Santee National Wildlife Refuge - Bluff, Dingle Pond and Pine Island - Summerton, SC

Thursday Oct 12^th we visited Santee National Wildlife Refuge – Bluff, Dingle Pond, and Pine Island Units - Summerton, SC. There is a 4th Unit called Cuddo which we want to visit as well on another day.

We stopped at the visitor’s center which wasn’t overly helpful. When we asked where to look for birds the guy jokingly says the trees. We laughed, but he didn’t offer any other information. So, we had the map and will check out all the areas anyway. The refuge is located on the north shore of Lake Marion, the largest lake in South Carolina. There are 4 “units” with varying terrains.

 view of the lake

We stopped first at the Santee Indian Mound. It dates back over 1000 years, a mound used as a substructure of a ceremonial temple and as a burial site.  After the Native Americans dispersed from the banks of the Santee River in the early 1700s, the mound was used for a second purpose nearly 70 years later, as a British outpost during the Revolutionary War.  This outpost was utilized to monitor the rivers and roads as cargo and troops traveled between Charleston and Camden.  Brig. General Francis Marion and Lt. Colonel Henry “Light Horse Harry” Lee took over Fort Watson in an 8 day battle, using a tower designed by Major Maham of Marion’s legion.  

 (not the mound, but the monuments to it)

 Eastern Phoebe

 Turtle & Cormorant

 Indian Mound with stairs to the top

 Worm-eating Warbler

 Swainson's Thrush

Swainson's Thrush

What a great nature area. We saw tons of birds right in the parking lot to the trail. Probably only 1 new bird for us, but it was great action. We started at the Bluff Unit and walked the trail there.

 there was a short boardwalk

 Golden Thread Spider (aka Banana Spider)

 Northern Flicker 

 lookout over the fields

 Eastern Box Turtle

trail

 not sure what this one is

Northern Mockingbird

We saw a ton of birds, but didn't get a lot of great photos. Those who photograph birds understand. We are lucky sometimes to get pieces of birds to try and identify them if they are unknown to us.

We stopped for lunch at a local diner which was busy and the food tasty. They took any food that might otherwise be healthy and fried or creamed it. What's not to like?

 Squash Fritter, Broccoli casserole, fried chicken, cornbread and banana pudding came later

turkey & dressing, butter beans and rice and gravy & banana pudding came later

In the afternoon we went to the Dingle Pond Unit.

 This snake was being way more cooperative than the birds. He is a harmless snake, but really puts on quite a show. He plays dead. In fact as we came upon it on the side of the trail it looked dead. Greg said "is it even alive?" In some of the photos you can see it looks like he has been run over. However, if they feel threatened they will puff up their necks and rise up off the ground very similar to a Cobra. It is quite convincing! It also hisses loudly. If it feels really threatened it will just roll over on it's back and play dead. Interesting critter!

 Eastern Hognose Snake

 see how it looks like it has been run over (above) 

 see it rise up

here it is poised to strike (they only eat frogs and the like)

 Red-shouldered Hawk

 cute tiny frog

 pond

 If this trail looped we could never find it. It seemed to dead-end at the pond so we turned around.

After that we went to the Pine Island Unit.

 we are still trying to figure thos guy out

Prairie Warbler

 Prairie Warbler

Tufted Titmouse

It started to thunder so we left a bit earlier than we had planned. It never rained though.

We had a great day in the woods. We went home and tossed a ribeye steak on the grill. Tomorrow we are off to Audubon Biedler Forest. When we were in Charleston we visited there and really enjoyed it. (especially the Barred Owl) It's actually closer to where we are staying than from Charleston.