In the Next Issue
As we developed ideas and
searched through photographs and stories for this issue , we came upon the inspiration for our next issue from one of Becky Krantz ’ s photographs . She called it the “ Circle of Life on Kiawah ,” and therein was our theme . We have learned to pay attention to our habitats and our wildlife , and we have come to appreciate the magic of their life cycles . Our sweetgrass brings a gentle green to herald spring , pales to gold with a sweet fragrance by summer , and adds a showy touch of pink by fall . We carefully monitor our bluebirds as they “ apartment hunt ” in early spring , build their nests , and delight us with fledglings who pop out in the summer .
Anybody who knows Kiawah knows the story of our loggerheads . For centuries the huge females have lumbered onto our shores starting at the beginning of May each year , depositing hundreds of eggs . We will walk our beach with eyes wide open to discover them . We will then carefully count and monitor them and watch with so much excitement when tiny hatchlings find their way to the sea two months later . A little later in the season , starting in June , our alligators deposit their eggs near our ponds in nests made of sticks and other plant matter . After about 65 days of incubation , the hatchlings will signal their readiness to emerge by making high-pitched noises from inside the egg .
We learned that our tiny , feisty least terns began to nest successfully in shallow indentations on our beach and kept our distance around caution tape our biologists put in place to protect them . We welcome monarch butterflies who vacation here for a while , and we plant native milkweed hoping to attract them to our yards .
Kiawah people are respectful stewards of the beautiful place they visit or even call home . We are learning to be better citizens and caretakers , getting to know our surroundings and the fantastic living creatures who are our neighbors . Come visit with us this fall when we will follow the life cycles of all the creatures great and small and all of the habitats that thrive on Kiawah Island . NK
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