I have a couple galleries of local stuff here. The first is a set of plants and critters from the Grand Case area. It’s pretty heavily weighted towards the spider that has absolutely overtaken mangroves and pond shores around the island. It seems to prey heavily on midges, which have been super common for a while, perhaps explaining the population explosion for the spiders.

The next set is just a few photos of an awesome rainbow that I saw the other morning in Grand Case Bay.

If you’re like me, you often need to identify Caribbean animals, and it’s not always easy to find resources on the web, so I figured I’d post links to some of my favorites.

The Catalog of the Lepidoptera of the French Antilles is a site in both French and English that features most of the butterflies and moths of this area. A few groups are missing (Hespirids, Pyralids, etc.) but the families that are present are well represented with photos and descriptions. The focus is primarily on Guadeloupe and Martinique, but distribution in St. Martin and St. Barths is also noted.

The Museum of Comparative Zoology Caribbean Insect Database is sometimes down, but when it’s accessible it’s a great place to find thousands of specimen photos.

Father Sanchez’s Web Site of West Indian Natural History is a terrific overview of West Indian fauna with tons of photos. It includes the full range of vertebrates and invertebrates, plus information about many plants and fungi.

The Action Nature St. Martin Guide is in French and has quite a few of the species on Saint Martin.

Mark de Silva’s page at the Moth Photographers Group is primarily focused on the Grenadines, but many of the species are found throughout the Caribbean.

The Caribbean Spiders Photo Gallery by Jo-Anne Sewlal is a great place to see photos of various spiders from different families.

Tom Murray’s Florida Butterfly Database features many species also found in the Caribbean.

BatHead has a Caribbean Bat Guide that is really terrific, plus information about which species are on each island.

Caribherp will help you identify your West Indian reptiles and amphibians. The site is very comprehensive and includes photos.

The Virgin Islands Arthropod Database is a handy resource for checking to see what species might be nearby, although you will have to go elsewhere to get photos.

And, of course, no list would be complete without The Incomplete Guide to the Wildlife of Saint Martin. With information and photos of about 300 species, it is far from comprehensive, but it is a good place to start understanding the wildlife of Saint Martin and the northern Lesser Antilles as well.

UPDATE: Barbara reminded me of the Biological Inventory of Sint Maarten, which offers an excellent overview about the flora and fauna of the island and a very valuable list of references for digging deeper.

The day after the cleanup at Fresh Pond, I met with volunteers to plant trees near Little Bay Pond. A joint effort by the St. Maarten Pride Foundation, the Nature Foundation and EPIC, the event was well-attended, including many students. Volunteers planted a variety of trees between the pond and the roadside, as well as a number of red mangroves at the water line. Stones were collected to mark the newly-planted trees, and trash was collected from the area. We even saw a really nice rainbow!

With all the activity, it was also a good chance to see a few creatures, particularly when picking up rocks. Although I had to skip my SXM Trails hike to attend the planting, it was well worth it.

I recently participated in a clean-up of Fresh Pond that was organized by the Sint Maarten Pride Foundation, EPIC and Youth Link. The clean-up area centered around a bird watching hut built by EPIC which is currently home to a squatter. The amount of trash in the area was staggering, but we were able to do quite a bit of cleaning in the area. The incoming public health minister came by with his staff and didn’t hesitate to get into the muck to get the trash picked up.

There were also lots of spiders, which are apparently quite common around the ponds of the area because of the abundance of midges.

Fort Louis is always a nice stop for visitors to the island, so we took Jenn’s mom there before she left. Here are a few photos of the fort.

Even more exciting was the nearby museum. I’ve already visited it a couple times, so the displays were nothing new, but Christophe did show me a tiny hummingbird nest with two chicks inside. He was even nice enough to get me a ladder so I could take some photos. As you can see, baby hummingbirds are quite cute. These were the Antillean crested hummingbird, which is actually very small even for a hummingbird.

UPDATE: I’m adding a few photos that were sent to me by the Museum/Archeological Association photographer Hervé Baïs. If you like Saint Martin, you will surely enjoy his SXM photoblog.

On a recent visit to Friars’ Bay, I saw a number of birds. There were plenty of carib grackles, some of which seemed to be adolescents with sort of intermediate coloration. I also saw a duck I wasn’t familiar with and what seemed to be a small parrot. With no native parrots on the island, I would guess this one may have escaped from captivity, but I didn’t get a photo.

Finally, I’m wrapping up the posts for everything I did in January. This last post is a few of the insects I’ve seen (mostly) around our apartment. My favorite is actually the lace bug that I found near Supermarché Match in Marigot. Tiny, but ornate, it’s the kind of thing you only find when you’re waiting around for someone to do some “quick” shopping.

The guide is now available at the Museum in Marigot.

My most recent hike with SXM Trails was probably my favorite so far. Starting early in the morning from Concordia, we climbed Mont des Accords before traveling to the top of St. Peter’s Hill, Sentry Hill and a few unnamed hilltops before ending up on Arlet Peters Road between Philipsburg and Cole Bay. The views were amazing, and Jean Michel showed me several types of orchids along the way (none of which are in bloom at this time of year).

We took Jenn’s mom to Pinel last week, which was also a good opportunity to photograph some of the other snorkeling spots on the island. We started at the beach in the southeast of the island. There’s a little bay that is ringed with coral, including a number of coral heads in the sandy areas. Some areas are also covered in seagrass, where I saw a southern stingray. I would say overall it’s not as awesome as the north beach on Pinel, but it’s pretty nice.

Next I walked out on the rocky shore to access the Extreme Shallow Snorkeling drift zone that is just to the north. This very shallow area probably averages 12-24 inches in depth and has strong currents sweeping down towards the southeast beach. Here the coral fans are bent over like fir trees on a windy coastline or mountaintop. Even fighting against the current, it was a pretty quick ride back to the southeast beach.

Between the dock and the snorkel course is another extremely shallow shoal that can be fun to snorkel. The terrain is mostly covered by algae, but there are quite a lot of juvenile fish to be seen. If you look carefully, sea hares and nudibranchs can be seen here, too.

Our last stop was the designated snorkeling track. We saw a gigantic hermit crab and a bunch of sergeant majors that were behaving suspiciously like they are being fed in this area (immediately swarming around me). I think heavy traffic may have taken a toll on this area. In some ways, I suppose, this is good if it means that some of the more pristine reef areas around Pinel are disturbed less.