Lots of wildlife depend on our salt ponds and wetland areas. There was a great clean-up this morning on the canal in Grand Case, the second of many events to help make my favorite town even better. Huge thanks to everyone who came by and helped out. We did a lot of cleaning along the canal as you can see. […]
We went up to Loterie Farm today as part of the Be the Change SXM/Nature Foundation SXM ranger training and wildlife education program. Here are some of the things we saw in the forest. Some of these photos are mine and some were taken by the kids. I was going through them this evening and I’m honestly not sure who […]
Get ready for the biggest birding event of the year! We will be hosting a special event in honor of the birds that fly thousands of miles to visit St. Martin each fall. Part of International Migratory Bird Day, there will be plenty of activities and guided tours of the mangrove discovery trail at Étang de la Barrière right next […]
If you liked the photos I posted of seabirds at Dog Island, you might enjoy this video from CaribinTV, with some nice footage from the same visit. http://www.caribintv.com/dog-island The yellow subtitles make it look even more like lost footage from a Cousteau expedition. I think a couple of the figures I give for the number of nesting pairs of birds […]
When looking at Caribbean biology from a historical perspective, I came up with a way to oversimplify things based on how research was/is conducted. (I’m sure there are plenty of other great ways to oversimplify this.) Although it’s an imperfect framework for viewing things, I think it does help explain why we are so ignorant in certain areas and how […]
Shorebirds are starting to show up everywhere on St. Martin as they arrive for the winter and stop by during their migration. I snapped a few photos when I was crossing the drainage canal in Philipsburg after a meeting yesterday. I think we have the solitary sandpiper, killdeer, semipalmated sandpiper and pectoral sandpiper, but some of the sandpipers look alike, […]
There are four species of Anolis lizard on St. Martin, two native and two introduced. At yesterday’s session of the wildlife education program, we taught local youth to identify them based on photos and tested them in the field. They need to know, because next week we’ll be doing a survey in the field to see how populations of our […]
Ever see a perfect wildlife photo and wonder how the magic happens? Well, it ain’t always magical. This morning I was trying to take some photos of carpenter and centrid bees feeding at candlebush flowers and I think my batting average was about 0 for 100. Here are some of the better ones, and they might not look as bad […]
When birdwatching at your local wetland reminds you of the trash-compactor scene from Star Wars, it’s probably time to do something about it. Some friends decided to start cleaning up some of the mess here in Grand Case, so that’s what we’re doing. Hopefully egrets and herons won’t have to hunt in a sea of junk and gallinules won’t be […]
Our neighbor, Oswen from Caribbean Paddling, rescued an immature tropicbird that was stranded at Orient Beach, unable to fly. It’s resting in the shade at the moment until he can bring it to the vet’s office when it opens up after lunch. As you can see, this bird doesn’t have its distinctive, long tail feathers yet. I am guessing that […]