Ole Man Winter showed up Sunday and encouraged us to go home and get our winter clothes. On our way back, we stopped by the Wiggins Pizza Inn. It was a no picture taking kind of day.
Monday, we got back in our groove and walked the Dees Trail and Crane Lane catching a few pics of birds along the way.
We did a time budget for the cranes at the Fontainebleau Pen and Headquarters Pen. The Fontainebleu Pen cohorts were bullied by the dominant unbanded pair while we were collecting our data. The pair paced outside the pen and occasionally pecked at the cohorts in the pen. Dang birds.
We took the usual short cut through Browns Trail on the way back, seeing a Kestrel, Cranes, a Merlin, Eagles, and Wood Ducks. It is so nice to be off the beaten path.
Tuesday, we let the cranes loose!! We went with Scott and the Interns to the Fontainebleau Pen. The dominant pair were back again, foraging outside the pen when we opened the gate to the netted pen. They were very vocal as they flew off when Scott walked out to flush the cohorts. We were pleasantly surprised when the smallest of the cohorts, Mayong, didn't hesitate, He was the first to walk out of the gate and take flight. His first flight was awesome. The landing, well let's just say he needs to work on that.
Wyaluigi was 2nd out the gate followed by Gamus. They seemed content foraging around in the open pen until the unbanded Pair flew back in with Mayong in close pursuit. There was a little bit of a ruckus by the dominant pair that convinced Gamus then Wyaluigi to take flight. There are now 3 more cranes residing in the wild at the Fontainebleau Unit.
Sami has loaned us a truck to use for a few days to help her with the safety audit issues. This truck is the Chevrolet version of Herman, long wheel base, 4 door. It takes a football field to turn him around. Fire has named him, "The Edmond Fitzgerald." A very suitable name.
The rest of the day was spent working on the safety audit stuff. While checking out the blinds on the North Valentine Unit, we saw Adelaide and Thriller in a yard along Allen Road.
We flushed 4 cranes at the Gautier Pen Crop Unit.
As we were driving along Valentine Road, there were 12 cranes wading around in Valentine pond. They flew, along with 6 more. We had an 18 Crane flight. This many Mississippi Sandhill Crane flying together is something you don't see very often. The Crane Circus is back!!
We also saw 3 Bald Eagles, an American Kestrel, and Wood Ducks. Every day is a Funday!!
Wednesday morning, we let the cranes loose at HQ. Lauren put on camouflage and sat at the edge of the savanna taking pictures. I joined Scott and crew inside the pen. We slowly herded 4 of them through the small gate. Scott grabbed the other 2 and walked them out of the pen. He had one in each hand. It is fun being a crane herder.
The rest of the day was spent manning the visitor center. This afternoon, we spent a bit of time catching up with our neighbors/friends/co volunteers, Judy and Terry. They moved back in to Camp Crane today. Who would have thought 30 years ago when we met on a golf course that we would be volunteering at a wildlife refuge?? Life is full of pleasant surprises.
Thursday morning was spent working on safety audit stuff. This afternoon was spent manning the visitor center. We only had one visitor to walk in the door. Our old friend, Danny. He is enjoying living the Alaska life. It was great catching up with him.
Friday was spent working on the safety audit stuff in Ocean Springs and the North Gautier Units. We saw a bunch of deer while we were riding around, they were not staying around for a picture. We did manage to get a few pictures of critters while we were out and about.
We did a little bit of piddling in the visitor center and worked on the safety audit stuff on Saturday. The 2022 HQ crew have joined with the 2021 HQ 5. They made several appearances at HQ today, but mostly spent the day out by the release pen. They seemed to be getting along just fine considering 3 of them went peeping by when they all flew to the bayou.
No comments:
Post a Comment