Sunday I was awakened by the elusive call of the Sandhill Cranes. They were still hanging around when we got out and about.
A check on the G15 Eagle Nest was successful. One of the parents was perched in a nearby tree. We confirmed that there are 2 Eaglets in the nest. They were eating their grub and occasionally biting each other. Unfortunately, the limbs were in the way to get a good picture, but it was so much fun to watch them through the scope.
We made a drive through the Gautier Unit, checked on the Rock Hill Pair, and the Dougie Family. We had 18 crane sightings. We are pretty sure that 3 of the sightings were the NV11 family that were flying around.
The Dougie Family was doing well foraging in a yard not very far from Briarcrest Road.
The rain set in this afternoon. This is the 2nd Sunday in a row that we have stayed in for rain.
Monday we decided we were going to take it easy. The morning we had a nice stroll along Crane Lane then went on a Wally World trip.
Taking it easy changed this afternoon when the Fire Crew cut down trees at Camp Crane. We helped them clean up and stack the wood, then got ole' Billy Goat out and blew off leaves and debris.
We had a foggy Tuesday picnic lunch with the phenology group at GCCC, Gautier campus. It was a great gathering with some nice folks. We saw a couple of Bald Eagles and a few other birds during our outing. The afternoon, I worked on the bookstore stuff and Lauren got a few errands done.
Wednesday, we had another fun Crane Tour for 6 people. We saw a few different species of birds, including Banana.
The G15 nest had both parents nearby. One of them was drying off in a dead tree, the other was on a limb above the nest.
As we were getting the Dees Trail counter stats this afternoon, we watched a Pileated Woodpecker excavating a hole in a nearby tree. Maybe we will have a nest soon.
Thursday, we replaced some boards at the Oak Grove Trail boardwalks. We could hear different birds singing, but never saw any while we were there.
We repaired a feeder that the deer are determined to tear up in Martin's pasture and checked on the G11 Eagle nest. We finally saw a wing flop around in the nest and confirmed it is active. Eagle watch is so much fun.
Friday, we worked in the visitor center with Jeff. I pretty much worked on orders for the bookstore while Lauren did odd and end stuff. We had 9 cranes fly over around 7:30 am this morning heading toward the North Gautier Unit. Five of them showed up later and enjoyed the fresh food and water that Lauren refilled today.
On a very happy note, the 2023 Wild Crane Population Report came out today. The crane count is 161, up from the 150 of last year!!
On a happy, but sad note, it seems that Coconut has found a mate and moved from North Gautier to Ocean Springs.
We had an enjoyable crane tour Saturday morning seeing 10 sandhill cranes and a few other critters.
We had Purple Finches join the many other birds under the feeder today.
The Dusky Gopher Tadpoles in the aquarium are really growing. They have doubled in size since last week.
