5-13-18 - 5-19-18 (Week 11)

Sunday
We spent the day recovering from the Cotton Graduation Celebration.

Monday
Lauren weedeated the ditch this morning, I went for a haircut.  After lunch, we headed back to Camp Refuge.  We had a light rain shower this afternoon after walking the CL Dees trail.

Tuesday
We watched twin fawns walking around as we drank our coffee this morning.  They are getting pretty brave and coming closer and closer to the camper to graze.

We walked the CL Dees trail this morning.  We found a few baby mockingbirds just learning to fly.  I realize now, why the parents were so aggressive last week.

After lunch, we went shore bird watching.  We stopped at several spots on the beach in Gulfport and Biloxi, then made a quick drive around Gulf Island National Seashore.

The most impressive birds were on the beach across from the Coliseum.  According to the Audubon Volunteer that was watching the birds, there were approximately 600 least terns and a bunch of black skimmers in the protective nesting area with about 300 nest.  The least terns will migrate back to South America with their young in August.

We took Highway 57 back to Camp and saw the Sunplex Crane forging in the grass.

Pictures from the beach day:

Wednesday
All the volunteers and Melissa met at Aztecas Mexican Restaurant for a farewell luncheon for Carole and Roger.   Carole and Roger will start home to Indiana tomorrow.  We have had some really great times with them in the short time we have known them. We will definitely keep in touch with our friends.

Thursday
Lauren, Pat, and I worked the VC today.  A quiet day except for the Power Company People trying out a prototype trail app for kids.

It was a really quiet evening, all alone, at Camp Refuge, miss you Roger and Carole.

Friday
Lauren and I went to Grand Bay and took a boat tour with the phenology group.  We arrived at 9 am for the 10 am meet up at the Grand Bay VC.  We had an hour to kill, so we walked the board walk for what we thought would be a leisurely stroll.  The yellow flies were in attack mode.  We swatted our way to the end and back and took a few pictures of the Osprey.  We've got to remember to bring bug spray.

We traveled in two boats out to Heron Bay.  Margo and Dennis were our boat captains.  We rode in the boat with Margo.  It was a nice, leisurely ride until the rain begin to get close which changed our direction.

On our way back, we stopped at an oyster bed that was built by the Indians, then walked to the salt flat.  We weren't quite prepared for a walk through the marshy waters in our newest tennis shoes, but hey they will dry.

After our boat trip, we walked the boardwalk at the VC and got a hands on demonstration of the phenology web site from Gail and Sue.

It was a great day of meeting some nice folks, watching birds, finding new plants and flowers, and being outside.  Not every day, our office is in a boat.

Pictures from the day:

Saturday
We saw a couple of  Sandhill Cranes fly over the bayou last night at Camp Refuge.  On our walk to work, we could hear some calling in the  nearby savanna.  Lauren went to look for them, he never saw them until they flew off when a car drove by.  It would be nice if they would frequent the headquarters for our utmost admiration.

                                                                   evening flyover

                                                               next morning take off

It was a good pace of people visiting today.  A group from a church retreat in Biloxi came bearing home made cupcakes.  There went my plan to eat healthier today.  They were worth the change of plans.

We waited until after 6 pm to walk the trail.  We were a little bit shaken, when a nighthawk that was chirping, all the sudden dove down, then made a strange fluttering noise with his wings. The fluttering sound reminded me of the sound that an 18 wheeler makes when he uses his jake brakes.  A really neat thing to watch.

Week of pictures:

5-6-18 - 5-12-18 (Week 10)

Sunday
Carole and Roger joined us for the Crane Whisper Tour this morning.  We explored new territory at the Ocean Springs unit.  We rode around for a couple of hours and finally saw a couple of Sandhill Cranes.  We came back via the interstate enroute to Brown's Trail and saw a couple of Sandhill Cranes on the power lines near I10.

Things were much better when we got to Brown's Trail.  Our total sightings today; (18 Mississippi Sandhill Cranes).

After lunch, we all decided to go to Boomtown Casino and play Pow Gai poker.  This is a new game for us.  Lauren, Roger, and I were out of money long before Carole.  Lauren and I watched Carole to learn more about the game. Roger sat across from us at a slot machines, looking bored, but patiently waiting for Carole.

Carole gave Roger her players card to play her $10 free play.  He came back and told her that her card did not have any free play.  She sent me over to assist him, and we realized he was putting his player's card in the machine, not Carole's.   After putting in the correct card on a $1 machine, playing a $1 per spin, and spinning 6 times, he won $250.  He cashed out and left the casino a happy man!

Monday
We did a much needed run to Sam's this morning, then walked the CL Dees Trail on this rather hot day.  Summer is upon us.

Carole and Roger treated us to dinner at Boomtown Casino tonight.  We tried our luck at the Pow Gai poker, we didn't win, but we got to play for a couple of hours.

The Fire Crew cleared some more of the brush at Camp Refuge, every little bit helps our view of the bayou.

Tuesday
We watched 3 deer walking around this morning while drinking our coffee in the newly cleared area near the bayou.

We hung around at Camp Refuge, got a little walking in, and camper cleaning, then got a Wally World fix.

Wednesday
Work day.  Lauren, Roger, and Charley went to the storage yard to cut grass.  Carol, Carole, and I stayed at the VC.  A slow day of visitor's makes a great opportunity to get the wash done.

On my way back from hanging sheets on the clothes line, I found a turtle laying eggs by Carole and Roger's car at Camp Refuge.  Later that day, on the CL Dees trail a box turtle was laying eggs.  Looks like we are going to have a bumper crop of baby turtles in a few months.

Thursday
Another work day.  Lauren and I spent most of the day on the trails.  We went to Fountainebleu Trail and Escatawpa Trail to evaluate the conditions of the trail.  We placed trail guides and cut down a tree at Fountainebleu Trail.  It was a nice work day walking the trails, even though it is getting hot.

  

I packed a few things to go home tomorrow, then met Lauren at the end of CL Dees Trail.  I was attacked by a Mockingbird when I stopped to get a picture of it on my cell phone.  There was another one lurking in another tree hissing at me.  They must have a nest in the tree.

                                                            Downy Woodpecker

Note to self, be cautious of making eye contact with Mockingbirds!!  Needless to say, the pictures were blurred.

Friday
Pat and I worked the VC.  Lauren mowed grass all day at the VC.  The grounds are looking good.

We went to Crossroads when we got off.  Ferny Kat was ready for a road trip.

We have been gone so long the crawfish have built a castle.  We are not so sure we want to see this giant craw dad.

Saturday
Lauren mowed the yard this morning.  He has got more than his quota of sun and dust the last couple of days.  After a short rest, we headed to Bush for the big event - The Cotton Graduation Celebration at Erica's.

And yes, it was a big celebration in honor of Nick and Micaela, with plenty of food, adult beverages, family, friends, and a big water slide.  It was a great time had by all, especially when Anita and I went down the slide.  We are still having fun!!

Plenty of pictures, Click here:

4-29-18 - 5-5-18 (Week 9)

Sunday
It's been a while since we toured behind the locked gates of the Refuge.  We decided it is Sunday, everybody is off, we won't be disturbing anybody, we gotta get our fix.  It was our Sunday, Funday at the Refuge.

We had it all planned out, at the latest we would get up at 6:30 am,  Ferny Kat was right on board, except for a few minutes.  At 6:27 am, she woke Lauren up.  Who needs an alarm clock?

We had an awesome time, we saw 3 deer, an eagle or maybe two, had 18 Crane sightings, saw a bobcat, and a bunch more birds.  Definitely, worth not sleeping in.

We cooked another pack of the Tabby Cat Jeannie and Ronnie gave us, played cards with Roger and Carole, (they were teaching us Pow Gai, their favorite casino card game), and are calling it a night.

Monday
We decided we were going to stay around camp today.  We rearranged some of the plant signs on the CL Dees Trail and did a little bird watching.

The couple we met last week at Shell Mound Park that laughed about us forgetting our binoculars, were out on the trail.  And no, I did not have my binoculars.  We all had a good laugh this time.   I had intentionally left them at the camper while we were putting out plant signs.

After lunch, we made another round on the trail, (with binoculars), to bird watch.  We saw some really cool birds.

We walked to the gym and worked out for a little bit, trying to get back in shape.  We have been exercising our minds, but not our bodies.

We took our chairs and sat by the bayou for a while.  We only saw a few birds, nothing spectacular.

It was a nice, enjoyable day hanging out at the camp.

Tuesday
We helped Roger pick up limbs this morning, then went to Ocean Springs.  We walked back and forth across the 1.7 mile walking bridge in a howling, warm wind, which was a little bit annoying.

Afterwards, we went to the famous TatoNuts Donut Shop. We got a variety of donuts, they were all delicious.  I don't think I have ever had donuts that tasted this good.  Especially, when we washed them down with chocolate milk.  It was a good thing we got our exercise in to help with all the calories we consumed.

We walked the C.L. Dees Trail then sat outside until dusk. It's been a long time since  I had over 20,000 steps.

Wednesday
The loud chirping of the birds woke us up this morning.  Lauren decided he would get up and walk the CL Dees Trail.  I decided to turn on the a/c to drain them out and go back to sleep.  I could still hear them over the a/c noise.

We stayed around camp for most of the day, rode around looking for Sandhill Cranes, worked out at the gym, then relaxed for the rest of the afternoon.

Thursday
Lauren and I got the tents and tables set up for the Gautier Elementary School outing tomorrow.  We went to the iNaturalist training, which was very informative.  We walked the CL Dees Trail and found new plants and blooms.  We are amazed by the different variety of plants that are here and how something new is always popping up.

While on the trail, we watched 3 Ospreys fly over squawking.  After watching them through the binoculars, we found their nest on a cellular tower.  We will keep an eye on them.

Friday
What a day!  We had 95 second graders from Gautier Elementary with their teachers and chaperons.  We had 4 activities set up.  Carol did the Crane Boot Camp station.  Lauren and I did the Animal Wrappers station.  The kids watched the movie and did a discovery hunt inside the Visitor's Center and had a teacher guided trail walk.

The kids were supposed to be here at 9 am.  We hurried up and got everything set up, and waited.  They were about 40 minutes late because one of the kids got sick.  When the buses rolled in, it was on.

Lauren and I talked to the kids about the animals, insects, plants, etc. that live here.  They were pretty sharp and very attentive.  We had pelts in a bag that they could not see. We did not tell them what was in the bag. We had the teacher pick a brave volunteer, to close their eyes and reach inside and pull one out.  We talked about each pelt after they pulled it out. We did this for 4 different groups of kids.

The first kid was a hoot!!  He reached in, starting pulling out a coyote pelt, screamed, dropped it back in the bag, picked it up again, screamed, and dropped it on the ground.   We repeated this with 6 different kids for the raccoon, red fox, gray fox, possum, bobcat, and skunk. Even though they knew there were pelts in the bag, some of them still got the heebie-jeebies when they pulled out a pelt.

As an added bonus, a beautiful, Swallow Tailed Kite circled above us as we were wrapping up the first group.  The kids, (and adults) were in awe.  The kids clapped and told the Kite good job.

We hope the kids enjoyed their day as much as we did.

After we finished, we took a short walk with Janet Wright, curator for iNaturalist, to look at an pegonia we had posted on the web site.  We came back and put up all the tents and tables, and left an  hour early.  They definitely got their money's worth out of us today.

The refuge fire team spent the day at Camp Refuge, (our new name for the camp), cleaning out some more of the thick brush, which makes for a better view of the bayou.  I can't wait for them to get this job complete.

Saturday
We thought uh-oh, when we had 22 people before 10 am.  Last time we had 10 people before 10 am we got slammed with 67 visitors, (we must have had 50 of these 67people in the Visitors Center at the same time).  Today we had 50 visitors, that trickled in.  A very enjoyable day.

Most of the visitors today, gave great compliments of the facility.  It is nice to know that they are enjoying this Refuge as much as we do.  After all, that's why we are volunteering.

We had 7 Girl Scouts and 2 boys here to earn their Jr. Ranger Badges.  Usually, I take the initiative to go over the answers with them.  I insisted Lauren do this today.  After all, I had to do most of the talking to the 4 groups of kids yesterday.  After much insistence, He complied.

He did a fabulous job, interacting with the 9 kids sitting on the floor.  They gave him their full attention.  I think he enjoyed it as much as they did.  I knew he would do great, being he has the gift of gab.   All the kids gave him a big thank you before they left.

After work, we went out for and celebrated Cinco de Mayo at El Tapatio.  The food was great!

351 pictures are right here:

                                                                     ID this flower