In between showers today, we walked the CL Dees Trail, then built a campfire. Our new species of bird sightings today was a Chipping Sparrow.
We also saw Downy Woodpeckers, American Robins, Brown Headed Nuthatches, a Great Blue Heron, Red-bellied Woodpeckers, and Pine Warblers.
We thought about going eagle watching on the refuge today to celebrate Veterans Day, but changed our minds due to the rainy forecast.
We had a break in the rain mid day and went shore bird watching along the beach from Pass Christian to Ocean Springs. There were lots of shore birds to watch between the on and off rain showers, one of which was a juvenile Bald Eagle eating a fish.
Tuesday
Jeff worked with us on this dreary, rainy day. We had 2 visitors. Lauren and I worked on the flower bed plant markers.
Wednesday
The rainy, cold, windy day was a pretty productive day on the Crane Tour for the 3 people that joined us for the tour. We saw 9 Mississippi Sandhill Cranes, 4 of which were close enough to watch for a while. We also saw an American Kestrel, a Hooded Merganser , and a Belted Kingfisher.
Thursday
It was a battle in the McLaurin bed last night for warmth. Ferny Kat won!! Ferny Kat feels like a couple of hundred pounds when she makes her claim.
The wind was blowing on this 32 degree morning, but the sun was a shining. After warming up the camper, I pulled up the shades. Ferny Kat found her a nice sunny spot looking out the window to lounge around this morning. She was as happy to see sunshine as we were.
We spent a little while at the VC on our off day visiting with Carol, Charley, Pat, and Sally. The rest of the afternoon we lulled around. On our way back from a garbage run, Angie invited us to go to the blind with her and Shannon, while Rose dressed as a Sandhill Crane delivered corn in the temporary pen.
We watched from the blind as Rose with her Crane Costume went in to fill the feeders with corn for the captive raised residents. They went to the other side of the pen when she arrived, acted like they were not bothered by her at all. Which is the point of the crane Muppet outfit.
Friday
We sat around enjoying the bird show while drinking our coffee this morning. We saw the usual Doves and Cardinals, then a couple of non frequenters Eastern Towhees and House Finches.
Saturday
The first time we went on a Crane Tour with Melissa, she showed us the Lagoons on Seaman Road and told us it was a really great birding place. Today we checked it out with the Gulf Coast Audubon Group.
We met at the Ride and Share in Ocean Springs. We got there early with our packed breakfasts and decided to go to McDonald's for a rest stop. A couple of the iNaturalist peeps were there. One of them was really excited to meet McFerny who has over 1300 posts.
It was a very birdie world at the Lagoons. There were lots of ducks, bunches of eagles and hawks, a red breasted nut hatch, numerous other birds, and 14 Mississippi Sandhill Cranes.
A couple of the cranes stood out like a sore thumb. They were a lot lighter than the other 2 that were with them. After showing the pictures to Angie, they are believed to be Greater Sandhill Cranes. We were told when we saw the Greater Sandhill Cranes and the Mississippi Sandhill Cranes together they would look different and these did. So we will change the tally to lots of ducks, bunches of eagles and hawks, a red breasted nut hatch, numerous other birds, 12 Mississippi Sandhill Cranes and 2 Greater Sandhill Cranes.
ChaChing!!
Week of pics are here:
Lagoons Birding Trip:
No comments:
Post a Comment