Three Deer in the road and a rainbow in the sky greeted us this morning when we entered the Refuge at Firetower Road. A few minutes later, we watched a couple of Sandhill Cranes fly away as we turned onto Ben Williams Road. It was a great start to this early morning.
One of the plants that is supposed to be on the CL Dees Trail is Mountain Mint. We kept trying to figure out what the plant looked like. We finally found it on the Refuge this morning.
After a couple hours and several Crane sightings later, we left the South Gautier Unit to check on Baby Sunplex. We didn't see him nor his parents. Hopefully, they are just chilling out in the shade somewhere to get away from the heat.
The Crane sightings continued as we traveled on Brown's Trail in the North Gautier Unit. We had a great picnic breakfast, sitting in the van, (AKA Ox Wagon), on Valentine Road while watching a couple of Sandhill Cranes nearby, who were not in the least bit worried about us.
We saw 15 Mississippi Sandhill Cranes, 5 Deer, a Turtle, plenty of birds, and of course beautiful plants and flowers. Another great day at the Refuge.
Monday
It was a rather hot walk along the CL Dees Trail this morning. The summer season has not altered the pretty blooms of wildflowers along the trail. There is always something new to see, including a frog in his burrow under the park bench.
We met Anita for the night at Island View. The new smoke free beach casino opened last Thursday. It is pretty nice to gamble while looking at the gulf water and it is also nice to gamble in a smoke free atmosphere.
It would have been nicer if we had won, but we had a fabulous beach view from our top floor hotel room.
Tuesday
We lounged around drinking our coffee. enjoying the beach view this morning. We ate our free buffets, talked with Jackie and Randy, then made our way back to Camp Refuge for a nice relaxing, rest up, kind of day.
Wednesday
It had been a couple of days since we walked the CL Dees Trail. We found several new blooms since our last walk.
We also found a Ribbon Snake stretched across the tops of the grass, chillin out. At least it was nonpoisonous.
Our neighborhood Racoon made his visit for his bird seed feast at dark.
The start of our 3 day work week begins. This was the busiest day of visitation (28 people) the center has had for the last 10 days. Things really slow down when the heat rises.
Friday
The Dusky Gopher Tadpoles seemed to have really grown in the last week. One of which has almost absorbed his tail. It won't be long until he heads to the hills.
On a sad note, we found out Baby Sunplex did not make it. On a happy note, we found out the refuge has it's first fledgling of the year.
The Doves were very amorous this afternoon. I bet this is where the term, Lovey Dovey came from.
Saturday
It was a slow day of visitors at the center today. We utilized this slow time to print and laminate signs for our newly identified plants that are in bloom on the CL Dees Trail.
The rest of the pictures:
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