled into three buses and rode to the Minnesota Zoo. I couldn't have hoped for better weather in a Minnesota February. It was 35 degrees and cheerfully sunny. The air was crisp though and knowing I have no tolerance for cold, I wore as many layers of clothing as would fit under my borrowed down jacket, and tucked some toe-warmers in my boots.

The Minnesota Zoo has a lot to see, but isn't too large to visit with the whole family in an easy day trip. Their expansive Northern Trail exhibits feature moose, takin, musk ox, caribou, tigers and prairie dogs, but if you need to get out of the cold, head to the toasty Tropics Trail to see gibbons, tamanduas, tree kangaroos, hornbills, komodo monitors and so many more awesome animals! The exhibit designers for this area were geniuses. The animals have lush vegetation yet are visible to the public, the barriers are unobtrusive, and the variety of animals is amazing. Every individual animal looked healthy and comfortable and all the guests' eyes were glued to the exhibits.

Admittedly, I was too enthralled to get many photos, but I couldn't help snapping one of the snoozing red panda and a contemplative gibbon.

Here are some other highlights of the zoo day:

Very active grizzly bears!

 

Attendees of the IAATE conference had the privilege of receiving a behind the scenes tour to see how the program animals were housed and kept. Plus, the Minnesota Zoo's program department put on a special show just for us, so we were able to see their birds (and staff) in action. 

We did other things that day, such as hold an IAATE board meeting and attend another workshop (this time about the essentials of training, presented by the premiere bird trainer, Steve Martin!) 

But the zoo was the high point of my day. If you are ever in the area, don't miss an opportunity to see this great facility!

IAATE 2012

It's an unusual group of people who are riveted by presentations about avian visual acuity or about practices for maintaining the health of geriatric birds, but the attendees of IAATE (the International Association of Avian Trainers and Educators) are exactly that group. The Minnesota Zoo hosted this year's IAATE conference, where over a hundred bird nerds from across the U.S., plus a handful from other countries, gathered to discuss their work breeding, training, and caring for birds.

My journey to St.Paul International Airport was uneventful, aside from coincidentally sitting beside a man going to a pheasant conference. He informed me that the U.S. has many organizations for gaming bird enthusiasts, including Cocks Unlimited. I have not been brave enough to Google that.

The traditional ice-breaker event at the hotel the first evening included sumo suits for the more gregarious bird nerds, as well as card games and puzzles for anyone unwilling to sprawl ridiculously on the floor, swaddled in a lumpy, sweaty mattress that makes you look like you're in your underwear. A pasta buffet was included.

The next morning we arrived in the conference room, which is the only one I have ever been in that was kept at a temperature above freezing. This, combined with free yogurt, fruit and coffee is an excellent way to start the day. At some conferences I have attended, I will find there is a paper presentation or two that just doesn't interest me or that is meandering or inapplicable. IAATE's papers held my attention consistently and I filled a whole little yellow notepad with thoughts on feather maintenance, hooded vulture training, and engaging program audiences.

Our day was broken up by a light lunch in the hospitality suite (okay, so the gluten-free option was just carrots and cheese, but that's still a "light lunch") and following the afternoon of presentations, we were on our own to explore the bustling metropolis of Bloomington, MN. The bustle consisted entirely of the Mall of America. So we went.

Aside from the mini-theme park in the center, the two-story Lego creations and a handful of stores I haven't seen before, Mall of America was, as advertised, a mall.

One of the highlights was the Lego store, where giant portraits made entirely of Legos were displayed. The Peeps store (no, I don't really like them) was also fun. We also stopped at the American Girl Doll store, which was an odd experience. Rows of little girl dolls of every conceivable skin shade, eye color and hair style lined up to be purchased, along with their ponies, hair brushes and cheer-leading uniforms. The cafe on the second level of the store was inviting and the bathroom had special hooks on the stalls labeled "doll holder."

It was someone's JOB to make a Lego moose portrait.

Star Wars Lego scenes were also popular.

Dinner at a brightly decorated (and I mean  BRIGHTLY) restaurant called Kokomo's was quite satisfying.

 

After some lively conversation in the hospitality suite, I retired to my hotel room to rest up for our visit to the Minnesota Zoo the next day.

Roller Derby: Empowering Entertainment

I don't want to speak for all Seattlites, but I know that it came as a surprise to me (and many people I talked to) that Seattle had a roller derby league. Roller derby seems like a thing of the past somehow, and invokes images of burly women who, as Jim Croce would say, are "built like a 'frigerator with a head."

Not so, Blogfans, not so.

Some friends and I went to the Rat City Rollergirls bout at the Key Arena this January, not really knowing what to expect. Specifically, I wondered what kind of people go to roller derby bouts. As it turned out, the spectators were people in their 50's, hipsters, teenagers, nerds, and everyone in between. And they all seemed to love roller derby.

Having never been to or even heard of anyone going to a roller derby bout, I had to look up the rules and read them ahead of time to know how the scoring worked, but the energetic announcers clarified what was happening, so you don't have to be a derby expert to follow the bout.

Another assumption I held about roller derby was that the sport was very violent. While it's true that the skaters got knocked down and body checked and went sprawling across the rink frequently, the nature of the collisions spills was not malicious. There were none of the aggressive, angry confrontations one sees in hockey games, for instance. The skaters here got back up, continued to skate and then talked and laughed with the opposing team when they returned to the lineup together.

It's hard to tell from my photos, which are taken from a distance with a zoom lens, but the participants vary in size and shape. Some of the girls were very large, as per the stereotype, but many were average-size women and a few were actually quite small. One thing I loved was that each girl has a derby name, so she creates her own persona, such as Anya Heels, Kamikaze Kim and Missile America. The smallest skater called herself Nehi (knee-high) Nightmare.

Watching the amazing displays of athleticism was really the highlight of this event. The skaters are quick, strong, agile and extremely tough. I would say that the Rollergirls' bouts are fun for the whole family, but in truth, you might want to be aware that there will be some references that parents might not want young children to be exposed to. A skater named "Muffstache" and a team called the Sockit Wenches are just a couple of examples, but nothing rated R. Maybe PG-13.

If you're looking for an activity that is exciting, out of the ordinary dinner and a movie, and that is empowering to women, go see the Rat City Rollergirls!

German Chocolate Cupcakes and Coconut Pecan Frosting

This weekend I experimented with a new type of icing for my friend's birthday party. To celebrate his German heritage, he and his friends hosted a German potluck and they asked me to bring some German chocolate cupcakes. (I learned during the making of said cake that German chocolate cake is, in fact, not at all German, but made it anyway.)

First I made the German-themed chocolate cupcake toppers. I thought German flags, pretzels and glasses of beer would be appropriate symbols of the country.

Remember that with a chocolate transfer, you have to do everything backwards from how you'd like it to appear on the cake. In this case, "Tom" appears correct because the letters "T" "O" and "M" happen to look the same forward and backward.

 I couldn't taste the cupcakes themselves, since they weren't gluten-free, but they looked moist and fluffy and I placed a pecan on top of each one.

While they cooled, I prepared the icing combining a couple of different recipes. It seems that coconut pecan frosting is very easy to adapt to anyone's preferences and the amounts do not have to be exact. I used recipes from Barbara Bakes and The Joy of Baking.

 It was simple to make and adjust. If you like coconut, add more. If you like pecans, add more. If you like butter, add more. Simple. I would suggest that if you are making cupcakes instead of a full German chocolate cake, that you chop the pecans a little smaller than the recipes recommend.

When the icing was cool, I spread it on.

And then added the German-themed chocolate toppers.

Happy birthday, Tom!

Guest Blogger: Cute Animals in the Snow!

 Greetings Blogfans! Herald the Dog here, once again, to give you a quick update on life at the Wild Wonders Outdoor Theater here at the Point Defiance Zoo.

During the winter months we zoo animal-stars have a hiatus from the rigorous training and program schedule of the spring and summer seasons.  With the colder weather there's been a lot of eating

Tilli the aardvark with yogurt on her nose.

And a lot of napping

Mango the kinkajou, disturbed from slumber.

But it's not all rest and relaxation around here. I need to go on at least four walks a day! I see all kinds of interesting things, from polar bears taking a dip in their pool to tigers lounging on their heated rock. This was one of the most rare and elusive sightings:

A "snow" leopard! Zookeepers are hilarious, aren't they?

Some animals are better suited to this snowfall than others. Native northwest animals like Buckley the beaver

Cactus Jack the porcupine

 
and arctic animals like Mariah the gyrfalcon

While most of my tropical counterparts like to spend their days indoors on these snowy days, curiosity still got the better of some, like Sushi the fishing cat from southeast Asia.

I'd better head inside to my cozy bed before my tail freezes! On behalf of all the critters here at the theater in Tacoma, thanks for checking in with us and come back to see us soon!

DIY Wall Decor: Unusual(ly easy) Craft Project #17

I'm always looking for easy and useful craft projects, so when I received some odd little puzzles from a white elephant gift exchange, I hatched a plan. Each 5 x 7 puzzle displayed a cupcake decorated in a different color. Kinda cute, but what am I supposed to do with tiny puzzles that I can finish in ten minutes? Turn them into wall decoration, of course!

Step one is to complete the puzzle, which in this case took very little time. Then Jared helped me spray adhesive (very effective and easy to use!) onto the back of the puzzle. We had to keep the puzzle intact while we flipped it over, which was not difficult with a 5" x 7" puzzle, but would be challenging with a larger one. This layer of adhesive made the pieces stick together so the puzzle was in one sheet. Then we sprayed a piece of cardboard with the adhesive and laid the puzzle onto it.

Once the adhesive is dry, cut the cardboard as closely around the puzzle as possible, so it has a sturdy backing. Then use any 5" x 7" frames and place the puzzle inside. We dug through some thrift store shelves and found four nice frames for less than $4.00! You can coordinate the frames, but we thought it would be fun to use four different ones.

For apartment dwellers like ourselves, punching holes in the walls for nails isn't an option, so these Scotch mounting squares have really come in handy. We put half a square on each corner of the frames and they hold really well without leaving goo or a hole to worry about.

Then you can hang your puzzles wherever you want; for instance, hang them next to your picture of jaguars that you can't remember acquiring but display anyway because you don't have that many things to hang on walls.

Or hang them above the oven for inspiration.

This project is very versatile because anything you can find (or make) a puzzle out of can become part of your decor.