WILDLIFE ON KIAWAH ISLAND
RECENT WILDLIFE SIGHTINGS AND INFORMATION
Town of Kiawah Island
21 Beachwalker Drive
Kiawah Island, SC 29455
(843) 768-9166
21 Beachwalker Drive
Kiawah Island, SC 29455
(843) 768-9166
* February 6, 2012 - We added a nest location map for the 2011 Loggerhead Turtle nesting season to
the website today. Click here to view the new map. You can click on the nest markers for additional information on
the nest, including: date, number of eggs, hatch date, and nesting success.
* February 4, 2012 - We
conducted our 5th winter bird banding session today. We banded 10 new birds and had 8 recaptures, representing 5 species.
The highlight of the day was an adult female Orange-crowned Warbler. Click here for full details.
* February
2, 2012 - We spent an hour this afternoon trying to catch raptors with our new bal chatri trap out at the Ocean Course
driving range. We caught a male American Kestrel, a very striking bird. Pictures in slideshow to right. This is
the second Kestrel we have caught using this trap this winter. The bird was banded and released. We hope to do more raptor
banding as time allows this winter.
* January 30, 2012 - We conducted our Winter Deer Spotlight
Survey on January 23rd and 24th. We saw a total of 92 deer, including 25 bucks, 32 does, 7 fawns,
and 28 unidentified deer. The deer density estimate from this survey was 53 deer per square mile. This density
is well within management goals. Detailed data from the survey. General deer information and historic spotlight data.
* January
26, 2012 - Bobcat trapping for the Bobcat GPS Study began on January 18, 2012. We have had incredibly
good luck trapping this year and have fitted 6 bobcats with GPS collars to date. We have suspended trapping efforts for
now until we receive our final 2 GPS collars from the manufacturer. Visit our 2012 Bobcat Page for all the details on our
trapping efforts and to view location data from each our 6 collared bobcats. All 6 of the bobcats we have collared so far have
been females and 3 of them have been collared previously. One of the previously collared cats (Bobcat 350) was
monitored in 2008 (Bobcat 150) and 2010 (Bobcat 190), which will provide us a great opportunity to look at changes
in her movement patterns and habitat use over time. Even more exciting, is that we also have a collar on her 2 year-old daughter
(Bobcat 200). This bobcat was pit tagged in June 2010 at the den site. It will be very interesting to see
how their home ranges overlap and if there is any interaction between the two. Stay tuned for more details.
* January
12, 2012 - The numbers are in for the first ever Sea Islands Christmas Bird Count. This count was conducted
on January 5, 2012. 23 volunteers recorded 19, 030 birds representing 133 species of birds during the count. Highlights
included: Black-chinned Hummingbird, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, American White Pelican, Lapland Longspur, American Bittern,
and Horned Lark. Click here to view all the details from the count (PDF).