Photo by Sylvia Bacon
Photo by Kathy Keane habitat species include Carolina basswood, sugarberry, Carolina buckthorn, red buckeye, and tough bumelia. Rare coastal stands of southern sugar maple are found on some islands with shell deposits, mostly in the ACE Basin.
Animals of the maritime forest are similar to those generally found over much of the coastal plain. The animal fauna recorded in the SCDNR hammock study included 11 species of amphibians. The most common were the southern leopard frog, slimy salamander, green treefrog, narrowmouth toad, squirrel tree frog, and southern toad. An earlier study of Kiawah fauna found the same species, as well as the spadefoot toad.
At least 23 reptile species have been documented on South Carolina’ s hammock islands. The most common include the Carolina anole( a small green lizard), southeastern five-lined skink, ground skink, and the legless eastern glass lizard which is often misidentified as a snake. Venomous snakes found in maritime forests are the eastern cottonmouth, diamondback rattlesnake, canebrake rattlesnake, and copperhead. However, nonvenomous snakes are much more common, including corn snake, southern black racer, garter snake, yellow rat snake, rough green snake, southeastern crown snake, eastern king snake, southern hognose snake, and the scarlet snake.
Turtles species documented on hammocks include the box turtle, yellow-bellied turtle, eastern mud turtle, and the diamondback terrapin. The diamondback terrapin occurs primarily in shallow coastal waters associated with the barrier islands, but makes its way to edges of the maritime forest to lay eggs. Nest sites were found on many coastal islands.
The SCDNR study found a total of 171 bird species on hammocks. These birds were classified into four designations: permanent resident, winter visitor, summer resident, and transient. Permanent species included the northern cardinal,
Carolina chickadee, blue-gray gnatcatcher, Carolina wren, and red-winged blackbird. Some of the more common winter visitors were yellow-rumped warblers, American robins, cedar waxwings, and belted kingfishers. Representative summer residents were painted buntings, great crested flycatchers, northern parula warblers, orchard orioles, and Acadian flycatchers. Significant transient species include the common yellowthroat, prairie warbler, American redstart, black and white warbler, ovenbird, and spotted sandpiper.
The painted bunting is not only notable for its vibrant colors, but also because it is a species of high conservation concern. Until several decades ago, the painted bunting was very rare on most of the southeast islands of the coastal zone. It is thought to have predominantly used coastal islands and the near-coast mainland for breeding. Habitat loss from coastal development is presumed to have promoted the relatively recent movement into the interior coastal plain. It builds nests in shrub thickets and tangles of vines, preferably in shrub tickets on the outer edges of maritime forests and in evergreen shrub thickets within maritime forests. Excellent foraging areas include transitional habitats between tidal marshes and maritime forests.
Mammals that may be commonly found in maritime forests and much of the coastal plain as well, include whitetailed deer, raccoon, opossum, eastern grey squirrel, fox squirrel, and bobcat. Feral hogs can be found in some coastal forests and goats have occasionally been left to roam on hammock islands. Black bears have become increasingly common in coastal forests particularly in Horry, Georgetown, and upper Charleston counties. In recent years, nuisance species like coyote, and nine-banded armadillo, have become common in island forests as well as coastal towns. Aquatic mammals like mink and northern river otter can be seen in
22 Naturally Kiawah