3-31-19 - 4-6-19 (Week 57 )

Sunday
Lauren braved the north wind, wearing a heavy jacket and a neck/face warmer to get the bush hogging done.

Me and Ferny Kat, on the other hand, were lazy today.   Around 4 pm, it finally warmed up enough for me to go outside and take some pictures of Lauren bush hogging.

Monday
Lauren got the yard mowed.  I raked leaves and mopped the house.  The place looks good.

We got the jeep washed and will head back to Camp Refuge tomorrow.

Tuesday
We got back to Camp Refuge today.  We went to Bozo's Too for an early dinner with the other volunteers.  We were surprised when the staff at Bozo;s placed a crawfish hat on Lauren and sang him Happy Birthday.  The birthday month has begun!

The Free Birds were foraging on the lawn behind the VC when we returned.  This has been their roost spot for the last few nights.

Wednesday
We watched the prescribed burns near the bunk house and on the CL Dees Trail.

The bulldozer happened to get stuck in a low area in the fire lane.  It took him over an hour to get out of the bog.  The mud hole that was there is now more like a lake that we have named Lake Randal, after the operator of the machinery.

The fire really cleared the underbrush.  I feel sorry for all those spring blooms and critters that were affected by the flame and smoke, especially, the pitcher plant moths.  Oh well, it will come back with a gusto in a few weeks.

The Free Birds were in the back lawn of the VC right before dark.

Thursday
We had a rainy Thursday.  It was a good day for haircuts, shopping, eat our birthday offers at Ruby Tuesday, and rest for a change.

Friday
We went to the Pascagoula River Audubon native plant sale and got a few more plants for the VC flower bed.  When we got back to the VC we were greeted by Coconut, Banana, and Crab Apple foraging on the lawn at the VC.  When they decided it was time to go, they used Crane Lane for their navigational flight path. 

We made a tour out to the newly burned CL Dees trail.  We saw a few lizards, birds, and butterflies in the blackened forest.  We placed plant markers on the outer side of the trail that has not been burned yet.

We pulled weeds out of one side of the VC flower bed.  The gnats found us which  deterred our intention of working on the other side.  That can wait until another day.

After closing the VC, we walked the CL Dees Trail and took pictures to record the regrowth of the prescribed burn.

We had some newbies show up this afternoon at our bird feeders, Ruby Throated Hummingbirds, Indigo Buntings, a Baltimore Oriole, and a Northern Parula.  The spring migration is upon us!

Saturday
The Winter Crane Safaris have changed to the Spring Crane Safaris.  This morning's Crane tour was a success.  We had 8 tourist.  We saw 8 Mississippi Sandhill Cranes along with about 15 other species of birds. It was another successful Crane Whisperer Tour!

We saw one of the Great Blue Herons sitting on their nest in a cypress tree in Valentine Pond.

We also saw a lot of Great Egrets, Cattle Egrets, a couple of Belted Kingfishers, an Orchard Oriole, an Eastern King-bird, Mockingbirds, Geese, and Bald Eagles, (just to name a few).

It was bittersweet when Goober and Georgie were not in their nest.  We were sad not to see them, but happy they made it to fledgling.

BB on the other hand was in a tree crying for his parents.  He was being taunted by 2 sub adult Eagles in the area.  It didn't take long, for one of the parents to appear and the 2 sub adults to vacate.  It was another fabulous Eagle performance.

We got back from the 3 hour tour and hung out at the VC till closing.  We made a walk on Crane Lane, then did a little Camp Refuge bird watching.  The bird  sightings at Camp Crane was scarce compared to yesterday.

Week of pictures:

Bunkhouse/CL Dees Burn:

Burn Video:

3-24-19 - 3-30-19 (Week 56)

Sunday
We took a nice walk along the CL Dees Trail this morning.  The fresh blooming of the flowers are attracting more and more butterflies.

We went to David's crawfish boil this afternoon.  He sure does give himself a good going away party.

Monday
Our Crane Tour of 6 tourist started with a bang. Right inside the gate we saw 2 Sandhill Cranes in the fire lane.  We continued with 8 Sandhill Crane sightings.  We also saw many different species of birds today including our first ever Wild Turkey.

We found a couple of Great Blue Herons working on their nest at Valentine Pond.  We will keep an eye on it.

Goober and Georgie were in the nest with a parent perched on a nearby limb.  The other parent flew in with a catfish in his talons for lunch.

BB is still hanging around the nesting area he was hatched in.  One of his parents was nearby keeping an eye on him..

After the tour we had a Swallow Tailed Kite fly over at the VC.

We walked Crane Lane after work and admired all the pretty flowers blooming and an Eastern Glass Lizard.

Tuesday
We worked the VC today.  Lauren, Jeff, Melissa, and I, spent the morning pulling weeds out of the VC flower bed.  We planted the native plants we purchased from Crosby.  The flower bed looks so much better.

An abundance of  Eastern Tent Caterpillars have emerged from the Live Oaks at Camp Crane.  They climb all over everything, including us.  Glad they don't sting.

Wednesday
We had a 10 am tour with 8 tourist.  We saw 14 Mississippi Sandhill Cranes along with at least 15 other species of birds.  The fav of the day, (other than the Sandhill Cranes and Bald Eagles),  was an Eastern King-bird.

We saw the 2 Cranes in the fire lane right inside the gate of Brown's Trail. We have found out the female of these 2 is the one that broke Sticky Bunz's heart.  RIP Stickey Bunz.

One of Georgie and Goober's parents was nearby in her favorite tree.

BB looked content hanging out in his savanna.

After the tour, we met Anita at Island View for the night.  We had a great view from the 17th floor.

We took a walk to Chandelier Brewing Company to save our gambling money for later.

We had fun gambling tonight, and an added bonus, Lauren won a $25 hot seat in the slot tournament. 
We had a fabulous sunset view from our room at The View.

Thursday
We had a pretty but cool start to the day.

After gambling, eating, and drinking, we had $11 more than what we came to the casino with.  Needless to say we got the heck out of there this morning.

We took our time and rode around shore bird watching this morning.  Our favs of the day was a Great Blue Heron appearing to be yawning and an Osprey taking a bath at Pass Christian Harbor.

We were surprised to see a few White Pelicans still hanging in the area.

We made it back to Camp Refuge as the Jr. Duck Stamp judging was finishing.  We have some really talented artistic students in Mississippi.

We did a walk along CL Dees to prep for our nature walk tomorrow.  We found our first Pitcher Plant Mining Moths in the Yellow Trumpet Pitcher Plants.  There were 10-12 moths in several of them.  We were so excited.  We have been looking for them for a year.

We set up tents for tomorrows event and went to Valentine Pond to get a closer look at the Great Blue Heron nest.  We tromped around in the bog, looking at the pretty Carnivorous Plants and dodging snakes to get a closer look.

We also had 3 Sandhill Cranes sighting.

Friday
We had 3 different groups of 4th graders on our guided trail walk today.  They enjoyed using magnifying glasses to look for bugs.  We all had a good time.

After work, we took a ride to the South Gautier Unit to photograph the progress of the prescribed burn recovery.

Georgie and Goober were perched in limbs above the nest.  As we were admiring them, we heard Eagles calling.  An adult and 2 juveniles were circling way above us locking talons at times.  It was a fabulous nature air show.

When we looked back at the twin eaglets, Momma was in the nest.  They were watching the  Eagle Show as well

When we passed back by the twin nest, Daddy had joined the family.  They would eat for a while then watch the continuing Eagle show.

A Pileated Woodpecker was another fav of the day.

BB is still hanging in his savanna.  One of his parents was eating in a tree nearby.

We must have seen at least 10 Bald Eagles on our quest to go take quick pictures of the burn recovery.  Mother Nature was an unexpected surprise today.

Our Free Birds were foraging behind the VC right before dark.  They are still hanging close by.

Saturday
The Audubon Bug Mobile came to the VC today.  Based on last years attendance, we thought there would not be very many people to come to it.  We were wrong!  We had over double the turnout than last year.

It was a great educational show.  The kids, (and adults), loved it.

We had fantastic sightings at the VC for the month of March.

Afterwards, we headed to Crossroads in the hopes of getting some bush hogging done.


Week of pictures: