We will be on Island 92 FM radio tomorrow (Friday) morning at 9:30am, so head to 91.9 on your so-called dial if you are able to receive radio frequencies on St. Martin or head to their website to stream from afar. We’ll be talking about the upcoming Migratory Bird Festival and, almost surely, much more.
Binkie van Es will be in charge of the birdwatching station at the event, where he’ll be teaching about birds, helping you with some bird photography tips and getting you hooked on birdwatching!
Originally from the Netherlands, Binkie has lived in Sint Maarten since 1986 and became a serious birder over the last few years. He is a member of BirdsCaribbean, a board member of Nature Foundation St. Maarten and a volunteer for EPIC and Les Fruits de Mer. He is also a certified Caribbean Birding Trail Guide and a bird educator and trainer for the BirdSleuth Caribbean program.
Ilja Botha will be presenting at the 2016 Migratory Bird Festival on her experience with birding and nature tourism and giving you the inside scoop on all the best spots to go birding on St. Martin!
Birdwatching tour guide Ilja Botha is born in The Netherlands and moved to St Maarten 8 years go. Her love for all things nature she inherited from her mother who pointed out and named every bird, bug and flower they came across in her youth. Until the beginning of 2016 Ilja worked in sales and marketing in the local scuba diving industry, she recently quit her ‘normal job’ to be able to fully focus on Seagrape Tours, an eco tour company she runs together with her husband David Botha. Ilja is a great example of how we can depend on nature as our livelihood and is a passionate advocate of the preservation of St Maarten’s nature, historical sites and birds.
This week, we take a look at the crucial habitats that host many of our migratory visitors. They both divide and protect the land and sea. Due to a layout error the photo caption in the printed paper is incorrect, the actual caption is: A Whimbrel forages on the Great Salt Pond.
In preparation for their upcoming Migratory Bird Festival, Les Fruits de Mer have released a free ebook, Pond Life. With vivid photography and fascinating facts, the book showcases seven bird species that are found on St. Martin’s ponds. Pond Life is available for free download on the association’s website.
“St. Martin’s ponds are perhaps the best place on the island to observe birds and other wildlife, especially during the peak of the migration season in early fall,” commented Pond Life author Mark Yokoyama. “When our resident wetland species are joined by seasonal migrants, our ponds are incredibly vibrant with a mix of birds that can change daily.”
Ponds are ideal for birdwatching because they offer unobstructed views, and several dozen species live and forage there. On St. Martin, birdwatching is not only a fun hobby, but also a potential tourism market. A recent study in the United States found that $17 billion was spent annually on travel for bird and wildlife watching. St. Martin is well-positioned to benefit from this market because its best birding locations—like the Great Salt Pond, where the Migratory Bird Festival will be held—are so easily accessible.
“The annual migration of birds from North America to the Caribbean is one of the most incredible and inspiring stories about nature in St. Martin, and the Pond Life ebook is a great way to learn about it,” explained Les Fruits de Mer President Jenn Yerkes. “The Migratory Bird Festival is another, and we’re putting together a fantastic program this year.”
The ebook Pond Life and the details about this year’s Migratory Bird Festival are available at https://www.lesfruitsdemer.com. The festival will be held from 9am to noon on Sunday, October 16th at University of St. Martin on Pond Island in Philipsburg. The festival, now in its fourth year, is free to the public and all are invited.
In some ways, taxonomy is the art of keeping things organized in a world where our knowledge about animals and how they are related to each other is always changing. In Statia, and the Caribbean in general, the story of our fauna is still being written, and the names of the characters are still subject to change:
Amuseum Naturalis, St. Martin’s only natural history museum, has big plans for the 2016-17 season. New and improved exhibits are in the works for the free pop-up museum, as well as expanded hours and school visits. The local community is helping to make it all possible by participating in the Friends of the Amuseum program.
“When we had the unexpected and incredible opportunity to create the museum last year, we had a really short timeframe to put together a space celebrating the nature of St. Martin that was fascinating and fun,” commented Amuseum curator Mark Yokoyama. “We were initially open just for the Mardis de Grand Case, and we added to the museum every week. By the end of the season, it was so much more than we had imagined. This year, with the support of the community and more time, we’re thrilled to take the museum to the next level.”
“The space for Amuseum Naturalis was donated by Delta Petroleum, and all the work to create and staff the museum is done by volunteers,” explained Jenn Yerkes, President of Les Fruits de Mer, the nonprofit association that developed Amuseum Naturalis. “That’s allowed us to do amazing things on a very small budget and keep the museum free for everyone. As we work to improve and reopen for this year, local businesses can help out by becoming Friends of the Amuseum.”
In the Friends of the Amuseum program, businesses or individuals can make a 100€ donation to Amuseum Naturalis and receive recognition as supporters. The funds will be used towards improved signage and exhibits, as well as ongoing costs of operating the museum. All those interested in becoming Friends of the Amuseum are encouraged to contact Les Fruits de Mer at [email protected].
For the coming season, the Les Fruits de Mer association plans to open the museum for regular evening hours and by appointment for school, youth and other groups during the day. Exhibits on subjects like St. Martin’s bat caves, freshwater creatures and species found only on St. Martin will be expanded, and they will be joined by new exhibits telling a variety of stories. Even with all the updates, admission to the museum will remain free of charge.
Amuseum Naturalis is a free, public pop-up museum of the natural history of St. Martin and the Caribbean, created by Les Fruits de Mer and made possible by the generous sponsorship of Delta Petroleum. Amuseum Naturalis is located at 96 Boulevard de Grand Case in Grand Case. Amuseum Naturalis is scheduled to reopen for the season in November 2016. For the latest information about exhibits and special events, visit http://amuseumnaturalis.com. Friends of the Amuseum are showcased on the Friends page of the site.
Our summer migrant is getting ready to depart and our winter visitors are arriving day by day. It’s the perfect time to see what’s new on our ponds and shores, and a special event to celebrate these amazing birds is just around the corner.
A large percentage of the bird species that have been observed on Statia are, broadly-speaking, wetland species. On an island with no lakes or rivers, how can that be?
The recent discovery of a hybrid iguana on Statia is an ominous sign for the native and endangered Lesser Antillean Iguana. It is also a reminder that humans have likely changed the pace of evolution on the island in many ways.
Statia’s distinctive wildlife is the product of a variety of natural processes: the slow colonization of the island by new species arriving by natural means and the adaptation of those new arrivals to the island and the other species present. The arrival of humans has brought huge changes. They are clearly visible to anyone looking out over fields of invasive Coralita vines, but many impacts are much less visible.
In the case of Coralita, an invasive plant that has spread over much of the island, the likely losers are native plants that become more scarce due to competition. Animals that may have depended on those plants—like caterpillars which often only eat specific host plants—may also decline or disappear.
Hybridization is less common—it requires two closely-related species that can interbreed. In the case of the native Lesser Antillean Iguana and the invasive Green Iguana, it exacerbates the impact of competition. Green Iguanas tend to outcompete Lesser Antillean Iguanas, but the two populations could coexist if they didn’t interbreed. Over time, hybridization may wipe out all trace of the native species.
Native animals may also rapidly change in response to new arrivals. One study looked at soapberry bugs, a group of insects that use their straw-like proboscis to pierce the fruit of a specific family of vines. After the introduction of a new food source, the length of their proboscis changed, allowing them to take advantage of a new food source. The change was surprisingly speedy, too. It was noticeable within just 50 years.
The story of invasive species is full of disasters: the rats that endanger seabirds around the world, the mongoose that wiped out the Lesser Antillean Iguana on St. Martin, and many more. As damaging as they are, only a small percentage of introduced species pose serious problems. The rest? They work their way into the local ecology of Statia, perhaps pushing native species in new evolutionary directions, perhaps adapting themselves to the island. As we continue to push ecosystems in unprecedented new directions, hopefully we will also study these less obvious interactions and learn to lessen their negative effects.
On St. Martin, there’s no better place to do a little birdwatching than your local pond, whichever one that may be. Late summer and early fall is also the best time to see a surprise visitor or two.
On St. Martin, we’re blessed with an abundance of ponds. Over the years, we’ve chipped away at the edges, filling them in to make land for buildings and roads. They may be smaller today, and quite a few are gone entirely, but they still perform many valuable functions. They reduce the potential for floods during storms, they capture sediment before it runs out into the sea and they’re home to loads of animals, from snails and crabs to fish and birds.
In August, the migratory season is just beginning. Some birds from far in the north are already making their way down to the island. Spending time on your local pond between now and October will be richly rewarded as you watch the progression of species arriving in greater and greater numbers.
On a recent day at the airport pond in Grand Case, an infrequent migratory visitor was dabbling in the shallow water near the bridge. The Green-winged Teal is a small duck that spends its winters everywhere from the southern United States and Mexico to the Caribbean. It was first recorded here in 2012, when a handful of ducks spent the winter. The presence of this species is doubly surprising, because arrival in August is very early for ducks, which usually stay further north until the fall or even early winter.
In addition to the tiny Green-winged Teal, a bulky pair of birds stood out from the dozen species that are usually on the pond. This time, they weren’t migrants or Caribbean natives. The Helmeted Guinea Fowl is an African species that has been introduced to many places. Somewhat related to chickens and turkeys, they are often raised for their meat.
Although guineafowl can be seen in quite a few locations on St. Martin, it was odd to see this savannah dwelling bird foraging on the mudflats near the water’s edge. Although it probably wouldn’t be considered an exciting sighting for a bird enthusiast, there’s always something exciting about encountering the unexpected.
Small-scale environmental problems don’t warrant the term disaster, but perhaps they do deserve a name of their own. In today’s Bird Watch SXM, we take a look at the smaller environmental issue that impact our local birds.
The nonprofit association Les Fruits de Mer is looking for help making the Caribbean’s most exciting new science curriculum available in French. Their goal is to leverage the power of crowdsourcing to complete the translation of the BirdSleuth Caribbean program from English into French. Anyone interested in joining the effort is encouraged to contact the association.
BirdSleuth Caribbean is a set of fun lessons and activities that uses birds to teach youth about nature and science. Based on a highly-successful international program, BirdSleuth Caribbean has been specially adapted for the region—kids learn about the birds and habitats that they can actually see around them, a refreshing change from educational materials created for Europe or North America. Designed for students 9-13 years old, the BirdSleuth Caribbean program contains lessons, activities and learning games designed for the classroom and outdoors.
“The mission of our association is to promote wildlife education, so the opportunity to take a bird education program designed for the Caribbean and make it more widely accessible in the region is a natural fit,” explained Les Fruits de Mer President Jenn Yerkes. “It’s also a chance for us to connect with volunteers locally who want to be part of something positive. Living on a diverse, multilingual island we have an opportunity, and perhaps an obligation, to tackle regionally-important projects like this.”
Les Fruits de Mer is leading the translation of the BirdSleuth Caribbean materials from English into French so they can be used throughout the French Caribbean. Once completed, Les Fruits de Mer and other organizations on French-speaking islands will conduct training workshops for teachers and youth leaders. Kits of BirdSleuth Caribbean materials will also be available to teachers who wish to use the program.
To participate in the translation project, email [email protected] or use the contact form. The association is seeking volunteers who can translate a portion of the text from English to French and who can review the French translation. Teachers are especially encouraged to participate in this effort, and knowledge of birds is not required for those who want to help translate.
Any teachers, youth group leaders, or other educators who are interested in the upcoming free training workshops to learn the curriculum are also encouraged to contact Les Fruits de Mer. BirdSleuth International was developed by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and adapted for the Caribbean by BirdsCaribbean. The BirdSleuth Caribbean materials are currently available in English and Spanish.
This week, take a little trip through the food web on Statia, from a favorite tree to a beautiful moth, a painful predator and one of my favorite birds.
Can birds help Caribbean youth learn science and develop a passion for conservation? Can adapting lesson plans and activities to be Caribbean-specific improve their effectiveness? Learn a little bit about BirdSleuth Caribbean, a groundbreaking program being introduced throughout the Caribbean. If you like what you read, consider helping us bring this program to the French-speaking students throughout the region.
The insect world is full of things that are strange, beautiful and terrifying. This week in Wild Statia we focus on a critter that is all three. Admirers the finely-tuned results of millions of years of evolution and designers of terrifying movie monsters please take note.
It’s been a crazy century for the Snowy Egret. Let’s hope living egrets are in fashion for the next hundred years.
This week, we take a closer look at the fab 400,000: the beetles! They’re the most diverse group of living things on the planet and there are plenty on Statia.
It may not be immediately obvious why this little tree is so amazing, but it is. It’s a two-year old Gaïac that is already in bloom and is quite large for a young seedling of such a slow-growing species. Since it was grown at the waste-water treatment plant near Fresh Pond by Mr. Speetjens, we also have a good opportunity to record the conditions it was grown under and potentially replicate those conditions to speed up our efforts to restore these endangered trees.
Over 300 people of all ages came out to Amuseum Naturalis on Friday to celebrate island heritage and enjoy an evening of music, food, drinks, and photography at the grand opening for the 2016 Heritage Photo Exhibition. The annual Heritage Photo Contest and Exhibition was developed by Les Fruits de Mer as a way to showcase local heritage and photographers, and as an opportunity to create a public dialogue about the unique heritage of the island.
Attendees thronged the museum’s Special Exhibition Room to see the 32 works chosen for display from the 140 submissions for this year’s theme, The Spirit of St. Martin. Additional images were spotlighted in The Spirit of St. Martin slideshow playing in the museum’s theater. Guests also voted for their choice to win the Erika Cannegieter-Smith People’s Choice Award, an annual prize which honors the founder of Be the Change SXM. The winner of the 2016 People’s Choice Award was Francisco López, with a vivid image of children on the pier in Grand Case Bay.
“It was a fantastic night, and it was especially great to see people sharing memories and talking about what heritage means to them, and what’s special about this island’s heritage,” said Mark Yokoyama, co-founder of Les Fruits de Mer and co-curator of Amuseum Naturalis. “This kind of discussion and sharing is exactly what we hope this event will inspire.”
For anyone who missed the opening, the free exhibition will be on view from 4-8pm on Thursday June 30th, the last publicly open day planned for the pop-up Caribbean natural history museum Amuseum Naturalis. Amuseum Naturalis is located at 96 Boulevard de Grand Case in Grand Case. The contest gallery can also be viewed online at https://www.lesfruitsdemer.com/category/spirit-of-st-martin/.
100 articles? Time flies, but there are still infinite stories left to tell about St. Martin’s birds. Here’s a recap so far.
Residents and visitors are invited to celebrate island heritage and the art of photographers of all ages at the 2016 Heritage Photo Exhibition. The Exhibition will present a wide variety of perspectives on St. Martin heritage at its free public opening at Amuseum Naturalis on Friday, June 24th from 6-10pm. The Exhibition will feature images from every entrant in the 2016 Heritage Photo Contest, which was developed by Les Fruits de Mer as an annual way to showcase local heritage and photographers, and as an opportunity to create a public dialogue about the island’s heritage.
Over 140 entries were received for the theme of this year’s contest, The Spirit of St. Martin. “Everyone knows that St. Martin has a unique spirit—whether you’re a lifelong resident or a first-time visitor,” said Les Fruits de Mer President Jenn Yerkes. “When we chose The Spirit of St. Martin as our theme for 2016, we hoped to see a broad and creative range of interpretation, and we did! It’s really inspiring–every entry shows a different perspective on what makes this place so special. Plus, the Exhibition is a great opportunity to enjoy art created right here on the island.”
The Exhibition will include the first-prize winning image from the overall competition, by Bianca Schladt, and the first-prize winning image from the youth competition, by Luna Valenti. As well, as at least one photo from every participant will be on display so that guests can vote during the opening for their choice for the Erika Cannegieter-Smith People’s Choice Award. This award honors the founder of Be the Change SXM. An awards ceremony will take place during the opening at 9pm. Prizes in all three categories will include not only cash but also a wildlife book, a t-shirt, and a gift certificate to Lagoonies Bistro & Bar.
For anyone who can’t attend the opening night, the Exhibition will also be free for public viewing from 4-8pm on both Sunday June 26 and Thursday June 30th, the last publicly open days planned for the pop-up Caribbean natural history museum Amuseum Naturalis.
Amuseum Naturalis is located at 96 Boulevard de Grand Case in Grand Case. The contest gallery is online at https://www.lesfruitsdemer.com/category/spirit-of-st-martin/.
A Lady of fortune is searching for answers in her glass bowl during Statue by Night of the Caribbean living statues by night in December, 2015. A cultural festival of living statues depicting the traditions, cultural heritage of Sint Maarten and its region. The Caribbean Living statues festival is the first one in its kind in the region, having its primeur on Sint Maarten.
This is an entry in the 2016 Heritage Photo Contest. View all the entries in the online gallery, learn more and find out how to enter here.
Lady Justice as a living statue commending the work of judges in front of the Court House of Sint Maarten in the Front street. The Court house is one of the most remarkable and oldest Monuments on Sint Maarten. The sky is crystal clear symbolized the transparency of Vrouwe Justitia.
This is an entry in the 2016 Heritage Photo Contest. View all the entries in the online gallery, learn more and find out how to enter here.
The chef and owner of Caribbean Blend is a true ambassador for Dutch St. Maarten. Daily, he greets and serves a brand new crowd of customers- straight from the ship- always with a smile.
This is an entry in the 2016 Heritage Photo Contest. View all the entries in the online gallery, learn more and find out how to enter here.
A gristly tale, but also a great example of the complexity of ecosystems and how the relationships between organisms keep our living world in balance.
Where else in the world, do you meet a man taking his pig for a walk on a sunday morning?!?! This is the spirit of St. Martin to me: colorful, urban ledgends with a touch of mystery.
This is an entry in the 2016 Heritage Photo Contest. View all the entries in the online gallery, learn more and find out how to enter here.
Qu’ils soient dans les palmiers, le long de la route ou sur les rochers, il ne se passe pas un jour sans que l’on puisse apercevoir un iguane. En effet, ces reptiles colorés font partie intégrante de la richesse de la faune de St Martin.
This is an entry in the 2016 Heritage Photo Contest. View all the entries in the online gallery, learn more and find out how to enter here.
The tabebuia heterophylla, also known as pink trumpet tree, is native to the Caribbean islands. St.Maarten/St.Martin is filled with it. When the trees are in bloom you can see them everywhere, in gardens, alongside roads, and decorating the hills. The gentle soft blooms range from white to pale pink and purple and only last a few days before they fall off. Here I was lucky to catch a hummingbird in its branches, that tiny most energetic of birds that hardly ever alights long enough to take a photo of.
This is an entry in the 2016 Heritage Photo Contest. View all the entries in the online gallery, learn more and find out how to enter here.
The kestrel is a small bird of prey. It likes to sit perched on the edge of a roof or like here, on the top of a branch, where it has a clear view of small movements below. We have consistently seen kestrels in the eastern hills near Dawn Beach for the past 10 years.
This is an entry in the 2016 Heritage Photo Contest. View all the entries in the online gallery, learn more and find out how to enter here.
The sargassum weed lining our eastern shores is quite beautiful when fresh. It also serves as a foot massage when walking on it. As it dries and rots it attracts flies, so it regularly needs to be collected and disposed of.
This is an entry in the 2016 Heritage Photo Contest. View all the entries in the online gallery, learn more and find out how to enter here.
Late afternoon flock of brown pelicans flying overhead, so typical for St.Martin/St.Maarten.
This picture was taken from Dawn Beach.
This is an entry in the 2016 Heritage Photo Contest. View all the entries in the online gallery, learn more and find out how to enter here.
Keepin’ it colorful—and oh so cool.
This is an entry in the 2016 Heritage Photo Contest. View all the entries in the online gallery, learn more and find out how to enter here.
In Bird Watch SXM this week we take a dip into the freshwater ecosystems that are so important to many of St. Martin’s birds.
SXM: an island as sundry as its sunset sky.
This is an entry in the 2016 Heritage Photo Contest. View all the entries in the online gallery, learn more and find out how to enter here.
Picture of abandoned ship in Simpson Bay with Island Saba in the background.
Everything is returned to the earth and this ship will be returned to the sea.
Symbolizes the pure nature of SXM. You can never take that away.
I love this place.
This is an entry in the 2016 Heritage Photo Contest. View all the entries in the online gallery, learn more and find out how to enter here.
Tout comme ce panneau indiquant des dizaines de villes internationales, Saint-Martin est un mélange de couleurs, de nations, et de religions.
This is an entry in the 2016 Heritage Photo Contest. View all the entries in the online gallery, learn more and find out how to enter here.
Tout comme notre île cette voiture a deux côtés. Elle représente aussi l’esprit joyeux et festif de Saint-Martin.
This is an entry in the 2016 Heritage Photo Contest. View all the entries in the online gallery, learn more and find out how to enter here.
Discover the fascinating, largely unknown stories of the incredible women and men who helped to build the scientific heritage of the Caribbean at a special multimedia presentation at the 2016 St. Martin Book Fair. Women, People of Color, and the Making of Natural History in the Caribbean, is free and open to the public and will take place from 11am to 12:30pm on Saturday, June 4th at the University of St. Martin.
The presentation was created as part of an ongoing research, writing and outreach project to shine a light on the lost or unsung work of the women and people of color in the study of Caribbean natural history, from the late 1400s to the early 1900s.
“Their historical contributions to science were often hidden, suppressed, or simply not as well publicized as those of their white male contemporaries,” explains presenter Jenn Yerkes, President of Les Fruits de Mer and co-curator of Amuseum Naturalis. “Many of these trailblazers had to fight slavery, racism, and sexism, and risk perilous journeys, pirates, disease, and dangerous wildernesses to do what they loved; their real lives were more epic, adventurous, heartbreaking, and inspiring than any Hollywood movie.”
Anyone are unable to attend the Book Fair presentation can learn more about some of these amazing individuals in the special exhibit currently on display at Amuseum Naturalis in Grand Case. The museum is open to the public from 4-8pm each Thursday and Sunday throughout the month of June.
