We had a really cool day participating in the Arthur Street iNaturalist Bioblitz, a property contracted out to Mark LaSalle for rehab. Janet Wright was an awesome leader of this blitz. Lauren and I tromped around in the grass, mud, thickets, etc. taking pictures of plants and stuff.
We saw plenty of birds, plenty of plants, plenty of fish, and a raccoon bedded in a hole of a tree.
Molly, Janet's dog, is such a sweetie and a great swimmer. She became my best friend after feeding her a turkey stick.
After finishing, we celebrated with a Mark LaSalle homemade sourdough king cake. What a way to wrap it up.
On our way home, we made a stop across the road at the Mississippi Blues Trail Boardwalk and saw plenty of waterfowl, including White Pelicans in the water and a beautiful Bald Eagle perched in a tree.
We made a Crane check at Bright's Pasture and found 6 Sandhill Cranes in the field as well as 2 on a pond dam at Collie's Farm.
We heard the call of the cranes from the HQ savanna and found 2 UNK's foraging at the feeder. We could not see their bands for an ID.
We sat around a nice campfire with Jeff, then called it a night. We have to get our rest for our first day this year of our Volunteer Gig.
Monday
We are so excited, we are no longer gigless. It is our first day for the Visitor's Center to be open this year. We had 16 visitors, which is not bad for a Monday.
After work, Jeff went with us to check out the Eagle's nests in the South Gautier Unit. The nest on Firetower had one parent near the nest and the other parent perched in a nearby tree. They must have Eaglets in the nest considering the last time we were here, one of the Eagles was setting on the nest.
The nest on Beasley had a parent in the nest and the other nearby. We are not sure if the Eagle is still setting on the nest incubating the eggs. The Eaglet Watch will continue.
As a bonus, we saw an Egret, a Great Blue Heron, a Red-tailed Hawk, another Juvenile Eagle, 6 Deer, and had 7 Sandhill Crane sightings.
The 3 cranes we saw on Beasley, kept their eye on us but were not very skittish. Although, they were pretty vocal. They appeared to be missing their corn that is usually in the feeder that has not been filled since the shutdown. Hopefully, that will get rectified soon.
As we walked back to the camper from the Visitor's Center, 2 Sandhill Cranes flew toward the South Gautier Unit, getting our Crane Sightings up to 9.
On a sad note, during the Government Shutdown we lost 2 more Cranes. One was found buried in grass near the edge of the roost pond at the HQ savanna,. Another Bobcat mortality. The other was 1803, one of our Free Birds with the GPS tracker. She was found in the South Gautier Unit. Cause of death unknown. These were 2 of the 4 cranes we saw under the observation tower at HQ on 1/1/19. RIP
Tuesday
We worked with Pat today. After listening to the exhibit hall sound track of bird sounds for all these months of working here, my OCD kicked in to identify them. After spending most of the day on this project, Lauren, Danny, Pat, and I figured 11 of the 12 sounds. It was a good way to spend this slow day of visitation.
Wednesday
We only had 2 people on our Crane Tour this brisk, cool, morning. A couple from Wisconsin who's husband bribed her with breakfast after the tour for getting up early.
We had 16 Sandhill Crane sightings, plenty of Deer, Bald Eagles, Egrets, a Great Blue Heron, an American Kestrel, and a couple of Belted Kingfishers. Everybody was happy, especially the wife.
They are rebuilding the pier on the CL Dees Trail to make it taller and wider. It's great to see this project finally being done.
We did an impromptu afternoon Crane Tour. We had 6 people on this tour. One couple from California, one from Illinois, and one from Pennsylvania.
We saw 34 Sandhill Cranes, several Deer, a Red-Tailed Hawk, Bald Eagles, Great Blue Heron, and Egrets.
We never dreamed this second tour was going to be our record breaker of Crane Sightings. All for that belief that you will only see Sandhill Cranes if you go early in the morning.
Thursday
We are off until Monday. We spent this pretty, cold windy day hanging around at Camp Crane. We found a new species of bird, a Pine Siskin and a new bloom, an Oriental False Hawksbeard. We haven't seen or heard our Free Bird in a few days. As a matter of fact, this is the first day in a while we haven't seen or heard a Sandhill Crane.
Friday
We took a ride to Fountainebleu Trail to hike and check out the conditions of the trail. The trail is looking better every time we go. The Cline CDC youth group were there clearing underbrush at one of the overlooks. The Fire Center has also chopped some of the brush on the back of the Forest Loop in preparation for a controlled burn this year.
We took the Crane Loop on the way back and saw 19 Sandhill Cranes. A lot of them appeared to be Greater Sandhill Cranes.
We walked the CL Dees Trail when we returned. The overlook is almost done and is looking good.
Saturday
Happy Eleven Month Anniversary to Us!!
We went shore birding today at Graveline Beach, Lake Mars Pier, and Ocean Springs Beach. We saw a few shore birds, but not as many as we expected with the low tide.
It was warm enough today for the gator at Gulf Islands National Sea Shore to come out of the mud and lounge on the bank. There were also some turtles sitting on a downed tree.
We made a walk at the CL Dees Trail, checked on the overlook, then built a nice, quiet campfire. It was a perfect way to celebrate our 11 month Anniversary of our Volunteer Gig.
The Week of Pictures:
