Hickory Top WMA 30-August-2026

 

      A similar start as all the clean-ups by canoe at Hickory Top, just a little harder this time. The recent rains haven't done anything to raise the water levels in the lake, the non-native Giant Salvinia keeps multiplying and at this point is incredibly thick. This makes the paddle out the channel to the main lake feel like you are paddling thick mud instead of water and is a slow go. For this trip I had a goal of at least two bags of trash and the plan was to go back to the area with all the barrels I started working on on the last trip out.

        The Giant Salvinia is a problem for frogs when it gets so thick they have difficulty accessing the water for safety. This River Frog froglet would have typically jumped off the bank and into the water as I got closer in the canoe. It just wasn't able to. Egrets, Ibis and other wading birds can get an easier meal because of this, but it likely reduces the number of froglets that make it to adulthood. Multiple years of conditions like this or it getting worse could become a problem for even currently common species like the River Frog.

         One of the first birds observed on this paddle was this Black-crowned Night Heron just watching me paddle on by. 

         Paddling along the cypress edge I passed one tree and found myself right next to this Great Blue Heron. Perched a few feet above the water it was hunting, but wasn't hunting fish. I did not see it catch any, but I think it was trying for dragonflies that were coming close to the tree feeding on mayflies. There were still a lot of mayflies in the trees along the edge, but nothing like the innumerous amounts of the last trip. I have seen Great Blue's hunting dragonflies and catching them like this before. This one just wasn't having any luck in the time I watched it. 

 Looking out across the lake. 

         On all of the other canoe clean-ups here 1-2 Alligators seems to be normal. This time I spotted around 8. It could be that the mayfly emergence attracted fish, which in tern attracted the gators or it could just be that they are more active during the day at this time of year. I don't know. This did make me a little more cautious when I was ready to get out of the boat. For the most part they just swim away, I have had a couple occasions where they have started following the canoe. 

          At one spot I found Red-winged Blackbirds feeding on mayflies in the trees. This caused mayflies to fly out of the trees and over the lake, which drew in Rough-winged Swallows. It was an interesting interaction between the two bird species to see, one unintentionally helping the other. 

        This may not be a good photo, but if you look closely you can see the double tail of a mayfly sticking out each side of the Rough-winged Swallow's mouth.

          It did not take too long to get to the clean-up spot. It was really easy to access and I picked a slightly different spot to land than last time. Although I could see where I did the last clean-up from where I landed I did not cover any of the same ground.

     First item picked up!

         Reusable water bottles are not reusable if you lose them in the lake. 

 

         At this location I came up with a plan to make a central location and pile up what I found until I had about a bag full, then I would bag it and continue on. There was a lot of trash in this area, if you look closely you can see some of it in this photo. 

       Pile started.

Before and After.

        A big enough pile accumulated to bag it up. It did not take much time at all to find all of this.

        A few more items were added to the bag on the way back to the canoe, then this was loaded up, grabbed a new bag and started again.

       For the second bag this small half of a tank was one of the first items. 

       This item is most likely sugar from someone camping. Along lakes/rivers you never know what you are going to find though. I just left this due to the extremely slim chance it could be drugs. I will likely remove it on a later clean-up. 

Before and After.

       There are also a lot of crocs along the lake. One less after this one was picked up.

Beautiful views, these areas shouldn't be this full of trash.

        Drink cozy from a wedding. 

        Another cooler, not much left of this one other than just the shell. Grabbed it, the styrofoam and the wiffle ball. 

         One of a number of hazards in doing these clean-ups. I am not sure what this tree is, but there were a number of them and I had to be extremely careful around them. 

With this I started working my way back to the boat.

         Wasn't sure how all of this would fit with the other bag already in the boat. Got all of it to the canoe and started working out how everything would fit and not cause the boat to be top-heavy. 

          Before loading everything I first spotted a Prothonotary Warbler, then a Northern Yellow Warbler in the overhanging tree in this photo. The Prothonotary wouldn't stay still, but the Yellow Warbler spent some time lower in the tree searching for food. 

         Northern Yellow Warblers are neotropical migrants that just pass through this area of South Carolina. After spending some time here eating, it will be continuing on its migration. This little bird will fly to either Central America or the northern portion of South America, very likely flying long distances over ocean. To see maps of where they nest and travel to check out allaboutbirds.org and search Northern Yellow Warbler. Seeing this bird really felt like a reward for doing this clean-up. 

All loaded up and time to get back on the water.

The views along the lake are just spectacular.

My actual view was a little trashy all the way back.

         I took one deviation back into the cypress on the way back and did find a couple birds. This Green Heron was searching for food along the fallen trees. 

         I first heard then spotted this Louisiana Waterthrush doing the same thing as the Green Heron. 

Nearing the end. All that was left was to empty the canoe and load up the car. 

All the trash removed on this clean-up!

Trash documented and certain items counted, it will soon be properly disposed of.