1-26-20 - 2-1-20 Volunteer Gig II

Sunday was quite a rainy, dreary day.  The only reason we left Camp Crane was to get a jug of milk.

Monday, we had a 10 am Crane Tour for the Loew's, their pastor, and his wife.  We had so much fun.  We saw 25 Mississippi Sandhill Cranes, an American Kestrel, a Great Egret, other species of birds, and lots of deer.

We finally saw General Plantain.  She is one of the 2018 captive reared Cranes that was released from the acclimation pen at HQ.   She found friends in the South Gautier Unit and relocated to that area.

The Eaglet on the Ben Williams nest was posing with one of the parents allowing us a good view through the scope.

A juvenile Eagle was flying near the Beasley nest.  Mom and Day were not happy.

We saw 2 Sandhill Cranes across Firetower Pond walking then the dance began.  A grand finale for a grand tour.

Tuesday, we had an impromptu late afternoon Crane Tour for a group of "avid birders" from Michigan.  Our so called abbreviated tour was 3 hours long.

Banana and Coconut started the show by being close to the road in the slough off Crane Lane, this is one of their favorite hangouts.

One of the parents was in their favorite perch near the Ben Williams nest.  One of the parents was in the nest on Beasley.  We did not see the Eaglets today.

We had a special show at Valentine Pond.  We had a Merlin, a juvenile Eagle, and a Great Blue Heron perched in trees above the pond.  An almost mature Bald Eagle flew in and moved the juvenile Bald Eagle to another tree.  Pretty spectacular to see all 4 of these perched over the cypress pond.

We had 17 Mississippi Sandhill Crane sightings, and saw several other species of birds and lots of deer.

Wednesday, we had a 9 am Crane Tour for a group of 8.  We had 29 Sandhill Crane sightings.

The parent Bald Eagle on Ben Williams nest had her Eaglet sheltered from the misty rain and wind.

Both parents flew in with food for BG, (Beasley Eaglet), he sure is growing and looked pretty hungry being fed by his parents.

We spent the rest of the afternoon working at the VC.

Thursday, we took a ride to Sam's and spent Lauren's free play at Island View.  We got a whopping 14 cents, a free cookie and a drink, and we didn't spend a dime.

We went to Pass Christian and drove back along the beach and found a few shorebirds.  There was not a lot of bird activity on this gorgeous day.

We did a hike on the Dees Trail, then us and Ferny Kat did a little bit of bird watching at camp until the temperatures started to cool around 3 pm.

We met the co-volunteers plus Angie, and Linda at Woody's for dinner.

Friday, we went to turn in the Crane Reports from Wednesday and got an impromptu invite from Scott to join them for the Crane Recovery Program.  There was a group of about 16 people in the conference room, and internet access for White Oaks, International Crane Foundation, and other places.  We got introduced as "Super Volunteers," Luckily we didn't have to go on screen.  We learned a lot and we only caught about half of the presentations.

Saturday, we had a 9 am Crane Tour for a group of 8.  One of the couples said they had been here several times and had never seen a Ms. Sandhill Crane.  The pressure was off of us shortly after we drove into Brown's Trail and saw 5 flying around.  We had 23 Sandhill Crane sightings for the day.

The Ben Williams Eaglet was very active with his parent in the nest.  We didn't see BG on the Beasley nest.

Pictures:

1-19-20 to 1-25-20 Volunteer Gig II

Yesterday we wore short pants, today we had on jackets and hats.  The temperature was about 50 degrees with howling, cold, wind.  What a difference a day makes.

We took a walk on Crane Lane and the Dees Trail.  We saw Dikkop and Auk in the same spot for over 2 hours in the HQ savanna.  Banana and Coconut were standing in the slough near Crane Lane.  All the birds were hunkered down from the wind.

We found our first Grass Centipede Orchids of the season along Crane Lane.

Monday, the VC was closed for Martin Luther King, Jr. day.  It was a sunny, cold, windy day.  We took a ride to check on the Eagle nests after our walk on Crane Lane.  We had our first sighting of the Eaglet in the Ben Williams nest.  One of the parents was sitting in a nearby tree when we drove through.  When we came back a parent flew in the nest and fed the youngster.  She moved side to side in the nest.  We only could see one Eaglet.

A juvenile Eagle was flying too close to the nest on Beasley.  One parent was in the nest and the other parent was chasing off the juvenile then landed in a nearby tree.

Tuesday, we had a steady pace of visitors at the VC on this cold, windy, day.

Wednesday, we had a 9 am Crane Tour with 9 tourist.  It was another great tour.  We had 17 Mississippi Sandhill Crane sightings.  We were entertained by 2 different Cranes dancing.  The first Ms. Sandhill Crane that danced was in the Savanna off Valentine Road.  They are called the Painted Pair.  They flew into the savanna then one of the pair started to dance.

Our second debut was Dougie and his partner in Bright's Pasture.  Dougie, aka Fred Astaire, put on another great performance.  He threw not only grass and dirt, but a feather.  It looks like the mating season is in full swing, although both of the non dancing mates did not seem very impressed.

We saw Auk and Dikkop at the HQ feeder before we left. Then found Banana and Coconut walking around in Valentine Pond.  After our turn around on Valentine Road, Banana and Coconut were walking down the middle of Valentine Road.

We saw one of the parents in a nearby tree of the nest on Ben Williams Road and got a good look at the Eaglet in the nest.

 One parent was feeding the eaglet in the Beasley nest.

We spent the afternoon doing a Gulfport run.  We made a quick stop at Sam's then went to Island View.  Lauren cashed in $17 from his $20 free play.  We finally found the Whimbrel at Jones Park.

Thursday, we spent this cloudy, rainy day hanging around camp.

Friday, we did a special request Crane Tour for the Homestead Retirement Village.  We took the group of 10 on a 1 1/2 tour  and saw 11 Sandhill Cranes.  We stopped at one of the Eagle nests and got to see one of the parents through the spotting scope. Afterwards, we went to lunch with them.  I think we had as much fun as they did. We did a Dees Trail walk late afternoon.

Saturday, we had a Crane Tour with 8 tourist.  Six of the tourist were from New Orleans and brought us a King Cake.  We had another great time, with 12 Ms. Sandhill Crane sightings.  We saw a parent at both of the Eagle nests.  The Eaglet in the Ben Williams nest teased us today.  He would pop his head up for a few seconds then back down he would go.  He sure is growing fast.  We worked in the VC this afternoon with the Loews.  We had a total of 102 visitors on this pretty, sunny, day.

Pictures:

1-12-20 to 1-18-20 Volunteer Gig II

We lounged around on this cloudy Sunday morning.  We took a walk on the Dees Trail and on Crane Lane, watched Dikkop, Auk, Banana, and Coconut at HQ, then had a campfire late afternoon.  Just a nice relaxing kind of day.

Monday was the first time that we had a Crane Tour scheduled that no one signed up for.  It was a cloudy, rainy day with only 6 visitors at the VC.  Dikkop, Auk, Banana, Coconut, NV11, and 337 hung around competing for the feeder all day.  We had as many cranes visit today as we had people.  The 6 visitors were very engaging and the 6 cranes were very entertaining.

Tuesday, we worked at the VC today.  Lauren helped Angie with boat motor maintenance.  We walked the Dees Trail and found Yellow Butterwort plants.  We also found Primrose leaved Violets and White Screwstem blooms.  We love bloom chasing.

Wednesday, we spent the morning enjoying the views of Auk, Banana, Coconut, and Banana at the VC.

After almost 2 years of hanging at Camp Crane, we finally got to go boat riding in Bayou Castille with Angie this afternoon.  Our first order of business was to try to locate Loon.  Her mortality signal is across the bayou from Camp Crane.  With high water and marsh land, it is going to be hard to retrieve her tracker.

Our second order of business was to check the 4th Eagles nest on the refuge that can only be seen by boat.  When we got near the nest and stopped the boat, the parent Eagle flew over us squawking then landed in a nearby tree trying to get our attention away from the nest.  We didn't see an Eaglet, but are pretty sure there is one in the nest.

It was such a beautiful, peaceful, boat ride. What a way to spend the afternoon.

Thursday, we hung around Camp Crane today after a much needed Wally World run.  It was a nice, do nothing, kind of day.

Friday, we had a pretty steady day interacting with the 24 visitors at the VC.

Saturday, we flushed NV11, 337, Dikkop, and Auk when we heading in to the VC this morning.  We had a 9 am Crane Tour with 5 tourist and had 20 Mississippi Sandhill Crane sightings.  We were pleased to find Dikkop and Auk in the North Gautier Unit near Elbert's Pond during the tour.

We still haven't seen an Eaglet on Ben Williams nest, but saw a very uncoordinated, Eaglet head bobbing around in the Beasley nest.  We have named the Eaglet BG.  B is for Beasley and G is for Gautier Unit.  The Eaglet watch is on!!

We had a get together with our co-volunteers, Angie, and the interns late afternoon enjoying turkey burgers and a campfire.

Pictures: