A few weeks ago, we told Pat and Jeff that we usually go on the Crane Whisperer Tour on Sunday morning and they have an open invitation to join us. We didn't hear anything from them and headed out about 7 am this morning. We took a few steps down the road, headed to headquarters to get the van, and heard Jeff calling. He had his backpack and ice chest packed and was ready to roll.
We entered Brown's Trail, and looked down the fire lane toward the feeder and saw a couple of Mississippi Sandhill Cranes. The tone was set. After a loop from Brown's Trail to Firetower Road, we had 21 crane sightings. We broke our previous record of 20 Mississippi Sandhill Crane sightings in one tour and found some beautiful plants and birds. What a day!
Pat stocked us up on veggies from the Farmer's Market yesterday. It was time for a good ole Sunday dinner. We had grilled chicken, potatoes and white sauce over rice, (momma's secret recipe with modified calories, and not nearly as good), sauteed squash and onions, tomatoes, and cucumbers. A late afternoon Sunday feast.
We took a stroll on the CL Dees Trail late afternoon, then bird watched at Camp Refuge. We had a fabulous day of plant and bird admiration and a great meal. We even had a Gray Catbird come for a visit. We are beginning to see a few more species of birds around than in the last few weeks.
Monday
We started our day off with a walk on the CL Dees Trail and relocation of plant signs. We made at least 2 rounds of the trail getting them set up like we wanted.
The Swallowtail Butterflies were loving the freshly bloomed Le Conte's Thistle. There was at least 5 fluttering around in one small section enjoying the nectar. There were numerous species of beautiful butterflies on different plants along the trail.
We took a ride to Pascagoula, saw a few birds and a few plants that were of interest to us, including one of our favorite birds, Snowy Egrets.
We had a Cottonmouth visit on the road entering Camp Refuge this afternoon. He was not fond of the attention he was getting, when Lauren was taking his picture.
We did our usual sit around camp and watch the birds this afternoon. Ferny Kat had to get in on the fun. She laid at the base of the pole of the Hummingbird feeder aggravating the hungry birds.
Tuesday
We worked with Charley and Carol today at the VC. Lauren and I took a ride to Oak Grove Trail at Grand Bay to take pictures and start working on a self guided tour pamphlet.
The trail has a lot of tree canopy that allows very little sunlight in. It has lots of Golden Silk Orb-weaver spiders in their strong, silk webs. We carried a stick to block them from us. The mosquitoes were horrendous. Luckily, it is only a 1/2 mile loop.
After work, we took a walk to the fire center and saw the new blind being delivered that will be used at the VC for a viewing stand. The plan is to release captive reared cranes in a pen in the savanna for our visitor's to view. There is a lot of work to be done to get ready for this, including setting up the covered pen for their release in November.
Wednesday
Lauren did a little bit of mowing. It was too wet to do most of it. I worked the VC. Visitation seems to be picking up just a little bit.
A late afternoon bird watching with slow participation from the birds. We did get a neat guest right at dark. A Great Horned Owl flew nearby in the tree. It was too dark to get a clear picture.
Thursday
We worked with the Hall's today. Lauren got the rest of the mowing done. Sally and I went on the plant tour on the CL Dees Trail. She has been the one in the past that kept up the plant signs on the trail. It was a hot morning. All for that cool front they said was coming by the weekend.
The fire crew has been working on Fountainebleu Trail doing mechanical clearing and placing rocks on the path. We took a ride after work, to check it out. As we were waiting for them to finish for the day, we took a short crane tour and saw 4 Mississippi Sandhill Cranes. A good way to spend our wait time.
The fire crew has done a great job of clearing, even going around the pretty American Beauty-berry plants. It is so much more open than before except for the forest trail loop. it is still a very woodsy trail. If they do not go any further with the clearing, it will have 2 very unique loops, one that is open and one that is really woodsy.
Friday
We watched Hummingbird fights today. This morning, a couple of them were on the ground fighting. After the fight, the winner sat on the top of the feeder pole. He was so bad, he looked me straight in the eye when I was taking pictures of him through the window. The fights continued throughout the day. There were at least 4, probably more, partaking in the battle of the feeder.
We did a little bit of shopping to stock up today. We took a nice stroll around the CL Dees Trail. A late afternoon thunderstorm dampened our bird watching afternoon.
Saturday
We were off on this Saturday. We went to to the Pascagoula River Audubon Center. They were having their estuaries day. There were plenty of exhibits and plenty of kids. It was not a good day for bird watching, but it was fun checking out the grounds.
We took a ride along the beach at Pascagoula, then went to Bozo's for lunch. We decided to go home and eat when we saw the crowd of people there. We heard it is good seafood. We will check back on a less busy day.
We decided to go late afternoon on the Refuge and critter watch. We entered Brown's Trail around 5 pm. We saw a couple of very small Black Swallowtail caterpillars on the water cowbane plants as we entered. We will keep a watch on them in the hopes of seeing the different stages from caterpillar to butterfly.
We had been in the refuge about 15 minutes and saw 5 Ms. Sandhill Cranes. After 25 minutes, we had 9 sightings. That was it for the crane sightings.
We saw a neat Bullfrog in the water, a juvenile Little Blue Heron, a Red-Tailed Hawk, and a Belted Kingfisher.
We stopped and watched about 30 minutes before dark and did not see any critter movement.
On the way home, we saw a doe and her fawn in front of the Bunkhouse. We sat outside and watched the fireflies dancing in the trees then called it a night.
Weeks worth of pictures are here:
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