I’m certain (hoping) that a minimum of one particular person seen my lacking put up this month – I used to be on a blitz of the Lesser Antilles, main a gaggle of ten (largely) grumpy birders on a seek for each final endemic of this closely under-birded area. These islands are largely recognized for his or her pristine seashores bordered by fifty shades of good blue, but we had been after their emerald hearts. Verdant and infrequently volcanic forests coated slopes that ascended into the clouds, concealing birds so mysterious that a number of of them run the chance of disappearing earlier than being totally understood.
Of those islands, the French Antilles – or Antiy fwansé in Antillean Creole – stand out for being a Caribbean slice of Europe. From the infrastructure to the delicacies, one can be forgiven for questioning which aspect of the Atlantic we awakened on this morning. The birds, nonetheless, are distinctly Caribbean. Many, actually, are nothing like every other birds discovered wherever else on the planet. On a birding journey just like the one talked about right here, we go to the 2 official French Abroad Departments of Guadeloupe and Martinique. These islands characteristic a mixture of endemics and near-endemics, with the sobering understanding that all of them may be worn out by a single extreme storm.
The Blue-headed Hummingbird is just present in Martinique and Dominica, for instance. Martinique stays the island the place I’ve loved essentially the most intimate experiences with this species so far.
Against this, the Bridled Quail-Dove appears to get pleasure from a wider distribution as much as Puerto Rico within the north. Nevertheless, it’s distinctly troublesome to detect and a few experiences are unverified. Certainly, with extra attentive eyes and ears within the area, we are going to proceed to be taught extra about this distinctive quail-dove. Personally, I’ve solely seen it on Guadeloupe, the place it’s thought-about to be pretty frequent all through the island. On my first go to two years in the past, it walked throughout the trail instantly in entrance of me simply earlier than a jogger appeared and flushed the hen into oblivion. This time, we visited on a weekday.
Bridled Quail-Dove
4 subspecies of the Forest Thrush exist, every endemic to a single island within the Lesser Antilles. The one pictured right here is the nominate lherminieri, restricted to Guadeloupe.
Whereas the Rufous-throated Solitaire can also be present in a number of the different islands within the Caribbean, the hen pictured right here can also be the nominate genibarbis, restricted to Martinique.
Endemic to Guadeloupe is the Guadeloupe Woodpecker, a charismatic medium-sized woodpecker that can also be the one woodpecker in all the Lesser Antilles.
On Martinique, two species carrying the island’s identify carve out their existence in opposition to insurmountable odds. Restricted to a single patch of forest on a tiny peninsula on the jap aspect of the island is the Martinique Thrasher – a leaf litter specialist with a singular cooperative breeding technique. After I say “tiny peninsula” I imply it – the species’ complete vary covers 5 sq. kilometres. Presently, this space is closely managed, with lively mongoose traps each thirty metres or so alongside the paths.
Human presence doesn’t sometimes annoy the Martinique Thrasher, whereas a lot of the group had their eyes on a extra distant particular person, this one foraged inside three to 4 metres, usually coming too shut for my digicam to focus.
Arguably essentially the most vividly plumaged of all of the Lesser Antillean orioles, the Martinique Oriole is a spectacular wanting creature and deservedly sits on the quilt of Birds of the Lesser Antilles.
I return to those Caribbean gems in just a few brief days, possibly my subsequent put up will characteristic one other number of endemic species. Depart your requests within the feedback!
