The guide is now available at Maison de la Presse in Marigot and The Scuba Shop in Simpson Bay.

The Scuba Shop, St Maarten
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Although it is heavily polluted, filled with algae and getting smaller every day as it is filled in, the Great Salt Pond is still a haven for many species of bird. Although I didn’t have the proper lens, I took a bunch of photos of birds there recently, including some great egrets and white-cheeked pintail ducks. I also had a chance to watch a snowy egret hunting at the edge of nearby Fresh Pond. The most interesting sighting was a huge gull, which I think may have been a first-year great back-blacked gull, which seemed to have a damaged wing. This species is apparently only a vagrant in this area.

Okay, to be fair, we spent more time enjoying the beach on Pinel than we did snorkeling, but it was perhaps our largest E.S.S. mission to date with over 15 Fruits in attendance. Although it was a bit windy, our snorkeling expedition on the back side of Pinel was quite a success. In addition to the gorgeous elkhorn corals, we found an octopus eating a crab while hiding in an empty conch shell and a four-foot nurse shark.

Two Sundays ago the SXM Trails hiking club did a wonderful hike through the central mountains. Starting in Colombier we ascended the (as far as I can tell) unnamed peak just to the south of Pic Paradis before crossing over to Pic Paradis and descending through Loterie Farm by the old sugar mill. The western slope of the central mountains is the lushest forest on the island, presumably because it is shielded from the prevailing easterly winds that dry out the other side.

Near the top, before we crossed to Pic Paradis there is a farm, which was interesting, with banana trees and cacao, but also disturbing because it made a huge opening in otherwise contiguous forest. On our way down Pic Paradis we passed the ruins of the Loterie sugar mill, and near the bottom some hikers rested their tired feet in a pool of water and had them cleaned by guppies. I was also lucky enough to spot one of my favorite local insects, a large katydid that tends to hide in holes in trees.

The common moorhen (Gallinula chloropus) is a bird in the rail family that is easily seen on the island. Pairs are often nesting in the Grand Case salt pond, and of all the birds on the salt pond they seem the least disturbed by humans. While the chicks are black with a big bald patch on the top of their head, the fledgelings are brown, but otherwise mostly resemble their parents. (One iguana made it into the photos, as they usually do.)

When I posted about the Melocactus survey, I neglected to include this set of photos of an abandoned house in on Babit Point near the survey area. Although abandoned structures are not uncommon on either side of the island, this one seemed particularly lonely, and was in stark contrast with the abundant recent developments just across the bay on the Dutch side of Oyster Pond.

On Friday I had the great pleasure of tagging along on a hike with the sixth grade class from Learning Unlimited. Our guide for the hike was none other than Riet Sint, author of the book Island Walks, a guide to the hiking trails of Saint Martin. We did the Bellevue hike, starting from Cole Bay across from Grand Marche and heading up the hill for some terrific views of the lagoon and the Marigot area. The area used to be a plantation, and Riet told us quite a bit about the history of the area. We were also able to find quite a few critters along the way, including grasshoppers, crickets, termites, ants, both species of Anolis lizard and many of the invasive checkered swallowtails which were laying eggs on citrus shrubs that were growing alongside the trail.

Salines d’Orient is a large salt pond between Orient Beach and Le Galion. On a recent visit, I explored the pond, finding large mudflat areas where the water had receded. Although some spots were firm and sandy, others areas had a cracked crust over black mud. A purple ring of what I think must be algae surrounded much of the pond. Late in the afternoon, some royal terns were bathing and flying around the pond.

While I was checking out the large fire on Wednesday, I took a walk around Eastern Point to see if the fire had spread in that direction. Luckily, as far as I could tell it hadn’t. This was good news because it’s one of the most beautiful parts of the island, full of Melocactus and gorgeous views.

A couple days ago there was a large fire at the northeast corner of the island in the Wilderness/Cul-de-Sac area. Apparently it started Tuesday night and I first saw it on Wednesday morning as it burned on the hills overlooking Cul-de-Sac. By the time I got back with my camera a little after noon, the fire spread considerably, and over the course of the afternoon it had burned almost all the grassy areas between the road to Anse Marcel and the road to the dump. I was told it started at the dump, and the dump was indeed burning along with much of the hill behind it. Although brush fires are a natural occurrence during the dry season, this one seemed to be manmade and significant amounts of trash burning surely released a lot of nasty stuff into the air.

In the photos below, you can see the fire in progress and some of the burned areas just after the fire. There were several firemen fighting the fire around a couple under-construction buildings that were vulnerable, but most of the houses were separated from the fire by roads. In the grassy areas, the fire burned quite quickly, leaving some of the larger trees and shrubs somewhat intact. It was also a bit uncanny that, aside from the area of the fire, the visibility was excellent, offering clear views of St. Barths as well as what I guess was St. Kitts further in the distance.

I was quite interested to see if any animals would be flushed out by the fire, but all I could see were lots of grasshoppers. A few cattle egrets also patrolled the edge of the fire for an easy meal. I also failed to find animal remains in the burned areas despite checking a pretty large section including hillside, flat areas and small ravines. Although some of the forested areas did burn, other parts seemed to escape damage. Large boulders in the ravines may have helped contain the fire. I look forward to heading back over the coming weeks to see how the area recovers.