This lovely lady is Alice, a Stanley Crane at the Smithsonian National Zoological Park. Hand-reared and cared for by her keepers from birth, and during her healing process from a leg injury, Alice is one of the zoo's show birds who walks alongside her keepers and interacts with the public on occasion. It was absolutely lovely to walk alongside her during her jaunt around the park a few weeks ago.
Here is a link to an article the zoo published about Alice's story! National Zoo Article
I am thrilled to say that I absolutely love this volunteer position, with all the cleaning, digging, and sand scraping involved, I am finally in my element with work! It's a volunteer position, so it isn't paid but if anything could have ever affirmed that all the work I've pursued so far was worth it, this is it. Especially, working in a zoo that is so open to behavior research and allows people to take part in all kinds of learning opportunities!
I asked some of the keepers I'm working with what other kinds of opportunities I might be able to work in while I'm volunteering as a keeper aide, and not only have they added an additional day to my work schedule so I can work in the environment more often, I also now have been able to contact some other people around the zoo asking about their research projects, and if I could participate. I would be thrilled to be part of the bird-banding projects once they start up again, but I was informed those opportunities might not be available for another year or so.
The keepers I work with also mentioned to me that some of the zoo's curators have conducted and published research from their work at the zoo, which is very exciting for me. I'll be reading through some of their peer reviewed papers soon. Maybe at some point I could be in a research team and work as a keeper aide!
Short update, but I'm excited to share more in the future!