12-15-19 - 12-21-19 - Volunteer Gig II

We started the week with a bang.  After sitting by the fire pit, cooking breakfast outside, and watching Ferny Kat prowl, Anita, Lauren, and I went on a 4 hour Nature Chaser Tour on the refuge.  We saw lots of pretty birds and plenty of Ms. Sandhill Cranes.

We were stopped for almost an hour watching 3 of the 6 recently released cranes first walking away from us on Brown's Trail then turning around and walking toward us.  Their gait got Anita and I singing, Hey Hey We're The Monkeys.  We wonder where the other 3 are???

We saw a total of 10 Ms. Sandhill Cranes, the Eagles nesting, an Armadillo, several other species of birds, and Nemesis.

Late afternoon, we continued enjoying the day with a nice campfire.

Monday morning, we found out Merlin, one of the captive cranes didn't make it.  A coyote mortality.  We worked the VC with Judy and Terry.  Lauren and I had an 11 am tour with 3 tourist.  A very intriguing 90 year old woman, her daughter, and her son-in-law.  We only saw 2 Ms. Sandhill Cranes, Dougie and his mate, but what a show.  Dougie and his partner flapped their wings, then Dougie showed off his graceful dancing skills.  Such a beautiful sight.

The Eagles are still sitting on both nest.  We finally saw the other parent Eagle sitting in his favorite dead tree near the nest at Ben Williams crop unit.  We also saw 3 juvenile eagles in the South Gautier Unit.

Tuesday we worked the VC with Judy and Terry.  We assisted biology with the release of the captive reared cranes at the HQ savanna, along with staff from Fire, Bon Secour, and the National Forest.  The 3 captive reared walked out and flew right over the VC HQ.  It was another fabulous release.  Catherine and Danny got quite a show watching from the blind at the VC.

Wednesday Lauren did a tour while I covered the VC.  He only had 1 person on the tour and they saw 5 Ms. Sandhill Cranes, and of course the Eagles nesting.

Thursday, we weren't scheduled for the VC.  We walked the Dees Trail and took brochures to the Ms. Welcome Center.

Friday, we got news of another mortality, Pipit. He may have been a victim of a Great Horned Owl.
We assisted biology with the Christmas Bird Count.  We tromped around in the wet pine savannas flushing grass birds then drove the refuge roads looking for them.  It was a lot of fun and a lot of exercise.  If we hung with biology on a regular basis, we would be in much better shape.

I found a cool Black Racer snake shed.  There was a time I would have screamed and run.  Today I picked it up and gave it to Carol for use at the VC.

We got the van stuck when we turned around at the Spray Fields, (and Lauren was not driving).  After using our MacGyver skills, we were able to get the van out of the bog and continued with our count.

Friday night we heard a weird chirping as we were sitting around the campfire.  It was the 3 recently released flying over the bayou.  We heard 2 of them splash in the bayou, then rustling around in the thicket.  After a few minutes, 2 of the 3 flew back the way they came.  These crazy birds.

Saturday, we wrapped up the week going to Erica's house for an awesome Williams Christmas get together.

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HQ Release Pictures:

12-8-19 - 12-14-19 Volunteer Gig II

Sunday, we lounged around this morning watching the squirrels eating feed at our bird feeders.  We forgot to bring the cone to keep them off the feeder.  Needless to say, we didn't see any birds on it today.

We went on the Dees Trail with the wagon and reorganized the plant markers.  We haven't seen Banana and Coconut in a couple of days, but NV11 and 337 are hanging around.

Monday we worked with Judy and Terry at the visitors center. It was a very slow day.

Tuesday, we got to witness the most magnificent crane release ever!!  (That's my story and I'm sticking to it 😉).  Judy, Terry, and I assisted biology with herding the cranes out of the gate of the North Gautier pen.  Lauren took pictures.  These are the cranes from White Oaks that have a lot of spunk to them.  They walked out the gate and flew straight up.  It was an awesome sight to see.

Late afternoon, Lauren and I went to the blind overlooking the pond that the cranes were released from to see if they would come back to roost.  We only had one crane roost in the pond, Delores.  He silently flew in, walked around, ate some feed, then waded around through deep water to a shallow spot.  I guess Sandhill Cranes are like humans, they have to find the perfect spot to rest.

Wednesday, we had an 8 am Crane Tour with 3 tourist.  The tour started out with a bang, seeing 3 Ms. Sandhill Cranes on the right and 3 Ms. Sandhill Cranes on the left as we entered Brown's Trail.  We saw a total of 18 Sandhill Cranes, the Eagles sitting on both nest, several other species of birds, and deer.

Thursday, we spent the afternoon working on Crane Fest stuff.  While we were walking on the Dees Trail, we met a lady that asked questions about the plants.  She is a marine biologist and has a whale watching business in Oregon.  She encouraged us to come see her for a fabulous tour.  We may just take her up on that.

Friday, we spent the day getting ready for the Crane Fest.  We barely got the tables and tents set up before it started raining.  We got an impromptu bat presentation from Vicky the Bat Lady.

Saturday, the Crane Fest was a success!!  We had 2 native plant walks and worked the booth.  Our first plant walk had 2 people.  The second plant walk had 25 people.  5 of these were energetic Boy Scouts.  Needless to say, we only finished with about half the people we started with. 

                                                      Whew, Crane Fest is over!!!!!

The first 14 days of Gig II has been extremely busy getting ready for Crane Fest, now it's time to slow the pace and get back to the easy life!!




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12-1-19 to 12-7-19 Volunteer Gig II

We are back at our gig!!  We set up at Camp Crane on Sunday.  Ferny Kat slept all the way here.  She must have been resting up, cause when we turned into Crane Lane, she got up and started meowing.  She was out and about at our campsite as soon as we would let her.  Everybody is happy to be back.

After we got the camper set up, we checked out the new observation blind and the CL Dees Trail.

As we were sitting outside watching the twinkling of lights on the cedar tree we decorated, we heard the cranes calling as they were flying in for their roost.  We sure have missed that elusive sound.

Monday, Judy and Terry moved in to Camp Crane.  It's nice to have our long time friends be co-volunteers and camping neighbors in our gated community.

Tuesday, we gave Judy and Terry an orientation drive.  We went to Grand Bay National Wildlife Refuge and to the South Gautier Unit. We saw 20 Ms. Sandhill Cranes, 4 Bald Eagles, and a Merlin.  The 3 juvenile eagles we saw near the Ben Williams crop unit were flying around.  We were able to see that one of them had a green band on his right leg.  We are pretty sure it is Goober.

The eagle nest on Ben Williams had a bald eagle sitting on the nest.  We think we saw an eagle sitting on the Beasley nest.  We will keep an eagle eye on them.

Wednesday, we did our first Crane Tour.  We had 2 tourist and Terry.  We saw 9 Sandhill Cranes, a Pied-billed Grebe, a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker,  and an American Kestrel.  We confirmed that both Bald Eagle nest had an eagle sitting in them.  We reported the eagle sightings to Angie and Scott.  We were the first to report sightings of Goober and the Eagle's nesting.

Thursday, is our first official day to work at the visitor's center for Gig II.  We had about 40 fire fighters in fire training at HQ and 21 visitors. A pretty busy day.  We were a little bit rusty but managed to pull it off.  Biology reported that Coconut and Banana have relocated to another area.  This is so disappointing.

Banana and Coconut greeted us at the intersection of Crane Lane and Camp Crane Drive on our walk to work Friday morning. It is so good to see them back.  They hung around headquarters most of the day.

We had a special visitor today, Elf on the Bayou.  He got his picture taken with Banana and Coconut in the background that will be used for the 12 days of Elf-mas contest on the city of Gautier Facebook.  The girls are becoming more and more famous.

Angie found the 1st ever, adult Dusky Gopher Frog, today near the ephemeral pond.  Looks like all the hard work of their recovery is beginning to pay off.

Around roost time, we heard the elusive sound and found 4 Mississippi Sandhill Cranes in the back yard of the VC, (Banana, Coconut, NV11 & 337).

Lauren went on a Crane Tour without me on Saturday.   Terry rode with Lauren and opened the gates.  Judy worked with me at the VC.  If we have to break up Team McLaurin in our volunteer duties, it's great to have friends that are willing to step in.

The Crane Tour was a success.  They saw 10 Sandhill Cranes, 2 Deer, Great Egrets, Blue Herons, American Kestrels, and Bald Eagles.  I was very envious when I heard the group talking about their fantastic tour.  (Poor, poor, pitiful, me😢)

The birds have finally found our bird feeders that have been out since Sunday.  We had Cardinals, Blue Jays, and Thrashers on the feeders this morning and a Towhee feeding on the ground.  It was quite a contrast of colors.

After we closed the VC, Lauren and I took a walk on Crane Lane on this cool, cloudy, day without cameras and binoculars.  We saw an exhausted Buck running in the savanna.  He stopped before crossing the road, saw us, and turned back to the savanna.  Lauren had his phone camera ready for the shot, but hit the wrong button.  He did get a picture of him after he ran back into the savanna.  Next time we will make sure we bring cameras and binoculars.

Our first week of Gig II was very busy, but quite enjoyable!!


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