3-29-20 - 4-4-20 Volunteer Gig II

Sunday, we decided we were going to take it easy today after walking 35.76 miles last week.  We took a leisurely look for more Many Flowered Grass Pinks and found 7 more.  This gets our total plants that we have found to 34.

We also found a pair of loppers in the Ben Williams Savanna that had been there before the last burn.  You never know what you may find.

We saw Truffle and Milhouse without their Youngster.  Banana and Coconut are still hanging with them.

We checked on both Crane nest and both nest are still active.

We checked on Dougie and his mate.  We saw Dougie's mate under the shade tree.  Hopefully, Dougie is sitting on the nest.

Greg, was perched really pretty on a mound in Firetower Pond.

We saw 2 Doves standing on a log in the Ben Williams Swamp area.

We spent the afternoon, bird watching at Camp Crane.  The Hummingbird frequented the feeder several times and we finally got a picture.

Monday we helped Angie check on the tadpoles. We washed all the bins that were used for the tadpoles. We finally got around to making plant markers for the new plants in the native plant garden.

It was another relaxing afternoon bird watching at Camp Crane.

Tuesday, we did a few chores around the VC this morning then went to Fountainebleu Trail to record GPS coordinates for the phenology trail plants.

On our way, we checked on one of the Sandhill Crane nests.

On our way back. we made a quick stop to look for Many flowered Grass Pinks in the South Gautier Unit.  It was planned to be quick, but... we had a lot of distractions.

We saw an alligator and at least 10 Little Blue Herons as we passed Firetower Pond.

We had another distraction when we were at the intersection of Ben Williams Road and Beasley Road.  We saw a juvenile Eagle sitting in the road right before Beasley Pond and thought, it must be hurt.  We got about 25 meters from it before it flew.  We are pretty sure it was BG, the fledgling from the nearby nest.

We saw 7X, the recently banded Eaglet, in a tree near his nest and an adult Eagle perched in their favorite tree.

Our quest for more Many flowered orchids was successful.  We found one more plant getting our total findings to 35.

Wednesday, we went on an early morning Orchid Safari with Angie to take pictures of flowers at the North Gautier Unit.  We saw so many Sandhill Cranes that we almost missed the morning light/picture taking moment.  We found 8 more Many flowered Grass Pinks.

After lunch we went to Independence Road Shop and the Oak Grove Trail to show Jim and Tina around.

Thursday, we went with Angie crane nest searching and to check on the Eaglet via boat.  Lucky for us, the interns were working with Scott nest searching and Angie gave us the opportunity to go with her.   

The bayou was beautiful with a hazy, foggy, mist over the water when we left at 7 am.

We checked out the Eagle nest and saw that the Eaglet was still in the nest and had not fledged.  One of the parents was there as well.

We went across the bayou to check on an Owlet nest. The Owlet kept a keen eye on us as we were taking pictures.  Such a cute, fuzz ball!

Before we got to I 10, we saw another Owl nest.  It had 2 Owlets in it.  Two fuzz balls is double the cuteness.

After we got on the south side of I 10, Angie tried to call up sandhill Cranes with an amplified Crane sound machine.  We never got a response.  We enjoyed watching a few birds in the marsh and an alligator nearby.

We went to Sioux Bayou and found Crane #533 in the back yard of one of the houses.  

We kept hearing this beautiful whistling sound.  Turns out it was a bunch of whistling ducks that were on both sides of the bayou.  

There was also a Muscovy Duck sitting quietly along the bank.

After searching the marsh for the Crane nest, we decided to give up.  About that time, Crane #533 flew from the yard to a marshy area.  We are pretty sure the nest is in the area, but we unable to find it.

We were able to get our first picture of the year of the Swallow-tailed Kite.

We made several stops on the way back to Camp Crane for photo ops.  We were gone 5 hours and traveled 26 miles round trip.  An awesome morning of motor boating!

The afternoon, we spent collecting phenology data and recording GPS coordinates for the plants on the Dees Trail. 

The VC native plant garden is getting prettier every day.  

Friday, this is our last volunteer work day for a while due to Coronovirus.  We made the most of this last day by going on an early morning Orchid Safari.  We thought the Many Flowered Grass Pinks were about to quit blooming because it had been over 6 weeks since the last burn.  We thought wrong.  We found 31 new plants and a new location for them.  We have found a total of 73 since this Orchid Safari started.

We spotted our first Orchid Oriole of the year, perched in a bush at Elbert's Pond.

We did a little bit of limb picking up then rearranged plant markers on the Dees Trail.  We just happened to take a few photos while we worked on the plant markers.

We found a bumper crop of fresh hatched Easter Lubber Grasshoppers.

We found our first Rose Pagonias at HQ today, the Dees Trail should have them before long.

Saturday, this is the first day in a long time that we didn't have something planned to do.  We turned out to be pretty lazy today.  We didn't open the door of the camper until 3 pm when we took a leisurely walk on the Dees Trail.  We found our first Rose Pagonia of the year on the trail.

Pictures:

3-22-20 - 3-28-20 Volunteer Gig II

Sunday,  I woke up around 3 am and realized there was no traffic noise coming from I 10.  Before coronovirus, the traffic noise was heard at all hours of the night. 

Lauren got up this morning and called Ferny Kat a traitor because she had slept beside me.  It didn't bother her none.  She stayed in the bed with me until I got up.

We went to the Ocean Springs Unit.  There were plenty of plant blooms that caught our attention.

Lauren had a rare find, a Gopher Tortoise hole.

We finally got some critter activity at the Blue Hole.  We saw 7 Blue Winged Teal swimming in the water. and a Juvenile Eagle that was swooping down to the water with his talons down.  He changed his mind and flew up in a tree.  Wonder what he was going for??

A Cormorant flew into the pond and two Mottled Ducks were on the other side of the water with an Alligator nearby.  We had our picnic lunch here.  Luckily the critters were not consumed as lunch by the Alligator or Eagle.

We spent the afternoon sitting outside bird watching at Camp Crane.

Monday, we spent the day filling feeders, getting cameras, and dipping tadpoles in Ocean Springs.  Angie stopped and took a look at the Gopher Tortoise hole and collected data.  The ephemeral pond was almost dried up with only a few inches of water in a very small area.  Angie ran a Cottonmouth off, actually she tried to catch it with her snake grabber but it got away.  There was also a nonvenomous snake in the shallow water that got away and plenty of crawfish.

We dipped for about an hour and a half, then went to HQ and sorted the Dusky Gopher Tadpoles from the others.  We will find out in a few weeks if we guessed correctly or not.  Either way, we have saved a lot of tadpoles.

Tuesday, we released the reject tadpoles (not Dusky Golpher) in the HQ acclimation pen pond.  We put 135 tadpoles in the 5 tanks that were ready.  We attempted to count how many tadpoles we have.  Our best count is around 700 more to put in the tanks.  It will be a few days before the tanks are ready.

We walked the Dees Trail and took a few pics of plants and stuff.

We spent the afternoon bird watching at Camp Crane.

Wednesday, I was a last minute fill in judge for the Jr. Duck Stamp contest.  It was really hard to pick the winners with all the beautiful art work that was submitted.  We have some really talented artist in Mississippi. I spent the afternoon typing up the list of winners.

Lauren went to open gates for contractors then worked on the native plant garden.  The afternoon he spent working with biology getting the substrate in the tadpole tanks.  In his riding around today, he found a Chicken Turtle.  We never knew such a turtle existed.

Thursday, we made an early morning run, (at 9 am which is early for us), to Wally World.  It was a pleasant shopping experience.  There was a guy spraying the buggies with a bleach solution before handing it off to us.  Even though I have a bleach mark on my orange  "I survived Katrina tee shirt," that Jackie gave me,  I am really impressed with how clean the store was and how few shoppers there were.

We got back, unloaded what we hope will last us about a month.  Lauren made Trail Marker signs that he took to the trail and I finished the Duck Stamp Winner list.  After lunch, we went out to try and find more Many Flowered Orchids.

Our mission was accomplished.  We found 10 more orchids.  Tomorrow morning, the Orchid Guru and his wife are going to meet us at Brown's Trail to look at the orchids us close and personal.

We are excited, but sad, that both of the Eaglets have flown the coup and were nowhere near their nest. Soar High and Mighty Young Eagles.  Until we meet again!!

A Coopers Hawk flew into a nearby tree as we were bird watching this afternoon at Camp Crane.  Needless to say, every bird and squirrel high tailed it out of there until after he left.

Friday, we went on an Orchid Safari with an Orchid Guru at the North Gautier Unit.  We found 3 more Many Flowered Grass Pinks and several Rose Pagonias before having to leave the area due to a prescribed burn being done across the road.

I almost stepped on a pretty Green Snake as I was walking back to the van.

We went to the South Gautier Unit, that was also burned 6 weeks ago.  We found one Many Flowered Grass Pink.  It is the first, ever, recorded on the South Gautier Unit.  We also found more Rose Pagonias, and our first Pale Pink Grass Orchid bloom of the season.  The orchids are blooming earlier than usual this year.

                                                                     Pale Grass Pink

                                                                     Many Flowered

We were pleasantly surprised to see the Eaglet and one of the parent Eagles in the nest.  The adult Eagle was eating.  When we came back by, the Eaglet was still in the nest, but the parent was gone.

We spent this afternoon with Angie, the Interns, and the other Volunteers placing the tadpoles in the tanks.

Saturday, the Orchid Safari continues.  We walked the East Valentine Savanna, 16th Section Savanna, Ben Williams Swamp Savanna, and NE Martin Savanna.  We found 4 more Many Flowered Grass Pink orchids in the  East Valentine Savanna.  We found 5 Many Flowered Grass Pinks, (all grouped together), in the Ben Williams Swamp Savanna.  We didn't find any in the NE Martin Savanna, but it sure was a beautiful Pitcher Plant Bog.

We saw Jr. in the I 10 Crop Unit Eagle nest, looks like he was eating something.

Late afternoon, Angie came over.  We went to East Valentine Savanna and found 2 more orchids.  Our total Many Flowered Grass Pinks are 27 so far.  According to the Orchid Guru, we may have the best site that is left for these flowers.

The Painted Pair was doing a little dancing this afternoon, maybe they will be nesting soon.

We saw our first Hummingbird of the season at our feeder this afternoon.


Pictures: