Weekend Update Wrapup

Sunday morning is weigh-in time for the gliders. In the past we coaxed them out two at a time, but the new living arrangements required some adjustment. Fortunately, everyone cooperated, and after each one was weighed I put them back in the cage. They all headed back toward a sleeping pouch. Virga picked the large group pouch and settled in there, but Foehn, CB, and Cirrus went to one of the smaller pouches.

I was in the office late in the afternoon and was checking on them when Virga popped her head out of the pouch, seemingly looking for something. She slowly crawled out and climbed to the floor of the cage. Once there she was sniffing and searching on the fleece blankets, and it hit me that she was searching for the other gliders, or at least Cirrus.When she satisfied herself that no one was in the blankets, she checked the pouches and found them asleep in one. She climbed in and squiggled into position. Then. she barked once, and about 20 seconds later, barked again. They were single barks, and she kept this up for about three hours, occasionally stopping for longer periods of time. We were a little perplexed with this, as none of them had ever barked like this, and never for so long. Because there was a slight hiss at the end of the bark, we thought something was wrong, and some sort of hiccups came to mind. However, after posting on one of the glider discussion groups we were assured that this was not too unusual. Gliders communicate by barking ( we knew that), but it was the way she was barking that had us wondering what was going on. Apparently, Virga was happy to be with the rest of the gliders and was trying to let hem know that (even though they were asleep most of that time). The barking continued while they were in the tent late that evening.

Virga so far has been somewhat of the outsider of the group and I've developed a soft spot for her. She is trying, but tends to annoy the the younger gliders, especially Foehn who seems to have little patience with her. When she has a spat with Foehn in the tent, she runs up on to my lap or my arm and keeps her distance from the rest of the group for a few minutes. Last night she was the most active we've seen her in a long time, and for the first time she didn't nip me at all, even lightly. She is the largest and oldest of the gliders (Cirrus is the same age) and may be trying to establish her place in the group. Despite the occasional spats, in the morning they are all together sleeping in the large pouch, and that's progress.

Four groggy gliders waking up for the weekly weight check.
CB (L) and Cirrus (R) are looking out.