We had a wonderful Sunday with over 35 Crane sightings. The first sighting was when we went to throw the garbage away and found Coconut and Banana in the backyard of the Bunk House and Lauren said "look!"
In addition to seeing all these Cranes on the South and North Unit, we saw other cool stuff, like Kestrels, Deer, but no eagle, until we were doing the Time Budget for the Audubon Cohorts and they came to attention as an Eagle flew over their pen. Unfortunately, we didn't get a picture.
The next time Lauren, said "look" there was a Fox Squirrel that was very photogenic. We took as many pictures as we wanted as he moved around for different poses.
And we had another looksee, when we got to the Ben Williams Pen and saw 10 Cranes near the woods past the pen. We were glad to see our buddies, Dikkop and General Plantain in this bunch, and 4 migratory Cranes with them.
The super stars of the refuge, aka Banana and Coconut were hanging around Crane Lane for quite a while today, until someone walking their dog on a leash got too close. They hid in the savannah for a while, until we, (and the cohorts), heard the, I'm outta here sound from Nana and Coco. They had had enough of the lime light and headed to their roost for the night.
A nice campfire before the cold set in, and we are in for the night.
Monday was "let the Audubon Cranes Loose Day!!" We had our 2 mile walk along the Dees Trail and Crane Lane while waiting for the event. We were kind of cold in the wind, with our Hoodies on.
About lunch time, we gathered the water buckets in the Kubota and took them out to the HQ pen. We pulled the corn feeder and the water containers out of the pen to entice the cranes to leave the pen. Lauren got settled in on his stool, covered with the photo blind camouflage, while the rest of us put decoys in the pond east of the pen. Then, away to the Boss blind we went.
After a bit, it was evident, that they were not coming out on their own. Scott went to the pen to encourage them to go out the gate, a wave later, and we were on a Busting the Cranes out of their pen mission.
With the guidance of Scott, the 6 Audubon Cohorts are Freebirds. (5 of them left together, the other one finally went out of the gate.) Who you gonna call, Crane Busters!!
We saw a couple of the Freebirds when we walked the trail this afternoon. They were hiding in the tall Toothache Grass. This is one of the best Dees Trail sightings we have ever seen!!
Tuesday morning we were a little slow getting out and about. We found out that the Freebirds released yesterday are in 3 different groups and did not return to the pen to roost last night. That was not the news we wanted to hear.
Before getting out and about, we heard a beautiful song being sung in the Oak Tree while we were drinking our coffee. It was a Blue Headed Vireo.
We walked Crane Lane and the Dees Trail hoping for a glimpse of the Free Birds. That didn't happen. But, we did happen to see a few birds and such along the way.
We did some repair work on the FB overlook and took the shortcut back through Browns Trail. Our short cut paid off when we saw over 20 Cranes in just a few minutes.
As we were enjoying our campfire this afternoon, we heard peeps and saw a couple of Cranes flying over the bayou. A little bit later, and we heard them again. This time the 2 Cranes landed east of the pen. Hopefully, they will find their way back into the pen.
Wednesday, we went to Oak Grove and repaired the boardwalk after watching the Pack Test. After lunch, we helped Scott try to find the Freebirds. We saw 2 of them in the marsh near the Dees Trail. The others were in the savanna.
Lauren thought he found one of them in the scope. When he went to flush it, he realized it was Red Bay leaves. He walked out to the pond and back with no luck of flushing them.
We walked Crane Lane, looking through binoculars in the hopes of seeing them. No luck. We were almost back to the camper, when we heard the peeps and saw 3 of them flying toward the pond. They flew from the direction that we had just looked for them. That toothache grass is beautiful, and makes a good hideout for the cranes.
Scott got confirmation late afternoon, that they were near the pond. Maybe they will roost there for the night.
Thursday, Scott let us know that the 3 Cranes roosted in the HQ pond near the Crane Decoys we placed. This is just what he wanted them to do.
We left before 7 am heading to Bon Secour NWR to pick up a vehicle. We stopped for breakfast at Buc-cees. The store was nice, Breakfast, not so good.
The bird sightings were slim, but it was still an enjoyable day. After all, you can't go wrong with taking a walk along the beach with beautiful blue skies and calm winds.
The ferry ride back was great. The dolphins put on a show, jumping, and biting at one another.
We made it home right before dark. It has been a long day, but a great one.
Friday, we had a nice, quiet stroll along the Dees Trail. We looked for the lone cohort that is staying in the marsh near the trail, but did not see it.
We worked on cleaning up the truck from Bon Secour. After much vacuuming and scrubbing, it looks a bit better.
We saw the 4 cohorts foraging outside of the pen late afternoon. One of these was with the one in the bayou. Hopefully, Chocolate will join these 4 as there is safety in numbers. We still don't have a clue where Black is.
We watched the 4 cohorts from the Boss Blind at HQ before going to the trail Saturday morning.
We saw the lonely cohort, Mist, hiding in the marsh from the Dees Trail. As we were nearing the end of the trail, the 4 Cohorts were peeping and flying over the visitor center. We did not hear a peep out of Mist. We sure wish he wasn't such a loner.
We got our walk in along Crane Lane, went to Fontainebleau Trail to place brochures then made a Walmart run before relaxing at camp. While relaxing, we saw a Dark-eyed Junco.
