SCW May-June 2024

Carolina

South Wildlife

The South Carolina Department of Natural Resources’ mission is to serve as the principal advocate for and steward of South Carolina’s natural resources

SCDNR website: www.dnr.sc.gov

Henry McMaster, Governor of South Carolina

S.C. DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES BOARD

Dr. Mark F. Hartley

First Congressional District; Mount Pleasant

Michael E. Hutchins, Vice Chairman

Second Congressional District; Lexington

Jake Rasor Jr.

Third Congressional District; Clinton

Norman F. Pulliam, Chairman

Fourth Congressionval District; Spartanburg

James Carlisle Oxner III

Fifth Congressional District; Union

Duane M. Swygert

Sixth Congressional District; Hardeeville

Jerry A. Lee

Seventh Congressional District; Johnsonville

S.C. DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES

Robert H. Boyles Jr. Director

Shannon Furr Bobertz, Esq.

Chief of Staff

Deputy Directors

Col. Chisolm Frampton

Law Enforcement Division

Emily Cope

Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries Division

Ken Rentiers

Land, Water and Conservation Division

Blaik Keppler

Marine Resources Division

MAGAZINE STAFF

Joey Frazier, Executive Editor

Cindy Thompson, Editor

Kathryn Badal Diaz, Art Director

Phillip Jones, Photographer Emeritus

Equal opportunity to participate in and benefit from the programs and activities of the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources is available to all individuals regardless of age, race, religion, color, sex, national origin, disability, sexual orientation, status as a parent and protected genetic information. Please direct any questions to the SCDNR Office of Human Resources, P.O. Box 167, Columbia, SC 29202, (803) 734-4400, or the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Office of Diversity and Civil Rights, 1875 Century Boulevard, NE, Atlanta, GA 30345, (404) 679-7080/7148.

South Carolina Wildlife (ISSN 0038-3198) is published bimonthly by the Office of Media and Outreach of the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, 1000 Assembly Street, Rembert C. Dennis Building, Columbia, SC 29201. May-June 2024, Vol. 71, No. 3. Copyright © 2024 by the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources. No part of the contents of this magazine may be reproduced by any means without the consent of South Carolina Wildlife. Manuscripts or photographs may be submitted to The Editor, South Carolina Wildlife, P.O. Box 167, Columbia, SC 29202-0167, accompanied by self-addressed envelopes and return postage. The publisher assumes no responsibility for unsolicited material. Subscription rate is $18 per year; Canada and foreign rate $24. Canceled subscriptions will not be refunded. Preferred periodicals postage paid at Columbia, SC, and additional mailing offices. Circulation: 1-800-678-7227; Editorial: (803) 734-3967; Website: www.scwildlife.com.

POSTMASTER: Send address changes and inquiries to South Carolina Wildlife, Circulation Department, P.O. Box 167, Columbia, SC 29202-0167.

DIRECTIONS

“ANYONE WHO THINKS THEY’RE TOO SMALL TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE HAS NEVER MET THE HONEYBEE.” — ANONYMOUS

As we are going to press South Carolina is greening up. Days are growing noticeably lengthier, inviting us to linger longer outside to enjoy the bigger hours with our friends and neighbors. The trees in the woods are bursting with new growth, and the bright green of live oaks offers a striking contrast against a bright, cloudless, brilliantly sunlit sky. Though I often rhapsodize on the finer points of a South Carolina fall, springtime in the Palmetto State has its own intoxicating qualities. I think most turkey hunters know this intuitively — there is nothing quite like watching the spring turkey woods wake up with the rising sun.

Pollinators — those inhabitants of the animal kingdom that ensure healthy plant reproduction by moving pollen from male to female flowering plants — are also on the move, and this brings to mind my experiences and life lessons learned from the natural world. Almost a decade ago, and with the help of an encouraging friend, I became a beekeeper. Chris offered me a no-risk proposition: he would assemble everything I needed and help me to set up a couple of beehives in my yard. I was to try it for a month or so and, if I liked it, I would pay him for the supplies that he purchased on my behalf. If I found it to be too daunting or too much for my family and me, he would come retrieve the hives and take them away — no questions asked.

How could I say “no” to such an arrangement that would allow me to explore a long-lost fascination borne from when the Boy Scouts of America offered a Beekeeping Merit Badge? Thanks to Chris’ support, I soon became hooked, and I tried to pay his kindness forward with a similar arrangement with other friends.

In the ensuing years I’ve learned a lot of valuable lessons from the bees: do accept help from encouraging well-wishers; don’t be too intrusive; do provide what you can to those who need it; don’t mess with the queen; do be kind (but not too kind) to strangers. And one of my favorites that I shared more than once with my then-adolescent boys: don’t be a drone (a male bee that has basically two functions in the life of a hive: to eat, and to breed the queen bee). Alas, I am not a very successful beekeeper, as I have lost more bee colonies than I have been able to keep. Further, I am keenly aware that the Italian honeybees under my care are not native to our state or even our nation; though the honeybee seems to get most of the attention, we have a myriad of pollinator species that have long called South Carolina home and are key to keeping our landscapes, our farms, forests, and backyards healthy, productive, and beautiful.

In honor of the splendor of a South Carolina spring, this edition of South Carolina Wildlife includes a number of on-theme features, including garden bugs and backyard pollinators, fishing the mayfly hatch and fly-fishing the lower Saluda River for stripers. “Conservation is a team sport,” I often say, and successful stewardship requires the work of many hands. Nowhere is this more evident than in the honey hive: in the course of her lifetime, a worker bee will produce a fraction of a teaspoon of honey, and one pound of honey will require workers from a single hive to fly tens of thousands of miles. As we continue to work to ensure South Carolina remains a healthy and productive place to live, work and play, consider the daunting tasks faced by a single honeybee, and be encouraged by the sweet work that can be accomplished by motivated individuals working together.

— Robert H. Boyles Jr., Director South Carolina Department of Natural Resources

The Magic of a Garden by Nancy

Lee

Pollinators are abuzz as gardens blossom during spring and summer.

A Keystone in the Sandhills by Andrew Grosse and Cindy Thompson

Restored pine savannas in the coastal plain help boost gopher tortoise populations in the Southeast.

Swan Lake by Melanie Griffin

Sumter's iris gardens continue to delight visitors with splashes of color every spring.

The Mighty Mayfly by Terry Madewell

Mayflies arise in vast numbers, providing crucial support to entire ecosystems and a memorable moment for three generations of anglers.

Birding at Beidler Forest by Don and Joanne Wuori

A walk through Francis Beidler Forest offers lessons in natural and cultural history.

Capital City Stripers by Mike Watts

Moths by Parker Gibbons

More than four hundred species of moths are found in South Carolina, and some may visit your backyard. 42

Draper WMA attracts wildlife as well as photographers and artists. 38

There's more than one way to catch a river striper, but the best way is on the fly.

Summer Blooms by Phillip Jones

With Eyes and Ears Wide Open by Clint

Keels

Seeking adventure and relief from summer heat, two friends raft the Tyger River.

The South Carolina Wildlife July-August 2024 edition explores avenues and efforts to protect or restore land in South Carolina.

The front cover photo, by Don Wuori, features prothonotary warblers. The back cover photo, by Nancy Lee, features a dragonfly.

The Magic of a

G arden

POLLINATORS ARE ABUZZ AS GARDENS

BLOSSOM DURING SPRING AND EARLY SUMMER.

TEXT AND PHOTOS BY NANCY LEE

Lured by the colors, scents, food and shelter of a flowering plant, an assortment of visitors arrive one by one. They may be brightly colored, feathered, winged or wingless, four-legged, legless, large-eyed, small-eyed, hairy or just downright strange-looking. They may creep, crawl, jump or fly, but no matter how beautiful or bizarre they may look, they all play a major role in a garden.

The size of the garden is not as important as choosing the right plants to entice those beautiful butterflies, bees, hummingbirds and even moths. The space can be as small as a few containers, a few square feet or as large as your imagination and space permits. Time spent doing a bit of research at a local garden center or even learning online will be invaluable in selecting plants, preferably native to South Carolina, that will thrive in your area. With a little bit of patience and planning, these plants will provide food for countless pollinators and other wildlife that find their way to the garden. The pollinators depend on flowers to provide them with energy, and the flowers, in turn, depend on the pollinators to reproduce. It’s a perfect match! Bees, beetles, butterflies, moths, hummingbirds and yes, even flies and mosquitoes all are considered pollinators. And where the insects are, so might there be lizards, salamanders, toads and frogs that feed on insects. The beautiful yellow and black “writing” spiders and golden orb weaver spiders — weaving intricate webs that actually look like spun gold — will help manage mosquitoes and other insects, too.

ABOVE, ZEBRA SWALLOWTAIL ON LANTANA. Clockwise from top left on page 7: black swallowtail caterpillar, writing spider, tussock moth caterpillar, grasshopper and snail.

Perennials often are considered the backbone of a flower garden. These are the plants that die back in the winter, only to return year after year. They may multiply by seeds or spread by runners, or they may be purchased from garden centers or home improvement centers mainly during the spring, summer and fall growing seasons. Most perennials have a specific blooming season, but a few will provide blooms all summer long. Among the favorites of the butterflies, moths, bees and hummingbirds are cone flower, bee balm, phlox (Bright Eyes phlox being a favorite for the hummingbirds, butterflies and moths), ginger lilies, salvias (Black and Blue salvia is a favorite of the bees and hummingbirds), hosta, aster, million bells, yarrow and many more.

Annuals are plants that grow, flower and seed in one season and only live for one year. They are easily grown from seed, such as morning glory, zinnia, moonflower, cosmos, sunflowers, larkspur and cleome. Some may reseed and come back or “volunteer” the following year. A few parsley plants, dill or fennel are a must if you wish to offer host plants for the black swallowtail butterflies to lay their eggs. Their caterpillars are tiny and mostly black to begin with, but once they start munching away, they quickly grow and change to green with a black and yellow stripe. They are all hungry caterpillars for sure, munching until there is nothing left. However, parsley and fennel plants will usually recover. If you want to see monarchs in the garden, their favorite nectar plant is common milkweed. It also is the only plant they will lay their eggs on. Monarch caterpillars are yellow, black and white-striped and usually devour the entire plant, including flowers, stems and leaves. This plant also may grow back. These are just a few flower and plant suggestions to offer all those wonderful creatures that are just waiting to share your garden space.

(OPPOSITE) AROMATIC BLACK AND BLUE SALVIA ATTRACTS HUMMINGBIRDS AND MANY POLLINATING INSECTS. The life cycle of a monarch butterfly includes four stages. During the pupa stage, a chrysalis is formed as the monarch morphs into a butterfly. Above, Eastern tiger swallowtails, a green anole and different types of bees stop by to visit Nancy Lee's garden.

FLOWERING PLANTS, GRASSES AND TREES PROVIDE FOOD AND SHELTER FOR THIS MONARCH BUTTERFLY, PRAYING MANTIS, MONARCH CATERPILLAR, HALLOWEEN PENNANT DRAGONFLY AND BOX TURTLE. Recent studies encourage planting common milkweed, Asclepias syriaca — larval host plant for monarchs.

It is said that patience is a virtue. Gardening does take time and patience, but when the plants have matured and flowers begin to explode in an array of colors and fragrances, the work and the wait will be forgotten as the magic begins. The pollinators may come slowly at first, appearing as their favorite food sources begin to bloom — a hummingbird here, a butterfly there. You may even find yourself checking each day to see if a new plant is blooming and which familiar insects or creatures are still around, not to mention the delight of finding a newcomer to the garden. The small ecosystem that you created will continue to grow and evolve over the summer, and the characters that give life to the garden may become old friends throughout the growing season. Regardless of how large or small your garden may be, the efforts that go into creating a habitat that is beneficial for insects, plants and animals will not go unrewarded. Not only will you enjoy the satisfaction of knowing you are offering a helping hand to the natural world, you may discover the true magic of gardening.

Master Gardener Nancy Lee has been gardening for more than forty years and is a regular contributor to South Carolina Wildlife magazine.

a keystone in the

RESTORED PINE SAVANNAS IN THE COASTAL PLAIN HELP BOOST

GOPHER TORTOISE POPULATIONS IN THE SOUTHEAST.

TEXT BY CINDY THOMPSON PHOTOS BY ANDREW BUSBEE

sandhills

straight as arrows, stretching up toward the sky, scattered stands of longleaf pines anchor open grassy savannas. This is a place where salty ocean waters once lapped against the land, a long, long time ago. Wild-growing berries, carnivorous plants, wiregrass, low-growing shrubs, cacti and fruit-bearing trees blanket the porous ground today, offering cover and food for countless wildlife species.

What did this region look like “way back when,” or even just a few hundred years ago? Flip through the writings and illustrations of early explorers and native peoples to envision unfettered pine savanna landscapes, shaped by periodic fire that nourished the soil and created early successional habitats. Through hand-written stories, illustrations and paintings, along with ongoing studies, we have generated a long list of native wildlife species that depend on this type of coastal plain environment. Documented over time, yet diminishing in numbers, vast arrays of species are adept to thrive in an environment such as this, including bear, deer, bison, wolves, bobcats, foxes, lizards, snakes, salamanders, toads, frogs, tortoises, turtles, landbirds, wading birds, pollinating insects and many other animals. So, what must it have been like to walk through a pine savanna hundreds of years ago?

During the early 1770s (circa 1773), pioneering naturalist William Bartram traveled through the “sand hills” of the Southeastern coastal plain. Illustrating and writing down descriptions of native flora and fauna during a segment of his trek through Georgia, Bartram penned these words: “The dens, or caverns, dug in the sand hills, by the great landtortoise, called here Gopher, Testudo Polyphaemus, present a very singular appearance; these vast caves are their castles and diurnal retreats, from whence they issue forth in the night, in search of prey. The little mounds, or hillocks of fresh earth, thrown up in great numbers in the night, have also a curious appearance.” (Read full accounts of these explorations in Bartram’s book, Travels through North and South Carolina, Georgia, East and West Florida.)

Bartram’s descriptions of numerous gopher tortoises thriving across the landscape in their preferred natural habitat underscores the importance of southeastern pine savanna ecosystems. And based on a collection of documented records, it can be surmised that this terrestrial species once occurred throughout the southeastern portion of South Carolina.

Over the course of recent decades, pine savanna ecosystems have been altered or lost across the Southeast due to competing uses of land. In turn, native ecosystems and natural corridors have vanished; therefore, the diversity of native flora and fauna is dwindling. Gopher tortoise populations have plummeted since the 1700s but remain present from eastern Louisiana to Florida and in sections of South Carolina’s coastal plain. To thwart further loss of the gopher tortoise, this species is protected by every state in its range.

slow and steady wins the Race.

Fabled stories remind us that although the tortoise isn’t the fastest of all the critters, its tenacity cannot be undermined, as Bartram pointed out in his descriptions of gopher tortoise activity in the sandhills: “hillocks of fresh earth, thrown up in great numbers in the night.” The tortoise proves to all of us that slow and steady can win the race! Their hillocks and tunnels are of great importance across the coastal plain. The stumpy yet sturdy and strong design of the gopher tortoise is ideal for digging underground caverns, and countless other plant and animal species benefit from its tunnel-making skill. As the tortoise disturbs the soil, native plants multiply and insects surface — providing sustenance to land birds, including wild turkey and quail, as well as mammals, amphibians and fellow reptiles. Extensive underground burrows methodically dug by this land-dwelling species provide shelter to hundreds of living creatures. Hence, this homebuilder is listed as a critical species to protect — it is essential to the structure of its ecosystem, a keystone species.

BRinging Back BiodiveRsity

SCDNR’s Aiken Gopher Tortoise Heritage Preserve is managed by Wildlife Biologist Hunter Young, who works daily with forestry and wildlife professionals and nearby landowners to restore native longleaf pine savannas in the region. The picturesque savannas found here look much like the landscapes William Bartram described in his book.

According to Young, “The continued use of prescribed fire on a two-to-three-

year burn interval has continued to help mold the property into a longleaf savanna. The goal of mimicking natural disturbance by using growing season fires has allowed ground forbs and grasses to flourish across those upland pine stands. Staff have not only used prescribed fire as a key management tool, but also the use of herbicide treatments for areas of heavy hardwood midstory growth, as well as the use of mechanical treatments such as mulching and large-scale timber thinning operations.”

The land management practices implemented at Aiken Gopher Tortoise Heritage Preserve are transforming the forest and returning habitats preferred by native species such as the gopher tortoise that Bartram vividly described. Pine savannas and gopher tortoises, paired together, result in greater biodiversity.

“The properly timed use of all these

land management methods have created an ecosystem where gopher tortoises and many other native fauna and flora species can thrive,” Hunter adds.

conseRvation coRRidoRs

Managing wildlife management areas and heritage preserves and surrounding natural corridors involves teamwork and a whole lot of collaboration. Public lands and adjacent private lands are all pathways for native species, as wildlife require corridors to navigate and grow in healthy numbers. Multiple agencies, conservation groups, universities and volunteers may partner to assist in land restoration efforts — and because the gopher tortoise benefits many other species, partnerships are far-reaching. During the fall of 2023, SCDNR Wildlife Biologist and State Herpetologist Andrew Grosse notified agency staff that a group of gopher

THIS GRASSY AREA at Aiken Gopher Tortoise Heritage Preserve is penned temporarily as gopher tortoises adapt to their new home range. SCDNR Wildlife Biologist Hunter Young (top right) manages the preserve and works with SCDNR State Herpetologist Andrew Grosse and the Savannah River Ecology Lab (bottom) to establish gopher tortoises in restored pine savannas.

tortoises would soon be relocated and released at Aiken Gopher Tortoise Heritage Preserve, one of the state’s premier sandhills forests. The process of establishing tortoises in a new “home range” is not an overnight process, as Grosse explains [see page 16].

The tortoises are fed and monitored, the release site is prepped, and the date is set. On a crisp autumn morning, South Carolina Wildlife and agency photographers meet with Grosse, Young and partnering groups at Aiken Gopher Tortoise Heritage Preserve, ready to document and assist. Upon our arrival, the savannas are glistening in the morning sun.

Years of work rebuilding signature Carolina ecosystems and establishing gopher tortoise populations across the sandhills will certainly be heralded in the archives of history. Glimmering success can be seen today in Aiken and Jasper counties, and other Southern savannas.

Cindy Thompson is editor of South Carolina Wildlife magazine.

the long Road home

RESTORING

GOPHER TORTOISES IN THE SANDHILLS

TEXT BY ANDREW GROSSE

when Aiken Gopher Tortoise Heritage Preserve was originally purchased by SCDNR in the mid-2000s, there were only eight adult gopher tortoises on-site. Given the relatively small number of gopher tortoises in South Carolina and how isolated this property is from other tortoise populations, the decision was made to use waif tortoises — tortoises whose place of origin is unknown — to rebuild this population. Gopher tortoises grow slowly, taking ten to twenty years to reach maturity, and may live to be fifty years old or older. Because of their slow rate of growth and limited reproduction,

this species can take decades to recover from population declines or, in this case, to build a population. From the onset, it was clear that the success of this project hinged on the long-term commitment of SCDNR staff and collaborators.

One such collaborator, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission, has supplied Aiken with waif tortoises for years. Through this collaboration, trips are coordinated each year to pick up and transport available waif tortoises back to South Carolina to augment the Aiken population. Additionally, tortoises found in seventeen other states have been added to the Aiken population,

twelve of which are outside of their native range. Once new tortoises are transported by our staff to South Carolina, they are held in captivity for a short time to evaluate their health and collect important data. During that time, new waifs are provided with food and water, given a quick health examination, measured, and marked permanently to identify individuals. After this short “quarantine and examination period” new waif tortoises are ready to be released, however, after traveling several hundred miles to a new location, they cannot simply be released and expected to stay. In fact, research by long-time collaborators at the University of Georgia’s

PHOTOS BY CINDY THOMPSON AND ANDREW BUSBEE

Savannah River Ecology Lab — Tracey Tuberville and Kurt Buhlmann — showed that releasing individuals into an unfamiliar landscape frequently results in tortoises wandering long distances, often offsite, in search of their “home.”

Alternatively, releasing individuals into a large pen and preventing them from leaving for at least twelve months, significantly increased the likelihood that an individual remained in the surrounding habitat. As a result, at least once each year, SCDNR staff as well as volunteers and collaborators, meet onsite and construct a 2.5-acre pen in preparation for the next tortoise translocation. Additionally, several “starter burrows” — the first two to three feet of a burrow — are hand dug within the pen to provide immediate shelter. Once the tortoises are released, they choose the starter burrow they like best and excavate it further. SCDNR staff and collaborators check on the pen and tortoises periodically over the next twelve months while tortoises adjust to their new home. After twelve months, the pen is removed, and the tortoises are free to roam the preserve and interact with the current population.

Since gopher tortoises spend a lot of time in their burrows and are distributed across the property, it’s difficult to know exactly how many are surviving on the property at any given time. However, from 2017 to 2018, a project began to determine the status of the tortoise translocation efforts at the Aiken Gopher Tortoise Preserve. The results showed that greater than 75 percent of the

gopher tortoises on site were captured within four hundred meters of the pen where they were originally released. This included tortoises that were moved to the property and penned more than ten years prior. Additionally, survivorship of adults was between 90 and 95 percent, similar to naturally occurring populations. After almost twenty years, this population has gone from the original eight adult tortoises to around 180.

In addition to adults, successful reproduction is also occurring onsite. For turtles and tortoises, nests, eggs and hatchlings are incredibly vulnerable to predation and survival rates are incredibly low. To offset that low survivorship and increase the odds for survival, our collaborators have been headstarting hatchling gopher tortoises for several years. Headstarting is simply the process of taking hatchling gopher tortoises, which

are extremely vulnerable to predation, and growing them in captivity for an amount of time that bypasses their most vulnerable time-period. For gopher tortoises at Aiken, that is typically one year but sometime as long as two. In that timeperiod individuals grow to the size of a wild four-to-five-year-old gopher tortoise and are able to strengthen their shells providing more protection from predators. Overall, several hundred headstarted gopher tortoises have been added to the preserve through this process.

While two decades may seem like a long time to many, in the eyes of a gopher tortoise, it’s just a snapshot. Nevertheless, the past and continued success of this project is due to the dedicated SCDNR staff as well as the multitude of dedicated collaborators and volunteers. Over recent decades, SCDNR has collaborated with the University of Georgia’s Savannah River Ecology Lab, Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission, Longleaf Alliance, Riverbanks Zoo and many others to recover and enhance the tortoise population at the Aiken Gopher Tortoise Heritage Preserve.

SCDNR Wildlife Biologist Andrew Grosse serves as State Herpetologist and collaborates with many states and organizations to restore native ecosystems and species.To assist in efforts to restore and connect longleaf pine savanna ecosystems, visit dnr. sc.gov or srel.uga.edu or scfc.gov.

SCDNR STATE HERPETOLOGIST ANDREW GROSSE works alongside colleagues Tracey Tuberville and Kurt Buhlmann of the Savannah River Ecology Lab to prepare starter burrows for relocated “waif” tortoises at Aiken Gopher Tortoise Heritage Preserve.

Mississippi Kite

Ictinia mississippiensis

During South Carolina summers you may hear a distinctive, two-note whistle coming from above the treetops. First, a quick high note, followed by a lower one that descends and trails off. KEE tweuuuuu. KEE tweuuuuu. Many times, you may not see the songster, but if you are patient and scan the skies, you might be fortunate enough to see a Mississippi kite.

From May through August, these unique birds are found across our state, most often a short distance from water. The adults are gray and black, their heads being so light as to seem nearly white. They are very small compared to other raptors.

Sometimes Mississippi kites travel alone, swiftly gliding in large circles. Other times they gather in mass to feed on flying insects. From a bare-limbed tree, they will prey on frogs and lizards.

In preparation for their migration south, Mississippi kites congregate over open pastures to fill up on June bugs, cicadas, and dragonflies. Often joined by Swallow-tailed kites, their swooping, twisting, and diving acrobatics make for a thrilling sight. Watch for them this summer. Or, just listen for that KEE tweuuuuu.

Comparison of visually similar birds in flight. Drawn to scale.

Mississippi Kite wing span 36”

Osprey wing span 66”

Bald Eagle wing span 80”

SOUTH CAROLINA DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES