We spent this beautiful Easter morning looking for Sandhill Cranes. This is the first time in 2 weeks we could go behind the locked gates. We watched a pair for about 45 minutes, dancing, eating, and strutting around on Ben Williams Road. We would have pictures, but they blurred because we took them through the windshield. Oh well, we got our memories. We had 11 Crane sightings, 2 eagles, and a lot of geese.
We had a late lunch/early supper of grilled baby back ribs. We took a walk along the trail, then relaxed by the campfire until after dark. The quietness of the night was broken by someone shouting at each other. It sounded as if it was coming from headquarters. No one was there, so it must have been an echo from a nearby neighborhood. It sure did mess up our tranquil evening.
More Pictures:
Monday
Our one month anniversary of being here. Where did the time go? It is amazing the things we have learned in a month.
We made a stock up run to Walmart after my eye exam. I love shopping with the seagulls.
We have been slackers to exercise except for exercising our minds to learn about the Refuge. Today was the day. We decided to go to the weight room at the Fire Center to work out. We were done in about 15 minutes, but hey, gotta start somewhere.
Tuesday
We checked out Grand Bay Wildlife Refuge, another refuge in the Gulf Coast Complex. We watched Ospreys from the nice boardwalk at the Visitor's Center. We only saw a few birds on the 1/2 mile thickly wooded birding trail. We drove to the boat lunch, there was not much going on there.
We went to Ruby Tuesday for our free birthday salad bars and made a stop at Scarlet Pearl for our free Pancake rings. A small donation later and we were out of there.
We met up with Jim and Cindy at The Blind Tiger. We sat out on the deck overlooking the gulf, catching up. It was another fabulous get together.
Wednesday
We had a great lunch at Huck's Cove with Jim and Cindy. Unfortunately, the weather turned cold. This is our second trip to Huck's Cove where we had to eat inside due to inclement weather. Maybe one day we will pick a day that is pretty enough to sit outside and dine.
Thursday
Our first full day to work by ourselves. We had our sheets pulled off the bed and ready to wash in our down time today. Melissa had a chore she wanted us to do while we weren't busy today. That didn't happen. We had one car after another arrive for a total of 60 visitors. Lauren went to the Bunkhouse and started our wash around 2 pm so our clothes would be washed before the Interns got off. All for that slow day.
Friday
Today was the direct opposite of yesterday. We had very few people visiting before noon, they were closer to 3 pm. We stayed over about 45 minutes to allow some late comers to look around and watch the video. We later found out, that Melissa took a College group of 30 out on the trail while we were accommodating the late comers.
We have been studying identification of plants and flowers. After closing, we went to the trail and placed markers out to identify the wildflowers. Hopefully, we got them right. Botanist We Not!
Saturday
It was Audubon Bug Day at the Visitor's Center. It was cold and rainy. What better way to spend the day than inside with Bugs.
Stephanie from the Audubon Bug Center was very good, very patient, and very brave. She had the audience interacting with cockroaches, a big ole roach, some other bugs/animals, and a tarantula aka Penelope.
We were surprised that Carol, (also known in our minds as Snake Charmer), would not have anything to do with these bugs. She will let Clem wrap around her arm, but she will not touch bugs. I guess everyone has their limits.
This event was not as exciting as The Raptor presentation a few weeks ago, but when you take it all in prospective, bugs are pretty amazing. And Lauren was brave enough to let Penelope walk across his hand. I think he may just warm up to Clem before long.
After a nice relaxing day at work, we took a stroll around the trail and placed a few more plant identification markers. We grilled some sausage before being run inside by the rain. It was another great week at the refuge.
Pictures here:
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