We heard the familiar elusive sound of Cranes while we were drinking our coffee Sunday morning. A closer look, and we found NV11 and 337 chomping away at HQ feeder.
We saw 21 Cranes on our morning ride through the North and South Gautier Units. Most of them were not hanging around for a good photo op, except of course Banana and Coconut.
We saw a deer that also was not in the mood for her photo op.
The Bob White was perched on a limb near Browns Trail. She posed again giving us another great photo op. We saw some little ones scurrying around in the grass underneath her.
The Great Blue Herons youngsters were standing tall in the tree. One of them flew, although it looked a little awkward.
We had our first Snapping Turtle sighting on Valentine Road. He obviously owns the road and did not want to move as we passed by, except to snap at the front and back tire of the truck.
We found White Fringed Orchids at the Ben Williams swamp area. We have only found one other of these pretty orchids, and that was in 2018.
We enjoyed another evening sitting around Camp Crane.
Monday we picked up trash at the Ocean Springs Unit gates. While we were there, we saw a few cranes, lots of butterflies, some pretty flowers, and other critters.
By the time we got back to Camp Crane, it was flooding rain. We spent a while inside playing with pictures.
When we took the truck back to the parking lot after the rain, we were surprised to see 5 Cranes under the Oaks. They must have been surprised also. They took off before we could get a shot. It was last year's release cohorts.
It was a nice stroll along the trail with the cooler temperatures after the rain.
We sat outside for a bit and cooked a steak for our Labor Day meal. The squirrel looked a little sad about not having any corn left on his cob, so I scooped him some feed out of the bird feeder. He watched me intensively put the feed on the ground, then came and feasted on it.
Tuesday morning we took a nice stroll around the Dees Trail and updated the plant markers. We were going to wait another day to mow to let the ground dry out, but we needed to go home tomorrow for a few days. We managed to get most of the mowing done. The rest will have to wait.
We finally got the plants for the native garden that have been lost. They have been in route for about 2 weeks. We started our plant resuscitation project, maybe some of them will make it.
Wednesday morning we did another Dees Trail stroll. This cloudy morning had the bees snoozing on the blooms. Afterwards, we packed up and headed to Crossroads.
We made it back to Camp Crane Saturday. We got a few chores done, washing the love bugs off the truck and mopping the camper, then went for a stroll along the Dees Trail.
On our way to the trail, we saw the Crane Gang flying away.
We still have plenty of bees and a few butterflies, but not as many as when the Iron Weed was in full bloom. We also have Hanging Thieves still catching their prey.
We sat around Camp and watched a few birds, including a female Summer Tanager. The bird migration is picking up.
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