Banana, Crab Apple, and Coconut were walking in the savanna on Crane Lane when we arrived back at Camp Refuge. As we were leaving to check on the progress of the prescribed burn at the South Gautier Unit, they were even closer to the road. They are doing what was hoped, hanging around this savanna.
Goober and Georgie are still in their nest. They were standing tall looking out over the savanna.
The Armadillo, aka Monkey Bread, is still hanging around near the BW Crop Unit.
We took our 6th week of pictures, following the progress of February 1st prescribed burn.
BB has flown the coup. He and a juvenile eagle were sitting in a tree near the nest when we rode down Beasley Road. When we came back, both parents were there and the juvenile was gone.
We stopped and watched a show near the Beasley Crop Unit. 5 Sandhill Cranes were calling, then 2 of them started fighting. 2 of the 3 not fighting looked like they were referring. The other Crane was no where in sight. The fight lasted about 5 minutes between Clarabelle and an unbanded Crane. We thought they were going to kill each other. The unbanded won. When we left they were walking around and watching us leave. Hopefully, they have resolved their differences.
Monday
I had a Happy Birthday today. We walked the CL Dees Trail then went to Pascagoula shore bird watching.
We had always heard Bozo's was a good place to eat so we tried it out late afternoon. We definitely heard right.
When we returned, we had a quick visit from Carole and Roger back at Camp Refuge. Afterwards, we went to Rock Hill to see if the azaleas were as pretty as they were last year. They were pretty, but not as breath taking as last year's birthday.
We climbed in the tower at HQ and watched the Free Birds preening in front of the pen. They preened the entire time we watched. They ought to look good for their roost tonight.
Tuesday
We hung around Camp Refuge this morning. After lunch, we took a ride to Grand Bay NWR. When we got out of the jeep, we saw a Bald Eagle circling above us.
We walked the boardwalk and the boggy savanna trail. There is a bumper crop of Ospreys here with nest on every pole on the power line as far as the eye can see.. They were flying around, getting extra twigs for their nest.
We took a stroll on the Oak Grove Trail then hiked the Escatawpa Trail before heading back to Camp Refuge.
Wednesday
We thought about going to Dauphin Island or to Graveline Beach today, but decided to just hang out around Camp Crane. Glad we did!
Scott and the interns went to check out the Rock Hill nest this morning and found a colt already hatched from this nest and an egg on the nest that was in the process of hatching, also called pipping. The sibling of this egg was already hatched and swimming in the water. Due to the great genetics of the chick and the high probability of mortality if left in the wild, the pipped egg was transferred to Audubon to be captive reared.
You could see the feathers moving around through the hole in the egg shell and hear the chirping of the chick. Scott would purr to the egg, and it would vibrate. We got our first "Chick Fix." as Scott called it. It was the coolest thing we have experienced here, as of yet.
We were so mesmerized from our first ever Chick Fix, we didn't think about taking pictures or recording video until right before they left with the egg. It would have been cool to record Scott purring to the egg, but we did record a few seconds of chirping.
There was a second egg, that was much younger, that was retrieved from another nest that was also transported to Audubon to be captive reared.
We decided to get the van washed and cleaned up on this pretty day for our upcoming Crane Tours. As we were headed out to fill up with gas, we found the Free Birds along Crane Lane. They meandered into the savanna when we slowed down. Pretty cool to see Sandhill Cranes along Crane Lane.
We watched the Free Birds from the blind at the VC preening at the front of the temporary pen before going to roost for the night.
Thursday
We had a nice surprise waiting for us at the VC this morning. A lady that went on our Crane Tour last month sent us a picture of a Crane Head that she painted along with some note cards. It is gorgeous.
We had a special request Crane Tour of 3 tourist today. The 3 men were residents of Gautier. The elder gentleman lived here before the refuge was established. He told us of his personal experiences as we rode through the refuge. We saw 8 Sandhill Cranes, Great Egrets, Geese, Deer, Great Blue Herons, Red-tailed Hawk, and Bald Eagles.
The Fire Center has done more prescribed burns since our last trip to South Gautier. We saw the twins standing tall in their nest, with one of the parents nearby. The Beasley Beast was not seen, but one of the parents was in one of the trees in the area of the nest.
The spring blooms have the butterfly activity picking up. We saw a Red-Spotted Purple butterfly on the way back to Camp.
Friday
We worked with Dix at the VC today. We had 76 visitors enjoying this gorgeous day.
The morning started off with a bang. One of the Free Birds appeared to be stuck in the net at the top of the temporary pen. As we, Danny, Interns, and Fire Center were headed out with a ladder to free him, he started walking around on the top of the net to the tarp and flew away. The other 2 Free Birds flew from the feeder. These crazy birds!
After work, we did a much needed Sam's run and stopped by Island View to play our free play. We didn't win anything on our free play, but I won a $25 hot seat in the slot tournament. We rode back along the beach shore bird and people watching.
Saturday
We had an 8 am Crane Tour this morning. Until yesterday afternoon, we only had 2 people signed up for the tour. Luckily, late afternoon another couple signed up. This morning we had a phone message from someone wanting to go on this tour. She was on her way when I called her to tell her we had room for her.
All 5 tourist arrived with their cameras. All 5 tourist were avid birders. Needless to say, the 2 hour tour was more like a 4 hour tour. Everyone had a great time.
As soon as we rode into Browns Trail we saw 2 Sandhill Cranes standing in the fire lane and 2 standing in the road. We saw a total of 12 Sandhill Cranes. This makes getting up for an 8 am tour worth the effort.
We saw Goober and Georgie and one of their parent's, and BB and one of his parent's on the Beasley nest. It was nice to see BB still hanging at the nest after fledging.
We had 21 different species of bird sightings. Not to mention we had 60 visitors at the VC. What a day!
Week of Pictures:
