MSCNWR - 5-8-21 to 5-15-21

It has been a while, but we made it back to Camp Crane Saturday.  Whoop Whoop!  It is so good to be back.  We got a few leaves picked up and got ole Rap parked.  Tomorrow, we will work on our favorite campsite before backing into it.

After we got the camper set up, we took a ride.  We found the Rock Hill family content under the shade tree across the pond.  It was not a good family portrait moment, so none was taken.

We found Dougie and his bride near the road with their cutie.  Little bit kept hiding behind his parents making it hard to get his picture.  But, when the parents relaxed and started foraging, he relaxed, and we got some cute photos.

We took a walk along the Dees Trail when we returned.  We met a couple of nice young ladies along the trail and found out one of them had been an intern at Audubon in 2015.  We thoroughly enjoyed talking with them.  

Ferny Kat came out when we got back, and of course, gave her approval.  After all, what's not to like about this place?!?

Saturday Pics:

Sunday was another fun day, except for the work we did in the campground.  We got our favorite campsite all spruced up, then we moved a few yards. 

Our first agenda when we got up this morning was taking a walk on the Dees Trail.  We found all kind of blooms showing off their pretty colors.

  

We also found a few cool birds and other critters along the way.  Nothing like waking up and taking a hike in your own nature safari.

And to put the icing on the cake, we saw Crane # 337 at the feeder on our way to the trail.

We hung around at Camp Crane today enjoying the many birds that found our feeders in the first few hours of our arrival.  It's been another fantastic day at Camp Crane! 

Sunday Pics:

We spent this rainy, Monday morning doing vehicle maintenance.  Not only was the tire low on the truck, but the battery was also dead.  

After walking to the Fire Center to get jumper cables, we rode back in the VC RTV, (Rough Terrain Vehicle).  Lauren was so happy to finally ride in it, even though we got soaked on the ride back.  A boy and his toys.

The rain finally quit this afternoon and we washed the truck.  We took it for a spin to Fountainebleu Trail and picked up a little bit of litter. 

We spent the rest of the day lounging around Camp Crane and the C.L. Dees trail. 

Monday Pics:

Tuesday, we jumped off the SUV and aired up the tires.  It moaned and groaned for a bit until the kinks got worked out.  As we were jumping off the SUV, we watched a Pileated Woodpecker feeding her young in a nearby tree.  

We started weed eating around HQ until the thunderstorms came.  After the rain, we cleaned up the SUV.  Afterwards, we watched a pair of Red-bellied Woodpecker working on their nursery in a tree at Camp Crane.  We have such an awesome work environment!

Tuesday Pics:

Wednesday, we got the Van jumped off and the tires aired up.  We got in 4 hours of weed eating at HQ, Crane Lane, and the Bunkhouse.  One things for sure, if I did that on a regular basis, this 60-year-old would be in better shape.

We assisted Erin with placing the traps in the Dusky Gopher Frog tanks.  I am still in shock that Angie was home teleworking and trusted us to do this without her.  Although, we did have to put her on speaker phone to get her say in things. 🐸

Ferny Kat has been grouchy all day.  She fusses when she is inside or outside.  We finally realized what she is unhappy about.  There is a stray cat hanging in the area.  If Ferny Kat ain't happy ain't nobody happy.  Hopefully, it won't come back being we chased it away tonight.

You know we have worked hard, when we don't take a single picture.

Thursday, we assisted Erin checking the DGF traps.  We didn't find any frogs, but we did find a few that look like a dragon.

We got the van cleaned up.  I do believe it was the nastiest of all the vehicles, not to mention, the hardest.

We got the weed eating done in the parking lot and blew off the debris while being supervised by the baby Pileated Woodpeckers.

We took a ride through the North Gautier Unit.  We were very surprised when we found not only 1, but 2 chicks with Truffle and Delores. 

There was a gang of 8 Cranes together near the crop unit.  We not only got our crane fix, but our Nana/Coco fix.  The group had Banana, Coconut, the 5 Cohorts released last year, and an unbanded.  We saw a total of 18 cranes on this short, enjoyable ride.

Thursday Pics:

Friday, we attempted to purchase a new battery for the SUV.  After a couple of trips and a lot of wasted time, we inadvertently locked up the pin number for the credit card.  Oops!!

We helped Erin with the DGF trap checks and picked up some litter a the refuge gates.  We saw three Eagles and one crane today.

  

We also had new visitors at Camp Crane, a couple of Yellow-billed Cuckoos.

Friday Pics:

Saturday we started out the day checking the DGF traps.  We are now the proud trappers of the first 2021 DGF from rearing tanks.  We were  kind of tired and was kind of lazy for the rest of the day. Although, we did take a walk along the Dees Trail.

Saturday Pics:

Spring Fling - 4-23-21 to 5-1-21 - Summerdale, Alabama

 Friday, we left our isolated campground and moved 85 miles to Escapees RV Park in Summerdale, Alabama.  We are camped on site number 32 for a week.  Although there are other campers here, the sites are spacious. 

We went to Weeks Bay Nature Preserve for a quick look around.   We walked the board walk and the nature trail at the Visitor's Center.  The Boardwalk had a lot of trees down from the hurricane which provided a good hiding place for the birds that we heard.  We found quite a few, new species of plants for us, along the way and a few spiders.

The Nature Walk Trail meandered through the woods.  We saw several different species of birds and a  lot of pretty blooms.

We also found an Eastern Spadefoot and Bar-winged Skimmer.

Our favorite walk of the day was the Pitcher Plant Bog a few miles from the visitor center.  The Bog has White Pitcher Plants that are not seen at the Sandhill Crane Refuge.  They were very tall, and very pretty.  Several of them still had their pretty, red blooms.

  

It was a lot harder to find the Parrot Pitcher Plants.  We finally found a few of the plants with a little help of their blooms.

The Mabel Orb-weaver spider was showy as well.

Several miles of hiking and several hours later, we made it back, from our supposedly, quick look around and got the Ferny Kat approval for the campground.

Friday Pics:

We had a 90% chance of rain prediction for Saturday.  We were planning on staying in all day and watching it rain.  Luckily, we only had light showers in the morning.  We spent most of the day getting caught up with our pictures then took a ride this afternoon.

Traffic on a Saturday afternoon near Florabama was backed up for about a mile.  When we finally found an area where we could turn around, we headed back to camp.  

Ferny Kat came outside and rolled around in her favorite spot.  The wind finally got on her last nerve, (and ours), and inside we went.

Sunday, we went to Splinter Hill.  Our first stop was the Bog.  It was gorgeous with all the White topped Pitcher Plants. 

We also found two other pitcher plant species that are not found at the Sandhill Crane Refuge: Mitchell's Pitcher Plant and Burks Southern Pitcher Plant. 

 

We hiked the trail for a while taking pictures of the critters and plants.

We checked out West Pitcher Plant Loop.  The only bog we found, was the boggy mud under our feet.  Although there were a few pitcher plants at the beginning of the trail.

We continued our search for the bog at the East Pitcher Plant Loop.  This trail was more our style, although the bog was hard to find.

While looking for the bog, we found a few birds and interesting plants along the way.

We got a good workout today, hiking 7 miles while carrying our heavy cameras.  I have a feeling; we are going to sleep good tonight.

Sunday Pics:

Monday, we went to Fort Morgan.  As we were looking around at the Ferry loading area, we sighted a pair of Bobolinks in the tall weeds.

There were also several Ruby-throated Hummingbirds feasting on the nectar of the Lantana near shore.

When the mosquitos started feasting on us, we headed to the beach entrance at Bon Secour to do some shorebird watching.

There were lots of shorebirds on the beach including the talented Gull-billed Terns performing their mating dance. 

After walking about a mile and a half on the beach, we found a bench to sit on.  It was so nice and relaxing watching the rolling waves and the shorebirds.

We also had a front row and center seat to the fabulous Dolphin Show.  We sat there for over an hour watching several different pods of dolphins, lunging and blowing at the top of the water.

It has been a beautiful, beach bum kind of day!

Monday Pics:

We spent most of the day Tuesday hiking at Bon Secour NWR.  Our first hike was the 1 mile loop on the Jeff Friend Trail.  We enjoyed listening to all the birds in the woods and managed to get a few pictures of them. 

 

The trail made it's way through the woods then out to the bay.  There were lots of pretty plants and lots of Six-lined Racers along the way.

Our next hike was the Pine Beach Trail.  The first half of the trail was walking on a road, the second half of the trail was walking through loose sand.  We definitely got our work out in, on this 4 mileroundtrip trail. 

All the trudging through the sand, was well worth it, to get to the beautiful, secluded beach. 

Tuesday Pics:

Wednesday, was a stay at camp, and relax kind of day.  We finally got a walk around in the Escapee Park neighborhood.  We took a lot of pictures of critters and plants along the way.  We found out from one of the residents that there is another birding trail at Fort Morgan that we will check out tomorrow.

Pam stopped by for an overnight visit on her way to Granby from Tampa.  It was great to visit with our friend.

Wednesday Pics:

Thursday, we checked the hot spot for migratory birds at Fort Morgan.  Everyone we talked to, told us the birding was exceptional last week.  We were obviously a week late.  The mosquitos on the other hand, were quite plentiful.

The trail was not a bust, we enjoyed the few birds that we saw.  We also enjoyed the fact the Lauren saw a Cottonmouth on our trail before we got too close.  Needless to say, we rerouted to go around him.

After lunch, we headed down the beach.  The waves were rolling big time today.

The Great Blue Herons were very friendly and photogenic.  As Lauren was taking a picture of a dead shark, 2 of them walked within a few feet of him.  I guess they wanted their picture taken too.

The Dolphins weren't as active as the other day, but the waves weren't this active either.  We did see some on our walk back. 

 

After getting in over 4 miles of hiking, we went back to camp and relaxed for the rest of the afternoon.

Thursday Pics:

Friday was supposed to be, go home day, but we changed our minds when we saw the weather forecast.  This gave us another day of sightseeing.

We made another hike at Weeks Bay Pitcher Plant bog.  We enjoyed the walk again.

We took a drive to Fairhope Pier, making several stops along the way.  We walked out to the end of the pier taking pictures of birds.

We drove to the end of the beach front and had our lunch.  We were enjoying walking around taking pictures until the rain put a damper on it. 

 

We relaxed at camp while it rained, then took Ferny Kat out for a while.  It was good to have a rain delay so we could have another great day in LA, (Lower Alabama).

Friday Pics:

We pulled out and headed home on this beautiful Friday morning.  The Spring Fling has been a blast!

 

Saturday Pics: