Hi! I'm from Kyiv, Ukraine. About 2 weeks ago we found a pigeon on the ground floor near elevator in our multi-apartment house. It was looking sick staring into one spot sitting in the corner and had many watery green stools around, so we put on some gloves and respirators and took him upstairs...

So I'm trying to do my first gram stain, and I feel nauseous and my hands are all purple. Am I basically looking for rods and cocci only? What about "blobs"? Do they count as bacteria, or what are they? What about rods of differening lengths?? I don't see many distinct rods at all on the...