My day starts bright and early at 8am when I meet up with either Victor or Adam, the keepers for String 6. We meet at the Main Zoo employee area and pick up our daily produce that we'll be needing down at the Children's Zoo (the tortoises and birds eat lots of veggies and fruits). Because we get most of our produce from Safeway, you're never sure what's going to be in the fridge. One day there might be tons of apples and oranges; the next day there aren't any but there will be lots of berries and bananas. You just have to memorize what they'll eat and what they won't. For example, giving avocados and iceburg lettuce to the tortoises is a no-no.

After filling the bucket we'll head to the aviaries to roll up the tarps for the Kookaburras, the Long-Billed Corellas and the Princess Parrots. If it's really cold or raining, the tarps might only come halfway up so the birds don't get completely chilled and/or soaked. They have heat lamps in their cages for when it gets cold at night.

Oh, and we turn on the radio for him. He prefers classical music. I love him. He's got such a personality and loves to make sounds just for the joy of it -- saying hello, meowing, gurgling, making burping sounds, & whistling. Many consider parrots to have the intelligence of a 5-year-old child & I believe it. If he feels he's being ignored, he can make a big racket to get attention. He has been known to dislike people for whatever reason, but I think it's because he can sense that they don't like him or maybe are afraid of him. At first I was a bit scared of letting him get too close to my face, but he's never considered himself an extra from the Hitchcock film so I've gradually gotten more comfortable with him & enjoy stopping whatever I'm doing to go chat with him for a few minutes.

There are several feral cats on the zoo property that we feed (the vet has spayed and/or neutered all of them so they won't have kittens). They kill lots of mice & rats which are drawn to the thousands of pounds of hay, straw, and alfalfa that's on the property.