We had a laid back kind of day on Sunday. We lounged around with Anita at Island View, said hello to Jackie and Randy, ate breakfast at Waffle house, and went shopping at Sams. We got back and relaxed for the rest of the day. It was a no picture taking kind of day.
Monday we got in about 3 miles of walking at the refuge. We found a lot of cool things on our walk, including our first violet of the year, a White Bog Violet.
Monday Pics:
Tuesday we got a few projects done around the refuge, then relaxed at Camp Crane.
Tuesday Pics:
Wednesday, we had a couple waiting on us when we opened the visitor center in the hopes of getting on the Crane Tour. It was their lucky day. The person that booked all the spots cancelled at the last minute.
We had a terrific tour. There were so many cranes flying around shortly after entering Browns Trail, that we lost count. What a performance!
We saw all kind of birds and such on this 4 hour tour.
The afternoon, we did a little bit of piddling, then relaxed at Camp Crane.
Wednesday Pics:
Thursday as we were doing a few errands at the refuge, six of the HQ gang were hanging around for most of the day When they walk from the pen to the feeder through the tall grass, the song, "Walk this way" plays through my head.
Thursday Pics:
Friday, we took a break from the Crane Ranch and headed to Decatur, Alabama to check out The Festival of Cranes. When we left, it was 45 degrees. When we arrived at Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge, it was a cold 37 degrees on this cloudy, windy day.
We were in Crane Heaven when we entered the gate. There were sandhill cranes everywhere and the sound was phenomenal. They had several viewing areas where we saw more sandhill cranes and a lot of waterfowl. The indoor viewing area was nice and warm with speakers so you could hear them calling. It was a mesmerizing experience for these 2 Craniacs.
After we checked into the room, we ate at Big Bob's Barbeque Restaurant. The food was awesome. We had our first white barbeque sauce, but not our last. It was so good that we purchased a bottle of it to take home.
Tomorrow the festival continues!
Friday Pics:
Saturday, we were on the road at 7 am. We were amazed at all the sandhill cranes that were roosting in the shallow water on both sides of the road. The biggest congregations that we saw had no pull offs for photo opportunities.
We picked up breakfast, went to the Flint Creek day use parking lot, took a few pictures of cranes and one lone beaver, then got back in the truck to eat. With the temps in the low 30's. on this cloudy breezy morning it was too cold to stay out very long.
We joined the other couple of hundred people for a refuge bird walk at 8 am. A couple of them we had met before. One of them was from the Gulf Coast and another was from Gulf Shores. This nature chasing is awesome. We also ran into a couple of Scott's colleagues and passed along hello from him.
After the bird walk, we continued to brave the elements with a Birding 101 walk. Both walks were worth weathering the elements.
We went to town for the rest of the events. The Wings to Soar was awesome! It was so cool to see these awesome raptors up close and personal. All of them were fascinating. The Black Vulture and the Harris's Hawk were released and flew around in the theater. The vulture flew right over everyone's heads, then walked behind the presenter biting his pant leg. The Harris's Hawk didn't perform as well. After he was released he perched on the wall decorations.
While making our rounds to the different exhibits, we got to meet George Archibald, one of the co-founders of International Crane Foundation. When he found out we were from the Ms. Sandhill Crane Refuge, he told us that he and Scott were friends. We already knew that and passed along Scott's hello to him.
We also watched the California Condor presentation, reliving our time that we spent at the Vermillion Cliffs and Navajo Bridge a few years back in pursuit of these endangered creatures. Another interesting topic.
The grand finale of the day was a presentation by George Archibald. A great way to wrap up the day.
We made a drive through the refuge and decided we would go back to the room and relax for the day. It still amazes us that this many cranes are this close to Mississippi and this is the first time we have come here during their migration.
Saturday Pics:
Sunday was another funday. We thought about getting up early and going to Wheeler for an early crane watch. Instead, we decided to relax and ease into the day. Not a problem, when we walked out of the hotel this morning we heard the call of the sandhill cranes as they were flying over.
The first thing on the agenda this morning, after getting some grub, was to go to Joe Duff's presentation at the Princess Theater. He was one of the masterminds that taught the eastern population of Whooping Cranes to migrate. We were a little early, and got lucky enough to talk to him at the ICF booth that was being manned by Wheeler Volunteers. When he found out we were volunteers at the Crane Ranch, he asked us to tell Scott hello if we ever see him. We assured him, that we would have no problem passing on his message. Joe Duff's presentation was awesome.
We found out from the local volunteers where we could find Whooping Cranes. We went on a mission. Not only did we find the 6 whoopers that were there, but we found a lot of cool water fowl. It was definitely worth a couple of hours of time and a 3 1/2 mile round trip walk.
We stopped by Wheeler for a last looksy on our way out of town. The mission was aborted when we found a line of vehicles waiting to park.
We stopped for the night in Tuscaloosa, bellied up at Olive Garden, and are chilling out in the hotel. We will continue our trek to the Crane Ranch tomorrow. As great as it has been to see 1000's of Sandhill Cranes, (actually the last count was above 18,000), we can't wait to get back to our elusive 150 Mississippi Sandhill Cranes!
Sunday Pics:
