It is, perhaps, a bit of irony that our reptiles, which are mostly found only on this island and sometimes nearby islands, often don’t seem to have local names. Or maybe they do and I just don’t know what they are. What do you call this lizard? This species is also found on Anguilla and St. Barths, but the subspecies […]

The black witch is a huge noctuid moth. In flight, it looks black or dark brown, but up close, it’s quite beautiful. Also known as the bat, duppy bat, money moth and a host of other names, it may be bad luck or good luck depending on the local tradition. It may also be seen as the embodiment of a […]

I saw this yellow-crowned night heron spend several minutes doing a series of strange yoga-like poses. It wasn’t a courtship display and the heron wasn’t wet or cold. Some biologists suspect that herons adopt poses like this to kill parasites in their feathers by exposing them to the sun. Other names I’ve seen for this bird include crabier, crab-eater and […]

One of our current research projects is to identify a species of soapberry bug found on the island. These insects are true bugs from the subfamily Serinethinae. Ours are predominantly orange. Insects from this group feed on vines from the soapberry family, and ours use their piercing mouthparts to puncture the seeds and suck out the insides. So far, I’ve […]

The cattle egret is quick to take advantage of good foraging opportunities. They are well-known for foraging around cattle and other grazing animals. The grazer will flush insects from the grass as it is eating, and the cattle egret catches them. Studies have found that this is more than three times as effective for the egret as foraging alone. On […]

Rats were one of the first species introduced (accidentally) to St. Martin by Europeans, perhaps even before the first French and Dutch settled here. They traveled the world and have caused trouble for native species everywhere they go, particularly islands. On St. Martin, we have two species, the black rat and the brown, or Norway rat. They are a threat […]

The green heron is not very green, but it is very smart. They are known to use bait when fishing, dropping an insect or some other small object onto the water to attract fish. The only local name I’ve seen for it is Gaulin, which looks like it could be French, but isn’t a word Google Translate recognizes. Anyone know the […]

When reading older research, it is surprising to see the number of birds that were not officially recorded on St. Martin until the late 20th century. In some cases, it may be related to hunting. Egrets were hunted worldwide to get fancy feathers for hats and such. As a result, my best source for historical local names for some birds […]