2-3-19 - 2-9-19 - (Week 49)

Sunday
We lazed around this morning, enjoying our coffee and watching the birds at the feeder.  We got a new resident, a Carolina Chickadee.

We started our Refuge tour in the South Gautier Unit on a mission to check out the recent controlled burns.

We saw 5 Sandhill Cranes near the burn on Beasley Road.  They did a little dancing way out in the savanna.

We could not detect if there was an Eaglet in the Beasley eagle nest, but there is no doubt about the Ben Williams nest.  We could see one of them really good, we named him Goober.  The other Eaglet's head was behind a limb. One of the parents was close by, perched on a limb.

We made a ride through the South Gautier Unit then to the Ocean Springs Unit. As we were driving up to the lake for our picnic lunch, we flushed a sub adult Bald Eagle from the water.  As we were eating our lunch, we had a flyover of a mature Bald Eagle. Nice picnic ambiance.

After 6 hours of puttering around, and seeing 9 Sandhill Cranes,  bunches of Red-tailed Hawks, a few American Kestrels, Deer, a Kingfisher, a Great Egret, a couple of Great Blue Herons, a couple of Pied-billed Grebes, a Pileated Woodpecker, a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, several other bird species, an Opossum, and a Rat Snake, we made our way back to Camp Refuge.

We got a pizza and watched the super bowl outside while sitting around the propane fire pit, until half time.  We were more entertained by the commercials than the football game.

Monday
Our first scheduled 10 am Crane Tour was a success.  We had a really great group of 8 tourist and we saw 11 Sandhill Cranes.  All for that, your not going to see any Cranes unless you go at 8 am belief.

One of the Eaglet parents was soaring around on Beasley while the other parent was setting on the nest keeping her young warm and dry from the light rain.

We saw one of the Ben Williams Eaglet parents perched in a tree near the nest, but no Eaglet sightings.

We took a late afternoon stroll on the CL Dees Trail. The overlook is finished and looks fantastic.

Tuesday
We planned on helping with 3 captive reared Cranes from Audubon's release today which was cancelled at the last minute.  We had a cloudy, warm day with no plans, so we did a few chores and a little walking.  We saw more birds at Camp Refuge than on the trail.  The birds know they have it made at Camp Refuge.

It was warm enough today for short sleeves and short pants. Last week, we had a possibility of snow flurries. What a difference a week makes.

Wednesday
By the time we got to moving around this morning, it was time for lunch.  It stayed foggy for most of the day.

We have a few blooms on the CL Dees Trail that we put markers on.  While we were putting them out, an instructor picked up a Speckled King Snake for her college class to see.  Spring is in the air!

Late afternoon, we parked on Brown's Trail and walked 2.5 miles in the fog.  We saw 9 deer and a few plants we would have missed on a drive through.

Thursday
We made 2 trips to check on the Eaglets today.  One trip with the Loews and one with Pat.

Our first trip, we could never get a look at the Ben Williams Eaglets, but we got a show at the Beasley nest.

There is only one Eaglet on the Beasley, and he is almost grown.  His parents kept him hid for a while, but now he is getting too big to hide.  While we were admiring him, Momma started squawking as a sub-adult Eagle flew by.  It wasn't long, Daddy got back, when the sub-adult flew close the next time, Daddy took off after him.  After a 2nd chase, Daddy came back, sub-adult did not.  What a show!

We took a quick ride to Valentine Road and Briarcrest Pasture.  We saw 2 Sandhill Cranes as we were leaving the North Gautier Unit and 16 at Briarcrest Pasture.  We got our crane fix.

We made the 2nd Eagle trip with Pat. Both parents were near the nest and the Eaglet twins were visible this time.  They have grown a lot since Sunday.  The feathers on the back of their head remind me of George Washington's wig.

We saw the kid in the Beasley nest.  Mom was in the nest, and dad was in a nearby tree with dinner.

We got it made.  Where else can you spend your day off watching Eagles?

Friday
The Fire Center had a back pack qualifier this morning on Crane Lane.  The participants had to walk, not run, 3 miles in less than 45 minutes carrying a 45 pound backpack.  Lauren and I were the cheer leaders for Danny, Angie, and Scott who qualified with minutes to spare.

We had 8 people in our 10 am Crane Tour.  We saw a Buck as soon as we entered the North Gautier unit, but the Sandhill Cranes were in hiding.  I can't really blame them, it is a cold, windy, cloudy morning.

An hour later, we finally saw 7 Greater Sandhill Cranes in Bright's Pasture.  They were hunkered down in a low area, probably avoiding the cold wind.  They were very patient and photogenic for us.

The Eagles in the South Gautier unit put on another spectacular show today.  Both of the Eaglets were visible in the Ben Williams nest.  One of the parents arrived with a fish for dinner while we were watching. Lauren didn't get the picture, he was too busy setting up scopes and helping people find the eaglets.

We found 2 Mississippi Sandhill Cranes eating the roasted grub in the recently burned savanna on Beasley.  The Juvenile Eagle on the Beasley nest was easily seen sitting on a limb at the nest.  One of the parents was close by keeping on eye this fast growing baby.

Another great Crane Tour in the books.

Saturday
We got up moving to open the VC and take off on a Crane Tour with the one person that signed up yesterday for this 8 am tour.  She was a no show.  Around 8:20 am a woman came speeding in and we assumed it was our no show.  Well, everyone knows about assumptions, but she was more than happy to go on the tour, so away we went.  We saw 13 Sandhill Cranes and the adult and baby Eagles on their 2 nest..

When we returned to the VC, we had an impromptu Crane Tour of 6 tourist.  It was another great tour with 24 Sandhill Crane Sightings, the adult Eagles and their young in both nests, and a Snow Goose.  This lone Snow Goose was hanging with 10 Greater Sandhill Cranes in Bright's Pasture.  Quite an odd thing to see.

We had our 3rd Crane Tour for Pat and her friend Dorothy.  We saw 24 Sandhill Cranes, the Snow Goose still mingling with the Greater Sandhill Cranes, and the Adult and baby Eagles.  Afterwards, we went out to eat at Rosy's Mexican Restaurant. 

Whew! What a day!! We have played hard today and will sleep well tonight.


The Week of Pictures:

1-27-19 - 2-2-19 (Week 48)

Sunday
We had a really cool day participating in the Arthur Street iNaturalist Bioblitz, a property contracted out to Mark LaSalle for rehab.  Janet Wright was an awesome leader of this blitz.  Lauren and I tromped around in the grass, mud, thickets, etc. taking pictures of plants and stuff.

We saw plenty of birds, plenty of plants, plenty of fish, and a raccoon bedded in a hole of a tree.

Molly, Janet's dog, is such a sweetie and a great swimmer.  She became my best friend after feeding her a turkey stick.

After finishing, we celebrated with a Mark LaSalle homemade sourdough king cake. What a way to wrap it up.

On our way home, we made a stop across the road at the Mississippi Blues Trail Boardwalk and saw plenty of waterfowl, including White Pelicans in the water and a beautiful Bald Eagle perched in a  tree.

We made a Crane check at Bright's Pasture and found 6 Sandhill Cranes in the field as well as 2 on a pond dam at Collie's Farm.

We heard the call of the cranes from the HQ savanna and found 2 UNK's  foraging at the feeder.  We could not see their bands for an ID.

We sat around a nice campfire with Jeff, then called it a night.  We have to get our rest for our first day this year of our Volunteer Gig. 

Monday
We are so excited, we are no longer gigless. It is our first day for the Visitor's Center to be open this year.  We had 16 visitors, which is not bad for a Monday.

After work, Jeff went with us to check out the Eagle's nests in the South Gautier Unit.  The nest on Firetower had one parent near the nest and the other parent perched in a nearby tree.  They must have Eaglets in the nest considering the last time we were here, one of the Eagles was setting on the nest.

The nest on Beasley had a parent in the nest and the other nearby.   We are not sure if the Eagle is still setting on the nest incubating the eggs.  The Eaglet Watch will continue.

As a bonus, we saw an Egret, a Great Blue Heron, a Red-tailed Hawk, another Juvenile Eagle,  6 Deer, and had 7 Sandhill Crane sightings.

The 3 cranes we saw on Beasley, kept their eye on us but were not very skittish.  Although, they were pretty vocal.  They appeared to be missing their corn that is usually in the feeder that has not been filled since the shutdown.  Hopefully, that will get rectified soon.

As we walked back to the camper from the Visitor's Center, 2 Sandhill Cranes flew toward the South Gautier Unit, getting our Crane Sightings up to 9.

On a sad note, during the Government Shutdown we lost 2 more Cranes.  One was found buried in grass near the edge of the roost pond at the HQ savanna,.  Another Bobcat mortality.  The other was 1803, one of our Free Birds with the GPS tracker.  She was found in the South Gautier Unit.  Cause of death unknown.  These were 2 of the 4 cranes we saw under the observation tower at HQ on 1/1/19. RIP

Tuesday
We worked with Pat today.  After listening to the exhibit hall sound track of bird sounds for all these months of working here, my OCD kicked in to identify them.   After spending most of the day on this project, Lauren, Danny,  Pat, and I figured 11 of the 12 sounds.  It was a good way to spend this slow day of visitation.

Wednesday
We only had 2 people on our Crane Tour this brisk, cool, morning.  A couple from Wisconsin who's husband bribed her with breakfast after the tour for getting up early.

We had 16 Sandhill Crane sightings, plenty of Deer, Bald Eagles, Egrets, a Great Blue Heron, an American Kestrel, and a couple of Belted Kingfishers.  Everybody was happy, especially the wife.

They are rebuilding the pier on the CL Dees Trail to make it taller and wider.  It's great to see this project finally being done.

We did an impromptu afternoon Crane Tour.  We had 6 people on this tour.  One couple from California, one from Illinois, and one from Pennsylvania.

We saw 34 Sandhill Cranes, several Deer, a Red-Tailed Hawk, Bald Eagles, Great Blue Heron, and Egrets.

We never dreamed this second tour was going to be our record breaker of Crane Sightings. All for that belief that you will only see Sandhill Cranes if you go early in the morning.

Thursday
We are off until Monday.  We spent this pretty, cold windy day hanging around at Camp Crane.  We found a new species of bird, a Pine Siskin and a new bloom, an Oriental False Hawksbeard.  We haven't seen or heard our Free Bird in a few days.  As a matter of fact, this is the first day in a while we haven't seen or heard a Sandhill Crane.

Friday
We took a ride to Fountainebleu Trail to hike and check out the conditions of the trail.  The trail is looking better every time we go.  The Cline CDC youth group were there clearing underbrush at one of the overlooks.  The Fire Center has also chopped some of the brush on the back of the Forest Loop in preparation for a controlled burn this year.

We took the Crane Loop on the way back and saw 19 Sandhill Cranes.  A lot of them appeared to be Greater Sandhill Cranes.

We walked the CL Dees Trail when we returned.  The overlook is almost done and is looking good.

Saturday
Happy Eleven Month Anniversary to Us!!
We went shore birding today at Graveline Beach, Lake Mars Pier, and Ocean Springs Beach.  We saw a few shore birds, but not as many as we expected with the low tide.

It was warm enough today for the gator at Gulf Islands National Sea Shore to come out of the mud and lounge on the bank.   There were also some turtles sitting on a downed tree.

We made a walk at the CL Dees Trail, checked on the overlook, then built a nice, quiet campfire.  It was a perfect way to celebrate our 11 month Anniversary of our Volunteer Gig.

The Week of Pictures: