Once again we were blessed with fantastic support from local and regional media for the Endemic Animal Festival. We had exceptional coverage which helped bring record crowds to the event. Below are some press clippings and links to online coverage of the event.
The Endemic Animal Festival was a huge success this year and we will be sharing more about the event in the coming days as we recover and unpack, but first some wonderful images from Marc Petrelluzzi. Also, a huge thank you to all the volunteers, the event couldn’t have happened without you, and it wouldn’t have been amazing if you weren’t amazing!
The Green-throated Carib hummingbird depends on a steady source of flower nectar to feed herself and her chicks.
“Restore Habitats, Restore Birds” is the theme for this year’s Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival (CEBF). At dozens of events throughout the region, participants of all ages will learn how restoring local habitats can benefit the unique birds found only in the Caribbean. Events on many islands will include habitat restoration activities like clean ups and distribution of native tree seedlings for planting.
The festival, now in its 14th year, is led by BirdsCaribbean, the largest organization devoted to wildlife conservation in the Caribbean. The month-long festival includes Caribbean-wide activities beginning today – Earth Day (April 22), through to International Biodiversity Day (May 22), in more than twenty countries. The event celebrates the 150 bird species that are found only in the Caribbean, known as endemics. The highly successful program attracts over 80,000 participants and volunteers each year.
CEBF on St. Martin kicks off with the Endemic Animal Festival on Saturday, April 25th from 9am to noon. This festival was created by the association Les Fruits de Mer to celebrate all of St. Martin’s endemic animals, from birds and lizards to insects and spiders. The free event will take place at the Discovery Farm and Garden at Seaside Nature Park in Cay Bay. At the event, Les Fruits de Mer will launch Club Gaïac, a habitat and heritage restoration project centered around one of the most iconic native trees in the Caribbean.
The Caribbean Elaenia can live in both forest and scrub areas, but only lives in the Caribbean.
“Over the last several hundred years, natural habitats in the Caribbean have been degraded and destroyed in every way imaginable,” explained Leo Douglas, President of BirdsCaribbean. “Many unique Caribbean birds are now extinct, and many others are threatened. Restoring habitat helps endemic birds and also restores the natural heritage of Caribbean people.”
Habitat restoration is a boon to birds, but benefits abound for people, too. Mangrove wetlands, for example, prevent erosion, serve as nurseries for fish, and reduce the impact of major storms on our coastlines. Restored habitats and their restored bird populations may also open the door to a growing industry: birdwatching tourism.
“Birding and wildlife tourism is a huge market that is just starting to make a real impact in the Caribbean,” commented Lisa Sorenson, who is leading BirdsCaribbean’s regional bird tourism project called the Caribbean Birding Trail. The United States Fish & Wildlife Service estimated that birding travel spending was US$15 billion for 2011 in the United States alone, over half of which was spent on food and lodging. “Our endemic birds are a unique asset because they can’t be seen anywhere else. Restoring their habitat can bring revenue and jobs to the region, while also protecting nature.”
The goal of the month-long Festival is to increase public awareness of the region’s exceptionally rich and threatened bird life, using the Caribbean’s celebrated endemic birds as flagships of conservation. Festival activities include a diverse array of public events. In addition to the annual Endemic Animal Festival on April 25th, this year a “Mystery Birding Tour” is being organized for May 16th by birding guide Binkie Van Es with help from Nature Foundation St. Maarten, Environmental Protection in the Caribbean and Les Fruits de Mer. The free tour will include presentations about local birds and guided bird watching at multiple sites on the island. Sign-ups for the tour will be available at University of St. Martin and on Facebook. To find out more about the Endemic Animal Festival, visit https://www.lesfruitsdemer.com/events/endemic-animal-festival/.
The Zenaida Dove depends on the seeds of many local plants for its diet.
Here are Les Fruits de Mer we are excited about the upcoming launch of Club Gaïac, a multifaceted heritage tree project. The project is centered on the Gaïac tree, also known as Lignum Vitae or Tree of Life. It is a magnificent native tree that is endangered because it was overharvested for its wood—the hardest in the world. The project includes an interactive map of local Gaïac trees (please help us add any that you know about), a crowdsourced experiment to develop and document the most effective growing practices, a repository of information about the biology, heritage and local use of the tree, and ongoing plantings of the tree to restore habit on St. Martin.
Come to the Endemic Animal Festival on Saturday from 9am-noon to participate and take home a seedling.
At Club Gaïac, we’ve been busy preparing seedlings for our launch at the 2015 Endemic Animal Festival. As we do so, we’re learning a thing or two about getting seedlings started. (You can also take a look at our previous post, Experimenting with the Tree of Life to see how we learned some of these things.)
Collecting Seeds
You can typically find seeds beneath any tree that is producing seeds. So far, we’ve found that most seeds will germinate, whether obviously fresh and covered in their bright red coating or seemingly old and weathered. Seeds that have obviously been eaten or crushed are the only ones I wouldn’t bother to use.
All of these seeds, new and old, will potentially be viable.
Preparing Seeds
If any seeds are still attached to the orange fruit, take them out. I have found that soaking seeds for a day or so in water will make it easy to remove any fleshy coating, and this process may also help the seeds absorb water to promote germination.
Leaving seeds in water for a day will make it easier to remove the red sarcotesta.
In a small glass jar with water, the seed coating will ferment, giving off a funky odor, and shaking the jar will help remove the coating from the seeds. You can rinse with water until it is all gone.
The fleshy seed coating is easily shaken off after an overnight soak.
The cleaned seeds will be free of fleshy material that is prone to molding.
Cleaned seeds.
In order to promote germination, use a pocketknife or other implement (carefully!!!) to expose the radicle, which is the beginning of the root. It is at the rounder end of the seed.
Seed with radicle exposed.
Germination
Early on, we did some germination in damp paper towels, which did promote germination, but also resulted in mold and rotting of the radicle. Here are examples of a few problems we had.
Scraping the entire seed coating off was unnecessary, tedious and promoted molding. Removing just the coating over the radicle seems much more effective.Too much moisture causes the root to rot. The root can become discolored.A rotting root can also turn into mush. This is another sign that the environment is too moist.A healthy root is solid, light-colored and grows quickly.
Seedling Care
Currently we have a number of trays of sprouted seedlings in moist vermiculite. Our trays have ample drainage, so excess water is not retained. We are keeping the vermiculite moist so the seedlings don’t dry out. Next Saturday we will be transplanting these seeds into individual starter pots containing different soil mixtures, so we will have an update soon on how this part of the process is working! We also have a handful of wild-germinated seedlings transplanted from beneath trees that are currently potted in different soils to see how they do and what percentage survive the transplantation.
Wild-born seedlings in water before being transplanted into individual pots.
Things are looking good for the upcoming Endemic Animal Festival! On Saturday we got together with a few of the volunteers to work out some of the planning and activities and enjoy the beautiful coastal scrub at Seaside Nature Park. Our “preview event” with volunteers is a fun tradition that helps us make sure we’re organized for the actual event and also gives volunteers a chance to experience some of the activities, because they are often too busy to do so at the event. Without our amazing volunteers, none of what we do would be possible!
We’ll be releasing more info soon about the activities at this year’s festival, including a great new project related to the “Restore Habitats, Restore Birds” theme of the Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival, which includes dozens of events in the region, including ours. For now, enjoy some photos from Saturday and don’t forget to share the event info and invite friends on Facebook.
We’re getting ready for the Endemic Animal Festival by releasing a free eBook about some of our regionally-endemic birds: Eye on Endemics. You can download the PDF from the Resources page on our site. Be sure to mark your calendars for the festival itself, which is coming up on Saturday, April 25th!
The Lignum Vitae, also known as Gaïac, is a beautiful tree native to the Caribbean that is now endangered due to overharvesting, primarily for its extremely hard wood. This slow-growing tree has beautiful blue flowers and intricately-packed branches in its wide crown. It is sometimes described as a small tree, but this may be primarily because so few old, large trees are left.
In order to promote this wonderful heritage tree, I have been experimenting in order to develop best practices for germinating seeds, growing seedlings and transplanting them into permanent locations. Here are some images and notes about the germination process.
Small, orange fruits contain two seeds each. The seeds themselves are covered in a red, fleshy coating called a sarcotesta.
I started by separating seeds by the presumed age, based on how much of the sarcotesta remained.
I attempted germination by keeping them in damp paper towels.
After a week or so, the seeds retaining a sarcotesta began to mold and none germinated, even after several weeks.
Seeds without a sarcotesta (because it had worn off before I collected them, or because I had removed it) did not mold, but they didn’t germinate, either.
It turns out, the key is to remove the black casing around the seed. This time-consuming, but not too difficult to do with a pocketknife. To make the process easier, it seems that exposing the radicle, the embryonic first root, is all that is necessary, so one can scrape off just the casing around the rounder end.
Prepared this way, the seeds germinate surprisingly quickly, usually in just a couple days. So far, the best process I have found is to soak the seeds in water for a day or so: this helps remove any fleshy sarcotesta so the seeds won’t mold. It may also help kickstart the germination process. Once the seeds are clean, I scrape the round end to expose the radicle and leave them in moist paper towels in a warm room. So far, the majority of seeds prepared this way seem to be germinating.
This morning we went on a nature walk to see the birds and other animals that live on the island. We were able to see many species that are endemic to the region or have a regional sub-species, like the Zenaida Dove, Carib Grackle, Black-faced Grassquit and Caribbean Elaenia. It was also just a lot of fun to take a walk and see how the local critters are doing in the scrub and around a couple ponds. Thanks to everyone who came!
In the Caribbean, seasons don’t really run hot and cold, but they do go between wet and dry. What’s a bird to do during the dry season? Find out in this week’s Bird Watch SXM column, out today in The Daily Herald’s Weekender section.
After Hurricane Gonzalo delayed what would have been a fall workshop, we had the pleasure of doing a workshop with students from French Quarter during their spring break instead. This year, the activities included creating a portable pond to study the freshwater animals—insects, fish and shrimp—that live on St. Martin, and decorating bird feeders made from local calabash while learning about the different foods eaten by different birds.
Our workshops are part of a larger program of activities offered to select students by the Foyer socio-educatif du collège de Quartier d’Orléans.
Here’s the latest Wild Statia column, taking a closer look at the insects eating Coralita, an invasive vine that has come to cover a significant portion of the island.
A banner day for Les Fruits de Mer was mired in controversy when naysayers claimed the association’s newly redesigned logo appeared to share similarities with the French flag. The special launch promotion, featuring the new logo on flags throughout the island, was hailed with enthusiasm by most, but besmirched by accusations from a vocal minority.
“After working on this unique new design for months, it is shocking that some people would focus on any superficial ‘similarities’ between the strikingly different designs,” complained designer Stephen Winkel, “It really makes you wonder about their motivation.”
Les Fruits de Mer stand by their groundbreaking logo redesign with pride. “We’re ready to compare our new logo and the flag of France side by side in front of Parliament if that’s what it takes,” declared association President Jennifer Yerkes. “If anyone truly feels the flag of France is too similar to our logo, perhaps it is time to change the flag of France.”
A little controversy hasn’t stopped individuals and businesses from promoting the association’s new logo.
For now, the new logo and the flag promotion continue to fly. Local businesses and individuals continue to feature the new Les Fruits de Mer logo atop their flagpoles with pride. French Président François Hollande declined to comment on the controversy, but has appeared in photographs with a flag featuring the association’s new logo.
Creating a brand new logo for a globally-recognized brand is no small undertaking. Team Les Fruits de Mer knew this from the start and committed to spending months in search of an original design that would be both instantly recognizable and inextricably linked to their mission and their attitude.
The process took months of long days and late nights. The team developed countless original designs—many of which were worthy in their own right—before finally developing the perfect visual metaphor for the association.
In this rare, behind-the-scenes photo essay we see the collaborative efforts of the team, and a bit of the heat that was used to forge this unique design. Photographer and association member Olivia Roudon was given unprecedented access to the team and their work space, and the amazing chance to capture the difficult birth of this astounding new logo.
Not just creative inspiration: logo development is painstaking, exacting work.Even designs that were ultimately rejected often went through many revisions.Each member of the team contributed unique ideas about the logo and how it should function.“Thinking caps” play a key role in maintaining creativity during long design sessions.The team often used a combination of traditional and digital design tools.Exacting measurements were necessary to deliver the visceral proportionality of the final design.Even many of the rejected designs could be considered graphic design masterworks.Tension filled the room as the team came closer to a final design.The culmination of months of work was a moment of ecstasy for the team.
Three new colors are brightening skies—and flagpoles—all over the island for the launch of the new logo of the Les Fruits de Mer association. The updated icon is being celebrated with an exciting large-scale publicity campaign: flags showcasing the redesigned logo are flying all over St. Martin and even around the world.
The non-profit association Les Fruits de Mer, dedicated to wildlife and heritage education, spent the last few months developing the new look. Countless creative designs were considered before the team decided on the new logo, chosen for its visual appeal, originality and symbolic meaning. The logo features a unique “trilogy” of equal-sized color blocks: red representing the red hat worn by Commandant Jacques-Yves Cousteau, white symbolizing the blank page upon which the future is written, and blue for the boundless depths of the sea, the cradle of all life.
Les Fruits de Mer co-founders pose beneath a flag of the association’s new logo at Fort Louis in Marigot.
“Creating the final design, I felt an electricity coursing through me,” explained designer Stephen Winkel. “The logo was so unique, but also so simple, as if a mystical force had revealed to me a design that had existed since the dawn of time, waiting to be discovered.”
Rather than simply unveil the new logo online, the association decided to promote the launch with flags featuring the novel design. “We felt the flag concept was a great way to introduce the new logo, but we had no idea how popular it would be,” said association President Jenn Yerkes. “It seems like overnight the Les Fruits de Mer flag is everywhere, from businesses and schools to public buildings. You really can’t miss it!”
Local businesses have started featuring flags of the new Les Fruits de Mer logo.
With the success of the new logo, Les Fruits de Mer is considering updating other aspects of the association. According to co-founder Mark Yokoyama, “We may rework the official motto of the association to focus more on our core values of freedom, equal rights and the spirit of brotherhood.”
Les Fruits de Mer co-founders proudly display a flag with their new logo in Grand Case.
Traditional Ecological Knowledge is a term used to describe information about nature that comes from local populations. It is typically different from scientific research in many ways, but also complementary to it. Should TEK be an important part of how we understand and document birds on St. Martin?
Les Fruits de Mer had a great season with our booth at the Mardis de Grand Case street fair. We presented on seven different topics this year, connecting with locals and visitors of all ages. Here are links to all the presentations we gave:
Last week was the final Tuesday street fair of the season for Mardis de Grand Case, and Les Fruits de Mer wrapped up the season with a presentation about Our Endemic Animals. You can get it from iCloud or download a PDF with presenter’s notes. It was another great year for us and we look forward to next year!
On Tuesday we were presenting about iguanas at Mardi de Grand Case, both the Green Iguana that has colonized the island so extensively in the last 20 years and the Lesser Antillean Iguana that was lost so many years ago. If you missed, it, you can check out the presentation in iCloud and download a PDF with presenter’s notes.
Last week at Mardi de Grand Case we presented about the amazing anoles of St. Martin. These lizards are some of our most distinctive residents, including one species that is found nowhere else in the world. If you missed it, you can view the presentation in iCloud and download a PDF with presenter’s notes.
Les Fruits de Mer participated in a couple very nice events so far this week. On Sunday, we were at the opening of the Discovery Farm and Garden where we had free nature journals for kids to decorate and then take home so they could draw and document their nature sightings.
We also has a wetland-themed presentation at the Mardis de Grand Case street fair this week: Exploring St. Martin’s Wetlands. Lots of people stopped by to learn about local wetlands, why they are important to people and wildlife and three great places to visit and enjoy wetlands on the island. If you missed it, the presentation is on iCloud here and a PDF with presenters notes can be downloaded.
At our booth at Mardis de Grand Case this week we did a short presentation about the wildlife of Statia and our work researching and writing a book about it. If you missed the presentation, it is shared here on iCloud and you can download it with presenters notes in a PDF here.
Don’t forget to visit Statia Wildlife to learn more about Statia’s wildlife and the book project.
Bird Watch SXM is back in The Daily Herald’s Weekender today. It will alternate with Wild Statia. This week, we take a look at one of the minor miracles that happen all over the island when birds transform the spaces we neglect.
Les Fruits de Mer kicked off the Mardis de Grand Case season with a presentation about the explosion of butterflies we are experiencing right now. If you didn’t make it to our booth, you can check out the presentation here*. We also have a few photos of the booth, which is looking awesome this year. Seven weeks to go, so we’d better see you there one of these Tuesdays!
* Maybe. iCloud is in beta. Right now, I can see the presentation, but I don’t know how to show the slide notes, which is where the text is.
The weather in the Caribbean may seem like summer year-round, but the tropical heat doesn’t mean there are no seasons. Like most tropical areas, rainfall is a primary differentiator for Caribbean seasons, and rainfall drives changes in vegetation as well as wildlife populations. While many animals can, and do, breed year-round in this area, reproductive rates can increase dramatically when rainy weather boosts the amount of food available. Clouds of butterflies in the winter are a noticeable example, but many other species are going through a population boom more quietly right now.
The new column Wild Statia launched in The Daily Herald’s Weekender section this morning. It will document the wildlife of Statia, the island itself, and the process of making a book about the island’s wildlife. Being on Statia is amazing, hopefully reading about it will be at least a bit interesting!
Today, software gives us infinite options for digital post-production of our bird photos. We can make small changes so our images reflect what we were trying to capture, or use these tools to branch out into new creative directions.
It may seem like a minor part of the bird photography process, but once you get hooked, you’ll find that a lot of your effort happens after you get back from the field and need to turn all those images into something you can enjoy and share. This week we look at the crucial, albeit unglamorous aspects of selecting and organizing your bird photos.
Please help us celebrate island heritage and the work of photographers of all ages at the 2014 Heritage Photo Exhibition. The gala opening of the Exhibition will be held at 7pm on Saturday, December 6th at Lagoonies Bistro and Bar at Lagoon Marina in Cole Bay. This event is free and open to the public, and will include large-format displays, voting for the People’s Choice Award, and an official prize ceremony at 9pm. The winning works and other entries will be on display throughout the following week.
The Heritage Photo Contest and Exhibition was developed by Les Fruits de Mer to showcase art created here on St. Martin/St. Maarten, and to engage residents–especially kids–in thinking about their heritage. The Be the Change SXM Foundation provided funding for the contest and exhibition.
The panel of judges faced many difficult decisions when selecting the winners of the 2014 Heritage Photo Contest. With over 75 entries, the competition was fierce, and the works submitted beautifully captured many diverse aspects of the island’s heritage.
The theme of this year’s contest, “Vibrant and Vulnerable”, followed an unusual format and was chosen to raise awareness about the island’s unique natural, cultural and historic heritage, as well as the threats facing this heritage and the need to preserve it. Each entry included two photos–one representing a “Vibrant” aspect of the island and one representing a “Vulnerable” aspect–and the artist’s statement about the photo selections. This format was very open to creative interpretation, and the entries that poured in touch on many different facets of local heritage, from plants, animals and landscape, to history, architecture and culture.
In the end, the first prize in the overall competition went to Alexandre Guerre, and top honors in the youth competition were awarded to Luna Valenti. Their photos, along with many other fantastic entries, will be featured at the upcoming exhibition.
One remaining prize, the $100 People’s Choice Award, will be decided by those who attend the opening of the exhibition. “We’re thrilled to invite everyone to take the opportunity to enjoy the stunning, thought-provoking photos at this exhibition,” says Les Fruits de Mer President Jenn Yerkes, “And, of course, to vote for their favorite!” Voting will be done by ballot between 7pm and 9pm.
A green turtle takes center stage in the “Vibrant” photo from Alexandre Guerre’s winning entry. Photo by Alexandre Guerre.The “Vulnerable” photo from Alexandre Guerre’s winning entry captures the bright colors of the island’s traditional architecture. Photo by Alexandre Guerre.Young photographer Luna Valenti showcased this hummingbird as a “Vibrant” part of St. Martin’s heritage. Photo by Luna Valenti.Luna Valenti’s “Vulnerable” photo spotlights the time-weathered pier in Grand Case. Photo by Luna Valenti.
One of the great things about bird photography is getting better at doing it. One sign that this is happening is that some of your old favorite shots start to disappoint. I wanted to share a few former favorites and how they’re not as good as I once thought they are.
This first example was a favorite. The Yellow-crowned Night Heron is captured in pleasantly warm evening light against a simple, high-contrast background. A few bits of blurry grass in the foreground frame the heron without being distracting. The problem? A crooked piece of rusty rebar sticking up on the left side of the photo. Does it ruin the photo? Perhaps not. Does it make the worse? For sure. Could it be fixed in Photoshop? Probably, but why not just go out and get a better shot?
They’re more what you’d call guidelines than actual rules. This week we take a look at some of the concepts photographers use to create engaging compositions, why they make images interesting, and how they apply to bird photography.
This week we start to look at composition in bird photos. But if composition is the arrangement of elements in the photo, how do you arrange birds and scenery? Sure, you can’t tell the birds how and where to pose, but you still have a surprising number of tools you can use to create engaging compositions in the field. Read about some of them in this week’s Bird Watch SXM column!
