| 7:00 am |
Arrive at work, put on my uniform, get a cup of coffee or hot chocolate (the penguin day can be a very cold day), and look at my schedule for the day. It will be the most peaceful few minutes of my day until lunch. |
| 7:30 am |
Staff meeting - we begin each day discussing all of the plans for each of the animal groups and looking for ways we can help each other accomplish that day's goals. |
| 7:40 am |
 Fish preparation - after the meeting I must go to the kitchen and start sorting through the fish to find the right size fish for the birds. Penguins eat some of the same types of fish as the belugas, but we have to select the smallest sizes for the birds. |
| 8:15 am |
Vitamin Preparation - we make sure to give each bird vitamin supplements every morning, they are special vitamins especially designed for marine birds. We insert the vitamins into the gill slits of several fish for each bird. |
| 8:30 am |
Penguin Feed - One other staff member comes down with me to feed the birds, one of us will hand feed the gentoo penguins and the other one of us will hand feed the rockhopper and magellanic penguins. We feed the birds by hand to reduce competition for food and to assure that every bird eats. In addition one of the marine mammal volunteers joins us to help record how many fish each bird eats. Before the feed begins we have to take a few minutes to put on special jackets to help us keep warm during the feed, the air is pretty chilly in the exhibit. |
| 9:30 am |
Exhibit Cleaning - Forty birds can create quite a mess (and quite a smell)! Following the first feed of the day, one of the volunteers helps me for nearly 90 minutes of intense scrubbing and rinsing to get the exhibit as clean as possible. |
| 11:00 am |
Data Entry - During the feed, the volunteer recorded the number of fish that each bird was fed on a clipboard. I must now take that information and enter it into our computerized record keeping system. |
| 11:45 am |
 Krill Feed - Krill is a very small type of shrimp that we feed the birds once each day. We scatter this food over the water to encourage the birds to swim and forage for food. The krill is not a primary part of their diet, but it provides variety and is fun to watch, because the birds leap and swim quickly through the water as they eat the krill. |
| 12:15 pm |
Data Entry - It is important to enter information about which birds ate krill and participated in the feed. |
| 12:30 pm |
Lunch |
| 1:30 pm |
Beluga Session - Although I am on the penguin shift today, the animal care staff works with all the animals. As part of the team effort we help each other in all areas. Today I am feeding and training one of the beluga calves that was born here at the aquarium. After the training session I must write notes about the session in the calf's record. |
| 2:00 pm |
Window Cleaning - Here's where the job gets really cold! I need to put on a wet suit and slip into the water to clean the windows in the penguin exhibit. If we didn't clean the windows our guests would not be able to see the penguins when they visit. The water is about 42 degrees and one of the volunteers is on land watching me, which is a safety precaution that we always use when anyone is in the water. After cleaning the windows we take a few minutes to rinse the exhibit. |
| 3:00 pm |
Enrichment Session - Every day several of us on staff are scheduled for "enrichment time," which is an opportunity to do something different and fun with one of the animal groups. Although I am on the penguin shift today, I might choose to do enrichment with any of the animal groups. Enrichment provides variety for the animals. Sometimes enrichment might mean giving toys to an animal group, playing games with the animals, or turning on special hoses for an animal group to simulate rain. The options are endless and can vary from day to day. |
| 3:30 pm |
Laundry Time - Yes, we have to do laundry! Later toward the end of the day, the penguin jackets will have to be cleaned (the penguin habitat can have quite an overpowering smell). Since we don't want to mix penguin clothes with any of the other laundry we help to get towels and other important laundry completed so that the washer and dryer will be available later in the evening. |
| 12:00 noon |
Dolphin presentation - see description at 10:30 am. |
| 4:00 pm |
 Penguin Feed- We feed the penguins their primary diet twice each day. The second feed time varies depending on "sunset" that day. Our penguin exhibit has a computerized sunset schedule which assures that the penguins experience sunset at times that are comparable to sunset in their natural environment. Because sunset times vary, we have to adjust feeding time depending on the time of the year. This feed is just like the feed described at 8:30 am this morning. |
| 5:00 pm |
Data Entry - as described earlier in the day, it takes time to enter feeding information into each bird's computerized records. |
| 6:00 pm |
Final Chores- At the end of the day I help the volunteer who assisted me with penguin duties to finish cleaning buckets and other things in the kitchen. We make sure that our laundry is complete, and do a final check of all the duties for the day to make sure that we didn't forget anything. |
| 6:30 pm |
Day is Over - Take a badly needed shower and go home |
