Different Trails

HUNTINGTON BEACH & BROOKGREEN (Day 3 - part 8)

A diversity of flora!

The Five-lined Skink varies in color and pattern, depending upon its age and sex. Juveniles tend to be the brightest, with their stripes and colors fading as they age.

(right) Passing the "Fighting Stallions" again on our way out

While there was still so much to see, eventually we had to leave. We stopped for a walk at Murrells Inlet.

This saltmarsh is not quite land and not quite ocean. Ocean tides flow in twice a day, filling the tidal creeks and flooding the mudflats. The area provides a safe spawning ground for fish. It also home to clams, crabs, shrimp, oysters and a wide range of birds.

Note the locations of Brookgreen Gardens and Huntington Beach State Park

A Boat-tailed Grackle ... A Double-crested Cormorant

The Boat-tailed Grackle is omnivorous and highly opportunistic. They will eat everything from small fish, turtles, frogs, mollusks, crabs, snails, lizards and insects to assorted seeds, grains and fruits. They can be found in coastal saltwater marshes and lurking around boat launches. After all, you never know what food could be found there!

Some non-breding adult Laughing Gulls

Turkey Vultures enjoy a carcass on the beach

The word vulture most likely comes from Latin meaning to pluck or tear. The scientific name for the Turkey Vulture is Cathartes aura, meaning either “golden purifier” or “purifying breeze." After all, vultures clean up the all the dead rotting things that would otherwise make things smell pretty terrible.