Long Vistas

Sunday afternoon, Lisa and I rode down to the Grand Bay Estuarine and Wildlife Refuge. Hardly anyone lives there anymore as most got wiped out by Hurricane Katrina. Only two houses were down by the boat dock, but the center had a nice, new building.

It's a seeming desolate place of long vistas... like the train tracks.


And the road seems deserted.... but there's loads of wildlife here..we didn't see them, but we saw tracks. Sound carries a long way in here and there's plenty of time for critters to move to a safe place.

The wildflowers - sunflowers and goldenrod, plus other small bloom bushes were attracting plenty of bees and butterflies.


Even the boat ramp area seemed deserted except for us, one truck and trailer and one guy who showed up with a kayak and went off to the south. Only a few mullet were jumping on this placid bayou.


The woodpeckers were out in force too... no doubt because of all the dead snags to build nest cavities.This lonesome yaupon bush near the water's edge must surely attract it's share of bird life.....

Looking south across the marsh towards the Mississippi sound...

We hiked up a birding trail and came upon this very twisted pine tree with a vine growing on it. Makes you wonder how this happened.

A Gulf Fritillary pauses along the trail.

Plenty of bees buzzing around the goldenrod.

A bit of drama - a wasp and a Monarch butterfly square off over a bit of goldenrod.