Crane Ranch - 11-27-28 - 12-3-22

We had another Sunday Funday.  We rode around in the North and South Gautier Units checking on the eagle nests.  We thought it was probably too early for them to be nesting, and we were right.

We only saw 3 cranes in the North Gautier Unit.  We will be glad when the crane circus comes back to town.

An American Bird Grasshopper hitched a ride on the windshield.  He was a pretty thing.

While Lauren was taking pictures of a Red-tailed Hawk at the South Gautier Unit, we heard and saw a Loggerhead Shrike in the brush.

  

A couple of Cranes and a Great Egret were hanging out at the power line.

The Loggerhead Shrike was still hanging in the same area after we turned around.  He didn't seem to be bothered by us stopping and taking his picture.  He must have his kill hidden in the brush.

Sunday Pics:

Monday was a piddle around kind of day. We saw more than 10 different species of birds as we walked Crane Lane and the Dees Trail this morning.  The birding activity was active this morning.

We did a little bit of work on the safety audit stuff then made another stroll along the Dees Trail, getting a few more bird species along the way.  

We had a nice early evening campfire, then called it a night.

Monday Pics:

Tuesday morning the backyard of HQ was full of cranes.  A mixture of the 2021 and the 2022 HQ crews.

A Gray Catbird was enjoying the Yaupon Holly Berries along Crane Lane.

Robin took us on a shopping trip to Lowes to get the supplies needed to put the stair rails on the blinds.   We took the rest of the day off.

Tuesday Pics:

Wednesday, I took the day off while Lauren manned the visitor center.  He was in his hay day, talking to people about his favorite subject, the Mississippi Sandhill Cranes.

After he closed, we went and put rails on the blind at the Beasley Pasture, (formerly called the Beasley Crop Unit).  Scott is changing the name from crop unit to pasture, considering they no longer plant crops for the cranes.

On our way out of the unit, we saw a Red-tailed Hawk perched near Firetower Pond.

Wednesday Pics:  

We spent the day on Thursday getting the rails put on the observation blinds in the Gautier, Fontainebleau and Ocean Springs Units.  

We were so excited to finally see Coconut and Banana at Browns Pasture.  They seemed happy to see us as well, considering we flushed Milhouse and 2005 which left the feeder all to them.

The 2022 HQ crew were exploring in the East Valentine Savanna.

We saw a Pied-billed Grebe and a few deer while we were in the Ocean Springs Unit.  This work stuff is getting in the way of our critter chasing. 

Thursday Pics: 

Friday, Lauren manned the visitor center solo again today.  He had quite a few visitors but no crane sightings.  This is the first day in a while that there has been no cranes hanging around.  

Saturday we took the day off.  While drinking our coffee, 3 cranes came flying over, landing in the backyard of HQ.  It wasn't long, there were more headed in that direction.  They must be out of corn at the other feeders.

We managed to get a stroll in along the Dees Trail and Crane Lane in between rain showers.

Late afternoon, Mist, Quicksand, and Thunder were chowing at the feeder. 

 

Saturday Pics:

Crane Ranch - 11-20-22 - 11-26-22

Sunday was spent working on the safety audit stuff.  Our first stop was the Martins Unit checking out the blind and admiring the pretty stand of wiregrass and toothache grass.

When we went to the Fontainebleau Unit, we found Mayong and Samus, the recently FB released cranes, foraging along Old Spanish Trail.  After notifying Scott, we went back, waited for a break in traffic, and tried to flush them to the savanna.  I jumped out of the truck and ran toward them, screaming at them like a crazy woman.  Lauren stayed in the truck, honking the horn, and driving toward them.  The goal was to scare the shit out of them and flush them to the savanna.  Instead of them flushing to the savanna, they flew right down the centerline of Old Spanish Trail, (which scared the shit out of me).  When they got to the intersection of  Old Spanish Trail and Fontainebleau Road, they veered left.  All in all, they flew about 2 miles.  When they met an oncoming vehicle, they would fly just high enough to clear it.  Thankfully, people slowed down and pulled over for them.  We let Scott know what was going on and left them foraging in the ditch along Fontainebleau Road.  

We took the shortcut through Browns Trail on the way back, seeing ducks and coots along Baker Road.  We did not see the first crane on the North Gautier Unit.  We sure do miss the Crane Circus.

 

Sunday Pics:

Monday was another safety audit workday.  We had a meeting at 8:30 a.m. then hit the ground running.  We only took a couple of pictures at Camp Crane this afternoon.

Monday Pics:

Tuesday was a wait around kind of day.  We got some more supplies to finish the Fontainebleau Trail boardwalk, got the boards cut, and we will install tomorrow.  It was a no picture taking kind of day.  

Wednesday we finally got the Fontainebleau boardwalk repairs done.  We took the shortcut back through Browns Trail taking a few pictures along the way.  We only saw 4 cranes that flew away.  We haven't seen the Crane Circus that is usually here in quite a while.

I got back and got my dressing ready for tomorrow while Lauren took a stroll along the Dees Trail.  He got some cool picture of critters.

Wednesday Pics:

Thursday was another Happy Thanksgiving.  On our way to put the turkey and dressing in the oven at the bunkhouse, we had a beautiful sunrise, heard the peep of the recently released cranes, then saw them fly to the pond.  A great start to the day.

We ate lunch at the bunkhouse with Jake, Rebecca, and Tom.  It may have been a small group, but there was a great variety of good food.  This is our 5th Thanksgiving that we have celebrated at the refuge.  The only thing that would have made it better would have been to have Carol, Charlie, and Angie there.  After all, they started this Thanksgiving tradition!  

We made an evening stroll along the Dees Trail and Crane Lane and got a few pics along the way.

Thanksgiving Pics:

The HQ crew were out by the pen when we pulled out of HQ Friday morning. Our first destination was the South Gautier Unit.  The critters were out and about in the drizzling rain seeing 12 cranes while we were there.  It is unusual to have this many crane sightings in this unit.

The eagles are finally back.  We saw 2 adult and 1 juvenile eagle hanging around the power line on Beasley Road.  After we got home and were going through our pictures, there was actually 2 juveniles eagles.  One of them we didn't see until we processed our pictures.

We had another eagle sighting on our way out.  The eagle was perched in a tree along Firetower Road.  He hung around for a few good pics.

The Crane Circus was a disappointment on the North Gautier Unit.  We only saw 1 crane.  Which again is unusual.  Wonder where Banana and Coconut are hanging?

Valentine Pond did not disappoint.  We saw a Little Blue Heron, a Kingfisher, an Eagle, and a Great Egret.

It was one of those Facebook picture posting kind of days.

Friday Pics:

Saturday, we worked in the visitor center with Judy and Terry.  We had 16 crane sightings from the back door of the visitor center.  For a while, we had more cranes visiting the than we had people. 

 

NV11 and family were at the feeder when we opened up the visitor center this morning.   After they bellied up on the corn, they went out to the pen and harassed the youngsters.

Later in the day, the youngsters came to the HQ feeder to check out the unbanded pair.  They only stayed for a bit before flying back toward the pen.

After we closed, we spent the rainy afternoon catch up on our pictures and blog. 

Saturday Pics:

Crane Ranch - 11-13-22 - 11-19-22

Ole Man Winter showed up Sunday and encouraged us to go home and get our winter clothes. On our way back, we stopped by the Wiggins Pizza Inn.  It was a no picture taking kind of day.

Monday, we got back in our groove and walked the Dees Trail and Crane Lane catching a few pics of birds along the way.

We did a time budget for the cranes at the Fontainebleau Pen and Headquarters Pen.  The Fontainebleu Pen cohorts were bullied by the dominant unbanded pair while we were collecting our data.  The pair paced outside the pen and occasionally pecked at the cohorts in the pen.  Dang birds.

We took the usual short cut through Browns Trail on the way back, seeing a Kestrel, Cranes, a Merlin, Eagles, and Wood Ducks.  It is so nice to be off the beaten path.

Monday Pics:

Tuesday, we let the cranes loose!!  We went with Scott and the Interns to the Fontainebleau Pen.  The dominant pair were back again, foraging outside the pen when we opened the gate to the netted pen.  They were very vocal as they flew off when Scott walked out to flush the cohorts.  We were pleasantly surprised when the smallest of the cohorts, Mayong,  didn't hesitate,  He was the first to walk out of the gate and take flight. His first flight was awesome.  The landing, well let's just say he needs to work on that.

Wyaluigi was 2nd out the gate followed by Gamus. They seemed content foraging around in the open pen until the unbanded Pair flew back in with Mayong in close pursuit.  There was a little bit of a ruckus by the dominant pair that convinced Gamus then Wyaluigi to take flight.   There are now 3 more cranes residing in the wild at the Fontainebleau Unit. 

Sami has loaned us a truck to use for a few days to help her with the safety audit issues.  This truck is the Chevrolet version of Herman, long wheel base, 4 door.  It takes a football field to turn him around.  Fire has named him, "The Edmond Fitzgerald."  A very suitable name.

The rest of the day was spent working on the safety audit stuff.  While checking out the blinds on the North Valentine Unit, we saw Adelaide and Thriller in a yard along Allen Road.

We flushed 4 cranes at the Gautier Pen Crop Unit. 

 

As we were driving along Valentine Road, there were 12 cranes wading around in Valentine pond.  They flew, along with 6 more.  We had an 18 Crane flight.  This many Mississippi Sandhill Crane flying together is something you don't see very often.  The Crane Circus is back!!

We also saw 3 Bald Eagles, an American Kestrel, and Wood Ducks.  Every day is a Funday!!

Tuesday Pics:

Wednesday morning, we let the cranes loose at HQ.  Lauren put on camouflage and sat at the edge of the savanna taking pictures.  I joined Scott and crew inside the pen.  We slowly herded 4 of them through the small gate.  Scott grabbed the other 2 and walked them out of the pen.  He had one in each hand.  It is fun being a crane herder.

The rest of the day was spent manning the visitor center.  This afternoon, we spent a bit of time catching up with our neighbors/friends/co volunteers, Judy and Terry.  They moved back in to Camp Crane today.  Who would have thought 30 years ago when we met on a golf course that we would be volunteering at a wildlife refuge??  Life is full of pleasant surprises.

Wednesday Pics:

Thursday morning was spent working on safety audit stuff.  This afternoon was spent manning the visitor center.  We only had one visitor to walk in the door.  Our old friend, Danny.  He is enjoying living the Alaska life.  It was great catching up with him.

Thursday Pics:

Friday was spent working on the safety audit stuff in Ocean Springs and the North Gautier Units.  We saw a bunch of deer while we were riding around, they were not staying around for a picture.  We did manage to get a few pictures of critters while we were out and about. 

Friday Pics: 

We did a little bit of piddling in the visitor center and worked on the safety audit stuff on Saturday.  The 2022 HQ crew have joined with the 2021 HQ 5.  They made several appearances at HQ today, but mostly spent the day out by the release pen.  They seemed to be getting along just fine considering 3 of them went peeping by when they all flew to the bayou.

Saturday Pics: