Sunday morning, Ferny Kat was very considerate and let Lauren sleep until 7:30 after our busy, fantastic, fun, last week. We did our mile walk on Crane Lane in slightly under 15 minutes then took a leisurely walk on the Dees Trail. We found our first Pitcher Plant Mining Moths for this year.
Late afternoon, we heard the call of the Cranes and found Dikkop, Auk, and the Wild Child at the HQ feeder. The Wild Child was bullying Auk. Meanie!
Monday, we were supposed to have a 10 am Crane Safari for 2 people that were no shows. By 11 am only 4 people had walked the trail and no one had darken the door of the VC. We packed our picnic lunch and went out for trail patrols.
We picked up a lot of trash at the Oak Grove Trail, but very little on the Fountainebleu Trail. We found a lot of pretty blooms, butterflies, dragonflies, and a pretty Blue-headed Vireo.
We picked up trash on the Browns Trail entrance. We saw several Sandhill Cranes, a Great Blue Heron, and a very photogenic Fox Squirrel.
All Crane Tours for the rest of the month have been cancelled due to the Coronovirus.
Tuesday, Lauren showed the new volunteers around today while I manned the VC. We had a few more visitors walk in the VC today than yesterday.
One of our visitors spent several hours on the trail. When she came back into the VC she showed us her sketch she did while sitting on the bench overlooking Bayou Castille.
Starting tomorrow, the VC will be manned by HQ staff due to Coronovirus. We will be doing outdoor projects.
Wednesday, Happy Birthday to Me!! We strolled around the Dees Trail then went to Pascagoula to shore bird watch. Not much going on in the bird world today. We did see a Pine Warbler gathering grass for his nest on the Dees Trail.
The afternoon was spent bird watching, grilling steaks, and eating ice cream and chocolate syrup for desert. Another great birthday celebration!!
Thursday, we decided to get out and about today. We went to DeSota National Forest and finally found the Chapman Butterworts that we have been looking for. There were plenty of other pretty flowers there as well.
We had a great picnic lunch at the POW Camp pond while enjoying the neat plants, birds, butterflies, and dragon flies.
Friday, we planted 5 new plants in the native plant garden. We pulled weeds and placed mulch on one side of the garden. It sure does look good.
We went with Angie and the Interns to dip net Dusky Gopher Tadpoles. We didn't have any luck, we'll regroup and attempt again on Monday.
We did a quick look at a crane nest. Momma sure is sitting pretty on that nest while Daddy is watching from the bank.
We found out today that Coconut is a male instead of a female. I have been trying to figure out why 2 females would be doing a Unison Call. I finally asked Angie today and showed her the video we did a few weeks ago. She consulted Scott. After he watched the video several times, he said that Coconut is a male. As the Crane World Turns!!
The VC is now officially closed until the Coronovirus subsides.
Saturday, Mary, Lauren, and I finished the other side of the Native Plant Garden.
We did a phenology walk with the Gulf Coast Phenology leader and will be checking the Dees Trail on a weekly basis.
This afternoon, we went to the North Gautier Unit to see if the Many Flowered Grass Pinks had bloomed. It was 5 weeks after the prescribed burn and they are suppose to bloom 6 weeks after a burn. This is a plant Lauren has been wanting to see for a long time. Lauren was hesitant about looking for them a week early. He sure was glad he did. We found 2 of them in the East Valentine Savanna. This species is imperiled. It is very rare in Mississippi.
It was very cool to get a picture of a bee visiting the flower while we were taking pictures.
Here is pollination data from iNaturalist.
This species falsely lures bees with the promise of pollen, but it is not fulfilled. The beard of the flower is deceptive in that once the insect lands on it, the lip of the beard swings down, hinge-like, placing the insect’s head and back on the column thereby picking up pollinium load, or placing the pollinium on the stigma if the insect already carries a load on its back.[1]
The Sandhill Cranes were enjoying this beautiful afternoon. We saw the White Oak group flying together over the savanna.
Jr. is still hanging with Mom and Dad. All the other parents have kicked the kids out. Coconut and Banana are still having duets together and are hanging near The Family. We picked up Coconut's tracker from the middle of the road.
We had our first Eastern King bird sighting of the year.
The Great Blue Herons are actively nesting in a cypress tree in Valentine Pond.
We saw Jr. in the I 10 Crop Unit Eagle Nest and one of the parents in their favorite roost tree. As we were walking in the savanna to get a closer look at the parent Eagle, we walked upon a North American Racer.
Pictures:
No comments:
Post a Comment