Category Archives: Wildlife

Mimic

The mimic is a butterfly native to Africa, but it has had an irregular distribution in the Caribbean for quite some time, perhaps since the era of the slave trade. Previously I had only seen it once, several years ago, but this year I have seen them a number of times and others have been noticing it on St. Martin […]

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Pseudoscorpion

When we were walking in the forest at Loterie during the macro-photography workshop I managed to find a pseudoscorpion, the first time I’ve seen one on St. Martin. It was hiding in some tree bark. There are probably lots of them here, but they are very small. This one was probably about 2mm long. Pseudoscorpions are arachnids, like spiders and […]

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Glossy Ibis

I finally saw one of the glossy ibises that have decided to come here this year. This one was at the small livestock pond on the road to Cul-de-Sac. Unfortunately, it has a very nasty wound on its neck. Hopefully it’s something that will heal naturally, but I do wonder what happened to it. Perhaps it was attacked by a […]

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Experiments with Light

There’s nothing like spending a lazy Sunday on the beach with friends: the crab spider, syrphid fly larva, oleander aphid and other old pals. Yeserday, I did some experimenting with light for macro insect portraits. On my camera, I was using a speedlight with a ring flash attachment, and behind the insects, I was using an optically-triggered underwater strobe for […]

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Asian Citrus Psyllid Predator?

I believe this hoverfly was laying eggs on a mutton lemon plant that is infested with the Asian citrus psyllid. These tiny insects have infested several mutton lemon bushes on our street, and other hoverfly species on the island have larvae that are aphid predators. I guess I will have to keep an eye on these bushes and see what […]

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Gallinule in Bird Watch

This week’s Bird Watch SXM column in the Weekender section of The Daily Herald features the common gallinule, a bird that was once considered a rare visitor to the island, but is now a common breeding resident. It also features an awesome new logo for the Bird Watch SXM column. There are many factors that influence the success of birds […]

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It Actually Does Turn Stones

Here are a few photos of the ruddy turnstone, a common shorebird on St. Martin’s salt ponds and beaches, particularly during the winter. While the spotted sandpiper isn’t spotted during the winter months and the black-bellied plover doesn’t have a black belly most of the time it is here, the ruddy turnstone does, in fact, turn stones. Here you can […]

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The Interesting Oleander Aphid

The oleander aphid is tiny, but very interesting. They are primarily found on oleander and various types of milkweed, like the apple of sodom. Although they live all over the world today, they probably came from the Mediterranean and spread with the oleander plant. As far as we know, the species is parthenogenetic, and all of these aphids are females. […]

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Unidenti-flies

I can admit it, I have a fly problem. There are probably a quarter million species in the world and probably more than half have never even been described. On St. Martin, there are probably a couple hundred different species. Here is just a small selection of my unidentified fly photos, feel free to tell me what they are. I […]

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Scenes from the Great Salt Pond

When running errands in Philipsburg, I almost always take a walk by the Great Salt Pond to see who’s hanging out there. These photos are from Monday, and as usual there are plenty of birds there, particularly migrants foraging along the shore. Also, of course, plenty of trash (snowy egret disapproves!), waters of unnatural color and dead fish. It is […]

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