Once again there were no turtle tracks on my beaches, but there were plenty of other things to see. In fact, it was a great day for spiders and flies and I saw about six species of each during my walk. There was also some sort of shenanigans involving plastic bottles, which were all over the coast near the entrance to the wilderness trail and also all over the ground near the dump. Because it was just plastic bottles, it would seem to be a load of plastic recycling that was dumped near, but not in, the dump. Probably the bottles on the shore were washed downhill by the rain. Welcome to Saint Martin!

While I was in Concordia, I ran into these ruins near a rental car lot all the way down the road from the EDF building. According to an archaeological map I found, it seems this might be Sucrerie Diamant, but other than that I have no info on it. The map I found does show the location of the Sucrerie Friars’ Bay, which may be helpful since I wasn’t able to find that before.

I was in Marigot to drop some copies of the wildlife guide at Maison de la Press, so on my way back I took a little detour through Concordia to see what wildlife I could find there. It turned out to be a pretty good mini-expedition with some interesting new finds. The most interesting one was an owlfly, which looks a lot like an antlion and is also related to lacewings in the order Neuroptera. Also seen were my favorite jumping spider, the red and green cricket nymph that I have yet to identify and a large cicada that was caught by a silver argiope spider.

The last SXM Trails hike started in Concordia heading up Marigot Hill, I think, and circling around several hills in the St. Peters and Reward areas of the Dutch side of the island. Although none of the hills were very high, there was quite a bit of up and down, making it a pretty good workout. Included below is a photo of the tiny citrus-type fruit that grows in various places on the island. Apparently this is limeberry or mutton lemon and the tiny fruits are edible. Although it isn’t technically a citrus fruit, it is close enough to be a host plant for the checkered swallowtail caterpillar. This shrub is originally from southeast Asia and is considered a weed in some places and a potential crop in others. It’s also popular for bonzai, I guess because it has tiny fruit.

Last Saturday, Ronald Pieters led a bird walk around Salines d’Orient. We saw plenty of birds, many of which were in their breeding plumage. In addition to a number of species I had seen before, we saw a black-bellied plover, which is probably the largest plover in the area. I was also fascinated to see an immature little blue heron wearing mottled, intermediate plumage between the white plumage of its youth and the dark adult plumage. If you’re interested in birds, now is a great time to get out and see them on St. Martin.

This is also a good place for me to mention Observado.org, which is a site where you can post sightings of birds and other animals as well as photos if you have them. This is a great way for enthusiasts to help put together a picture of the wildlife on the island. Records of what species are here and where they live can also help us better understand what areas of the island are most in need of protection as important habitats.

I snapped a few more shots of the brown pelicans hanging out on Little Key from the Pinel ferry. I’ve been told the large flock (over forty birds at times) has been going back and forth between Little Key and Étang Chevrise. While we were passing, there weren’t too many, but there were still perhaps a dozen or more on the rocks and another dozen roosting in the trees and shrubs on the island.

While waiting to meet someone at the Pinel ferry dock, I had an unusual sighting of two Hudsonian whimbrels at the edge of Étang de la Barrière. The area is currently cordoned off to allow the mangroves to regrow undisturbed. Also present were egrets, a willet and a yellow-crowned night heron. It’s worth taking a look next time you’re headed over to Pinel.

There were no sea turtle tracks on my beaches when I visited May 6th, but that wasn’t too surprising, because last year there were very few at the beginning of the season. I did find a number of other animals on the way. On my way back through Cul de Sac, I also had the rare opportunity to photograph a syrphid fly that I’ve seen before, but rarely alights long enough to capture.

In early May, I made a quick trip back to the Grotte du Puits de Terres Basses with some gentlemen from the Réserve Naturelle, as it is surely a site of interest on the island that warrants observation and protection. Although it is fairly large, and just a few minutes’ walk from the road, it can be difficult to find if you don’t know exactly where to enter the dense scrub. Since I was just showing them the location of the cave, we didn’t spend much time there, but a few photos are below.

Below is a small gallery of insects and spiders seen near Friars’ Bay in late April. My favorite find was the very small leafhopper with patterned forewings that it held out in the air.