11-25-18 - 12-1-18 (Week 39)

Sunday
We took a ride to the Ocean Springs Unit of the Refuge.  We were looking for the Spoonleaf Sundew and found it, along with a bunch of other plants and 3 Mississippi Sandhill Cranes.

We had 14 Sandhill Crane sightings, a Red Tailed Hawk, several Deer, Frogs, Spiders, Crickets, a dead Coyote, Yellow-rumped Warblers, a Water Snake, a dead Great Horned Owl, Palm Warblers, Piled Billed Grebe, Eagles, and Geese.

This afternoon we watched the 5 resident deer graze around camp. 

Monday
There was way too many people working the VC on this cold, windy day.  Jeff and Pat were our cohorts today.  Our highlight of the day was taking a new volunteer, Clair, on the Crane Tour.

The 3 of us enjoyed the savanna and saw 5 Mississippi Cranes, an American Goldfinch, a Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Palm Warblers,  American Kestrels, a Red Tailed Hawk, a Belted Kingfisher, and Yellow-rumped Warblers,

It's pretty cool when the Yellow Rumped  and the Ruby-crowned Kinglet reveal where they got their names.

Tuesday
One of the recently released captive reared cranes needed a tracker replaced.  Scott, Melissa, Clair, Sally, Lauren, Rose, Shannon, and I corralled her up in the pen, changed out the tracker and let her go.

It was really amazing when we let her go, and her 3 cohorts came toward her, (and gave her, as Scott called it), a comforting call.  These birds are amazing.

We went back to Ocean Springs Unit to obtain Owl Feathers to be used for education at the refuge.  On our way, we stopped and took pictures of a Slender Glass Lizard on Crane Lane.

The owl was not as stinky or buggie as we figured it might be.  And by the way, it's not an easy feat to pull feathers out of the wings of an owl.

It's pretty awesome  to touch a Mississippi Sandhill Crane and a Great Horned Owl in the same day.  Although, we would have preferred to see the Great Horned Owl alive.

On our way out, we got our preference, a Great Horned Owl, was flying around in the savanna.

Wednesday
We had 6 people on the Crane Tour today.  We changed the route a little bit, and it paid off.  We saw 10 Mississippi Sandhill Cranes, 3 Deer, a bunch of birds, and 2 amazing Bald Eagles sitting together in their nest at the South Gautier Unit on Ben Williams Road.

We spent the afternoon, hiking the Fountainebleu Trail, taking pictures of plants and picking up a little bit of trash.  A great way to end our work week.  Now off for a week!!

We finished up our Christmas decorations at Camp Crane late afternoon.  Nothing like a Charley Brown Bayou Christmas tree to get you in the holiday spirit.

Thursday
We went birding in Pascagoula in the howling wind.  Not a very productive bird sighting day.  After a stop at Wally World and a stop for a Popeye's Fried Chicken fix, we walked the CL Dees Trail looking for a Cedar Wax Wing.  Again, not a productive bird sighting day.

Friday
We hung around Camp Crane today.  We washed clothes, walked the trail, and scrubbed those nasty picnic tables and bleachers under the Oak Tree at the VC.  Another windy day with not very many bird sightings.

On a very sad note, we found out we lost Sticky Bunz.  He was very vocal and was the gate greeter at Brown's Trail last spring. He was one of the first cranes we saw when we started this gig.  We will never forget this one of a kind Crane.  His story will live on, on our Crane Tours.

                                                           Sighting for the month
Saturday
We cashed out 85 cents from our free play at Island View, went shore bird watching, stopped at Biloxi National Cemetery, and had an early dinner at McElroy's in Ocean Springs.

We stayed away, way too long for Ferny Kat.  She bailed out the door when we got home to do a little bird watching herself.


Pics are here:

11-18-18 - 11-24-18 (Week 38)

Sunday
We had a great early Thanksgiving at the Ezell establishment.  We will recuperate tonight in Crossroads and head back to Camp Refuge tomorrow.

Monday
We loaded up the Jeep, (or maybe overloaded the Jeep), with winter clothes and Christmas decorations and headed back to the Refuge for a while.

We had a nice, long walk along the CL Dees Trail this afternoon.

Tuesday
We did a requested Crane Tour today for a family of 5.  We had a great day of 12 Sandhill Crane sightings, along with a Red Tailed Hawk, a Great Blue Heron, several egrets, and an American Kestrel

Wednesday
The Crane Tours have been popular this holiday week.  We did 2 tours today.  The first tour had 7 tourist with 5 cranes sighted, along with Egrets, a Red-Tailed Hawk,  and several Deer.

In between the tours, we got pictures from the Observation Blind of the interns in their costumes and Crane Muppets feeding the Cranes in the pen.

The second tour left at 1 pm, the van was packed with 9 tourist, and we saw 10 Sandhill Cranes., several Deer, a Great Egret, a Merlin, an American Kestrel, a Great Blue Heron, and a beautiful Bald Eagle.

Not a bad day on the savanna!

Thursday
We had Thanksgiving lunch at the Bunk House with the other volunteers and the interns.  We had a traditional meal with a little bit of international flair, (at least for us 2 rednecks) .  We played games afterwards then Lauren and I tried to walk off some of the food we ate.

The walk paid off when we saw our resident Button Buck and a Fox Squirrel, under the Oak Tree with the Colorful Foliage in the back ground.  We were at the right place at the right time.

Friday
No crazy Black Friday frenzy at the McLaurin camp.  We spent the day enjoying nature in Pascagoula and at the refuge.

Saturday
We got up early, and joined the Gulf Coast Audubon Group at Graveline Beach.  It is an undeveloped beach with plenty of birds including our first White Pelicans.

We saw more shorebirds than I ever will remember their names then went to Mars Pier.  A few weeks ago, we went looking for a Rosette Spoonbill in Dauphin Island.  We didn't find it.  Today, when we least expected it, we found 16 around the pier. There were more beautiful than I ever imagined.

We stopped on our way home and ate at DaBayou.  The food and atmosphere was fantastic.  On our drive home, we saw 5 Sandhill Cranes.

Pictures are here:

Graveline and Lake Mars Pier Pics:

11-11-18 -11-17-18 (Week 37)

Sunday
In between showers today, we walked the CL Dees Trail, then built a campfire.  Our new species of bird sightings today was a Chipping Sparrow.

We also saw Downy Woodpeckers, American Robins, Brown Headed Nuthatches, a Great Blue Heron, Red-bellied Woodpeckers, and Pine Warblers.

Monday
We thought about going eagle watching on the refuge today to celebrate Veterans Day, but changed our minds due to the rainy forecast.

We had a break in the rain mid day and went shore bird watching along the beach from Pass Christian to Ocean Springs.  There were lots of shore birds to watch between the on and off rain showers,  one of which was a juvenile Bald Eagle eating a fish.

Tuesday
Jeff worked with us on this dreary, rainy day.  We had 2 visitors.  Lauren and I worked on the flower bed plant markers.

Wednesday
The rainy, cold, windy day was a pretty productive day on the Crane Tour for the 3 people that joined us for the tour.  We saw 9 Mississippi Sandhill Cranes, 4 of which were close enough to watch for a while.  We also saw an American Kestrel, a Hooded Merganser , and a Belted Kingfisher.

Thursday
It was a battle in the McLaurin bed last night for warmth.  Ferny Kat won!! Ferny Kat feels like a couple of hundred pounds when she makes her claim.

The wind was blowing on this 32 degree morning, but the sun was a shining.  After warming up the camper, I pulled up the shades.  Ferny Kat found her a nice sunny spot looking out the window to lounge around this morning.  She was as happy to see sunshine as we were.

We spent a little while at the VC on our off day visiting with Carol, Charley, Pat, and Sally.  The rest of the afternoon we lulled around.  On our way back from a garbage run, Angie invited us to go to the blind with her and Shannon, while Rose dressed as a Sandhill Crane delivered corn in the temporary pen.

We watched from the blind as Rose with her Crane Costume went in to fill the feeders with corn for the captive raised residents.  They went to the other side of the pen when she arrived, acted like they were not bothered by her at all.  Which is the point of the crane Muppet outfit.

Friday
We sat around enjoying the bird show while drinking our coffee this morning.  We saw the usual Doves and Cardinals, then a couple of non frequenters Eastern Towhees and House Finches.

Saturday
The first time we went on a Crane Tour with Melissa, she showed us the Lagoons on Seaman Road and told us it was a really great birding place.  Today we checked it out with the Gulf Coast Audubon Group.

We met at the Ride and Share in Ocean Springs.  We got there early with our packed breakfasts and decided to go to McDonald's for a rest stop.  A couple of the iNaturalist peeps were there.  One of them was really excited to meet McFerny who has over 1300 posts.

It was a very birdie world at the Lagoons.  There were lots of ducks, bunches of eagles and hawks, a red breasted nut hatch, numerous other birds, and 14 Mississippi Sandhill Cranes.

A couple of the cranes stood out like a sore thumb.  They were a lot lighter than the other 2 that were with them.  After showing the pictures to Angie, they are believed to be Greater Sandhill Cranes.  We were told when we saw the Greater Sandhill Cranes and the Mississippi Sandhill Cranes together they would look different and these did.  So we will change the tally to lots of ducks, bunches of eagles and hawks, a red breasted nut hatch, numerous other birds, 12 Mississippi Sandhill Cranes and 2 Greater Sandhill Cranes.

ChaChing!!


Week of pics are here:

Lagoons Birding Trip:

11-4-18 - 11-10-18 (Week 36)

Sunday
The critters were out today.  We saw a Cooper's Hawk perched in a tree while drinking our coffee and a ribbon snake on the back patio of the VC.

We took a nice, leisurely stroll around the CL Dees trail this morning, then headed out for a late lunch.  We walked in McElroy's to eat and Lauren realized he had forgot his wallet.  Luckily, Anita gave us some coupons for free frosties at Wendy's.  They settled our hunger until we could get our dinner cooked.  Grilling and eating by the campfire was a pretty good atmosphere this afternoon.

Monday
We did some finishing touches at the Crane Pen area today.  We have the blind set up and the net flagged.

The temporary pen looks like a circus tent with all the red flags tied on to the top of the net.

When we opened the observation blind, we caught about 10 frogs inside and relocated them.  If those frogs know what is good for them, they will stay hid from the cranes.

We are ready for the Cranes and can't wait to see the Cranes put on a show in the savanna circus tent.

We got a shower and headed to Gollott's to meet Judy and Terry for a late lunch/early dinner.  It is always great when we get together for a visit.  We had the outside dining area, (and the rest of the restaurant), all  to ourselves.

Tuesday
We lounged around on this rainy day.  Late afternoon, Scott and Angie showed us how to put bands on the cranes.  The plastic one are easy compared to the aluminum ones.  We will get more instruction on the bird release tomorrow.

Wednesday
We got the rest of our prep for the crane release this morning.  Audubon arrived with 2 of the cranes around 1:30 pm.  One was a male named Private Guava and the other was a female named Airman Avocado.  Guava was a bad ass when he came out of the crate.

We hooded the birds, banded them, weighed and measured them, recorded eye color and wing color, placed a tracker on them then let them go in the pen.  By the time we finished with the Audubon birds, White Oak arrived with 4 more that were all females.  Lauren thinks Guava is one lucky guy.

As soon as we released the birds, they walked as far away as they could from humans.  Shaking their new bling bling on their legs and ruffling their feathers.  All 6 of them huddled in the corner together after being released.  It was raining and almost dark by the time we finished up.

We have another claim of fame, touching one of the rarest birds in North America!

A quick shower and we were off to spend the night with Anita at Island View.  We sat in the room singing old songs and got takeout for supper to eat in the room.  We didn't gamble a penny.

Thursday
We sat around and enjoyed our coffee overlooking the beach this morning.  On our way back to the refuge, we made a stop at Sam's.

The rest of the day was spent leisurely walking around the refuge and watching birds.

We had a curious 6 point buck check us out on the CL Dees Trail.

The fall colors are beginning and the flower blooms are dwindling down.  We saw our first Robin today.  It looks like we will be more focused on birding than plants for the next few months.

Friday
We watched the Cranes flying and walking in the pen from the back door of the VC on this slow day of visitation.  We didn't mind the slow pace, it gave us time to relax.

Saturday
We had 4 people on the Crane Tour this morning.

We had 7 Crane sightings, 3 flew into Bright's pasture on Briarcrest Lane. 2 more Cranes were seen in Bright's Pasture on Highway 57, these did a little dancing, and 2 flew toward us from the pen area at Ben Williams.  We also saw plenty of deer and a few birds.

We had another slow day in the VC.  People were excited about watching the cranes in the pen from the VC.  Afterwards, we had a nice bonfire with Angie, Shannon, Rose, Matt (Rose's boyfriend), Pat, Jeff, and Dorie.

Week of pics, click here:

Cranes Arrive