Below are some photos I took while walking from Grand Case to Anse des Peres via Friar’s Bay. There are a few interesting things to note. The caterpillar is from the geometrid family, and typically accumulates bits of vegetation as camouflage. The hammock skipper egg is one of the most beautiful butterfly eggs I’ve ever seen. The walking stick is, I think, the first one I’ve actually spotted during the day.

I’m pretty sure that the smaller common moorhen in the photos below is a youth, just on the edge of adulthood. It’s still smaller and has lighter plumage, especially on the face, but its bill and legs have adult coloration. It’s also probably worth noting that, according to the American Ornithologists’ Union, as of July it is no longer a common moorhen. The Eurasian common moorhen retains the old name, while the birds in the Americas are now called the common gallinule. The ones we have here are now considered the subspecies called the Antillean common gallinule and have the scientific name Gallinula galeata cerceris. So, science marches on and I have one more change to add to the next edition of The Incomplete Guide to the Wildlife of Saint Martin.

This entry was posted on Sunday, October 9th, 2011 at 8:55 am and is filed under Explorations, Les Fruits sur la Terre. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.