The Yellow-crowned Night Heron is primarily nocturnal, as are many crabs, which are one of their favorite foods. They are just a couple examples of the many animals that are active at night. In fact, this bird is also known as the Crabier or Crab-eater. Many nocturnal species are unfamiliar to most people because they spend their days hiding. Between […]

Today at CIA I talked with the third grade class about the various relationships between plants and animals. Obviously, a lot of insects feed on plants, and one of the things we discussed was how various caterpillars have specific host plants, often because the plants have developed toxins and the caterpillars have developed the ability to handle specific toxins. One […]

Today I’m giving a presentation to third graders at CIA (Caribbean International Academy) about the relationships between plants and animals on St. Martin. Often insects and plants have evolved together to have both symbiotic and confrontational relationships. This photo shows an Ornate Moth feeding on nectar from a wild pea plant. Plants provide nectar for insects (and other animals) in […]

Although we saw the green-throated carib on our endemic bird walk on Saturday, we didn’t see the one that was nesting just a few meters from where we walked. Here’s a photo of the mother on her nest. We can tell it’s the mother because males don’t take care of the eggs or the chicks. This mother spent a lot […]

One of the things we will see on this morning’s bird walk is a large nesting colony of Great Egrets, Snowy Egrets and Cattle Egrets. They have been nesting on Étang de Cimetière in Grand Case for at least several years. One mangrove tree has been a particular favorite of theirs, and over the last few years it has died, […]

The Carib Grackle is found in the Caribbean and parts of South America bordering the Caribbean. The subspecies found on St. Martin is only found in the northern Lesser Antilles. It’s one of the endemic birds that we are sure to see on Saturday’s bird walk. It is interesting to note, however, that this bird was first officially recorded on […]

Some insects, like crickets and their relatives, undergo what is known as incomplete metamorphosis. The immature insects are known as nymphs, and they typically look somewhat similar to adults, but often without functional wings. In order to grow, they need to shed their exoskeleton periodically, a process known as molting. This bush cricket is molting for the last time. It […]

I’ve been stung by the Jack Spaniard wasp more times than I can count. When they are just flying around, they are peaceful, but if you get too close to a nest, they become quite aggressive. Usually it is a nest that I don’t notice until they are stinging me. I have noticed one exception: if there’s only one wasp […]

I found this mantidfly at a friend’s house yesterday and took it home to photograph because it was much, much smaller than any that I’ve seen before. Looking at it this morning, it looks the same as others I’ve seen, just smaller. I went looking online today to see if males and females are different sizes, but I don’t think […]

I’m glad I took a few photos yesterday of how dry the island was. From what I know, this spring was particularly dry on St. Martin. Most of the ponds had very low water levels, often exposing large areas of mudflat. The hills were as dry as I have ever seen them. Every year, the seasonal change between wet and […]