A New Photo Book Captures the Stunning Plant and Animal Life of Edisto Island

“I seek to spotlight the overlooked, misunderstood, or mundane organisms that hide in plain sight,” writes Tom Austin in the preface to his debut book, The Flora and Fauna of Edisto Island and the Lowcountry Sea Islands. In photos and essays about 104 species of plants, fungi, and animals that call the South Carolina coast home, he also tips a cap to conservation efforts that have shielded fully half of Edisto’s land area from development. 

Starting in the first week of January with the Eastern redcedar, Austin traces the weeks of the year by plants, animals, or fungi most active or ecologically relevant at the time. For springtime, the resurrection fern and the luna month appear; for summer, roseate spoonbills and painted buntings; fall brings native sunflowers and monarch butterflies; winter, wood ducks and oak mistletoe.

Austin, an eleventh-generation Edisto Islander, pairs his photographs with a thoughtful essay about each species, opening a window into the lives of the Lowcountry’s often glanced-over residents. Below, preview six photographs from the book.

A male rainbow scarab—metallic shell gleaming and outfitted with a large black horn—traverses a scrap of pavement. These colorful, acorn-sized dung beetles play an important nutrient cycling role in the ecosystem.

Yellow jessamine, an evergreen perennial vine, grows all over the Lowcountry in forests, thickets, hedgerows, and wetlands. “What is spectacular about yellow jessamine is its spring outfit,” Austin writes. “As the soil begins to warm and the bugs begin to stir…Its web of wiry vines blister and burst forth into a glow of golden flowers.”

Tamanend’s bottlenose dolphins often pop up in the waterways around Edisto—and sometimes even on the sand. In the Lowcountry, dolphins display a unique behavior called strand feeding: “A pod of dolphins will corral a school of fish between themselves and the shore of a tidal creek,” Austin’s entry explains. “Then, in unison, the dolphins will charge the school side by side, forcing the fish to jump, or be thrown, onto the bank. The dolphins turn sideways, and their momentum carries them onto the bank with the fish, where they snatch up the stranded snacks.”

Atlantic horseshoe crabs, which spawn in the summer along the Eastern seaboard, are “living fossils,” Austin writes, and “an oddball arthropod whose secretions are vital to modern medicine and shorebird conservation.” 

Anhingas live year-round on Edisto Island—here, one fans its wings out to dry its feathers after a dive. The birds are sculpted perfectly for their eating habits, Austin writes. “Anhingas are the spear-fishermen of the bird world…Their eyes face forward, giving them great binocular vision. Their bill is needle-like, perfect for poking clear through a bass. Their neck is long and S-curved, allowing them to speedily spear fish.”

Images reprinted from The Flora and Fauna of Edisto Island and the Lowcountry Sea Islands by Tom Austin. Published Evening Post Books.