The house sparrow is a European bird that has been introduced to many parts of the world, including St. Martin. It isn’t mentioned in the checklist I have from the mid-1970s, so presumably it arrived here after that. I personally only remember seeing them near (and in) the airport when I was first visiting the island, but lately I have […]

The blue-winged teal is apparently one of the most common ducks in the Caribbean, where they are a non-breeding winter resident. Until a few days ago, I had never seen them in their breeding plumage, but there was a big flock on the Airport Pond in Grand Case. In breeding plumage, the males have a black head with white stripes. […]

Male anoles will fight over prime territory to improve their chances of breeding, but females will do the same, presumably to protect the area the hunt in from competitors. Anoles are sit-and-wait predators, staying on a perch and then running off to eat insects based on the size and distance of potential prey. For example, they might eat an ant […]

I bet most people are familiar with the spotted oleander caterpillar moth, because it is brightly colored and active during the day. It’s actually a mimic of the tarantula hawk wasp (Pepsis rubra) posted yesterday. You may have also seen its hairy, bright-orange caterpillars on oleander plants. They are orange to warn potential predators that they have acquired toxins from […]

The tarantula hawk is a wasp that hunts tarantulas. Females will paralyze a tarantula, drag it to a burrow, and then lay an egg on it. The larva will then eat the tarantula while it’s still alive so it doesn’t rot. Of course, a tarantula can also kill a wasp, which seems to be what happened here, leaving the two […]

This green-winged teal is dabbling, or skimming food of the surface of the water. Some ducks dabble, others dive down for their food. On St. Martin we have a few of each type. This species prefers to dabble in very shallow water around mud flats. They primarily eat plants and seeds, but will eat small invertebrates on occasion. This species […]

The big, black bumblebee we have on St. Martin is hard to photograph, but I discovered they like flowers from the passionfruit family. Also known as carpenter bees, they chew a tunnel into wood and build their nest there. I believe the species we have is Xylocopa mordax.

This little lizard lives only on St. Martin. It used to live on Anguilla, but was last collected there in 1922. It’s scientific name is Anolis pogus. The name pogus was given to this lizard by the herpetologist James “Skip” Lazell. He named the lizard after the cartoon character Pogo the Possum to make a point that scientific names don’t […]

What’s the rarest bird on St. Martin? Right now, it might be the glossy ibis. As far as we know, there’s just one on the island at the moment. It’s been hanging out near the Great Salt Pond. A couple years ago, one was seen at the Salines de l’Aéroport in Grand Case. This species is migratory, with most of […]

A couple days ago I found three different species of sphinx moth in the lobby of a local hotel. This one, the smallest, was probably the most beautiful. I can imagine that it is incredibly camouflaged when sitting on a tree trunk. In a hotel lobby, less so. This species, Enyo lugubris, is apparently known as the Mournful Sphinx, and […]