I believe this hoverfly was laying eggs on a mutton lemon plant that is infested with the Asian citrus psyllid. These tiny insects have infested several mutton lemon bushes on our street, and other hoverfly species on the island have larvae that are aphid predators. I guess I will have to keep an eye on these bushes and see what […]

This week’s Bird Watch SXM column in the Weekender section of The Daily Herald features the common gallinule, a bird that was once considered a rare visitor to the island, but is now a common breeding resident. It also features an awesome new logo for the Bird Watch SXM column. There are many factors that influence the success of birds […]

Here are a few photos of the ruddy turnstone, a common shorebird on St. Martin’s salt ponds and beaches, particularly during the winter. While the spotted sandpiper isn’t spotted during the winter months and the black-bellied plover doesn’t have a black belly most of the time it is here, the ruddy turnstone does, in fact, turn stones. Here you can […]

The oleander aphid is tiny, but very interesting. They are primarily found on oleander and various types of milkweed, like the apple of sodom. Although they live all over the world today, they probably came from the Mediterranean and spread with the oleander plant. As far as we know, the species is parthenogenetic, and all of these aphids are females. […]

Thank you to everyone who completed the short survey about our Migratory Bird Festival. We had a lot of great feedback, as well as great suggestions for future events. This feedback is very important to us and we will be using it to make our next event even better. If you attended the Migratory Bird Festival and haven’t had a […]

I can admit it, I have a fly problem. There are probably a quarter million species in the world and probably more than half have never even been described. On St. Martin, there are probably a couple hundred different species. Here is just a small selection of my unidentified fly photos, feel free to tell me what they are. I […]

Development for tourism on St. Martin has often been associated with the environmental decline on the island. I think this is a pretty reasonable view, and without the development of a robust tourism industry the island would be much poorer, have a much smaller population and be much less developed, causing less environmental stress. In the future, however, tourism has […]

When running errands in Philipsburg, I almost always take a walk by the Great Salt Pond to see who’s hanging out there. These photos are from Monday, and as usual there are plenty of birds there, particularly migrants foraging along the shore. Also, of course, plenty of trash (snowy egret disapproves!), waters of unnatural color and dead fish. It is […]

The common gallinule, sometimes called the water chicken, is a common sight on St. Martin’s ponds. They seem to be quite successful at breeding on the island, and it is not uncommon to see parents with new chicks and almost-grown juveniles from their last brood at the same time. Most of all, I love the bald chicks.

Pseudoscorpions are tiny arachnids that look a bit like scorpions, but don’t have a stinger. They’re harmless and typically eat tiny insects and other invertebrates like mites. These photos were taken on Statia, at their volcanic peak, the Quill. Are there pseudoscorpions on St. Martin? Almost surely, although they are easily overlooked. The adults seen here are approximately 1/2 cm […]