Caribbean Wildlife

The Juancho Yrausquin Airport is visible between Booby Rock and Old Booby Hill. As you can see, the landmarks  got their name for a reason.

Brown Boobies following the Dawn II ferry from Saba to St. Maarten in anticipation of a quick catch in the wake of the boat

Red-billed tropicbird (Phaethon aethereus) with the island of St. Maarten in the background.

More images of tropicbirds can be found in a separate album.

The eyes are on you! A dead, partly submerged tree provides a crowded refuge for a squadron of juvenile brown pelicans (Pelecanus occidentalis) in a freshwater pond rookery near Philipsburg in St. Maarten.

Graceful flight.
Ospreys search for fish by flying on steady wingbeats and bowed wings or circling high in the sky over relatively shallow water. They often hover briefly before diving, feet first, to grab a fish.

More images of the osprey can be found here

American Kestrels (Falco sparverius) near Kelbey’s Ridge on Saba

Purple Throated Carib (Eulampis jugularis) at the Trail Shop in Windwardside, Saba

This large hummingbird has a somewhat down-curved bill. Though iridescent green, it appears black in mediocre to poor light. Most easily distinguished from Purple-throated Carib by its dull wings (wings are iridescent green in Purple-throated) and less curved bill. Common in much of its range, where it frequents forests but also visits gardens and parks. Calls include “chewp” and a variety of twitters (source: ebird.org).

Bananaquits (Coereba flaveola) are very common on Saba. In comparison to other subspecies in the Caribbean, they have a dark throat, like their cousin in Martinique. Its nickname, sugar bird, comes from their affinity for bowls or bird feeders stocked with granular sugar, a common method of attracting these birds in the Caribbean. You’ll find them mostly in Saba’s villages, but also on the top of Mount Scenery. Bananaquits are very common in and around gardens where exotic flowers are abundant.

Like many of the small waxbills, Lonchura punctulata has multiple English names in reasonably common usage; the Nutmeg Mannikin is also regularly known as the Spotted Munia or Scaly-breasted Munia. Its plumage is principally dark brown, but the pale posterior underparts are heavily scalloped darker in adults. This species has a widespread natural range across South and South-East Asia, as well as in Indonesia and the Philippines, while in our region it is now reasonably widespread through the Greater Antilles, having been introduced to Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola, and Puerto Rico, as well as on Guadeloupe and Dominica, in the Lesser Antilles, where it arrived in the mid 1980s. The initial introductions came on Puerto Rico in the 1960s, and the species thereafter appeared to spread naturally, having also reached St. Croix, in the Virgin Islands, in the 1980s.

A watchful Gray Kingbird (Tyrannus dominicensis) at the Spring Bay flat on the island of Saba in the Dutch Caribbean.

The Gray Kingbird is also know as a Pitirre. These birds aggressively defend their territory against intruders, including mammals and much larger birds such as kestrels or hawks.

Yellow-billed Cockoos (Coccyzus americanus) have not previously been recorded on Saba. Though, this unusual visitor seemed to enjoy a good meal, before continuing the migration to its winter residence in South America. As one of few bird species able to eat hairy caterpillars, they can catch as many as 100 in one sitting. Yellow-billed Cuckoos sometimes lay their eggs in other birds’ nests—although they don’t do this nearly as often as the Common Cuckoo of Eurasia, which made the behavior famous.

Source: All About Birds

feeding on nectar at Great Southern White (Ascia monuste) butterfly feeding on nectar at Kelbey’s Ridge, Saba. Not taken with a macro, but a 600 mm telephoto lens.

A Caribbean Elaenia (Elaenia martinica) near Le Gosier in Guadeloupe. It is a rather drab and inconspicuous flycatcher of tropical woodland, semi-open areas with bushes and trees. The Caribbean Elaenia is often found at fruiting trees, where it eats small berries.

The Lesser Antillean Bullfinch (Loxigilla noctis) is an abundant and widespread resident of the Lesser Antilles except for the Grenadines. This species is a common inhabitant of many habitats at all elevations, from dry forest and gardens to mangroves and rainforest, and can be easily seen in yard and bird feeders in towns all the way through pristine rainforest. This species is sexually dimorphic, as opposed to the recently split Barbados Bullfinch (Loxigilla barbadensis), which is monomorphic on the female type plumage.  The male plumage is all black, with a reddish throat and lores. The undertail coverts can vary between all black and all red. The underwings are white, but also variable. The female  plumage is a warm gray, with reddish brown wings, tail, and undertail coverts. The song is given often, and is a fast, clear warbling song consisting of three to four short full 'quip' notes,  followed by four or five rising whistles.

American oystercatcher (Haematopus palliatus) in the early morning at Cove Bay, Saba, in the Dutch Caribbean.

American oystercatcher (Haematopus palliatus) in the early morning at Cove Bay, Saba, in the Dutch Caribbean.

A Caribbean hermit crab (Coenobita clypeatus) locally know as “soldier crab” with a beautiful King’s helmet shell in Windwardside on Saba in the Dutch Caribbean.

Mating Gulf fritillary butterflies (Agraulis Vanillae) near Laborie in St. Lucia, West Indies.

The Saba Racer (Alsophis rufiventris) is a small snake found only on Sint Eustatius and Saba. It is brown with black markings on its back and a pink throat. It kills its prey (small reptiles, rodents) by injecting them with weak venom and swallowing them whole. Due to increasing threats, it is being considered endangered.

More images of the osprey can be found here.

Large green turtle (Chelonia mydas) at Cove Bay on Saba. Kids named her “Miracle” and she successfully nested in September 2015. The eggs hatched 63 days later.
The video of Miracle’s story can be found here.

Large green turtle (Chelonia mydas) at Cove Bay on Saba. Kids named her “Miracle” and she successfully nested in September 2015. The eggs hatched 63 days later.
The video of Miracle’s story can be found here.

Humpback whales feeding near Cape Cod