Visiting a Carolina Bay

I received this nice e-mail from Mike Busam of Cincinatti, Ohio in which he describes his recent trip to the Lewis Ocean Bay Heritage Preserve near Conway, South Carolina . We had a chance to correspond about the preserve after he read this post that I wrote a couple of weeks ago. The preserve is just one of the many relatively "unknown" natural areas in South Carolina that should be a "must see" for anyone interested in unique natural history.

"Clay, greetings... Thanks again for the advice and information for
visiting Lewis Ocean Bay Heritage Preserve. I went out on Monday, June 9. Unfortunately, I only had a couple hours, but it was a *great* couple of hours, so I can't complain. I followed your advice and checked out the sites along the road. I didn't go too far off the road because I'm unfamiliar with the area and didn't want to be the "dope from Ohio who gets lost in the pocosins," etc.

I particularly enjoyed the bird life--plenty of Brown-headed
Nuthatches, lots of Pine Warblers, a few Blue Grosbeaks, and then a
Prothonotary and Northern Parula along a narrow creek/wetland that the road cuts through. What a neat array of habitats and birds and plants in one location! Carolinians probably yawn when they see or hear about bears, but we don't have many in SW Ohio, so even the Black Bear tracks in the parking lot near the gazebo at the entrance were interesting to me.

I saw a number of Palamedes Swallowtails, which I've never seen
before, and I took some photos of what might be a Zarucco Duskywing, one of which I attached. If I saw this bug in Ohio, I'd probably call it a Wild Indigo, but the habitat and location make me wonder if it's a Zarucco? I only had a little pocket digital, so I couldn't very close to the skipper.

I had one more question for you regarding the pine trees at Lewis
Ocean Bay. Are those Longleaf Pines? It seems like they're managing
for that kind of system out there--I saw a few areas that have been
burned and logged, or so it seemed, and I saw a couple young trees
that sure looked like what I've read Longleaf Pines should look like,
but I wasn't sure if I wasn't just confusing Loblolly and Slash Pines,
etc, for Longleaf. I understand that the Longleaf was largely
destroyed in the southeast and replaced years ago by Loblolly and
Slash, among other pines. In any case, the sound of the light breeze
going through those trees was neat to hear. The pine trees really
amplify even a modest breeze.

I'm certainly sold on that area, though. The next time we're in South Carolina, I'll certainly visit it again. It's a gem. I can't help but notice all the development around it, which is too bad. In that sense, it's just like all my favorite sites here in southwestern Ohio—lots of development knocking at the door. Hopefully, that 9300 acres will remain safe.

Thanks again for the information. It was very helpful. I studied the
plants you mentioned and it made my brief visit there all the more
interesting, since I had some idea of what to look for."

Take care,
---Mike Busam
Cincinnati, Ohio

Ethical Nature Photography

This morning I woke up at 5:00 a.m. and headed out to the Lewis Ocean Bay Heritage Preserve in hopes of finding Venus' Fly Traps in the 9300 acre preserve. When I arrived, the sun was just rising up and a beautiful mist had settled over one of the pocosins that I've spent a lot of time exploring in the past. I was tempted to head straight for the pitcher plants and start shooting but decided to stick to my original plan and began looking for sphagnum filled sandy ditches as outlined in Porcher and Raynor's "Guide to the Wildflowers of South Carolina." After about twenty minutes and a little prayer I noticed an unfamiliar patch of white flowers about ten feet from where I was standing. Thinking that they were Carolina Grass-of-Parnassus, I walked over and was amazed to see about 20-30 Venus' Fly Traps at the base of the long stalked flowers. By discovering the fly traps I fulfilled a life-long dream of witnessing these amazing plants in the wild. After my initial euphoria wore of I began to wonder exactly how I might photograph such an iconic and much publicized species. This is where the ethics part came in.

Venus' Fly Traps are a very small species of plant. The specimens that I encountered were only about 3-5 inches high (without the flower) and scattered among wire grass and other plants. The group consisted of a dense center population that radiated outwards with surrounding smaller individuals. As a result, this all made photographing any of the plants very difficult. I have been fortunate enough to discover several 'rare' species in the field and each time the event has been accompanied by a sense of anxiety due to the pressure to make a great image and not destroy the population at the same time. After studying the group of fly traps for some time I decided that it might be very difficult to make any kind of special photo unless I was willing to risk damaging some of the surrounding plants –which I was not– so instead I decided to focus on some of the smaller, outlying plants. As a nature photographer, it is often very easy to get caught up in the moment and lose sight of what it is that you actually photographing. However, no photographic opportunity justifies the destruction of a particular subject. In the end, I am happy with my images and I feel elated to have finally seen such an amazing plant in a place that it has grown for millions of years.