A couple articles I wrote about birds have been published this week. Learn about yellow-crowned night heron plumage on SXMinfo.fr and the voyage of the whimbrel at The Daily Herald.

A backswimmer flew into our kitchen last night. It’s an aquatic insect from the order Hemiptera, so it’s related to insects like stink bugs, aphids and cicadas. They get their name from swimming upside down. Although they spend most of their time in the water hunting insects and tadpoles, they can fly as well, which is how they get to […]

Right now, migratory shorebirds are arriving on St. Martin from North America. Some will spend the winter here, while others will fly on to South America. Many of these birds have different plumage at different times of year. During the summer, they wear what is known as their breeding plumage, which is usually more distinctive. During the winter they will […]

Yesterday was the first session of a really great program put together by Nature Foundation SXM and Be The Change SXM to do wildlife and marine life training with a group of kids who don’t normally have opportunities like this. I’ll post more about the program during the month, but for now, I’d like to thank the donors who funded […]

Here is a pair of checkered swallowtails mating near Friar’s Bay. This species is originally from Asia and their caterpillars feed on citrus trees (it’s also known as the Lime Butterfly and many other combinations of Lime/Lemon/Citrus and Swallowtail/Butterfly). The first recorded observation of this species in the Caribbean was in the Dominican Republic in 2004, and it spread quickly […]

Following up on the cellar spider, the spiderlings have hatched. The photos where the spiderlings have shorter legs are from the 29th, and since then they have molted and are starting to look more like mom. The photos post-molt, where the spiderlings have longer legs, were taken this morning.

I went to the Garden Groove party at Loterie Farm last night, but ended up spending much of the time walking up to Chewbacca Rock in the dark. It’s probably not actually allowed, but there’s something wonderful about the forest at night. The frogs and insects were making quite a bit of noise, staying up all night to get lucky. […]