As much as I wanted to sleep in today, I wanted more to go behind the locked gates of the Refuge. It was well worth my early wake up call.
We saw a lot of new and old species of birds and plants. One of the new wildflower blooms we found on the Refuge today was Orange-Fringed Orchids. One of the new species of birds we saw today on the Refuge was an Anhinga. We took pictures of the Anhinga while he was chattering away.
We only had 9 Mississippi Sandhill Crane sightings. Two of them, we saw as soon as we entered Brown's Trail.
We always spook the Cranes that are near the pen on Brown's Trail. We decided to park and walk and see if we could sneak up on them. We had only taken a few steps when 3 of them flew off. We just can't outsmart them.
Lauren has a keen eye for wildlife. His prize pic of the day, is a Bull Frog in the water on Valentine Trail.
We thought we weren't going to see any Deer or Great Blue Herons until we saw a nice size Buck and a Great Blue Heron on our way out of Firetower Trail.
This afternoon, we took a ride to the check out the campgrounds near by for Dave and June. We found some new species of birds that we hadn't seen before during this short ride, the Boat-Tailed Grackle and White Ibis. We also found a unique campground, Sioux Bayou. It has a bar with a deck overlooking the water that had quite a few patrons for a Sunday afternoon.
Monday
Dave and June came to visit us at Camp Refuge for a few days. Lauren has known Dave about a year longer than he has known me.
We spent the afternoon into the night catching up. It takes a while when it's been over 4 years since our last get together. It's probably a good thing, considering how much fun we have.
Tuesday
We took Dave and June to Pascagoula to see Ingall's Shipyard then to Huck's Cove. This is the first time Lauren and I have been to Huck's Cove and were able to sit on the deck because it is always raining when we are there. We just did make it, the rain started about the time we left.
We rode in the flooding rain to see the Osprey and her twins at the Biloxi Bay Bridge then continued on to The Blind Tiger for an adult beverage.
Team Bud evolved from The Blind Tiger with our plastic emblems on our shirt and plastic tattoos that we pealed off our long necks beer bottles.
We stopped at The Shed, to get fed. The cashier laughed and said she didn't have to ask what Dave and I wanted to drink. Yes, we still had our stickers on. The food and atmosphere was as good as usual.
Wednesday
Day 3 of the Shuler visit. We took a long, leisurely walk on the CL Dees Trail this morning. We must have spent a couple of hours out there. June seems to enjoy taking pictures of the plants as much as we do. We didn't see very many birds but saw plenty of wildflowers.
After lunch, we took them on the Crane Whisperer Tour. We didn't think we would see very many Cranes due to the rain and the late afternoon timing. We thought wrong. The rain literally had them moving. As we were watching the first cranes, we saw them jump when it lightning and thundered. We had 14 Mississippi Sandhill Cranes sightings on this 3 hour tour. Not bad considering the flooding rain we were riding around in.
Thursday
Life got back to normal today. Dave and June started their trek back to Kentucky and we went back to work. It was a slow but enjoyable day back at the VC. After work, Lauren put a new motor on the main a/c in our camper that went out last week. Luckily we have 2 a/c's and were not inconvenienced, except for Ferny Kat. She usually sleeps in the bedroom during the day where is warmer than the rest of the camper. Leaving the bedroom a/c blowing all the time was way to cold for her.
There is a beautiful sunset in the Savanna tonight as I type. This will be the back drop in my mind as I drift off to sleep tonight, which will be early tonight.
Friday
I slept a little later this morning than I usually do. After Lauren woke me up, I was slow to get out of bed. Ferny Kat sat by the bed meowing until I got up, then bit my ankles to hurry me up to feed her. That dang cat!
My slowness this morning continued on at the VC. We had 9 visitors today. I'll be glad when the attendance improves.
Saturday
The pace picked up a little bit today, we had 22 visitors. The ones that came by seemed to be really into conservation.
More pictures are right here:
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