Sunday, we met Angie at the frog tanks at 9 am and removed 53 DGFs, which was a lot less than we expected since we had skipped a day.
We took a ride to check on the Rock Hill and Dougie families. The Rock Hill family was doing good. We did not find Dougie.
We spent the rest of the day relaxing at Camp Crane doing some bird watching.
We also did some cat watching. Ferny Kat enjoyed the water dripping off the camper, as well as her Diet Cola can. Ferny playing with her can reminds us of the Tigers at White Oak playing with their Keg. She has the same instincts as her distant relatives.
DGF tank checks were not required Monday due to the cooler weather slowing the met process . We took a ride to the North Gautier Unit and South Gautier Unit picking up some litter along the way. Shortly after we entered the North Gautier Unit, we found Milhouse and Truffle with one of their chicks.
Banana and Coconut were their usual friendly selves today.
We saw a few more cranes, and lots of pretty plants and critters before heading to South Gautier Unit.
The Humped and Purple Bladderworts were very vibrant today. We also saw one crane, lots of cool critters and plants, and checked out the recent prescribed burn.
We did a little bit of gardening at the VC then relaxed the rest of the evening at Camp Crane, cooking ribs.
A trip to the dumpster before going in for the night, revealed 3 Sandhill Cranes near the pen at HQ. One of them was Gemini and the other 2 were unbanded.
We spent most of Tuesday working with the DGFs. Angie, Lauren, and I collected 52 frogs and processed 105. The frogs seemed extra jumpy today. I obviously wore out one that kept jumping around in the trap. When I put him in the transport bowl, he just laid there.
We found a cool Funnel Web Spider living under the edge of the frog tanks.
We picked up some litter and took out the recycling. We took a stroll on the Dees Trail while waiting to release frogs.
At sunset we went with Angie, and her friend, Abby, to release the frogs. We only found one snake, a Ribbon Snake which was relocated.
Wednesday morning Lauren and I were on our own at the DGF tanks. On our way to collect 42 frogs we saw a couple of cranes enjoying the roasted grub.
We got to see one of the Funnel Web Spiders as we were checking the tanks.
Afterwards, we mowed at HQ, Crane Lane, and the Bunkhouse. To say it was dusty, is an understatement.
As we were relaxing at camp this afternoon, we heard the elusive call of the cranes. I stayed at camp to watch Ferny Kat while Lauren checked it out. He found a couple of unbanded cranes at HQ foraging in the recent burned savanna..
We enjoyed sitting outside for a while until the rain started. It looks like we have rainy days in our near future that will take care of all this dust.
Thursday morning, we went to Fontainebleau Trail to place signs. We found plenty of litter in the parking area, including a couple of rugs and a wig. They must have wigged out when they threw the rugs out 😏.
We helped Angie and Erin remove 27 frogs from the tanks then hung around camp for the rest of the day. I stayed around camp this afternoon watching Ferny Kat while Lauren took a walk around the Dees Trail.
We met Angie and Erin for frog processing Friday morning at 7 am. Needless, to say, this is way too early for us. After we processed 69 frogs, and had a hiccup or two, we checked the tanks and removed and processed 24 more. Then, we took a 2-hour nap. Napping does not happen very often in Lauren's world.
We went to Lowes and purchased a corn feeder for the squirrels. It was very entertaining to watch the first squirrel master the corn feeder. After a little bit of twirling around, he was a pro.
We went with Angie and Erin to release 93 frogs this evening. The last time we were here, we were able to drive part of the way in. Today, we had to hike in.
The last time we released here, the pond was dry. Tonight, the pond was full, which is a good thing for the frog release.
We were able to keep our feet dry until we walked around the drift fence looking for snakes. Hiking Boots were not a good choice tonight. We found 3 snakes but only caught one of them. The Cottonmouth that got relocated was not happy,
Tonight, we released with enough daylight to enjoy watching our friends depart on their new adventure. Stay safe and live a long life our DGF friends!
We were well rested for our day off on Saturday. We lounged around all morning then took a refuge ride. Our first destination was the South Gautier Unit. We saw a couple of Sandhill Cranes, but did not get their picture. We also saw 3 deer, 3 Bald Eagles, and a lot of cool birds and plants.
The rain got a little heavier, (but not too bad) at the North Gautier Unit. We saw our favorite cranes, Banana & Coconut, along with a lot of other critters and plants.
The afternoon was spent outside with our favorite Kat. She enjoyed her bath under the drips of water from the camper awning. After she gets drenched, she looks like one of those neglected alley cats.
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