Thank you to Skillshare for supporting this episode of Animal Wonders.

The first one thousand people who click the link in the description can get a free one month trial of Skillshare. Hello and welcome back to Animal Wonders.

I'm Jessi and I am standing in front of one of our newest animal builds, and I am very excited to show it off. This is Gwendolyn the Turkey Vulture, and she recently made the move out here to this new space. Gwendolyn is going through a pretty intense molt right now, so she's spending a lot of her time grooming herself, and her feathers look a little bit raggedy.

In the next month or so, I'm excited to see her new glossy and shiny feathers. The reason that we moved her out here, was because I wanted to give her more access to direct sunlight. When we took her in, it was a little unexpected.

She was displaced from her previous facility because the pandemic really reduced funds going to that facility and they could no longer support her care. So it was a bit of an emergency for her to find a new home, and we set her up in the space that we had available at the time. And it worked pretty good for the most part, but over time, I just, I didn't like that she only had access to the sun for a few hours a day.

I wanted her to be able to access it all day long. And in this space, she really can. We made sure that she had a really large south facing open area.

So the front is open with mesh and the door is all glass so she can just spread her wings and enjoy that sunshine. Gwendolyn's Vulture Pavilion was made out of a donated Pavilion, and we customized it to suit her needs the best. So in the back corner we put solid walls, so if there was a wind or blizzard or something, it would be a wind break and she could stay nice and warm.

And then on the sides, we put a four foot barrier again as a wind break to help prevent her from getting too cold. She can also access shade in that area when it gets really hot in the summer. We left the front very open so that she could really utilize getting to that sunshine.

One of my favorite things about Gwen's new space is that she has a living tree in it, as well as natural ground. So instead of walking on something like cement or layers of straw, she is on natural soil and leaves and grass. And come spring, there's going to be more plants that come in, and I just really like how natural it is.

Another thing that I really like about this build is that most of the materials used were reclaimed, meaning that the wood that you see was previously used in another building and we are repurposing them. This space just has so much more potential. I can't wait to see the plants grow in and make the improvements as we can.

Gwen is 29 years old this year, so she has had a lot of experiences in her life. I just want to make sure that what we provide for her is going to help her thrive and really enjoy her life. Gwen is dealing with a little bit of arthritis in her feet, so we want to make sure that she's as comfortable as possible.

She has her favorite perch, which actually came from her previous home, but we also give her a heated perch that's cushioned for her feet. And we give her a heat lamp so she can go and sit under it and warm her head on the cold days. And then on the really cold days, she has this heated den box.

It has floor heat in it so she can tuck her feet under her warm feathers and stay warm that way. And if there's something like a blizzard or it's negative 10°F or negative 30°F, we can actually close this up and keep her nice and toasty warm inside. Gwen has a pretty sassy personality.

She's kind of like an old lady, and she's kind of set in her ways. But it's been an absolute honor getting to know her and being able to provide her with a comfortable life where she can just enjoy her time. I want to thank all of our donors and supporters who help us make these improvements possible, and also our sponsors like Skillshare.

Without all of that help, we wouldn't be able to do this. We also wouldn't be able to share these videos with you. Learning how to edit all of this wonderful animal footage has been a journey, and one of the things that helped me get better with my editing skills was this class on Skillshare.

You can start at the very beginning, or you can take more advanced classes. But if you're just starting out, this class called Video Editing with Adobe Premiere Pro for Beginners, taught by Hussain Haneef, is a wonderful option. In the class, he goes with the basics in a really structured way, and it really sets you up for success.

Skillshare is an online learning community that offers membership with meaning. With so much to explore, real projects to create, and the support of fellow creatives, Skillshare empowers you to accomplish real growth, and it makes it easy with short classes that will fit into your daily routine. A premium membership will give you unlimited access so you can join the classes and communities that are just right for you.

An annual subscription to Skillshare is less than $10 a month, and if you're one of the first 1000 people to click the link in the description, you can get a free trial of Skillshare's Premium Membership. So thank you to Skillshare for sponsoring this episode and helping support the care of all of these amazing animals. And thank you to our donors and supporters for all of your generosity over the years.

Thank you for letting me share. If you would like to become part of our community on Patreon go to Patreon.com/animalwonders The link is also below. And I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day.