You see them often today, but was the Carib grackle even on St. Martin 50 years ago?

A few weeks ago we put copies of The Incomplete Guide to the Wildlife of Saint Martin in all the rooms at a great boutique hotel in Grand Case. We’ve also been attending their weekly cocktail party to mingle with guests and teach them some interesting things about local wildlife. So far, it’s been a great experience, and the first […]

Learn about the mysteries of the Bananaquit in The Daily Herald:

The stick insect, or walking stick is quite common, but difficult to find because it is very well camouflaged and primarily active at night. We are still unsure of the exact identity of the species found on St. Martin. Often insects from this order are endemic to individual islands or small regions. In two of these photos, the walking stick […]

Vervet monkeys are native to Africa, but were brought to the Caribbean during the colonial era, where they became established on St. Kitts and Barbados in the 17th century. They are thought to be a relatively recent introduction to St. Martin, probably from released pets that were brought from St. Kitts. The first recorded sighting I’ve read about is from […]

This cattle egret seems to be having some medical issues. Binkie at Sint Maarten Birding actually saw the same egret the other day (https://www.facebook.com/SintMaartenBirding). I don’t know what caused this, but it seems like some sort of infection. Perhaps someone who knows about these things could weigh in. Since they do forage in the water sometimes, I would imagine that […]

The common gallinule normally eats seeds of grasses and some snails, but apparently they will also scavenge other food when available. This gallinule chick is eating a small tilapia. I don’t think it would have been able to catch a live fish, but there were a number of dead ones floating nearby, so it probably scavenged this one from the […]

I borrowed this sphinx moth, known as the tobacco hornworm, for some photos. I think this is the fourth or fifth species of sphinx moth I’ve found in the exact same spot. They are attracted to the lights at night, and then just rest on the wall during the day. If I went there every day, perhaps I’d be able […]

Here are a few photos of a pair of black-necked stilts on the Great Salt Pond.

Learn about St. Martin’s smallest bird in this week’s Bird Watch SXM article in The Daily Herald.