McAlhany Preserve outing

Our Walk and Talk for March was a wonderful visit to the McAlhany Nature Preserve, a property owned and managed by Charleston Audubon. Our hosts for the day were Charleston Audubon President, Jen Tyrrell, and the volunteer property manager, Joe!

We started on a very chilly morning, so the fire and hot coffee were a welcome sight!

The property itself is a pristine 367 acre area that borders the Edisto river, with a large oxbow lake. There is a major long-term longleaf pine and native grass restoration project in progress in the old field area, too, in a part of the property that we toured after lunch.

Once the introductions were done, we ventured off to see if the traps that Dave Eslinger had set the day before had any captives. Neither proved fruitful, but along the way to the traps we were informed and educated by Joe about the ongoing work to enhance and preserve the property, including planting Long Leaf Pine and regular fire-setting.

Of course, being a Master Naturalist outing, we were in no hurry to cover any huge distances!! But stopping along the way, we encountered several items of interest including crayfish chimneys...

and member Scott Wietecha gave us an education in identifying frogs!

Thanks to the bird-spotting abilities of member Nora Futtrell we were able to watch a Blue Grey Gnatcatcher doing some nest renovations, too!

Some of our log-turning efforts were rewarded, too...this time with a salamander!

Overall, an exciting day out! With many thanks to Jen and Joe for making it possible! Here's the link to Jen's T&D recording about the preserve in case you'd like a recap or missed it:
https://youtu.be/b6_NtvrK19g