2-2-20 - 2-8-20 Volunteer Gig II

Sunday, we took a ride to Crossroads and got the mail.  We made a stop at David's for his going away fish fry.  It was a gorgeous day to be outside.

Monday, we had a 10 am Crane Tour for a group of 8.  We had 8 Ms. Sandhill Crane sightings.

One of the Eagle parents came in with food for the youngster in the Ben Williams nest.  He seemed a little impatient for his parent to tear his food up for him to eat.

We saw one of the parents near BG's nest, but no BG.

Tuesday, we spent our day off walking the trail and birding at Camp Crane.

Wednesday, we had a 9 am Crane Tour for a group of 8 and had 27 Sandhill Crane sightings.  We were quite entertained when we saw the Family, Coconut, and Banana at the Brown's Trail Crop Unit.  Coconut flew near the Family and bowed.  Daddy of the Family, chased her and plucked her tail feathers.  Banana stayed in the middle of the road.

 It started raining when we got to the South Gautier Unit.  Needless to say, the Baby Eagles were snuggling in their nest and no where to be seen.

Thursday, we spent our day off getting haircuts and doing a Wally World run.

Friday, Lauren spent the day in ATV class, playing in the mud with Melissa and the Interns.  Ferny Kat and I spent the day, sleeping in, bird watching, and hanging around Camp Crane.

Saturday, we had a 9 am Crane Tour for a group of 8 and had 15 Ms. Sandhill Crane sightings.  We saw both of the Eaglets and one of the parents perched in a tree at each of the Eagles nest.

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1-26-20 - 2-1-20 Volunteer Gig II

Sunday was quite a rainy, dreary day.  The only reason we left Camp Crane was to get a jug of milk.

Monday, we had a 10 am Crane Tour for the Loew's, their pastor, and his wife.  We had so much fun.  We saw 25 Mississippi Sandhill Cranes, an American Kestrel, a Great Egret, other species of birds, and lots of deer.

We finally saw General Plantain.  She is one of the 2018 captive reared Cranes that was released from the acclimation pen at HQ.   She found friends in the South Gautier Unit and relocated to that area.

The Eaglet on the Ben Williams nest was posing with one of the parents allowing us a good view through the scope.

A juvenile Eagle was flying near the Beasley nest.  Mom and Day were not happy.

We saw 2 Sandhill Cranes across Firetower Pond walking then the dance began.  A grand finale for a grand tour.

Tuesday, we had an impromptu late afternoon Crane Tour for a group of "avid birders" from Michigan.  Our so called abbreviated tour was 3 hours long.

Banana and Coconut started the show by being close to the road in the slough off Crane Lane, this is one of their favorite hangouts.

One of the parents was in their favorite perch near the Ben Williams nest.  One of the parents was in the nest on Beasley.  We did not see the Eaglets today.

We had a special show at Valentine Pond.  We had a Merlin, a juvenile Eagle, and a Great Blue Heron perched in trees above the pond.  An almost mature Bald Eagle flew in and moved the juvenile Bald Eagle to another tree.  Pretty spectacular to see all 4 of these perched over the cypress pond.

We had 17 Mississippi Sandhill Crane sightings, and saw several other species of birds and lots of deer.

Wednesday, we had a 9 am Crane Tour for a group of 8.  We had 29 Sandhill Crane sightings.

The parent Bald Eagle on Ben Williams nest had her Eaglet sheltered from the misty rain and wind.

Both parents flew in with food for BG, (Beasley Eaglet), he sure is growing and looked pretty hungry being fed by his parents.

We spent the rest of the afternoon working at the VC.

Thursday, we took a ride to Sam's and spent Lauren's free play at Island View.  We got a whopping 14 cents, a free cookie and a drink, and we didn't spend a dime.

We went to Pass Christian and drove back along the beach and found a few shorebirds.  There was not a lot of bird activity on this gorgeous day.

We did a hike on the Dees Trail, then us and Ferny Kat did a little bit of bird watching at camp until the temperatures started to cool around 3 pm.

We met the co-volunteers plus Angie, and Linda at Woody's for dinner.

Friday, we went to turn in the Crane Reports from Wednesday and got an impromptu invite from Scott to join them for the Crane Recovery Program.  There was a group of about 16 people in the conference room, and internet access for White Oaks, International Crane Foundation, and other places.  We got introduced as "Super Volunteers," Luckily we didn't have to go on screen.  We learned a lot and we only caught about half of the presentations.

Saturday, we had a 9 am Crane Tour for a group of 8.  One of the couples said they had been here several times and had never seen a Ms. Sandhill Crane.  The pressure was off of us shortly after we drove into Brown's Trail and saw 5 flying around.  We had 23 Sandhill Crane sightings for the day.

The Ben Williams Eaglet was very active with his parent in the nest.  We didn't see BG on the Beasley nest.

Pictures:

1-19-20 to 1-25-20 Volunteer Gig II

Yesterday we wore short pants, today we had on jackets and hats.  The temperature was about 50 degrees with howling, cold, wind.  What a difference a day makes.

We took a walk on Crane Lane and the Dees Trail.  We saw Dikkop and Auk in the same spot for over 2 hours in the HQ savanna.  Banana and Coconut were standing in the slough near Crane Lane.  All the birds were hunkered down from the wind.

We found our first Grass Centipede Orchids of the season along Crane Lane.

Monday, the VC was closed for Martin Luther King, Jr. day.  It was a sunny, cold, windy day.  We took a ride to check on the Eagle nests after our walk on Crane Lane.  We had our first sighting of the Eaglet in the Ben Williams nest.  One of the parents was sitting in a nearby tree when we drove through.  When we came back a parent flew in the nest and fed the youngster.  She moved side to side in the nest.  We only could see one Eaglet.

A juvenile Eagle was flying too close to the nest on Beasley.  One parent was in the nest and the other parent was chasing off the juvenile then landed in a nearby tree.

Tuesday, we had a steady pace of visitors at the VC on this cold, windy, day.

Wednesday, we had a 9 am Crane Tour with 9 tourist.  It was another great tour.  We had 17 Mississippi Sandhill Crane sightings.  We were entertained by 2 different Cranes dancing.  The first Ms. Sandhill Crane that danced was in the Savanna off Valentine Road.  They are called the Painted Pair.  They flew into the savanna then one of the pair started to dance.

Our second debut was Dougie and his partner in Bright's Pasture.  Dougie, aka Fred Astaire, put on another great performance.  He threw not only grass and dirt, but a feather.  It looks like the mating season is in full swing, although both of the non dancing mates did not seem very impressed.

We saw Auk and Dikkop at the HQ feeder before we left. Then found Banana and Coconut walking around in Valentine Pond.  After our turn around on Valentine Road, Banana and Coconut were walking down the middle of Valentine Road.

We saw one of the parents in a nearby tree of the nest on Ben Williams Road and got a good look at the Eaglet in the nest.

 One parent was feeding the eaglet in the Beasley nest.

We spent the afternoon doing a Gulfport run.  We made a quick stop at Sam's then went to Island View.  Lauren cashed in $17 from his $20 free play.  We finally found the Whimbrel at Jones Park.

Thursday, we spent this cloudy, rainy day hanging around camp.

Friday, we did a special request Crane Tour for the Homestead Retirement Village.  We took the group of 10 on a 1 1/2 tour  and saw 11 Sandhill Cranes.  We stopped at one of the Eagle nests and got to see one of the parents through the spotting scope. Afterwards, we went to lunch with them.  I think we had as much fun as they did. We did a Dees Trail walk late afternoon.

Saturday, we had a Crane Tour with 8 tourist.  Six of the tourist were from New Orleans and brought us a King Cake.  We had another great time, with 12 Ms. Sandhill Crane sightings.  We saw a parent at both of the Eagle nests.  The Eaglet in the Ben Williams nest teased us today.  He would pop his head up for a few seconds then back down he would go.  He sure is growing fast.  We worked in the VC this afternoon with the Loews.  We had a total of 102 visitors on this pretty, sunny, day.

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