Star Party
We had an amazing Star Party on December 13, coinciding with the Geminid Meteor shower! We had a total of 405 guests (the most we’ve ever had, outdoing the previous high of 338 guests in 2016), 15 volunteers (from Sandhill Crane Wildlife Refuge, Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College, University of South Alabama, and the Walter Anderson Museum of Art), and 78.5 volunteer hours. Some of the owl walk participants got to hear 2 screech owls from the boardwalk that night, which is the first time we’ve heard them in awhile. This annual celebration, with the building lit up with fairy lights, the soup and hot chocolate, cookie decorating, pictures with Santa, games, crafting room, space room, hayrides to the dock to see the stars and walks on the boardwalk to listen for owls, has us and our visitors looking forward to it all year long! If you missed it this year, save the date for next year!
Figure 1. View of the stars. Photo by J. Patel.
The skies were clear and beautiful! Since they had a really clear view of the sky for most of the night, they were able to see constellations like Orion and Gemini, the planet Jupiter and at least 10 really good meteors.
Jeneil Patel won our annual Ugly Sweater Contest, with his ghastly “67” Christmas light DIY sweater!
Figure 2. Jeneil in his winning UGLY sweater. Photo by B. Andrews.
Sandhill Cranes!
A much anticipated milestone occurred here in December, with the release of 13 endangered Mississippi sandhill cranes! We are thrilled to have been a part of this multiple partner effort and thrilled to see cranes flying and foraging around the Grand Bay NERR and Wildlife Refuge! Keep an eye out for them around the NERR!
Figure 3. Cranes flying over the NERR Resource Center at sunset. Photo by E. Moore.
Figure 4. MS sandhill crane walking in the NERR. Photo by R. Lipscomb.
For more information, make sure to check out the Wildlife Refuge post here and better yet, follow them on their socials for more updates: https://www.facebook.com/MSSandhillCraneNWR
Tobi's Tank Upgrade
Figure 5. Andrew observing Tobi in her new tank environs. Photo by E. Carstens/S. Bilbo.
Tobi, our diamond-back terrapin mascot, got a tank upgrade in December! She loves her new rocks, basking platform and sailfin molly companions. Sailfin mollies were added to both eat algae and keep Tobi curious. Turtles are very curious animals and so having fish in the tank provides Tobi with some enrichment, but they are too fast to be caught and eaten! Make sure to come visit and say hello to Tobi while you’re here. She’s very curious about visitors and will often follow you around (her tank), if not just with her eyes.
Figure 6. Tobi giving us the ‘eye’. Photo by S. Burhorn.
Figure 7. Tobi resting. Photo by E. Moore.
And last, but not least, for our SWMP Update – the Point aux Chenes sonde station has been down most of the year because the old protective sonde-tube/housing kept breaking most likely due to wave action. Since this station is not telemetered (meaning it doesn’t send data via satellite connection and must be downloaded manually), you may not have noticed yet. On December 11 our intrepid SWMP Team and support crew installed a new sturdier tube that will hopefully last a good while. This is one example of how much effort and manpower it takes to keep long-term monitoring stations up and running – it’s not as simple as putting a sonde out in the water and sitting back while it sends us all the data (not by a long shot!). So, Happy New Year to our Point aux Chenes SWMP Station!
Figure 8. J. McIlwain once again helps save the day with SWMP station maintenance! He reinstalled the new sonde tube at Point aux Chenes. Photo by C. Porter.