Since Retiring: 3-24-19 - 3-30-19 (Week 56)

Sunday
We took a nice walk along the CL Dees Trail this morning. The fresh blooming of the flowers are attracting more and more butterflies.

We went to David's crawfish boil this afternoon. He sure does give himself a good going away party.

Monday
Our Crane Tour of 6 tourist started with a bang. Right inside the gate we saw 2 Sandhill Cranes in the fire lane. We continued with 8 Sandhill Crane sightings. We also saw many different species of birds today including our first ever Wild Turkey.

We found a couple of Great Blue Herons working on their nest at Valentine Pond. We will keep an eye on it.

Goober and Georgie were in the nest with a parent perched on a nearby limb. The other parent flew in with a catfish in his talons for lunch.

BB is still hanging around the nesting area he was hatched in. One of his parents was nearby keeping an eye on him..

After the tour we had a Swallow Tailed Kite fly over at the VC.

We walked Crane Lane after work and admired all the pretty flowers blooming and an Eastern Glass Lizard.

Tuesday
We worked the VC today. Lauren, Jeff, Melissa, and I, spent the morning pulling weeds out of the VC flower bed. We planted the native plants we purchased from Crosby. The flower bed looks so much better.

An abundance of Eastern Tent Caterpillars have emerged from the Live Oaks at Camp Crane. They climb all over everything, including us. Glad they don't sting.

Wednesday
We had a 10 am tour with 8 tourist. We saw 14 Mississippi Sandhill Cranes along with at least 15 other species of birds. The fav of the day, (other than the Sandhill Cranes and Bald Eagles), was an Eastern King-bird.

We saw the 2 Cranes in the fire lane right inside the gate of Brown's Trail. We have found out the female of these 2 is the one that broke Sticky Bunz's heart. RIP Stickey Bunz.

One of Georgie and Goober's parents was nearby in her favorite tree.

BB looked content hanging out in his savanna.

After the tour, we met Anita at Island View for the night. We had a great view from the 17th floor.

We took a walk to Chandelier Brewing Company to save our gambling money for later.

We had fun gambling tonight, and an added bonus, Lauren won a $25 hot seat in the slot tournament.
We had a fabulous sunset view from our room at The View.

Thursday
We had a pretty but cool start to the day.

After gambling, eating, and drinking, we had $11 more than what we came to the casino with. Needless to say we got the heck out of there this morning.

We took our time and rode around shore bird watching this morning. Our favs of the day was a Great Blue Heron appearing to be yawning and an Osprey taking a bath at Pass Christian Harbor.

We were surprised to see a few White Pelicans still hanging in the area.

We made it back to Camp Refuge as the Jr. Duck Stamp judging was finishing. We have some really talented artistic students in Mississippi.

We did a walk along CL Dees to prep for our nature walk tomorrow. We found our first Pitcher Plant Mining Moths in the Yellow Trumpet Pitcher Plants. There were 10-12 moths in several of them. We were so excited. We have been looking for them for a year.

We set up tents for tomorrows event and went to Valentine Pond to get a closer look at the Great Blue Heron nest. We tromped around in the bog, looking at the pretty Carnivorous Plants and dodging snakes to get a closer look.

We also had 3 Sandhill Cranes sighting.

Friday
We had 3 different groups of 4th graders on our guided trail walk today. They enjoyed using magnifying glasses to look for bugs. We all had a good time.

After work, we took a ride to the South Gautier Unit to photograph the progress of the prescribed burn recovery.

Georgie and Goober were perched in limbs above the nest. As we were admiring them, we heard Eagles calling. An adult and 2 juveniles were circling way above us locking talons at times. It was a fabulous nature air show.

When we looked back at the twin eaglets, Momma was in the nest. They were watching the Eagle Show as well

When we passed back by the twin nest, Daddy had joined the family. They would eat for a while then watch the continuing Eagle show.

A Pileated Woodpecker was another fav of the day.

BB is still hanging in his savanna. One of his parents was eating in a tree nearby.

We must have seen at least 10 Bald Eagles on our quest to go take quick pictures of the burn recovery. Mother Nature was an unexpected surprise today.

Our Free Birds were foraging behind the VC right before dark. They are still hanging close by.

Saturday
The Audubon Bug Mobile came to the VC today. Based on last years attendance, we thought there would not be very many people to come to it. We were wrong! We had over double the turnout than last year.