Ornithology
Over 250 species of birds visit Kiawah over the period of a year, according to Aaron Given, TOKI ornithologist.
This is in large part owing to the fact that we have a wide variety of habitats. As expressed in the 1975 report these
are the front beach, the dunes, maritime forest, brackish ponds, seral areas (such as old pastures) and tidal marshes and
creeks.
Two important points
regarding bird life made in the 1975
report are:
• Of the 165 species observed in
1975, 65 were found in maritime
forest areas. The report stressed
the importance of undisturbed
forest and understory. It
also linked the reduction of
understory to the declines in
several songbird species.
• Development of Kiawah could
result in the creation of adverse
conditions for the majority of
wintering waterfowl. Indeed,
compared with 1975, ducks are
less common now and there is a
less diverse population.
There have been other changes in bird populations. For example, we have seen an increase in Wilson's plovers,
large flocks of migrating red knots are on the front beach in the spring and Cooper's hawks, once rare on Kiawah, are
now fairly common. On the other hand, the northern bobwhite is no longer observed and the red-eyed vireo and hooded
warbler no longer breed here.
Turtles
Like bobcats and painted buntings, loggerhead sea
turtles are an iconic species on Kiawah. Indeed, the
1975 report said the “loggerhead turtle is perhaps the
single most important animal frequenting Kiawah.” In
2013 almost 400 nests were recorded on Kiawah, laid by
143 unique females. Over 28,500 hatchlings ultimately
emerged and made their way to the sea. The Beach
Management document of 2012 said that, with a density
of 18 to 20 nests per mile, our beach is among the highest
in the state for developed areas. Much of the effort
observing and protecting loggerhead turtles is done by
the Turtle Patrol, a volunteer organization with over 100
members. In early years this was supported by KICA and
the developers, but support now comes from TOKI. Since
1998, the Turtle Patrol has operated under a permit from
the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources. The authors of the 1975 report mention that loggerhead nests
were transported to an indoor hatchery. However, there was no information regarding the location of a hatchery nor any
further history of the hatchlings.
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