If you’re one of those binocular-carrying, bird list-checking travelers always looking for a new spot to spy interesting or rare avian species, you’ve got 45 Important Bird Areas in South Carolina sure to help you score your next significant sighting.
Identified by the National Audubon Society, the areas include 17 sites considered globally important for the conservation of endangered, threatened or bird populations of concern. Located across the state, from the mountains to the Piedmont to barrier islands along the coast, these Important Bird Areas span all of the major habitat types. Download the Guide to Birding in South Carolina to learn more about some of the best birdwatching spots in the state and species of birds you can find in each region.
Below is a list of South Carolina Globally Important Bird areas that are open to the public and some of the species that can be found there:
ACE Basin National Wildlife Refuge – Edisto Unit
Location: 6,500 acres in Charleston County
Bird species include: wood stork, bald eagle, barn owl, red-headed woodpecker, mottled duck and painted bunting
Bear Island Wildlife Management Area
Location: 12,000 acres in Green Pond
Bird species include: greater and lesser yellowlegs, dowitcher and common snipe, white and glossy ibis, bald eagle, wood stork
Beaufort Barrier Islands
Location: Chain of six barrier islands that includes Harbor, Hunting, Fripp, Pritchards, Capers and Old Island
Bird species include: red knot, willet, red-breasted merganser, Wilson’s plover, bald eagle, glossy ibis, black skimmer
Carolina Sandhills National Wildlife Refuge
Location: 46,000 acres in Chesterfield County
Bird species include: red-cockaded woodpecker, Bachman’s sparrows
Deveaux Bank
Location: Small barrier island at the mouth of the North Edisto River in Charleston County
Bird species include: reddish egret, rusty blackbird, sandwich tern, American oystercatcher, piping plover
Donnelley Wildlife Management Area
Location: 8,000 acres in Green Pond
Bird species include: Chuck-will’s widow, clapper rail, painted bunting, short-billed dowitcher, whooping crane
Francis Marion National Forest
Location: 258,000 acres in Charleston and Berkeley counties
Bird species include: black-throated green warbler, brown-headed nuthatch, osprey, Swainson’s warbler, Bachman’s sparrow, bald eagle
Hobcaw Barony
Location: 16,000 acres in Georgetown
Bird species include: red-cockaded woodpecker, red-headed woodpecker, wood stork, American oystercatcher, bald eagle, Bachman’s sparrow
Conestee Nature Preserve
Location: 400 acres in Greenville
Bird species include: rusty blackbird, osprey, snail kite, sandhill crane, black-crowned night heron, northern bobwhite
Lewis Ocean Bay Heritage Preserve
Location: 10,400 acres in Myrtle Beach
Bird species include: red-cockaded woodpecker, red-headed woodpecker, wood thrush, bald eagle, brown-headed nuthatch and prothonotary, prairie and Kentucky warblers,
Sand Hills State Forest
Location: 46,800 acres in Chesterfield and Darlington counties
Bird species include: red-cockaded woodpecker, American kestrel, wood thrush, loggerhead shrike and prairie, prothonotary, Kentucky and Swainson’s warblers,
Sandy Island
Location: 12,000-acre island between the Waccamaw and Great Pee Dee rivers in Georgetown County
Bird species include: red-cockaded woodpecker, swallow-tailed kite
Santee National Wildlife Refuge
Location: 15,000 acres along Lake Marion in Clarendon County
Bird species include: Henslow’s sparrow, king rail, osprey, painted bunting, peregrine falcon, wood duck, black rail
Webb Wildlife Management Area
Location: 5,800 acres in Garnett
Bird species include: red-cockaded woodpeckers, northern bobwhite
