Diario del proyecto 2021 Blue Trail BioBlitz

Welcome to the Blue Trail BioBlitz! Over the next month, we hope you will join us in documenting species throughout the Waccamaw River watershed. We want to see every living thing you can find from your backyard to the river! Share your observations of trees, birds, fish, insects, and anything else you may spot!

Every week during the 2021 Waccamaw Conference, we will be featuring two spotlight species. We will be posting journal entries about the species, where they live, how they live, and what is so special about them. If you can spot all ten spotlight species, you will be entered to win an award for being our Spotlight Species Spotter!

Our ten featured spotlight species are:

1. Alligator weed (Alternanthera philoxeroides)
2. Redbay (Persea borbonia)
3. Carolina anole (Anolis carolinensis)
4. Pine warbler (Setophaga pinus)
5. Eastern river cooter (Pseudemys concinna concinna) OR Yellow- bellied slider (Trachemys scripta scripta)
6. Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias)
7. Bald Cypress (Taxodium distichum)
8. Swallow-tailed Kite (Elanoides forficatus)
9. Atlantic marsh fiddler crab (Minuca pugnax)
10. Spartina (Sporobolus alterniflorus)

We will also be featuring some extra special bonus species during our journey down the Waccamaw. We hope you will join us on this adventure and help us make the Blue Trail BioBlitz a huge success!

Spotlight Species #1:
Alligator weed (Alternanthera philoxeroides)

What to Look For:
The plants typically form into dense mats along the shoreline. The leaves are opposite, lance-shaped, about 1-2 inches long, with a distinct midrib (a vein that runs from stem to tip). The stems are hollow to provide buoyancy. The plant also produces a small white clover-like flower throughout the summer.

Where to Find It:
Alligatorweed likes to grow in wet or moist conditions throughout the coastal plain of the Carolinas. It forms a dense mat in the water. You may find it at boat ramps as it tends to be transported on boats.

Why It Is a Spotlight Species:
Alligator weed is an invasive species from South America. When not managed, the infestations can cause damage to our watershed including causing flooding, erosion, and navigation hazards.
Boaters can help prevent the spread of alligator weed by cleaning their boats of any vegetation when traveling between water bodies.

Spotlight Species #2:
Redbay (Persea borbonia)

What to Look For:
Redbay can grow as a tree of bush from 30 - 70 feet tall. The bark is a reddish-brown. In the summer, redbay produces small yellow-green flowers in clusters and a dark blue spherical fruit.

Where to Find It:
Redbay grows in the rich moist soils along swamps and streams throughout the Waccamaw River Blue Trail. You will definitely find them around the shoreline of Lake Waccamaw.

Why It Is a Spotlight Species:
Bay trees are often credited with being the origin of the term “Carolina Bay” because they tend to grow around the bays.
These trees have a high mortality rate in South Carolina due to laurel wilt disease, a fungal disease carried by the redbay ambrosia beetle. One beetle can kill an entire tree!

Spotlight Species #3:
Carolina anole (Anolis Carolinensis)

What to Look For:
Carolina anoles can be either green or brown. They are about 5 - 8 inches long. Males have a pink throat fan.

Where to Find It:
Carolina anoles can be found all over the place! Check in bushes, on fences, or on your house for them. Anoles tend to live in wooded areas. They also enjoy basking in the sun during warm weather.

Why It Is a Spotlight Species:
We could not leave out this special little lizard. It exists throughout our entire watershed and even has our state name in its common name.
Though referred to as a green anole, the lizard can be brown or green. Due to its color-changing ability, it is sometimes also referred to as the American chameleon. But, of course, it is not a tru chameleon.