The HQ5 flew in Sunday for their morning snack before we had a chance to bait the bownet. We walked Crane Lane to give them time to enjoy breakfast.
They had left when we returned. We got the bownet baited and headed to the trail. We saw the cranes were headed that way also. We decided to walk the trail backwards to avoid interfering with them. We thought that they would be gone by the time we made the loop, but we thought wrong. They were still hanging near the oak tree, which is where we saw them earlier. They slowly started easing away from the trail, as we slowly eased by them. Yoshi suddenly ran back and caught a grasshopper.
Squall reached down and come up with a mole in his beak. They were having a snacking good time this morning.
This afternoon we worked on getting rocks out of the underbed of the Kubota from our rock escapade last week. We washed, took off screens and panels, washed some more, and pried rocks from tiny spaces until we were wore out. At least we got the ones that we could see.
It was so nice to have a laundry to wash our dirty, sweaty clothes when we finished. The little things in life!
Monday, when Lauren went to bait the bownet, the HQ crew started walking toward him as he was pouring his first bowl of corn. There were quite impatient this morning.
Us nature chasers had a really nice time walking Crane Lane and the Dees Trail seeing cool critters and plants.
When we returned from our walk, the HQ crew were gone, giving us the opportunity to replenish the corn. They had ate all of the corn that Lauren put out earlier.
We took a ride to Fontainebleu Trail. We finally remembered to bring the magnet to get the totals of the trail counter. Three times is a charm.
We made a tour of the North and South Gautier Units seeing lots of wading birds in Valentine Pond.
We also saw some wading cranes, Banana, Coconut, and their unbanded buddy in Valentine Pond.
We were also lucky to see the Riley Road Family, the Jabba Family and the Milhouse Family.
We had about 35 crane sightings on this 2 hour tour. This Labor Day has been like a Sunday Funday, except it is Monday!
We got up early Tuesday morning in the hopes of catching NV11 in the bownet. We knew his regular feeder was probably empty of corn and were in the hopes he would come to HQ for a snack. He and his mate 337 were there by 7:30 a.m. She stayed away from the corn, but he came and ate vigorously. Everything was perfect for the catch, except the switch was not turned on for the remote to release the net. OOPS!!
Lauren got to drive the new tractor when we replaced the leaning stop sign on Crane Lane. It sure is nice.
We helped the Lowes guys with their delivery of appliances to the bunkhouse, then installed the 2 dishwashers. It has been a long day.
Wednesday, shortly after we got the bownet set up some of the HQ gang arrived and ate most of the corn before NV11 and 337 showed up. It was entertaining watching them high step over the bownet.
The gang skedaddled when the dominate pair showed up. NV11 went to the corn and started eating, the bownet was released, and NV11 managed to escape capture. He is quick. There is a reason he has been able to survive this long.
We said hello to our resident deer on our way back to camp.
We washed and repaired 3 feeders. We took one to a sheet metal shop to see what they can manufacture for deer guards considering we cannot find the duct caps that we were using. We did a few other chores then called it, another long day.
We walked the Dees Trail and Crane Lane Thursday morning.
The HQ gang came back today, but we haven't seen hide nor feather of NV11.
We spent the rest of the day working on the new interpretive signs project.
We got a walk in on Crane Lane then went with Scott to evaluate the acclimation pens at HQ and Fontainebleau. It is getting to be that time of year again!
We found a few cool bugs and had a crane flyover while we were out and about.
We also flushed a Sora in what use to be the wet pine savanna that is now dry as a bone.
Lauren got a few insect pictures while waiting on Lloyd to arrive Saturday morning.
Afterwards, we went to Crossroads for a night, to mow the yard and get the mail. Home sweet home.
No comments:
Post a Comment