advanced avian elective

two weeks ago I again found myself at the Tufts Wildlife Clinic, but this time in the senior class Advanced Avian Medicine elective. It is hosted every other year for interested fourth years who want to work with birds. Lectures occurred every morning on psittacines (aka parrots) and raptors (birds of prey) or passerines (song birds and finches). In the afternoons we had labs. In one lab several employees on campus who owned birds brought their pets in for us to learn basic physical exam, nail, beak, and wing trims and other basic procedures on parrots. Another lab involved cadavers (dead birds from the wildlife clinic) in which we passed catheters and did fake surgical procedures. One day we drove to Rhode Island to visit Foster Parrots, an amazing parrot sanctuary (not open to the public) full of HUNDREDS of abandoned pet birds. They are going to be featured on NPR's morning edition shortly on the economy and people giving up their pet birds. I loved the lab and learned a lot. The nice thing is once I graduate I will be allowed to practice on exotics as much as I want...hopefully I can drum up some pet bird clients!