The common gallinule, sometimes called the water chicken, is a common sight on St. Martin’s ponds. They seem to be quite successful at breeding on the island, and it is not uncommon to see parents with new chicks and almost-grown juveniles from their last brood at the same time. Most of all, I love the bald chicks.

Pseudoscorpions are tiny arachnids that look a bit like scorpions, but don’t have a stinger. They’re harmless and typically eat tiny insects and other invertebrates like mites. These photos were taken on Statia, at their volcanic peak, the Quill. Are there pseudoscorpions on St. Martin? Almost surely, although they are easily overlooked. The adults seen here are approximately 1/2 cm […]

Here’s a third set of photos from the festival, with guests checking in and getting their bird checklists, chatting about birds and a few shots of the beach where the tour wrapped up (and where Kristin and Marc were able to pick up lots of trash, big and small). Thanks again to everyone who came to the festival!

We had a ton of kids at the Migratory Bird Festival and did a lot of bird-related art, including coloring, drawing and clay sculpture. Les Fruits de Mer member Stephen was the ringleader of the kids area and Tumay from Art Summer Camp Sxm brought clay and helped the kids make some amazing bird sculptures. Art supplies were sponsored by […]

We’ve got a ton of great photos of the Migratory Bird Festival from Olivia Roudon. We’ll be sharing them in a few sets, this first one showcases the mangrove discovery trail and folks enjoying the guided tours as well as just exploring the trail on their own. We were incredibly excited to have about 200 people visiting this beautiful site […]

Here’s a short-billed dowitcher feeding at Étang de la Barrière. Despite its name, it has a very long bill that it uses to probe in mud or sand to find crabs, snails and other small animals to eat. For shorebirds in general, the longer their bill, the more likely they are to feed in this way, using their bill to […]

There was a belted kingfisher this morning at Étang de la Barrière, the site of the upcoming Migratory Bird Festival. Hopefully we’ll see him on Sunday. On the one hand, they are shy, but on the other hand, once they find a good spot they tend to stay there, and there was one at this site all winter last year. […]

Le 29 septembre 2013 de 8h00 à 11h00 à Cul de Sac, les amoureux de la Nature de tous âges sont invités à participer à l’édition saint-martinoise de la journée internationale de la migration d’oiseaux (IMBD en anglais ; 23 septembre). L’événement aura lieu sur le sentier de découverte de la mangrove de l’Etang de la Barrière, à proximité directe […]

There were many birds this morning at the small pond created for livestock on the way to Cul-de-Sac, but I wasn’t the only one there early in the morning to see the birds. Cats and dogs can be wonderful pets, but they can also be very dangerous for local wildlife. Like the mongoose, they are predators that are not native, […]

Both are predators, but the gray wall jumper clearly has the edge over the backswimmer on our balcony. Since the backswimmer is aquatic, perhaps the tables would be turned if this encounter took place underwater.