Continuing my research on the new hairstreak, I recently took a quick jaunt, looping from Grand Case to Hope Estate and back via the airport road. Although the habitat on this trip was limited primarily to patches of grassland between developed areas, there was a large variety of invertebrate life on display, including several insect species I had not yet seen before.
Hairstreak Alley is actually the dirt track continuing from Route du Millrum in Grand Case, but I figured I would call it that because that’s where I found the new hairstreak butterfly the other day. I was back today to do some research on it and the plants where it feeds because preliminary analysis by a stateside entomologist seems to indicate that this would be the most northerly sighting of this butterfly, and it also may in fact be a new subspecies.
At any rate, since I spent a long time in essentially the same spot today I saw many new things. One was a very interesting green cricket with a red and white back, and several were spiders I had never seen before, including one that has similarities in body and web to the Argiope orb weavers that are so common here. Plus, of course, there were plenty of old friends. I also realized while doing captions for the photos below that the easiest way to look up the proper names is doing so in my own book, which is kind of cool.
Although turtles are still nesting for a little bit, the sea turtle tracking season has come to an end. Below are some photos from my last two survey trips to the beaches at the northeast corner of the island. On October 27th, I found some hawksbill tracks and what looked like an unfinished nest. On November 3rd, I didn’t see any tracks.
On the 27th, I didn’t take a lot of photos, but I did get a few of a gigantic robber fly that was about an inch long.
On the 3rd, I couldn’t resist taking a few photos of pelicans at Baie de Petites Cayes. I also saw a painted lady butterfly (Vanessa cardui) for the first time since I’ve been here. This species is highly migratory, so the sighting doesn’t necessarily mean they breed here.
Yann and Marie were doing construction at a house in Cul de Sac, and the unused swimming pool there had ten inches of water and thousands of frogs. Last Monday I went to check it out, but unfortunately they had already drained the pool. Luckily, Yann and Marie saved some frogs and tadpoles. I was particularly fond of the deformed frog you can see below. I also stopped at the nursery to see the Cuban treefrogs hiding in bromeliads again.
Surveying for turtle tracks without a car is a bit of work. It usually takes me about five hours roundtrip to get out to our assigned beaches and back. On the other hand, it is also a great opportunity to get out to the most undisturbed part of the island every week (called Wilderness) and see cool stuff, even on days where there are no turtle tracks. Below are some photos from my last three trips.
On September 12th, there was a group of a dozen pelicans fishing around the beach at Petites Cayes. Most of the time you don’t see that many at once. I also got some shots of a brown booby, which I had wanted to photograph. On my way back, there were dozens of cattle egrets near the dump.
On the 25th, there was a mongoose near the beach at Grandes Cayes, probably picking through the trash that people leave there. Near Petites Cayes I saw an American oystercatcher, a terrific-looking wading bird that I have only seen here a few times. On my way back I saw one of the American kestrels that hang out by Eastern Point. I also spent a lot of time trying to take photos of the common ground dove in flight so I could show what its red wings look like in the book. This was a challenge. Also, I saw an osprey for the first time and figured out that Cuban treefrogs hide inside the bromeliads at the nursery I pass on my way to the beaches.
On the 30th, there were various seabirds to see, but the highlight was watching several American kestrels hunting on my way back. They used the wind coming over a seaside hill to hover in place while scanning the ground for lizards and insects. It was very cool to watch.
This post features a pair of birds that are commonly seen on the island, but not usually seen as they are here. The first is an immature brown booby that had swallowed a needle-nosed fish that was a bit too big for it. I found him sitting on a rock near the little beach at wilderness trying to swallow his breakfast. When I left him he was still working on it.
The next is a male magnificent frigatebird, something we see often around Grand Case Bay, but this one, for reasons unknown left his red neck pouch flapping in the breeze as he flew. Usually it is contracted and not noticeable.
In this post are a variety of wonderful creatures from Saint Martin. Yesterday Kevin saw me photographing a frog and said that I was like a paparazzi for animals. I guess this is basically true.
Our first subject is a two-striped treefrog. I had two small freshwater aquaria, one with many tadpoles and one with a few guppies and one tadpole. The lone tadpole grew approximately twice as big before transforming into a frog.
Next up is a baby least island gecko which I found by L’Esplanade while looking for the whistling frog that I still need to photograph. I was quite excited because I had read about them having an orange tail, but I had never seen one with a really orange tail like this.
The tarantula below is not too big as far as tarantulas go, but it was still pretty big. It was a gift from Stephen, Yann, Marie and Olivia who found it at their house.
I found this tiny walking stick on another trip to try to locate the whistling frog.
Last, and least, are a few mosquito larvae and pupae that I photographed for my book.
We’ve been out twice to look for turtle tracks since the hurricane Earl, but no luck either time. The beach at Baie de Petites Cayes has changed quite a bit. The eastern side has built up more sand, while the western side is smaller. Perhaps it’s just a tricky place to lay eggs this year.
At any rate, there were a few interesting things to see. On the first trip, there were frigatebirds and paragliders in the sky.
On the second trip, I saw several nice birds: an American kestrel, some brown pelicans fishing and some gray kingbirds.
Despite the fact that there are at most four species of frogs on the island, I’ve found identification rather tricky, partially because I initially was only aware of two species. At this time, I believe that the frog Jenn found was a Cuban tree frog (Osteopilus septentrionalis), a recent introduction to the island. There are apparently one or two species of Eleutherodactylus whistling frogs on the island, but all species of this genus apparently have direct development, which means they hatch from eggs directly into tiny froglets. By process of elimination, the tadpoles I have been raising are the two-striped treefrog, Scinax rubra, also known as the snouted tree frog. Unless they are some other recent introduction, that is. Below are a bunch of photos of these guys at various stages of development.
After having some difficulty locating some of the local frogs to include in my guide, I hit upon a different strategy: raise tadpoles. Unfortunately, after putting my plan into action, I found out that one of the species I want to photograph does not have tadpoles, but the eggs hatch directly into tiny froglets. It’s still fun to have the tadpoles, though, and they’re growing quite quickly.
While I was out acquiring tadpoles, I figured I might as well get a few of the freshwater fish that live in the roadside ditches here. I believe they are guppies. I also ended up getting a couple species of freshwater snail and an aquatic beetle.
Below are a few photos of our little friends. Next I will try to come up with some better ways to photograph them.
