It’s nesting season for a number of bird species that nest on the ground, including killdeer, least terns and black-necked stilts. These nests are most common on mudflats around our salt ponds. Because the nests are unprotected, camouflage is the primary defense mechanism. Many of the nests are just a small depression in the sand or mud, with hard-to-see eggs. […]

The Anguilla Bank anole is found throughout the Anguilla Bank: Anguilla, St. Martin, St. Barts and most of the smaller islets in the area. Why? Because during the last ice age, all these islands were connected. During the height of the last glacial period, about 12,000 years ago, the sea level was about 120 meters lower than it is today. […]

Here’s another test photo with the ring flash adapter, and probably better as a test. It can be very difficult to get enough light on shiny insects without having a harsh reflection of the flash. In this case, there is some reflection down the middle of the back, but it isn’t too bad. The insect itself looks like a nymph […]

After a mishap involving salt water that killed one of my little macro flashes, I got an inexpensive adapter that takes light from a big flash and makes it into a ring flash, essentially a ring of light around the camera lens. It’s awkward and cheap, but it does create a very soft, even lighting as you can see here. […]

If you live on St. Martin, surely you recognize the gray kingbird, but why? Out of over 100 birds that live on St. Martin, perhaps only a handful are as familiar as the gray kingbird. One reason is that they are relatively common, and another is that they seem to be pretty comfortable in urban areas where most people spend […]

My friend Chloe Petrelluzzi found a very nice ten-spotted longhorn (Eburia decemmaculata) at her house yesterday and I borrowed it to take a couple photos. This family of beetles is known as the longhorn beetles because most species have long antennae. Many of them live inside trees and eat wood as larvae, so they can also be known as wood-boring […]

Sometimes, especially early in the morning, you may see these tiny fly-like insects with hairlike tufts coming out of their behinds. They’re adult male ensign coccids. Juveniles and females are white, scale-like and found on plants. They’re related to other scale insects and mealybugs, and less-closely related to other hemipterans, like stink bugs and cicadas.

The Rock Slater or Sea Roach is a type of isopod which lives on the coastline. It’s related to pillbugs and sowbugs, which are also isopods, and there are also a large number of marine isopods, some of which are fish parasites (I often see these attached to the gills of grunts when snorkeling or diving). I don’t know any […]

The Pantropical Jumper is one of two similar species of jumping spider that are widespread in much of the tropical and subtropical world, the other is the Gray Wall Jumper. At home, I have the Gray Wall Jumper everywhere, but I’ve only seen the Pantropical Jumper at University of St. Martin. Like all jumping spiders, they hunt for prey on […]

A turnip-tailed gecko’s foot has small plates, called lamellae, and on them there are setae, which are fine hairs that help the gecko hold onto surfaces, allowing it to walk on walls and tree trunks. On St. Martin, these geckos are called Woodslaves, and there are two closely-related species, one of which lives only on St. Martin.