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 doesn’t include various birds that are now common, but may not have been on the island at all in the 1950s. And perhaps it is less likely that there are local names for birds that either weren’t here or were very rare.
Does anyone know a local name for this bird? It’s a great egret, and this one was taking advantage of some work in the Great Salt Pond that had created small pools of water with fish trapped inside. I watched it eat a dozen within about as many minutes.
