SCW March - April

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. March-April 2024, Vol. 71, No. 2. 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

“I’VE LEARNED THAT PEOPLE WILL FORGET WHAT YOU SAID, PEOPLE WILL FORGET WHAT YOU DID, BUT PEOPLE WILL NEVER FORGET HOW YOU MADE THEM FEEL.”

— MAYA ANGELOU

Who is in your life’s “hall of fame?” I have found some great conversation in one of my favorite “icebreaker” questions. For those willing to engage, the question elicits a warm, indepth description of the people who have been so instrumental in shaping a life. As we move towards the spring and the change of seasons, the anticipation (if not promise) of warmer and sunnier days, and of new adventures afield and afloat, I am struck by the power of personal connections with people and places that have meant a lot to me throughout my life. I think of cool mornings spent with my now-grown sons in the turkey woods in pursuit of a distracted gobbler, and of lazy afternoons spent bankside in search of a gullible panfish or largemouth bass with a long-ago friend. I think of the special people and places that mean so much to me and which have shaped the person I have become. I suspect that each of us could construct a “Hall of Fame” that includes favorite people and places that lent texture, depth and contour to our lives.

We are barreling towards spring and this, the second installment of the 70th year of South Carolina Wildlife, includes a number of stories that highlight some very special South Carolinians who have made an indelible mark, each in their own way, in the world of natural resources stewardship. Each of these stalwarts of conservation worked industriously, tirelessly, and convincingly, to leave their mark on the South Carolina landscape and on the hearts of many. And each of these giants no doubt spoke many a convincing, if not profound, word as they encouraged us to do our part to make South Carolina a better place to live, work and play. I have a strong hunch that these South Carolinians found inspiration from their own circle of friends and family, and that they, too, found meaning and value in giving of themselves and making those around them feel good about doing the hard work of conservation.

This month we are happy to feature a profile of the Mancke Brothers — Rudy and Tom — seminal conservationists who have embraced the natural world and have demonstrated a life-long passion for sharing their knowledge and enthusiasm with others. We also highlight the work of the late Harry Hampton, his unbridled commitment to conservation and how he continues to spread the gospel of stewardship through his namesake foundation. We also visit with Dr. Whit Gibbons and his Salleyland property, where he is carefully restoring and enhancing wildlife habitat for the generations to come.

No doubt each of these stalwart conservationists and outdoorsmen have left their mark on many South Carolinians. As you read this issue of South Carolina Wildlife, let me encourage you to add to the great work outlined here. Consider inviting someone to come along next time you venture afield. Challenge a young person to join you as you scout for turkeys in the coming weeks — they may surprise you with their enthusiasm for joining you for an earlyhour outing, or invite an old friend who hasn’t fished in years — they may delight you with stories of their own exploits on the water from days gone by. I’ve long said “conservation is a team sport,” and who says halls of fame are reserved exclusively for spectator sports?

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

Where Have All the Birds Gone? by

Pete Laurie

In the past fifty years many of the state‘s once common species of birds have now all but vanished.

A Tale of Two Naturalists by Joey

Frazier

Brothers and lifelong conservationists Rudy Mancke and Tom Mancke win the hearts of countless Sandlappers as Naturalists-in-Residence.

Taking Notes from Nature's Design by Cindy

Thompson

A journey through the woods and waters of Salleyland.

The Importance of Turtles by Cindy

Thompson

Working together to help safeguard native turtles and healthy ecosystems in South Carolina.

SC7: Charting a Path Forward by Cindy

Thompson

Annual treks across the Palmetto State spotlight seven wonders and spark new collaborations.

Fishing With a Moose by Jim Mize

Maybe it would be good to have a fishing dog, or a Moose!

Catch a Thrill by Joey Frazier

Members of the Lake Murray Seniors Bass Club share a day on the lake with a group of inspiring kids.

Conway's Horry County Museum by David Lucas

Take a walk back in time through this museum and living farm.

COMING IN MAY-JUNE 2024

The South Carolina Wildlife May-June 2024 edition takes flight into the great outdoors, spotlighting prothonotary warblers, mayflies and pollinating garden insects.

ON THE COVERS

Alligator Aware by Greg Lucas

When in alligator country, especially near water, use caution and be aware of your surroundings.

The front cover photo, by Joey Frazier,

by

Where Have All the Birds Gone?

IN THE PAST FIFTY YEARS MANY OF THE STATE’S ONCE COMMON SPECIES OF BIRDS HAVE NOW ALL BUT VANISHED.

TEXT BY PETE LAURIE

PHOTOS BY DON AND JOANNE WUORI

WHITE-THROATED SPARROW

Late in the afternoon, on a recent Christmas Bird Count, our field party spotted a flock of nine white-throated sparrows on a causeway that spanned a Colleton County wooded swamp. I had seen only two whitethroats over the past five years of Christmas Counts on the South Carolina coast.

This once common winter bird has now all but disappeared. Fifty years ago, I could coax a few of these easy-going birds out of any winter brush pile or overgrown hedgerow. Not today. I once marked the seasons with journal notes that included mention of the arrival and departure of this species: “first white-throat of the season”

(November 16, 1975); and “white-throats still here” (April 22, 1976). Today, I can go an entire winter and not see a single whitethroated sparrow.

In my fifty-plus years of birdwatching on the South Carolina coast I have seen a disturbing decline in many species of birds, especially songbirds, a decline documented by other birdwatchers and researchers across North America. Scientists have documented the loss of nearly three billion birds, almost a third of the total bird population of the continent, in just the last fifty years. The causes of this decline include loss of habitat to development, clean farming that leaves no weed seeds

and little cover, overuse of pesticides, and a warming climate that has altered bird migration patterns, and the ranges of native plants and insects on which birds feed.

And not just winter songbirds have declined in South Carolina, but spring migrants as well. Last April on the broad dike called Fishburne Bank at Donnelley Wildlife Management Area (WMA) in Colleton County, I heard a high-pitched buzzy song that I remembered vaguely as a parula warbler, a once common spring migrant in that area, but one I had not heard in years. The brief song seemed to emanate from the live oak limbs directly above me.

PINE WARBLER

I soon saw the active little bird with its bright yellow throat. It paused, tilted its head back slightly and opened its beak as I heard it sing again. Then a second parula suddenly appeared, carrying something in its beak. It flitted to the top of a dense clump of Spanish moss that hung from an oak limb, and abruptly dove into the clump, disappearing for a few seconds. It then popped back into view, its beak now empty.

Obviously, this pair of parulas had a nest in the Spanish moss, a favorite nesting place. Decades ago, I would have barely taken note of this episode. In those long-ago days on most mid-spring mornings, I would have seen and heard a dozen or more parulas. But like so many songbirds, parulas have experienced a drastic decline. These tropical migrants winter in Central and South America where they have lost habitat to

rainforest destruction as have many other tropical birds that nest in North America. Folks who started birdwatching just twenty or thirty years ago, let alone ten years ago, may not notice the drastic decline in songbirds here in the Southeast or elsewhere across the country. But those of us old enough can remember the cacophony of bird song that greeted a spring sunrise in places such as I’On Swamp in northern

COMMON YELLOWTHROAT WARBLER

HOODED WARBLER

PRAIRIE WARBLER

BLACK-THROATED GREEN WARBLER

Charleston County. On such mornings a bewildering overlay of songs and calls from local resident birds such as cardinals, Carolina wrens and tufted titmice mixed with the incessantly repeated songs of migrating warblers including black-throated green, yellow-throated, pine, prairie, hooded, Swainson’s and worm-eating, plus other species such as white-eyed and red-eyed vireos made it impossible to carry on a conversation. Such magical places now have fallen all but silent on spring mornings. Rachel Carson’s “silent spring” as she described in her famous book has now arrived, thanks not just to overuse of pesticides as she predicted in the early 1960s, but to the accumulation of a variety of factors, primarily loss of habitat.

Grassland birds have especially suffered from habitat loss as residential development has cut into agricultural land. Large flocks of meadow larks, once a staple of winter

birdlife along the South Carolina coast, have now become an uncommon sight. Another common winter field bird, often traveling in large flocks, the redwinged blackbird, has also become much less common. Field sparrows with their distinctive pink bills, used to occasionally visit my bird feeders. I have not seen a field sparrow now in at least twenty-five years. And the proliferation of imported fire ants has taken a toll on ground nesting birds in the Southeast, such as bobwhite quail and the Eastern towhee.

On a somewhat more positive note, a few avian species have increased their populations along the South Carolina coast. Ospreys and especially bald eagles have made a comeback from the egg-thinning days brought on by the abuse of DDT and other pesticides. Relocation efforts have established new colonies of endangered red-cockaded woodpeckers. House finches,

formerly a western species, have expanded their range eastward in recent decades and now occupy all of South Carolina.

Once rare or locally unheard-of birds such as wood storks, white pelicans, roseate spoonbills, avocets and black-bellied whistling ducks now winter or even nest along our coast. But this change reflects range expansions rather than population increases. As these birds have lost wetland habitat in Florida and along the Gulf Coast, or on the Great Plains, they have moved to South Carolina where areas such as the ACE Basin provide suitable wetland habitats now lost on their historic ranges.

Such changes in migration patterns can mask population declines for certain species. Last fall on an early October morning I saw a now uncommon sharpshinned hawk, probably an adult male. Watching its characteristic flight of several

BALD EAGLE

flaps and a brief glide, I remembered a similar October morning when I counted almost five hundred sharpshins in an hour as they migrated high above Charleston Harbor. But that occurred forty years ago. Today, fewer sharpshins migrate as far south as Charleston, finding plenty of the songbirds they prey upon staying farther north in New England and the midAtlantic states.

So, the few sharpshins we now see in the Southeast may not reflect a decline in this once common winter resident as much as it reflects a lack of incentive to fly this far south in the fall. Either way, we have lost an interesting part of the area’s avifauna.

Since researchers have seen only mild declines in white-throated sparrow population, perhaps they too, like sharpshinned hawks, have simply changed their migration pattern as a warming temperature has allowed them to winter farther north of South Carolina. Yellow-rumped warblers years ago roamed the South Carolina Lowcountry during the winter in large, loosely organized flocks. In more recent years I now see much smaller flocks and more infrequently. While still considered one of the most abundant and widespread warblers in North America, yellow rumps now, too, seem to spend winters farther north, another noticeable change in the local birding landscape.

A day or two before I watched the sharpshin, I flushed an equally uncommon ground dove from the same spot. This smaller cousin of the ubiquitous mourning dove flew ahead of me in short bursts staying close to the ground as it flashed its rufus wing patches. I used to regularly encounter ground doves in the dunes behind beaches from Sullivan’s Island north to Bull’s Island. But decades of coastal development have pushed most ground doves to inland agricultural fields, themselves now disappearing due to residential development. Ground doves, however, have not yet reached the status of “species of special concern,” perhaps because we know so little about them.

One person working to know more about local bird populations, Kiawah Island naturalist Aaron Given, has

PARULA

EASTERN TOWHEE

RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD

GROUND DOVE

banded 80,000 birds on the south end of the island during the past twelve years, mostly in the fall and winter. The small, numbered bands can then identify each bird should another bander capture it miles away, providing vital information on the movements of that species. Over the years, birds banded by Given have turned up at many locations in eastern North America. However, during his twelve years of research on Kiawah he has noted only modest declines in most species.

One morning last March I joined him as he captured thirty-three birds of nine species in six hours using thirty mist nets, each forty feet long positioned throughout the scrubby back beach habitat. Common late winter residents made up most of the catch, but not a single sparrow. Fifty years earlier Given might have recorded a quite different species composition and perhaps captured a lot more birds in a morning’s effort.

The data collected by Given and hundreds of other researchers around the country may help in determining how to slow this steady decline of bird populations. Experts say given enough time, money and technology, we can still save nearly all bird species.

But what about the less noticeable but equally important animals we see

What You Can Do to Help Birds

While the drastic decline in birds, especially songbirds, can seem overwhelming, each of us can take small but important actions to help slow or even reverse much of this decline:

• Make windows safer from bird strikes with screens or by breaking up reflections.

• Keep cats indoors. Domestic cats kill an estimated 3.4 billion birds annually in the U.S., perhaps the single greatest direct human impact on songbirds.

• Replace lawns with native plants, and reduce pesticide use.

• Purchase shade-grown coffee to reduce destruction of critical rainforest habitat.

• Avoid single use plastic bags that can poison and strangle birds.

• Become involved. Watch birds and report observations. Help protect and rebuild vital ecosystems that harbor birds and other wildlife populations.

RED-COCKADED WOODPECKER

much less often: small mammals, reptiles and amphibians, along with the myriad of insects and other invertebrates? If birds have declined for all the reasons just mentioned, then perhaps all these other types of living things have also suffered steep declines but have gone mostly unnoticed.

Changes in our local bird populations, however, have certainly not gone unnoticed in the last fifty years. Whether through outright declines, or simply changes in migration patterns, many once common songbirds on the South Carolina coast have now become anything but common. The loss of all the sights and songs of these birds greatly diminishes the interest and enjoyment of our outdoors experience. What will another fifty years bring to that experience?

Long -time contributor and former staff writer for South Carolina Wildlife, Pete Laurie had his first story published in this magazine fifty years ago.

A tale of Two Naturalists

BROTHERS AND LIFELONG CONSERVATIONISTS

RUDY MANCKE AND TOM MANCKE WIN THE HEARTS OF COUNTLESS SANDLAPPERS AS NATURALISTS-IN-RESIDENCE.

TEXT BY JOEY FRAZIER

PHOTOS BY PHILLIP JONES

“It’s all about the stories,” said Tom Mancke, naturalist-in-residence at Hammond School in Columbia. Without a doubt, Tom has lots of stories to tell, stories about the natural world and cultural history, stories about adventures and primitive technology, stories about his brother and how they shared a paper route and a love for nature and each other.

I met Tom Mancke at his log cabinclassroom at Hammond School. On the wide front porch were blacksmithing tools, and just inside the door were fossils and bones, a grizzly bear skin on the wall and kayaks hanging from the ceiling, and everywhere I looked were books on shelves and stacked neatly on tabletops. In the center of the room were

TOM MANCKE DEMONSTRATES HOW TO THROW AN ATLATL (LEFT) that he made at his log cabin classroom at Hammond School in Columbia.

two ample rocking chairs. He invited me to sit, and the stories came forth as if from a fountain. He couldn’t stop. Sharing the stories is his calling, and the stories themselves were about his life.

“It’s really cool to have all these objects hanging around,” Tom said, “but I’m running out of room. I know that I look like a hunter, but really, I’m more of a scavenger.”

A humble man, he explains that his work at Hammond is “a small program to be honest,” but the diversity of his collection tells me the depth of his knowledge is anything but small. He takes the pre-kindergartners on weekly walks to help them “connect with nature and their imagination.” And all this comes from a man who does not own a cell phone or a personal computer. He admits that his wife takes care of their modern technology while he focuses on understanding primitive technology, which he offers to the children in stories they can relate to.

He can make stone tools which he later uses to make a blow gun, an atlatl and even a kind of bassoon, which he makes ring out and reverberate in the log walls of his classroom.

“Growing up I was the youngest of four kids in our family. I always envy people who have passion for something in particular, especially when they get really good at it,” Tom said. “I am not that individual. I am interested in everything. I followed my brothers and sister; my oldest brother Rudy is the real naturalist in our family. So I started following him as a kid and it all started with snakes as we were growing up. Then, Rudy discovered public libraries. He is a reader like you would not believe and he remembers everything – it just blows my mind. And he doesn’t just read books, he reads landscapes.”

Tom even remembers as youngster a time when brother Rudy found a library book with instructions for making rudimentary weather instruments. They set up their own makeshift weather station and developed forecasts for their neighborhood near Duncan Park in Spartanburg.

Tom came to Hammond School in 1989. At first, he taught science but found he was uncomfortable in traditional classroom. So, the headmaster at the time offered Tom the job of Naturalistin-Residence, allowing him to teach from a unique perspective. When he learned to start a fire with two sticks and a few shavings, he knew he could get the attention of students of all ages. He admits that it still amazes him every time flames

erupt from simple friction.

“What I’ve learned about natural history is that it takes in everything. It is the discipline that gives us a holistic view of how the world works,” Tom said. “I don’t know everything, but I’m interested in everything and every different viewpoint. I always wanted to be my oldest brother, Rudy, but I don’t have his mind or his abilities. So I was looking for my own way to connect with the natural world.”

It was in mid-October 2023, and across town, that I found Tom’s oldest brother, Rudy Mancke, in his office on the historic Horseshoe at the University of South Carolina where he, too, was a Naturalist-in-Residence.

“I’m the oldest, we’ve got a sister Kathy who is next, then brother Jimmy and then Tommy,” Rudy said. “Tommy and I are the bookends.”

Rudy explained how his maternal

INSIDE TOM MANCKE’S CLASSROOM ARE HIS COLLECTIONS OF FOSSILS, BONES, TAXIDERMY AND ARTIFACTS OF EVERY KIND, AND, OF course, books, lots of books.

grandmother lived with them. She told the children stories she knew from her generation about snakes chasing people, whipping or stinging their victims with their tails.

“These were really horror stories,” Rudy said. “I would listen and just accept it because I loved her, but I also knew she just did not have the correct information. So I went to the Spartanburg County Library on Magnolia Street. I fell in

love with books; it’s just good to have them around. For me they bring back memories. I got the books out and soon I knew more about snakes than most adults did. And that was maybe the most powerful time of my life, when I discovered books.”

Although an interest in snakes prompted young Rudy to go exploring, he soon realized that he needed more information than just how to identify a certain species of snake.

“So, I needed to know the plants, animals, rocks, minerals, fossils — the whole schmear,” Rudy said. “I wanted to know about everything.”

As Rudy’s interest in the natural world grew, younger brother Tommy was watching, following him around and learning, too.

“Tommy and I were looking at the world through the same pair of eyes,”

RUDY MANCKE AT HIS UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA OFFICE SURROUNDED by his own collections and, of course, more books.

Rudy said. “He and I grew up together, but we connected to the world in different ways. I wanted to know how to identify things, Tommy wanted to know how things worked. So, his interest in primitive technology is something he came by on his own. I had an interest in that to a degree, but not like Tommy. Tommy is very good at that. But my interest in snakes just went on and on and on.”

For Rudy, a career as a science teacher

and his ability to identify almost anything in the natural world eventually led him to become curator of Natural History at South Carolina State Museum. And that job led to connections at South Carolina Educational Television, which developed into the next phase of his career career on the SCETV television show, NatureScene. Eventually his career circled back to working one-on-one with students, as a Naturalist-in-Residence at the University of South Carolina.

“Sometimes my students will tell me they want to be me,” Rudy said. “I tell them, well, you can’t be me because I’m me. But you can be you and do the same things that I do, but in your own way.”

Rudy Mancke passed away on November 7, 2023. He was 78 Years old.

Joey Frazier is executive editor of South Carolina Wildlife

AT HAMMOND SCHOOL, TOM MANCKE’S CLASSROOM EXTENDS INTO THE OUTDOORS -- where a naturalist belongs.

TEXT AND ORIGINAL ART BY ELLEN FISHBURNE

SOUTH CAROLINA DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES