they need to get rest . I caught this glimpse of a group of four one morning in the big dunes beyond the Ocean Course .
In the summer a good place to walk is the salt marsh near the big lagoon on the eastern end of the island . All sorts of treasures hide in the spartina grass in the lagoon . Here is a ghost crab using the spartina for cover . And on the backside of the dunes , a night hawk .
Whenever I go to the lagoon on the east end of the Island , I try to visit the small pond to the right of the entrance road to the Ocean Course Clubhouse . This pond almost always has something of interest . One year it had a pair of nesting black-necked stilts . Stilts are never happy to have visitors . The unhappy father will buzz you with his antics in the sky , while the missus tries to herd the kids to safety from the intruder .
Whether you walk in the morning , in the afternoon , or in the cool of the early evening , most walks are peaceful and relaxed . After all , that is the usual purpose of a walk on Kiawah . One rarely needs to be concerned with personal safety . However , a very large alligator moving at high speed across your walking path , though rare , is a pretty spectacular event . NK
WINTER / SPRING 2017 • VOLUME 37
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