‎”I saw him living in a tiny shack in the Amazon giving his life to insects,” says his mother. “Now maybe he’ll be a middle-class person. I never thought he would be, but he might.” As it turns out, I live in a tiny apartment in St. Martin giving my life to insects. Maybe not middle-class, but thanks to many […]

The house gecko is native to Africa, but is now found in almost all the warm parts of the Americas, including the Caribbean. It is generally assumed that they were inadvertently introduced to the Americas by people, but it is also possible that came by natural means. They definitely seem to benefit from the presence of humans, in particular artificial […]

I’m not exactly sure what’s going on in this photo, but I bet it is interesting. The scene is an apple of sodom seed pod (apple of sodom is basically a big milkweed plant). It’s covered in oleander aphids, but there are also two wasps. On St. Martin, there is a different wasp that parasitizes oleander aphids, laying an egg […]

How many spiders are named after St. Martin? At least one! This wall crab spider was described as a new species based on specimens from St. Martin, and named Selenops souliga. Souliga (also spelled many other ways) is the Arawak name for St. Martin, and means land of salt. (Apparently a Father Breton actually recorded four Arawak names for St. […]

Many insects don’t take care of their young. Butterflies will lay eggs on the type of plant their caterpillars eat, but other than that, the caterpillars are on their own. The torrid jewel bug actually does provide parental support, by protecting first the eggs, and then the young nymphs, as you can see here. Speaking of support, I want to […]

Killdeer are a type of plover that is quite common on the island. They nest here, often on the mudflats surrounding our salt ponds. In these pictures, I believe they are engaged in what is called a scrape ceremony. This is how they choose a nesting site and is often the prelude for mating. The male will scrape the ground […]

It’s nesting time for the bananaquit (also known as the sugar bird, sucrier, and a few other names). It’s actually basically always nesting time for them, because they breed and build nests throughout the year. Their nests are usually spherical and made of grass, cotton and various other materials with a small opening on the side. Thanks to our recent […]

I’ve had a few people ask me about the White-winged Dove, because it is a relatively recent arrival to the island. It is native to the Caribbean, but has been expanding its range into the Lesser Antilles. At first glance, it looks a lot like our native Zenaida Dove (known locally as the Mountain Dove, and if you know other […]

If anyone is wondering how I came to write a wildlife guide for the island of St. Martin, I think this photo will pretty much explain everything. It’s a scan of the cover of the first wildlife guide I wrote, about the property surrounding the house where my Aunt Diane and Uncle Henry live near Sonoma, California. By Mark Yokoyama, […]

If you are at the beach in the morning and see something that looks like tank tracks coming up from the sea, they’re probably sea turtle tracks. Three species of sea turtle nest on St. Martin, the hawksbill (pictured), the leatherback and the green turtle. They typically nest between April and November on beaches all over the island. If you […]