Contact Information
Non-game and Heritage Trust SectionSC Department of Natural Resources
PO Box 167
Columbia, SC 29202
(803) 734-3886
Hours of Operation
Due to bird nesting activity, this Preserve is closed to public use from March 15 thru October 15. The area may be viewed from boats during these months and is accessible to the public below the high water tidal line from October 16 thru March 14.
Contributions to the Endangered Wildlife Fund on the South Carolina Income Tax Form help to make the identification and management of these preserves possible.
Important Information for Visitors
Photographs
Description
The preserve provides nesting, roosting and foraging habitat for a variety of sea and shore birds. Nesting was first documented on Crab Bank in 1979. By 1997, it contained the second largest seabird colony and was one of the largest eastern brown pelican colonies in South Carolina. Crab Bank has remained geographically stable for more than 100 years.
The preserve is a sandspit island formed by deposits from associated river systems. It shifts in position and structure due to erosion and deposition of sand. Two plant communities exist on the preserve: intertidal beach and maritime grasslands. The intertidal beach community consists of shifting sand beaches and regularly flooded mud flats. If present, vegetation is sparse and consists of smooth cordgrass, glasswort, marsh hay and sea purslane. The maritime grassland community consists of unstable sand dunes elevated above the highest flood mark. It is dominated by Russian thistle, marsh hay, camphorweed, beach elder, beach tea, and dogfennal.
Crab Bank supports colonies of nesting waterbirds because of its isolated nature and concomitant lack of mammalian predators. In addition to the eastern brown pelican (state threatened), species nesting on the island include the least tern, royal tern, black skimmer, gull-billed tern, sandwich tern, common tern, laughing gull, Wilson’s plover (state threatened), American oystercatcher, snowy egret, tri-colored heron and willet. Besides providing nesting habitat, the preserve acts as a winter loafing and feeding area for numerous species, including the federally threatened piping plover.