The tiny pond by the cemetery in Grand Case has been a very popular nesting site for egrets for the last few years. One mangrove tree, which had dozens of nests each year, has actually died, and only a small part of the dead tree is still standing. Even so, the egrets are nesting on what is left of the […]

If you hate cockroaches, you should love the ensign wasp. It has a strange, almost triangular abdomen that bobs up and down at the end of a long waist. It’s a specialized cockroach parasite, laying eggs in cockroach egg cases. The wasp larvae live inside the egg case and eat all the cockroach eggs. The species we have on St. […]

Moth flies have hairy wings and big, feathery antennae, so they look a little bit like moths. But they are flies. Their larvae are aquatic, and may live in places like shower drains. You may see these from time to time in your bathroom. I do.

The house sparrow is a European bird that has been introduced to many parts of the world, including St. Martin. It isn’t mentioned in the checklist I have from the mid-1970s, so presumably it arrived here after that. I personally only remember seeing them near (and in) the airport when I was first visiting the island, but lately I have […]

The blue-winged teal is apparently one of the most common ducks in the Caribbean, where they are a non-breeding winter resident. Until a few days ago, I had never seen them in their breeding plumage, but there was a big flock on the Airport Pond in Grand Case. In breeding plumage, the males have a black head with white stripes. […]

Male anoles will fight over prime territory to improve their chances of breeding, but females will do the same, presumably to protect the area the hunt in from competitors. Anoles are sit-and-wait predators, staying on a perch and then running off to eat insects based on the size and distance of potential prey. For example, they might eat an ant […]

I bet most people are familiar with the spotted oleander caterpillar moth, because it is brightly colored and active during the day. It’s actually a mimic of the tarantula hawk wasp (Pepsis rubra) posted yesterday. You may have also seen its hairy, bright-orange caterpillars on oleander plants. They are orange to warn potential predators that they have acquired toxins from […]

The tarantula hawk is a wasp that hunts tarantulas. Females will paralyze a tarantula, drag it to a burrow, and then lay an egg on it. The larva will then eat the tarantula while it’s still alive so it doesn’t rot. Of course, a tarantula can also kill a wasp, which seems to be what happened here, leaving the two […]

This green-winged teal is dabbling, or skimming food of the surface of the water. Some ducks dabble, others dive down for their food. On St. Martin we have a few of each type. This species prefers to dabble in very shallow water around mud flats. They primarily eat plants and seeds, but will eat small invertebrates on occasion. This species […]

The big, black bumblebee we have on St. Martin is hard to photograph, but I discovered they like flowers from the passionfruit family. Also known as carpenter bees, they chew a tunnel into wood and build their nest there. I believe the species we have is Xylocopa mordax.