We had 2 things we wanted to happen before we left the Turtle Ranch. One was to see a pretty sunrise and the other was to find a Gulf Coast Solitary Bee. We got both Sunday morning.
The first thing was to get up and get going early enough to see the sunrise. We watched a gorgeous sunrise from the Pine Beach Trail observation tower.
We walked the dunes on the Gator Lake Trail looking for sleeping bees. Most of the Coastal Plain Honeycombhead blooms were in post anthesis which gave us a slim to none chance of finding them. But we did find a lot of other pretties while looking for them.
Our next stop was the Burgoyne Road dunes, where we finally found one of those iridescent green eyed beauties. He was sleeping on a Coastal Plain Honeycombhead bloom that was being blown around by the wind. He was definitely worth getting up and about before the bees woke up.
We spent the rest of the day catching up on our pictures and iNaturalist observations.
I had a pleasant surprise Monday morning when I checked on my iNaturalist observations. A picture that I took on October 5, 2022 was a Gulf Coast Solitary Bee in the Burgoyne Road dunes. Very cool!
The coolness continued when we went to watch the excavation of the last 2 turtle nest. The first nest was quite a success with only 2 unsuccessful eggs.
The second nest was not as productive. All 104 eggs were unhatched. This is one of those Mother Nature things that just happen.
On our walk to the beach, we saw a Loggerhead Shrike perched looking for his next meal.
There were only a few shorebirds out and about this morning, a Willet and a couple of Sanderlings.
We also saw some raptors flying around, a Kestrel and a Bald Eagle.
The entertainment continued when we watched Alexis and Maureen net and tag Monarchs at the ferry landing.
There were all kinds of critters buzzing around in the pretty blooms.
We got back, had lunch, then worked on our pictures from this fun and entertaining morning.
Tuesday, we got back to work getting a board replaced on the Pine Beach Observation Tower. There were lots and lots of hikers taking advantage of this beautiful weather.
We took measurements and got our supplies ready to repair the fencing for the Mobile Street Boardwalk. Again, we saw plenty of people taking advantage of this beautiful day.
We made a quick trip to town to stock up, then relaxed the rest of the evening at Camp Secour.
We spent Wednesday replacing fencing at the Mobile Street Boardwalk. Our office view on the beach was gorgeous and the crashing of the rolling Gulf was quite soothing.
We did a little bit of nature chasing while picking up litter at the trailheads.
We were supervised by a Squirrel Treefrog while cleaning up Herman and the bosses truck.
We continued our nature chasing at Camp Secour, picking up a couple of new species, (for us), at Bon Secour NWR.
BTW, we found out today that our sightings of the Gulf Coast Solitary Bees are the first documentation for Bon Secour!!
Thursday, we moved a Walkingstick from Herman's front tire before heading to the office. He was one of the bigger ones that we have seen.
Lauren did a few odd and end jobs for the refuge while I manned the visitor center. I had a record day of visitation, 22 people. They were all nice, engaging folks.
After we closed, we went by Efes Greek Kitchen, got a couple of gyros then had a picnic lunch at Lake Shelby. The view was good, and so was the gyros and hand cut fries.
We took a stroll to the Gulf State Pier, something we have been wanting to do since we got here. We saw a shark swimming just a few feet from people playing in the water. I hope for their sake, he is a pescatarian and not into eating humans.
We got to see our first Sharksucker fish that a fisherman caught.
We grabbed a couple of beer sodas and sat at the pier bar watching the waves rolling in then went back to Camp Secour and relaxed for the rest of the day.
Friday, we had an hour to kill while we waited on the ferry. We spent this extra time doing a little bit of nature chasing.
We continued to enjoy nature on our 30 minute ride to Dauphin Island, seeing our first American Coot of the season.
We went to Madison and Hefan's farewell luncheon at Country Gentleman. Our 10 seats at the table were all filled. They seemed to enjoy the company and all the goodies that they got. We sure our going to miss them. It has been a pleasure to be a part of the Croak Crew!
Afterwards, we headed to Crossroads for a couple of nights.
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