Spring Break- Getting Back to Nature

 

Monday, March 9 had been circled on my calendar for several weeks. This was the first day of Spring Break from SC State University where I teach communication courses. Some of my students told me they would be heading to the beach. I headed to the Basin. The ACE Basin. 

The ACE Basin is hundreds of thousands of protected and undeveloped acres south of Charleston, along Highway 17. ACE stands for three rivers- the Ashepoo, Combahee, and Edisto- that combine to form one of the largest estuaries on the U.S. East Coast. 

Tundra Swans (right) are among dozens of bird types that winter here. 

An indication of how special many people feel the ACE Basin is this sign along Highway 17, which calls it "One of the Last Great Places"- no argument from me! 

On this March day, Alesia and I trekkedto Bear Island, a 12,000-acre island in Colleton County. It’s a drive from our home of 50-60 minutes. Bear Island and nearby Donnelley are wildlife management areas owned and maintained by the S.C. Department of Natural Resources. The actual address of these cool places is Green Pond- a name that tickles me for some reason. 

Several years ago I published this book, an expression of my passion for the birding hobby. The Barred Owl on the cover is a photograph I took in the ACE Basin at the Hollings National Wildlife Refuge. Want to see an amazing number and variety of birds in one spot? Click on the above link to the Hollings refuge. Wow! 

ACE Basin Getaway

My Spring Break from school has been a busy one but I was determined to take one day for an excursion to the Lowcountry’s ACE Basin. This is the land of vast nature preserves, a protected watershed region totalling some 1.6 million acres.

On Wednesday I drove south the 60 miles or so to the Bear Island Wildlife Management Area. As this site claims (accurately!) Bear Island is a birdwatcher's paradise.

Here can be explored the 18th and 19th-century rice fields that brought wealth to plantation owners and enslavement to Africans brought (and bought) to toil in swampy waterways like this one. 

Wooden trunks like these continue to be used to control water levels in the former rice fields of the ACE Basin whose name comes from the confluence of the Ashepoo, Combahee and Edisto Rivers. 

These are happy places for me full of seemingly endless walking and driving trails that lead to waterways where birds of all shapes and sizes may be found. You will also see alligators and sometimes snakes, lizards, raccoons, deer, wild hogs and other land animals. 

Two other wonderlands in this area, similar in layout to Bear Island, are the Donnelley WMA and the Ernest Hollings National Wildlife Refuge. 

My blog documents numerous visits to these great places. See the above links and/or go to search this blog space in the column on the right.

Bear Island WMA- Summer Summit

 

On Wednesday, June 28 I finally made the trek down to Green Pond in the ACE Basin. I had the itch for months and the right day was there so off I went. 

The 12,000-acre Bear Island Wildlife Management Area was the destination. From my house it’s about 45 miles to the left turn off Highway 17 (Bennett's Point Road) then another 15 miles or so to the entrance to the vast nature preserve. 

I received a nice greeting near the gate from this friendly hen that walked up to my car. It seemed to belong to the home situated just outside the preserve.

This had to be an omen that good birding was ahead for me. 

I identified this as a Pedresa Chicken using a bird ID app I'm trying out called Picture Bird.  I open the app, bring in my bird photo and in seconds it tells me the type of bird. This was helpful in this outing to confirm birds I have seen before and to help with identities I was not so sure about. 

Just inside the entrance is a large body of water called Mary’s House Pond.

Past visits have taught me there are usually some large wading birds here. 

And sure enough, I spotted Great Egrets and Great Blue Herons. 

I tried out some different photo processing tools in my favorite Snapseed app. 

ACE Basin- No Bears but Many Birds and Gators at Bear Island

 

It was good to get out of the house Sunday and make the lengthy drive south to the ACE Basin. The vast protected preserve is worth the drive time because it’s always a great commune with nature. And it’s so quiet out there except for the calls of birds and the grunts of alligators. And we did see lots of both. 

To follow are my photographs that show some of what can be seen at the precious preserve called the Bear Island Wildlife Management Area.

This long road dissects the 12,000-acre undeveloped property. It extends from the entrance straight to the outer limits of Bear Island. 

ACE Basin Excursion- “At Least (Bittern) A Lifer” Bird For Me

What better way to celebrate the end of another school year- and what a strange one it has been thanks to the coronavirus pandemic- then to head south to one of my favorite Lowcountry nature preserves.

It’s a long drive (59.5 miles from my house to this entrance sign, taking about one hour 10 minutes) to the Bear Island Wildlife Management Area, but well worth it to experience a vast protected preserve interesting in its layout and teeming with wildlife, especially alligators (avoid these) and multitudes of bird species.

The trip was a pleasant one as I drove with my window and sunroof wide open on a very mild mid-May day.

The time flew by as I listened to a favorite podcast (“Civil War Talk Radio”) that I hadn’t heard in a few months since school was closed as COVID-19 began to hit and shut down America.

It was only 60 degrees when I arrived at 9:30 a.m. at Bear Island (official location is TiTi Road, Green Pond, S.C.).

Fun Bear Island WMA Visit Highlighted by Encounter with Roseate Spoonbills

Bear Island is a vast wildlife refuge comprising 5,385 acres of protected land and waterways

I photographed and videotaped a "bowl" of Roseate Spoonbills in a shallow canal Sunday, March 10, 2019, deep in the Bear Island Wildlife Management Area. This vast preserve is located about 45 miles south of Charleston in the wonderful ACE Basin.

It was the neatest encounter on a day full of bird activity.  I'll post photos later. Here is the video I took, put together on Kizoa, that runs one minute 15 seconds. Photos follow of this unique creature, other birds and scenes from the special place that is the Bear Island WMA.

Roseate Spoonbills

It's clear where the name spoonbill comes from in this photo

Bear Island Bonanza!

Father's Day- June 19, 2016- found this pop headed south of Charleston down Highway 17 to the wonderful ACE Basin. Destination: Bear Island. This is one of the Lowcountry's secret jewels. It is a vast preserve of former rice plantations, woodlands, waterways, barrier and marsh islands that have been protected for visitors and seasonal hunters to enjoy and appreciate.