I’ve been out to Salines de l’Aéroport and Étang de Grand Case the last few days, and there are many things to see. In particular, I’ve encountered many birds, even more spiders and a bit of everything else. First, the birds.

The first eight photos are from the canal that leads from Salines de l’Aéroport to Grand Case Bay. This little strip of water has hosted many birds lately, even though it is right beside the road. Common gallinules are nesting there again, even though the last generation of chicks is not yet adult. The snowy egret and green heron have been fishing from the shore, and large groups of carib grackles seem to be eating spiders that were in turn fattened up by midges. In the photo below, I think you can actually see bits of spiderweb on the grackle’s head.

Next door, at Étang de Grand Case, there are loads of ducks, mostly blue teals and white-cheeked pintails. Apparently, there are many words for a group of ducks, including a brace, team or badling. A group of ducks on water may be called a raft or paddling, and in flight they are a flock. Regardless of the name, they tend to congregate in the corner of the pond furthest from human activity, and take flight when approached.

Besides the ducks, there are yellowlegs, American coots with chicks, pied-billed grebes and black-necked stilts, along with assorted egrets, herons and sandpipers. Nearby, there are also muscovy ducks in a pen.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 30th, 2011 at 8:10 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.