Lauren got up this morning and called Ferny Kat a traitor because she had slept beside me. It didn't bother her none. She stayed in the bed with me until I got up.
We went to the Ocean Springs Unit. There were plenty of plant blooms that caught our attention.
Lauren had a rare find, a Gopher Tortoise hole.
We finally got some critter activity at the Blue Hole. We saw 7 Blue Winged Teal swimming in the water. and a Juvenile Eagle that was swooping down to the water with his talons down. He changed his mind and flew up in a tree. Wonder what he was going for??
A Cormorant flew into the pond and two Mottled Ducks were on the other side of the water with an Alligator nearby. We had our picnic lunch here. Luckily the critters were not consumed as lunch by the Alligator or Eagle.
We spent the afternoon sitting outside bird watching at Camp Crane.
Monday, we spent the day filling feeders, getting cameras, and dipping tadpoles in Ocean Springs. Angie stopped and took a look at the Gopher Tortoise hole and collected data. The ephemeral pond was almost dried up with only a few inches of water in a very small area. Angie ran a Cottonmouth off, actually she tried to catch it with her snake grabber but it got away. There was also a nonvenomous snake in the shallow water that got away and plenty of crawfish.
We dipped for about an hour and a half, then went to HQ and sorted the Dusky Gopher Tadpoles from the others. We will find out in a few weeks if we guessed correctly or not. Either way, we have saved a lot of tadpoles.
Tuesday, we released the reject tadpoles (not Dusky Golpher) in the HQ acclimation pen pond. We put 135 tadpoles in the 5 tanks that were ready. We attempted to count how many tadpoles we have. Our best count is around 700 more to put in the tanks. It will be a few days before the tanks are ready.
We spent the afternoon bird watching at Camp Crane.
Wednesday, I was a last minute fill in judge for the Jr. Duck Stamp contest. It was really hard to pick the winners with all the beautiful art work that was submitted. We have some really talented artist in Mississippi. I spent the afternoon typing up the list of winners.
Lauren went to open gates for contractors then worked on the native plant garden. The afternoon he spent working with biology getting the substrate in the tadpole tanks. In his riding around today, he found a Chicken Turtle. We never knew such a turtle existed.
Thursday, we made an early morning run, (at 9 am which is early for us), to Wally World. It was a pleasant shopping experience. There was a guy spraying the buggies with a bleach solution before handing it off to us. Even though I have a bleach mark on my orange "I survived Katrina tee shirt," that Jackie gave me, I am really impressed with how clean the store was and how few shoppers there were.
We got back, unloaded what we hope will last us about a month. Lauren made Trail Marker signs that he took to the trail and I finished the Duck Stamp Winner list. After lunch, we went out to try and find more Many Flowered Orchids.
Our mission was accomplished. We found 10 more orchids. Tomorrow morning, the Orchid Guru and his wife are going to meet us at Brown's Trail to look at the orchids us close and personal.
We are excited, but sad, that both of the Eaglets have flown the coup and were nowhere near their nest. Soar High and Mighty Young Eagles. Until we meet again!!
A Coopers Hawk flew into a nearby tree as we were bird watching this afternoon at Camp Crane. Needless to say, every bird and squirrel high tailed it out of there until after he left.
Friday, we went on an Orchid Safari with an Orchid Guru at the North Gautier Unit. We found 3 more Many Flowered Grass Pinks and several Rose Pagonias before having to leave the area due to a prescribed burn being done across the road.
We went to the South Gautier Unit, that was also burned 6 weeks ago. We found one Many Flowered Grass Pink. It is the first, ever, recorded on the South Gautier Unit. We also found more Rose Pagonias, and our first Pale Pink Grass Orchid bloom of the season. The orchids are blooming earlier than usual this year.
We were pleasantly surprised to see the Eaglet and one of the parent Eagles in the nest. The adult Eagle was eating. When we came back by, the Eaglet was still in the nest, but the parent was gone.
We spent this afternoon with Angie, the Interns, and the other Volunteers placing the tadpoles in the tanks.
Saturday, the Orchid Safari continues. We walked the East Valentine Savanna, 16th Section Savanna, Ben Williams Swamp Savanna, and NE Martin Savanna. We found 4 more Many Flowered Grass Pink orchids in the East Valentine Savanna. We found 5 Many Flowered Grass Pinks, (all grouped together), in the Ben Williams Swamp Savanna. We didn't find any in the NE Martin Savanna, but it sure was a beautiful Pitcher Plant Bog.
We saw Jr. in the I 10 Crop Unit Eagle nest, looks like he was eating something.
Late afternoon, Angie came over. We went to East Valentine Savanna and found 2 more orchids. Our total Many Flowered Grass Pinks are 27 so far. According to the Orchid Guru, we may have the best site that is left for these flowers.
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