We hung around the refuge this morning then went to Island View to play our $10 free play. I lost my free-play and a $20 bill, Lauren cashed out $95.25 ahead.
Late afternoon, we had to wait for the Free Birds to get off the road so we could walk to the garbage. They were headed to their feeder.
Monday
It is so cool to wake up and hear the Free Birds calling around 7:30 am. It was not so cool hearing Ferny Kat meowing for Lauren to get up around 5 am on our day off. She makes sure he doesn't oversleep. Although, he ignored her and slept till 7 am.
We decided to avoid the Memorial Holiday crowds and go to the Ocean Springs Unit of the refuge. We were amazed to sight 10 Mississippi Sandhill Cranes in this unit. We had a Memorial Day picnic sitting in the van with the a/c on and windows rolled up, (to keep out the heat and horse flies,) watching 2 Mississippi Sandhill Cranes in the crop unit.
We decided to make a quick stop at Brown's Trail to check on the Great Blue Heron Nestlings. As soon as we entered, we saw a pair of Sandhill Cranes with a chick. It was our first sighting of a chick this year and our first chick sighted inside the refuge. The chick quickly hid in the taller grass, while the parents kept an eye on us. We got a couple of quick pics and moved on.
We only saw one of the Great Blue Heron nestlings when we drove into Valentine Road, and neither when we came back by.
After getting our count up to 13 Mississippi Sandhill Cranes, we decided to check out the South Gautier Unit. We saw 6 more cranes in this unit bringing our total to 19 Mississippi Sandhill Cranes sightings. The Crane Whisperers still have it.
We also saw a lot of deer, a raccoon, a Cottonmouth Snake, several Red Tailed Hawks, Great Blue Herons, and a bunch of other birds. What we didn't see were Bald Eagles. I guess Goober, Georgie, and BB have flown the coup.
We saw the Free Birds right before sundown. Coconut and Banana were foraging together. As I was sneaking around the side of the building, my phone notification of a frog sound croaked. Coconut heard it and started walking my way. I guess she was ready for her frog snack. I went back around the building and walked up the road. I found Crabapple ready for his roost on the back porch. Shortly after, the girls joined him.
Tuesday
We had an 8 am tour with 3 people, an adult and 2 kids. The kids were in the 3rd and 4th grade and had a great appreciation of nature.
We had an awesome tour, looking at all the birds and other critters, driving and walking in the savanna looking at all the pretty plants, watching the Great Blue Heron nestlings through the spotting scope and seeing 6 Mississippi Sandhill Cranes. We also watched 3 of the Mississippi Sandhill Cranes through the spotting scope.
We went with Angie and the Interns at sunset to release 99 Dusky Gopher Frogs. It was a much nicer experience, driving the 3/4 mile instead of walking it in rubber boots carrying all the frogs and stuff.
Before we left we watched the Free Birds through the back windows of the VC. They were near the road watching us as we drove out. We saw 2 more Ms. Sandhill Cranes on our drive to the femoral pond.
It was a beautiful evening on the savanna, except for the pesky bugs. One of my frogs I tried to release, not only jumped back in the container that I was releasing it from, but jumped in a frog container that Rose had just emptied.. After much coaxing, we got him to take the jump into the wild savanna.
The Free Birds were on their roost when we returned.
Wednesday
We worked the VC today. After we closed, we took Jackie and Randy out on the refuge.
We went to Brown's Trail first to check out the Great Blue Heron nestlings, (the Great Blue Heron is one of Jackie's favorite birds). We enjoyed viewing the 2 nestlings through the spotting scope.
We saw a Wood Duck and her ducklings swimming in Valentine Pond.
We had a great surprise when we got to the crane pen and found 2 Mississippi Sandhill Cranes and their colt. It took us over a year of looking for baby Sandhill Cranes to find our first on the refuge a few days ago. The Ezell's got to see their's, the first trip out. The Crane Whisperers, are glad that we had these lucky Ezell's with us.
On our tour of the South Gautier Unit to show them the empty Eagle nests and the empty Ms. Sandhill Crane nest, we saw 2 more Ms. Sandhill Cranes, a Cottonmouth snake, a few more adult Great Blue Herons, and an Armadillo.
The Free Birds did a great grand finale of the tour. They were at the VC when we returned and allowed us to admire their elusive presence through the back glass. Then posed for a picture as the Ezell's drove out.
Thursday
Ferny Kat was insistent to get Lauren up early this morning. I slept till 8 am.
It has been a week since we have walked the Dees Trail. We found a few more blooms to go back and place plant markers on. We went to Wally World, then stayed inside until late afternoon to avoid the heat.
The Free Birds were in the back yard of the VC eyeing Lauren as he walked to the garbage.
Friday
We have Anita for the weekend!! We had some great sister time today while Lauren was at the Harley shop getting Amber road trip ready. We leisurely walked the Dees Trail, then sat around and watched a few critters at Camp Crane. We have a new resident, Little Joe. It is a female Fence Lizard that hangs around eating ants.
Lauren joined us and the festivities started. We had an enjoyable evening just sitting around and enjoying the great outdoors.
Saturday
We went to the Pleasant BBQ All you can taste Crawfish Festival and the Red, White, and Blueberry Festival in Ocean Springs. The free ice cream topped with strawberries, and blueberries was quite refreshing after walking several blocks between the two events.
There were 21 different crawfish vendors competing for the best tasting crawfish. We tried to taste them all, but we only made about half of them. It was a hard choice, but we did make a vote. After sitting in the hot sun, eating crawfish, and sipping on suds for a couple of hours we were about as cooked as the crawfish. We made it back to Camp Refuge, got a good ole shower, and sat around chilling. A very good day!!
Weeks worth of pictures:
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