Sunday
The Visitor Center was closed today. We had our first company at our new campsite, Judy and Terry. It was a beautiful day to sit outside and visit with our good friends. Afterwards, Amber was ready to rumble, so we took her for a spin. We rode to Ocean Springs and hiked the Fountaine Bleu Nature Trail. We finished the day with our first campfire.
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Monday
We had another day off. We took a ride on Amber to IP and Island View to play our free play. We, (actually Lauren), came out $40 ahead. That doesn't happen very often, but it is fun when it does. Our new neighbors/volunteers, Roger and Carol arrived. Carole and Roger will be our camping neighbors and co-workers for the next few months.
We finished the afternoon with some good ole fried tabby cat that Jeannie and Ronnie gave us.
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Tuesday
We opened the Visitor Center. Lauren accused me of being bossy when I started telling him what to do. Charley chuckled when he heard the comment. We met Melissa, Refuge Visitor Center Manager/Ranger, and Pat, another Volunteer. Melissa gave us our keys, including keys to the gated areas of the refuge and encouraged us to take the government vehicles and spend time there. She also encouraged us to spend the next 2 weeks as visitors. On the Job training has never been this good.
We spent most of this rainy morning riding around with Melissa on the public roads looking for Mississippi Sandhill Cranes. Melissa told us that our chances of seeing Ms. Sandhill Cranes was low because it was late morning and it was raining. We saw a single crane in a the pasture at Cauley Farm and a pair in a field near Glenn Crane and Rigging. They were too far off to get a good picture with our cellphones.
After lunch, we spent most of the afternoon riding around with Charley to Grand Bay National Wildlife Management Area. where Lauren will assist with mowing. We saw a bunch of osprey nest on top of the power line towers and saw one osprey flying. We closed up the Visitor Center successfully.
While we were relaxing at camp this afternoon, Lauren saw a bald eagle flying over the marsh around 5 pm. Unfortunately, the camera was inside and he was unable to get a picture.
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Wednesday
We opened and closed the Visitor's Center on our own. Lauren cleaned the glass on the doors really well. Charley said the doors had never been that clean. Lauren and I took a ride along the same route Melissa took us on yesterday. Today we traveled in the van, aka The Ox Wagon. We haven't been in a vehicle without power windows and locks in a long time. It took me a little while to remember how to roll down a window.
We saw a Red Tail Hawk flying over the Savanna on Crane Lane. We saw a pair of Mississippi Sandhill Cranes at the pond near Glenn Crane and Rigging. When we got back to the Visitor's Center, we jokingly told Melissa and Carol, We are The Crane Whisperers.
We made a couple of sales without any help from Carol. Lauren gave directions to a visitor of possible locations where the Cranes may be spotted. I attempted this, but obviously, this is something I need to improve on.
Back at camp, we were sitting on ready for the eagle fly over at 4:50 pm and got plenty of pictures.
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Thursday
We opened and closed the Visitor's Center and made a few sales successfully today. The flow of things is getting much easier. Melissa took us, Roger, and Carole in the field. We went on smoke patrol for the prescribed burn. Everything was going well with the burn, so we headed back to the Refuge to look for Cranes.
We saw 5 Cranes today, 1 near a swimming pool on Rock Hill Road, 2 in Brights Pasture, and 2 at Glenn Crane and Rigging. We saw 3 Eagles flying near their nest at Firetower Road. We also saw a Great Horned Owl perched in the tree in this same area. His feathers looked like ears. We later found out, Great Horned Owls look like they have ears when they are on alert.
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Friday
This was our day off, we thought. We decided to ride on the Refuge and look for Wildlife.
We got up and hit the road at 6:20 am and returned at 11:20 am. We had a beautiful sunrise to start this cool, crisp morning with fog hovering over the bayou. You know we are having fun when we get up early to look for Cranes.
We took Brown's Trail where we saw 4 deer shortly after we entered. Driving around the trail, we saw a goose on her nest with her mate close by in the swampy water. A Blue Heron was perched above them in a tree. It was mesmerizing to hear the loud chirps of the Cranes talking to each other in the distance, although we could not see them.
We made our way back via Hwy 57, where we saw 3 Cranes in a yard between 2 houses. We later found out 2 of these were a pair, that had been missing. We saw 5 Cranes in Bright's Pasture, one of which we observed dancing, a part of their courting ritual.
We went back to Brown's Trail and was greeted by Sticky Bunz, aka Trouble Maker, near the gate. He was conversing to some more Cranes that were further away that were not visible to us . We made the turn on Valentine Trail and saw 4 Cranes scurry across the road. They flew off, but we were able to see them across the Savanna.
We made a stop at the Visitor's Center to check on Pat, who was working alone. Nothing was going on, so we went to Firetower Road. We saw a majestic Eagle perched in the tree close to the huge eagle nest. We saw 2 Cranes from a distance on Ben Williams Road then 4 more on Beasley Road. On our way out of the Refuge, we saw a big ole gator splash in the water.
We came back and spent the afternoon assisting Pat at the Visitor's Center.
Our total wildlife count today was 4 Deer, a bunch of Geese, 19 Cranes, an Eagle, and an Alligator.
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Saturday
Our day off, again - not. We went to the Regal Raptor presentation given by Environmental Studies Center. The stars of the show were Owls, (Screech, Barn, Barred, and Great Horned), a Mississippi Kite, an American Kestrel, a Broad Winged Hawk, and a Bald Eagle. We thoroughly enjoyed the show, especially when the Bald Eagle flapped his mighty wings. The turn out was so high, a second show was needed. We stayed during the second presentation to allow Carol, Charley, and Melissa to watch without interruption.
We met Carol and Charley's grandson, Justin, who is in the Air Force stationed in Milton, Florida. We encouraged Carol and Charley to go out and eat lunch while we manned the center. They took us up on the offer. We did just fine on our own for the couple of hours they were gone. Carol put Clem in his other container to eat before she left. While they were gone, Clem got very restless, so Lauren transferred him in the little container to the big aquarium, where Clem immediately slithered out to drink water.
We went home late afternoon for a couple of days to clean up the yard. We made a stop at Pizza Inn in Wiggins, our favorite pizza buffet, for dinner on the way home.
I am amazed the things we have learned in our first week of volunteering. We are getting our groove with the flow of things at the Visitor's Center. I have even improved giving directions of locations for possible crane spotting.
We have seen cranes every day we have gone into the fields. It hasn't been a bad count of cranes for beginners. Our first day this week, we spotted 3, and the last day in the field, we spotted 19. We are getting better at identifying them by their bands as well. I never dreamed we would be bird watchers..
This gig has made us much more appreciative of wildlife, their habitat, wildflowers, and other plants. We love this gig so much, we have volunteered some extra time, Lauren has accused me of trying to get 250 hours in one week so we can get our Volunteer National Park Pass.
Our weekly count of spotting Mississippi Sandhill Cranes is 29. Maybe, we are the Crane Whisperers!
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