The eagle has returned.

Well, at least in a national sense.

The bald eagle, the United States’ national bird, was recently taken off the Federal List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants. Yet, in South Carolina and in counties like Orangeburg and Calhoun, the bird is one of several animals listed as a rare, threatened and endangered species.

The South Carolina Department of Natural Resources keeps an updated list of the animals and plants in the state that are endangered or threatened. While the bald eagle is thriving again, it is among species still at risk in The T&D Region. While it can be seen here, it is a rare occasion, mainly by people living along river corridors and lakes. Other threatened species can be found In the waters that empty into Lake Marion, where rare glimpses are caught of the large, long-lived bony fish called the shortnose sturgeon. The small and uniquely spotted turtle creeps here and there in Bamberg County.

“All have legal protection on the federal level and minimal legal protection on the state level as well,” said Julie Holling of the SCDNR Heritage Preserves Division. “They are part of the fabric of the state.”

Holling is the data manager in the division and is responsible for keeping up with the database of all endangered and threatened species in the state. She receives reports of such species and puts them in the database, particularly species known in South Carolina. People studying the species, wanting to know more about them or wanting to know what kind of species are in areas where they live can consult this database.

The eagle is by far the most popular and well known on the list. Holling said the eagle and many of the plants and animals on the list tend to live in places where people don’t live and where interaction is not that great. People living on lakes in this area can most often spot a bald eagle. The eagle is ranked as apparently secure globally but has a state ranking of “imperiled state-wide because of rarity of factor(s) making it vulnerable.” Its legal status in Orangeburg and Calhoun counties is federal threatened and state endangered.

Also on the list from Calhoun and Orangeburg counties is the shortnose sturgeon. The most primitive of bony fish, the shortnose can be found in most major river systems along the Eastern Seaboard of the United States. It is the smallest of the three sturgeon species, but has been known to reach a length of 4.5 feet and weight of 50 pounds. Female sturgeons can live as long as 67 years while males seldom exceed 30. Shortnose sturgeons normally live in slower moving waters, migrating periodically into faster moving freshwater areas to spawn. One partially landlocked population is known in Lake Marion on the Santee River.

“Sturgeon, they come here to breed,” Holling said. “They hatch in the freshwater rivers and spend much of their adult life in the ocean. It’s important to keep water clean so ... they can endure and they can continue to survive.”

The shortnose sturgeon is very rare globally and rare or uncommon in The T&D Region. It is both federal and state endangered.

The red-cockaded woodpecker, imperiled statewide and very rare throughout its range globally, is again found in Orangeburg and Calhoun counties. With prominent black and white horizontal stripes on its back and white cheeks and underparts, the bird’s range is tied to the distribution of southern pines. They prefer older pines. It was discovered that the red-cockaded woodpecker was on the verge of extinction around 1970. The decline was due to the reduction of pine forests with older trees.

“This woodpecker requires specific habitat and mature pines to nest in – over 40 years old – and very open, grassy understory,” Holling said. “They live in colonies of one or two nesting pairs. The remainder are younger birds; they help raise the young ones.”

Unique to Calhoun and Bamberg counties is the wood stork. It is listed as secure globally, but critically imperiled statewide “because of extreme rarity or some factor making it especially vulnerable to extirpation.” Wood storks are the only stork species and the largest wading bird that breeds in the United States. Holling said they feed in shallow water areas here. They are long-legged birds that are all white, except their primary and secondary wing and tail feathers which are black with a greenish sheen.

Other animals listed on the endangered list and in Bamberg County as threatened include the spotted turtle, a small black turtle sprinkled with orange-yellow dots, and the Rafinesque’s Big Eared Bat, state endangered and imperiled in that area. Plants listed include the canby’s dropwart in Orangeburg County, a perennial herb that belongs to the mint family. While several other plants and animals are on the DNR list from this area, Holling said, “Most of the other stuff are species of concern; there’s no legal protection, but they are being watched to be sure they don’t have to be on the list.”

For a complete list of rare, threatened or endangered species in Orangeburg, Bamberg and Calhoun counties, visit www.dnr.sc.gov.

T&D Special Assignments Writer Charlene Slaughter can be reached by e-mail at cslaughter@timesanddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-533-5529. Discuss this and other stories online at TheTandD.com.

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