We’re coming up on 5 p.m., which means some bombshell federal news is almost certainly about to land on our desks. Before then, let’s all meditate on the latest baby boom over at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute.

SCBI notes that the birth of a whole slew of mammals and birds comes just a few days ahead of Endangered Species Day tomorrow. Among their newest arrivals:

• Two loggerhead shrike chicks, which are known as butcher birds for a tendency to impale their prey on thorns and barbed wire. Their population is down about 70 percent, though scientists aren’t quite sure the cause yet
• A red siskin chick, one of the most endangered birds on the planet (two other chicks hatched at the same time, but didn’t survive). Songbirds with red plumage that are native to South America, they are threatened by habitat loss and the pet trade
• A white-naped crane, the second for parents Brenda and Eddie. The SBCI apparently specializes in breeding cranes that aren’t capable of doing so naturally
• Seven black-footed ferret kits, whose eyes won’t open for three weeks after they are born
• Two maned wolf pups, which are described as “omnivorous canids that live in loosely monogamous pairs” and are threatened by habitat loss
• A Przewalski’s horse foal, which is the last wild species of horse. Once extinct in the wild, all of the Przewalski’s horses alive today are descended from 14 horses
• A scimitar-horned oryx calf, which were extinct in the wild until a reintroduction project led by the UAE and Chad began last year

Enjoy these adorable babes, as well as the one that looks like a flayed chicken (as with human babies, not all zoo babies are created equal in the cuteness department), until whatever the administration has in store for us today.