When hiking, it is very important to keep an eye out for bird pellets or animal droppings so you can collect them and analyze their contents. I typically carry some ziplock bags for storage, leaving some air in them to protect the contents while in my backpack. Below are some photos of what I believe are bird pellets that I collected on a recent walk. Bird pellets are made of indigestible matter (in this case primarily bones and fur) that are regurgitated by birds. I often see them beneath large trees where birds may roost, but in this case they were on a stone wall.
As you can see, this bird was primarily eating rodents. The bulk of the pellets was made of fur, but portions of the stronger bones, like the jaws and teeth, were still intact within the pellets. I did also find bits of beetle carapace, perhaps an hors d’oeuvr, as well. It may be interesting to note that there are no native rodents on the island, although mice and rats have been here for hundreds of years now. Of course, any migratory bird may also be used to eating rodents back on the continent where they are native.
After seeing so many incredible creatures while snorkeling the Grand Case pier, I had to go back on scuba so I could take photos more easily. I ended up doing a 95 minute dive with a maximum depth of 3 meters yesterday morning. Compared to my evening snorkel (approx. 5pm), there were far fewer decorator crabs out and about, but there were still plenty of creatures to photograph.
One highlight was a mantis shrimp. These amazing creatures have perhaps the most complicated eyes of any organism, and the fastest movement: their unique forearms feature a saddle that acts as a spring to strike out at up to 23 meters/second, allowing them to crush shells and then eat the mollusks inside. There were also various decorator crabs that were out and about, and very camouflaged. Unfortunately, decorator crabs are very hard to identify, largely because they are covered in living organisms.
I’ve gotten photos of over a dozen species of spider since I’ve been here, but I’m not very knowledgeable about them. Here’s a small and rather delicate looking spider that I found in our apartment the other day.
After our trip to Molly Smith Point, Madam J and I headed out into the bay for a relaxing snorkel. After cruising around for a while and even stopping by Aure’s boat to say hello, we had a couple interesting sightings. The first was a turtle, which was something I had not seen in the bay before. The second was a shortnose batfish (Ogcocephalus nasutus), something neither of us had seen before anywhere. While Madam J kept an eye on our little friend, I went back to get the camera. This curious fish walks around on leg-like fins and camouflages itself with a layer of sand. An exciting find!
Yesterday we were back at Pinel Island, and I was back to photographing two of my favorite creatures there: vinegaroons and dwarf geckos. Vinegaroons, sometimes called whip scorpions, are Arachnids (like spiders) and they have no venom. If disturbed, however, they can spray acetic acid at you, which is how they got their name. I also found a few of the dwarf gecko Sphaerodactylus sputator. The largest one I have seen yet, pictured below on a plastic plate, was also pregnant. You can see the bulge of the single egg on the left side of her body. I also took a couple close ups of sea skeletons, a chiton and an urchin.
Below are some photos and video of a lettuce sea slug (Elysia crispata) that we found while Extreme Shallow Snorkeling near the pier on Pinel Island. These are a common sea slug in the Caribbean, but they are not commonly seen because they are very small and well camouflaged. The skin frills on the sea slug’s back increase the surface area to increase oxygen absorption from the water.
After having seen the giant caterpillars of the tetrio sphinx (Pseudosphinx tetrio), I was quite excited when Sally brought over a present: a tetrio sphinx pupa she had found while sweeping the porch of her new house. The large pupa was wiggly and mysterious, although you could see the outlines of the wings, eyes and proboscis through the shell. After hosting the pupa for a couple weeks in a large jar, the moth finally emerged, clinging to a paper towel to pump out its wings. Unfortunately, much like our beloved Crépe, the wings never expanded fully and after the sphinx disappeared for a day, I found it dead.
While I was napping on the beach on Pinel, Madam J and Katie found a dog with an iguana in his mouth. Thankfully, they woke me up and brought me to see the iguana, post-dog attack. Normally iguanas will leave quickly if approached, but this one was clearly injured and perhaps not very mobile, so it was easy to get photos of it as it eyed us warily and whipped its tail. As you can see from the photos, it has a large subtympanal scale and heavily barred tail, clearly marking it as the common or green iguana and not the lesser antillean iguana that I was hoping to find on Pinel. There is still hope, however, that the lesser antillean iguana still lives on Tintamarre.
While Anolis pogus are typically seen on the ground or in the lower areas of bushes and trees, these two males began fighting on an elevated perch in some trees near the roadside. After facing off while displaying threatening coloration, they locked mouths and began to fight in earnest. Over the course of more than ten minutes with their jaws continually locked around each others’ head, they pushed and clawed at each other. Several times they fell to a lower branch whilst remaining joined in battle. During the fight, their coloration changed considerably as you can see from the photos and video below. The battle ended when they fell to the ground and the loser scampered off into the forest.
On a rock wall near the southern lookout point on the top of Pic Paradis I spotted first one, then another Anolis gingivinus that displayed striking coloration and a pronounced dorsal ridge. A few moments later, the two anoles were engaged in battle, presumably over choice territory on the rock fence. (I did not notice any nearby females.) The photos below show: the combatants facing off, the distinctive coloration of each lizard, the battle and the victor enjoying his successfully defended perch.
