January 2023
Each time you go out and make observations for this project, describe your walk by adding a comment to this post. Include the date, distance walked, and categories that you used for this walk.
Suggested format:
Date. Place. Distance walked today. Total distance for this project.
Categories.
Brief description of the area, what you saw, what you learned, who was with you, or any other details you care to share.
Comentários
1/1/2023. Anse Noire, Martinique. 1 mile today, 4595.7 miles total.
Categories: underwater, bioblitz
This morning I went out for a snorkel with my husband along the southern reef of Anse Noire. It was great to be back after 3 years! The fish seemed perhaps a few less than last time we were here, but I saw many of the same characters, sergeant majors, squirrelfish, grunts. I also saw some social feather dusters and a giant barrel sponge, plus white sea urchins and Gelding's sea stars.
In the afternoon I did my 60 minute New Year's bioblitz around the campground and up the drive. I found about 130 species, although I don't know how many of them I will be able to name. I started with a Caribbean hermit crab in a large shell (a two-fer!), and a Martinique anole (lizard). Insects included a tussock moth caterpillar, a muscoidea fly, a Condylostylus fly, and a very tiny fly, lots of leafminers on lots of unidentified plants, and quite a few plants that I don't have names for. Before arriving, I started work on a reference file of plants that I might see in Martinique, but I didn't manage to finish it in time to print it. At the campground, the internet is still as lousy as it ever was, so I won't be able to make progress on it while we're here. In the meantime, I'll have to depend on AI and tropical identifiers for help with the plant species.
1/2/2023. Anse Noire, Martinique. 0.5 mile today, 4596.2 miles total.
Categories: underwater
This morning my husband and I headed out for a snorkel along the northern reef of Anse Noire. He saw a green sea turtle while swimming around the dock to the reef. I swam under the dock and missed the turtle but got to see a large school of fish that uses the reef for shelter from the hungry pelicans. I saw lots of sponges today, some yellow ones, some red ones, green ones, and blue ones. I hope to make a reference book of the sea life here at Anse Noire based on my previous observations. But I can't work on it here, unfortunately, due to the slow internet (dial-up speeds). We got to watch a second sea turtle munching algae along the reef for 20 minutes or so. No sign of trumpet fish today. In general, the fish seem numerous but the diversity seems diminished.
1/3/2023. Anse Noire and Anse Dufour, Martinique. 0.8 mile today, 4597 miles total.
Categories: underwater, birds
This morning I took a short birdwalk before breakfast. I headed up the staircase to the parking lot for Anse Noire (100+ stairs). At the top I watched the hummingbirds in the Calliandra trees. There were Antillean crested hummingbirds and red-throated hummingbirds, plus bananaquits. I was surprised at the paucity of Carib grackles. I managed to catch a saltator before heading back down the stairs for breakfast.
After breakfast, my husband and I walked over the hill to Anse Dufour so that we could inquire about when the produce truck might come to town. A woman at a souvenir stand (new since the last time we came to town) told us that they come on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Does that simply mean not today, or does it really mean Wednesdays and Saturday? I guess we'll find out tomorrow since it will be Wednesday and we're running out of fruit. After chatting with the souvenir stand lady, I went snorkeling on the north reef. The water was calmer than in Anse Noir. The beach was as crowded as I've ever seen in Martinque, but there weren't many snorkerlers, thank goodness. I saw my first trumpet fish of the season, plus some parrotfish, a spotted drum, some cowfish, some squirrelfish, and lots of grunts.
1/4/2023. Anse Noire and Anse Dufour, Martinique. 0.8 mile today, 4597.8 miles total.
Categories: underwater, weeds
This morning I thought I might go for a morning bird walk, but the sky looked ominous with rain when I got up. Also, I needed to be back in plenty of time so that we could leave our bungalow by 8:30 in search of the fruit truck. We got off in plenty of time, but there was no truck today. A local who was also waiting for the truck said that there might be another chance at noon, so we headed back to Anse Noire to go snorkeling before lunch. Today we swam along the southern reef of Anse Noire. I had my GoPro today. I am going to see what takes better shots--the Olympus TG6 or frame captures from short video clips on the GoPro. I found some spotted drums, parrot fish, sergeant majors, and trumpet fish. In the afternoon, I prepared to go out with my big camera to do a bug walk, but just as I stepped out the door, the rain started coming down again.
I am so glad to hear you made it back to Martinique! I was wondering if it would happen this year as COVID fears are rising again. So neat to read about and see all the things I would never see here.
January 1, 2023. Fallston, Joppatown, and Abingdon, MD
We (Chuck and I and the younger two of my daughters) were down in Maryland again visiting his aunt. I took my first batch of photos on her horse farm, walking down the driveway along the pond to the road and up to the corner of her property and back up the driveway, one of the longer walks I've managed recently, probably nearly 3/4 of a mile. I saw my favorite seedbox fruit; I love how square they are. There was a hazel I'd never noticed before, as well as an Aralia, probably the invasive A. elata but in Maryland they also have devil's walking stick, so maybe...There were the remains of a Physalis fruit, and a Chinese mantis ootheca. They have some greenbriar here that I've never IDed. It's at least tardily deciduous (if not evergreen), glaucous below, but with big, roundish leaves, few thorns, fruit in loose bunches. Aunt Vivian caught up to me and together we spotted a blue heron flying up into a tree over the pond, and a house sparrow looking as if it were in jail among the rails of a horse stall.
In the afternoon Katie and I drove down to Joppatown to one of the rivers that feed into the Chesapeake Bay. Here I did my New Year's Bioblitz, though I only lasted a little less than 40 minutes (on my knees lately that was quite an accomplishment). She spotted birds while I concentrated on plants. She saw gulls, cardinals, mallards, turkey vulture, a blue jay (I missed it), mourning dove, geese, a kingfisher, and what we think was a young bald eagle catching a fish (she got this beautifully and I didn't get a single photo). I also found asian clam shells. The plants were much less interesting, consisting of your usual water edge and weedy species.
we drove on to the nature center in Abingdon and Katie refused to get out of the car. They had a neat little pond with Leman frozen in it, with airbubbles all along the roots, prettier than my picture managed to make it. I walked down an elevated boardwalk through an understory of mountain laurel. Must be lovely here in June. The boardwalk was not long and ended in an overlook on the river, but it was peaceful and lovely.
January 2, 2023. Holtwood, PA.
All four of us stopped on the way home at a dam on the Susquehanna River. There is white water kayaking here when they release water from the dam, but today it was very empty. We saw probably thousands of gulls. On the shore there were partridge pea pods everywhere.
January 3, 2023. Washington Valley Park, Martinsville, NJ.
I took a quick walk, before it rained this morning, at the local park. There was a very small mugwort plant with dried out leaf edges that had me thinking it was a plant with white flowers about to open. Sadly, no. I found lots of bark beetle trails that might have been from emerald ash borers, but might just as well have not. It was wet enough that the Exidia fungi on fallen oak branches were nice and plump. And that was about it for interesting finds.
January 5, 2023. Lake Creighton, Middlesex, NJ.
I walked at this local pond mostly because it had nice, firm pavement , as it's quite muddy out today. I saw the geese and mallards I expected but then was surprised by a pair of hooded mergansers, a brave nuthatch, and about a dozen turtles out "sunning" themselves (though warm, it was not particularly sunny) on logs. There were also tons of squirrels who were not at all fazed by the even larger number of dogs being walked through the park. The only surprises plant-wise were some silver cinquefoil, and a planted buttonbush in fruit.
What a cool place for a New Year's bioblitz! I'm pretty sure none of our finds overlapped!
Sorry to hear that your knees are slowing you down. On the other hand, it sounds like you're taking advantage of the warm weather to get out and see whatever can be found.
1/5/2023. Anse Noire, Martinique. 0.2 mile today, 4598 miles total.
Categories: birds
This afternoon my husband and I went out for a snorkel, but quickly found that the visibility under water was practically null. Although we don't have big surf, yesterday's storm seems to have stirred up debris, and there was quite a bit of turbidity as well as cold currents. We didn't see any fish and ended up just swimming laps for exercise. Later we sat on the sun deck and watched the pelicans hunting for fish. They didn't seem to be having any more luck than we had.
1/6/2023. Anse Noire, Martinique. 1.9 miles today, 4599.9 miles total.
Categories: birds, underwater, arthropods
I managed to get up early enough this morning for a short bird walk before breakfast. I headed up the stairs to visit the trail system at the top of the hill out the isthmus. To my surprise, I found the trail over Anse Noire gone. Disappeared under the jungle. Hmmm...I also noted a photo of a young white male tucked into the beach shrine at the bottom of the staircase, the shrine for lost fishermen. Could a foolhardy kid have lost his life diving off the cliffs into the bay? Is that why the trails have disappeared? Or, am I putting 2 and 2 together and getting 5? The trails on the south side of the isthmus were open, those closer to Anse Dufour. In the past I had some great bird walks up there near the gorge that separates the 2 sides of the isthmus. I didn't find many birds today, though. I kept getting distracted by plants. I feel that perhaps this is the year when I finally get a handle on local plants. Thanks to all the recent IDs my past observations have gotten, I finally have some reference materials to work with. And the more plants I recognize, the more I see that I don't recognize. All good. I shot some butterfly pea, a leafminer on air plant, a fungus, some lantana, lead tree, some Tillandsia, laurel dodder, yellow balsam, and a cactus. For birds I found a grackle, a Zenaida dove, a black-faced grassquit, and an Antillean crested hummingbird. I also chased down the source of a familiar bird call that I just couldn't recognize--rather than the Lesser Antillean flycatcher that I thought it might be, it was a gray kingbird. I had forgotten entirely about gray kingbirds, but there it was on my eBird list, and there is was in front of my calling. Perhaps that call will stay in my head now. I also found a robber fly and several other flies.
Later in the morning, my husband and I went snorkling around the north edge of the Anse Noire bay. The water wasn't entirely clear, but it was much clearer than yesterday, good enough to see some fish. We saw trumpetfish, tangs, and red-lipped blennies. I got a glimpse of an octopus but didn't manage to shoot it, but I got some photos of the troops of squids that came to check us out. We also spent some time with an odd looking turtle that had a giant growth--barnacle overgrowth? Tumor? over its right back leg, plus more around its eyes and front legs.
In the afternoon I got out my macro camera for an arthropod hunt. I began in the garden at the back of the campground, in the shell ginger flowers were I found an interesting larva that looked a bit like a ladybug larva, but I don't think they have ladybugs here. I found about 10 Tetrio sphinx caterpillars denuding a bush. I found some Condylostylus flies and other flies on leaves, and also a tiny wasp on a leaf. I couldn't find any pollinators besides honeybees. I walked up the stairs to the park by the parking lot but again found very few insects besides flies, mostly Condylostylus. Insect hunting here is tough. No wonder the birds migrate north!
1/7/2023. Anse Dufour and Anse Noire, Martinique. 3 miles today, 4602.9 miles total.
Categories: plants, arthropods, underwater
This morning I took off up the staircase towards Anse Dufour right after breakfast. I had the swamp on top of the hill between Anse Dufour and Grande Anse as my goal. The trail to the swamp begins at the end of the short sidewalk through Anse Dufour village. The trail appears to be a riverbed, at least some times of the year, with large rocks that you have to scramble over and very little soil between them. When there was soil, it was greasy and slippery mud. When I was about 1/3 of the way up the hill, I came across the first members of a local trail running group coming down the hill...at a run. There were about 12 runners in all, both female and male, most over 40 years old, and all but one Black. Certainly a sight I would never see at home, so many Black people in the woods, comfortable out in nature, comfortable running, enjoying a weekend staying fit with friends. Eventually, I made it up to the swamp where I found the odd floating water lettuce and some red dragonflies. On the way back down, I found an orange butterfly and a sulphur butterfly in a clearing, and also an attractive spotted beetle. Back near the bottom of the trail again I came across an older couple hiking up, tourists. The man asked how far I had hiked. I told him I went as far as the swamp. He asked what I found there (I think) and I told him about the red dragonflies (libellule rouge). He didn't look impressed. I didn't think they'd make it all the way up there.
In the afternoon, my husband and I took the camp's sea kayak out to go snorkeling in the next bay. The bay gets a lot more water circulation than Anse Noire, so it is full of dramatic sea fans. The fish were pretty much the same as in Anse Noire, though, lots of brown chromis, sergeant majors, and trumpet fish.
1/8/2023. Anse Noire, Martinique. 0.7 miles today, 4603.6 miles total.
Categories: fish, underwater, plants
I had hoped to get in a bird walk this morning, but I awoke to the sound of Creole, lots of Creole on the beach. I went out to find that the local fishermen from Anse Dufour had decided to seine the bay in Anse Noire this morning. As the sun was just beginning to show, the fishermen were out on the beach, pulling lines. They pulled and pulled for another 40 minutes or so. Several tourists joined in the pull, but I was surprised to see no one from the campground out there on the lines. It seems we were the only ones up to see the show. There were 20 local fishermen in all, 10 on each side of the lines, pulling in a giant net that had closed off the bay. One fisherman was out in a boat attached to the mid-point of the net, monitoring the progress as the men onshore pulled it in, hand over hand. As the net got closer, the frigatebirds overhead became excited, and at one point, I counted 11 of them circling overhead. We also had 2 royal terns and 3 brown pelicans. As the net came closer to shore, fish began jumping in fountains across the net, some out of the net, some back in again. Finally, the men got the net all the way to shore, and there they scurried about, sorting the fish. There were lots of long cigar shaped fish, perhaps 18" long, perhaps guachanche barricuda, and some smaller fish that might have been blue runners. Also some scattered yellow snappers and ballyhoo. And thousands of very small fish, perhaps the redeared herrings or maybe something just a little bit bigger. Many of the smallest fish had gotten caught in the net, and it took the men at least an hour after landing just to pull the small fish out of the net. They filled one of their fishing boats with the thousands of small fish. What for? Bait? I dashed about the beach with my camera trying to collect photos of what they caught. Having just read Jonathon Balcombe's "What a Fish Knows", I found the scene quite disheartening and disturbing. But this is the locals traditional way of life, so I will not criticize, at least, not until I learn a lot more about the culture.
Later in the morning my husband and I went on a snorkel around the south side of the bay. The reef looked completely unaffected by the morning's fish haul--same fish were there in the same abundance and they the didn't seem disturbed. But the area in the middle of the bay away from the reef was devoid of fish. We saw the regular characters, trumpet fish, sharp-nosed puffers, French angelfish, and staghorn corals. Also, some Spanish hogfish.
In the late afternoon I decided to go out for a bug walk, but just as I stepped out the door with my camera it began to rain. I waited a bit for the rain to clear, then went up the hill on the north side of the bay a short ways to see how far I would have to walk before finding 15 plant species. Not far at all. But I couldn't name any of my finds.
1/9/2023. Anse Noire and Anse Dufour, Martinique. 2.8 miles today, 4606.4 miles total.
Categories: birds, underwater, plants
This morning I finally got out for a proper birdwalk. I headed up the staircase, where I found a pair of kestrels on the electric wires over the parking lot. Then I went down into Anse Dufour and up the main road towards the highway. They've added some pavement markings for parallel parking along the road, which makes the road a little more comfortable to walk on, at least early in the morning before people have parked on the side. Folks still drive like maniacs down the road, but they tend to stay out of the marked parking area as they careen almost out of control down the mountain. I didn't find a lot of birds, but I managed to shoot some Zenaida doves, some grassquits, some banaquits, and a bullfinch. I only looked for birds one way, though, since I kept getting distracted by plants. There are a lot of ruderals along the road, with lots of sun exposure. I shot quite a few new ones for this trip and spent some time trying to get the fence post tree and the pink trumpet tree fixed in my head.
After breakfast my husband and I walked back over to Anse Dufour. While he enjoyed lunch out at the beach side restaurant, I went snorkeling along the north edge of the bay. I was looking hard for some interactions between fish and finally spotted a butterfly fish cleaning a trumpet fish. Trumpet fish are supposedly vicious predators, so that's a brave butterfly! I also saw several chain morays, a bar jack, and a strangely shaped orangish fish under a ledge.
In the late afternoon I went for a bug walk. I'm finding I really have to look hard here to find any bugs. I managed to spot several tiny leafhoppers and a stink bug, plus the usual honeybee. I climbed all the way up to the cliff above Anse Noire thinking that there might be bugs there in the open sunny clearing. Not at all. Back in Vermont, we look for bugs in sunny clear locations, probably because bugs are craving sunlight and heat. Sunlight and heat are quite abundant here, probably too abundant, so a sunny exposed cliff was a lousy place for bugs. I think probably here moisture is more of an issue--I should probably seek bugs near water and damp environments.
1/10/2023. Anse Noire and Anse Dufour, Martinique. 2.9 miles today, 4609.3 miles total.
Categories: birds, underwater, plants, arthropods
This morning I went out for a bird walk along the main road to Anse Dufour again. It's probably the easiest walk from Anse Noire, paved and not as steep as any of the forest trails. And I did see some interesting birds on this walk yesterday. Today I saw black-faced grassquits, Antillean crested hummingbirds, Carib grackles, kingbirds, a ground dove, and a pelican. Just past Anse Dufour my camera battery ran out and I discovered I forgot to bring a spare. Before the battery ran out, I found a familiar weed with red flowers, another weed with yellow flowers, and a legume with pink flowers. I used my phone to shoot a few more plants, but I'm finding that if I try to upload iNaturalist observations from the Wifi at the campground, they get all tangled up because of the slow Wifi. They either don't load at all, or they load without the photos, then jam the app with inconsistently updated observations. I'll have to wait to upload the photos until we get to a place with real Wifi.
Later in the morning I went on a snorkel with my husband. We went out along the north reef of Anse Noire. I saw some trumpetfish, some bluehead wrasse and lots of saddled blennies in addition to the more common redlip blennies. My husband found 2 chain morays. He isn't fond of eels. They look too much like snakes to him, and he doesn't like snakes.
Later in the afternoon I took a short bug walk around the campground and up the driveway. I found the usual Condylostus flies. I also managed to finally capture one of the tiny jumping salamander-like lizards that I've been chasing for the 7 years we've been coming here. And I spotted a stalk of green bananas at the back of the campground garden that the bullfinches have been eating. We're having trouble re-supplying our food, so I got my husband and together we harvested the stalk and took it back to our bungalow. With the old owner gone and the new one absent, no one is here to watch the garden, so we might as well enjoy the fruit--us or the birds, and they can always fly to someone else's garden.
1/11/2023. Anse Noire and Anse Dufour, Martinique. 3.4 miles today, 4612.7 miles total.
Categories: birds, underwater, plants, arthropods
This morning I began my bird walk by heading up the driveway at the back of the campground. It has more diversity than the staircase by the water. I heard a mangrove cuckoo and managed to shoot some grackles, some crested hummingbirds, some bullfinches, and a dove. At the top of the hill, I decided to hike up the side road through the upper village. At the top of the road, David, who we met a few days ago while waiting for the produce truck came out to greet me. He said, no there is no path through the woods at the end of the road, although Google maps shows it going through. Google-fiction, once again.
After breakfast, my husband and I walked down to Anse Dufour in hopes of meeting the produce truck. My husband sat on a park bench to wait, while I wandered through the tiny village, checking every corner for weeds. I found some familiar-looking ones, including tridax daisy and some dayflowers, and several plants growing in the storm drains, which I captured for my Life in Storm Drains project. We finally gave up on the truck about 11:30 and started heading home, only to find an unmarked utility truck at the top of the staircase near the bus stop selling fruit out of the side door. Hooray!
After lunch, my husband and I went snorkeling around the south side of the bay in Anse Noire. I was pleased to spot some crinoids, although after I shot them, I realized I had seen them there in the same location several years ago. I also shot some giant anemones, gray snappers, and blue-headed wrasses
1/12/2023. Anse Noire, Martinique. 0.9 miles today, 4613.6 miles total.
Categories: birds, underwater, plants, arthropods
This morning I took a climb up the cliffs overlooking the campground. That area is great for seeing yellow warblers, and I did manage to spot one today, although I wasn't able to get a photo. I saw some bullfinches, crested hummingbirds, green-throated hummingbirds, bananaquits, frigate birds, and perhaps a kestrel. Later in the morning my husband and I went out for a snorkel along the north side of the bay. We saw the usual characters: parrotfish, trumpetfish, sea urchins, giant anemones and sun anemones. I also some young barracudas under the dock. Later in the afternoon I went for a bugwalk around the campground. I turned up a few ants and some Condylostilus flies.
1/13/2023. Anse Noire and Anse Dufour, Martinique. 4.6 miles today, 4618.2 miles total.
Categories: birds, underwater, plants, arthropods
This morning I got up in plenty of time for a bird walk, so I headed up the stairs towards Anse Dufur. When I got there, I found that the fishermen were pulling the seine along the beach. I went down to the beach just as they were landing the net. Today their catch was quite small. They only had 2 large fish (razorfish?) and a boat load of smaller ones, which they harvested by simply rolling the net into one of their boats. Bait? But how could they possibly need bait again after landing so many fish in Anse Noire on Sunday? I found the sandwich shop lady, Magalie, washing her car in front of her shop at 6:45 AM on her day off. I also managed to at last find the back door of the restaurant where I was able to purchase a baguette. I thought I had seen people getting bread there on our first trip to Anse Noire some 7 years ago, but I had never been able to figure out how the system works until David, the man from the bus stop, explained it to us the other day. So I got to tuck the baguette under my arm fro the rest of my walk, very French. I walked all the way up to Le Jus de Bebert and back. That's a juice shop near the top of the hill by the highway, a famous local landmark. Along the way, I shot some bullfinches, grackles, and doves, all in addition to the 9 pelicans that were hungrily hanging out by the fishermen's nets. On my way back down the hill, I came across a man walking up the road with 3 goats on leashes, presumably not out walking them, but moving them to new pasturage.
In the afternoon, I went snorkeling with my husband along the south side of the bay. He was more interested in exercise than searching the nooks and crannies of the reef for creatures. He ended up swimming all the way around to Anse Dufour and walking home. Meanwhile, I found some crinoids in great condition around the point between Anse Dufour and Anse Noire. Plus some the usual characters, including brown chromis, blue-headed wrasses, and bicolored damselfish.
1/14/2023. Anse Noire, Martinique. 1 mile today, 4619.2 miles total.
Categories: birds, underwater, plants, arthropods
This morning we had to date to go shopping with our friend Girard right after breakfast, so I kept my morning bird walk short. I walked up the driveway behind the campground to the top of the stairs and then down. I found some doves, some grackles, some bananaquits and bullfinches. In the afternoon I went snorkeling with my husband. We went out along the north shore of Anse Noire. We saw the usual fishes, some sergeant majors, red-lip blennies, trumpetfish, and bluehead wrasses.
1/15/2023. Anse Dufour, Martinique. 2.4 miles today, 4621.6 miles total.
Categories: birds, underwater, plants, arthropods
The sky looked a bit overcast when I went out for my walk this morning but I still managed to forget my plastic bag to cover my camera in case it started to rain. I walked out to Anse Dufour and tried to get bread, but the older woman at the restaurant said her daughter hadn't returned yet from the bakery. She spoke entirely in Creole, and it took me quite a while to figure out what she was saying. I think it took her a while to figure out I had trouble enough understanding in French. We both had a few laughs, and I went on up the road searching for birds. I found some grackles, ground doves and bullfinches. I also found a large fuzzy caterpillar and some odd hummingbird looking moths or perhaps large wasps. They were really hard to capture because they never rested in full view, but I think I might have gotten one. On my way back through Anse Dufour I stopped and was successful getting bread, but I had to stop and wait for a shower to pass before returning to Anse Noire.
In the afternoon my husband and I walked down to Anse Dufour for a snorkel around the south side of the bay. We have never swum this side of the bay before--you have to cross the ditch that runs through town and through the beach, and there are lots of fishing boats moored near the shore. The shore turned out to be quite rocky with less coral than in Anse Noire and lots of algae. I found a large puffer right off, and there were lots of butterfly fish. Also, several large barracudas. My husband spotted a small turtle on our way out. On our way back, I saw another, and then just as I was ready to get out of the water, I looked down before standing up and found I was directly over a large turtle. It swam under me, just inches away, and then we hung out with it for about 5 minutes. It was scavenging fish scraps that had been discarded in the water. Oddly, there were no red-lip blennies on this side of the bay.
1/16/2023. Anse Noire, Martinique. 1.7 miles today, 4623.3 miles total.
Categories: birds, underwater, plants, arthropods
I slept in this morning, so I held off on my birdwalk until after breakfast. As soon as breakfast was over, I grabbed my camera and headed up the trail towards the Anse Noire cliffs. I walked to the top of the hill, then on to the side trail out to Trou Krapou, a spring in a rock that locals used to use. On the way up, I recorded a yellow warbler but never caught sight of it. I also recorded what I think was an Antillean flycatcher (and shot his butt). I recognized gumbo limbo trees, mahogany, and pink-trumpet trees. I also shot quite a few other plants, including the giant air plant, an epiphytic orchid, and a passion fruit vine. I shot a few flies as well.
My husband and I planned to take the kayaks out to the bay of the Raisin in the afternoon, but the afternoon turned out to be quite rainy. We finally went out for a snorkel at about 3:30 during a short clear period. It began raining again while we were out. Between the later hour and the overcast skies, it was actually a bit chilly in the water, even in our lido suits. Today we found several jellyfish with floating tentacles, the first I've seen in Anse Noire (or anywhere wild, actually). We also came across a platoon of 4 lionfish and then a big turtle just as we were coming ashore.
1/17/2023. Anse Dufour, Martinique. 1.5 miles today, 4624.8 miles total.
Categories: birds, plants
This morning I took an early morning walk up to Medelice, the little village on the hill above Anse Dufour. After yesterday's rain, the birds were out in force. I started with a yellow warbler right outside our door. I also found a black-whiskered vireo, a shiny cowbird, a crested hummingbird, a kingbird, an elaenia, a gray trembler, some ground doves, a shiny cowbird, a broad-winged hawk, plus the usual Zenaida doves, grackles, bullfinches, kestrels, banaquits, frigate birds, and grassquits. I stopped counting birds at the bus stop in Medelice and began looking at plants on my way back down the hill. I recognized a mahogany tree, some gumbo limbos, and a pigeonberry.
The surf was pounding all day after yesterday's inclement weather. My husband and I decided not even to try swimming after seeing a few people get slammed as they tried to get into the water. In the evening I went for a walk along the beach and shot a solitary sandpiper, a kingbird, some sea almond, sea raisins, and a mangrove (black?).
1/18/2023. Anse Dufour and Anse Noire, Martinique. 4.6 miles today, 4629.4 miles total.
Categories: birds, plants
This morning I headed up the road again through Anse Dufour for my bird walk. I went all the way up to Le Jus de Bebert and then a little further through the next settlement. I saw and heard lots of goats this morning but I won't post any since they were all domestic and fenced or tied. Birds today were quite similar to yesterday, although not quite as many species. I saw grackles, frigatebirds, ground doves, crested hummingbirds, kestrels, and kingbirds. I saw lots of fence post trees, some mahoganies, and a massive tree in the tiny settlement. And perhaps some escaped sorghum.
The water was still rough today in Anse Noire. We walked over to Anse Dufour to pick up a lunch for my husband and noted that the water seemed a little less rough there, so we took a walk back to Anse Dufour after lunch for a swim, sans snorkel gear. On the way I shot a Tetrio sphinx caterpillar and learned the word "chenille" for caterpillar.
1/19/2023. Anse Noire, Martinique. 0.7 miles today, 4630.1 miles
Categories: birds, plants, insects
I decided to go hunting for yellow warblers up on the Anse Noire cliffs this morning. I saw one bird that I think might have been a warbler, but I didn't get any photos. I got photos of Zenaida doves, grackles, bananaquits, crested hummingbirds and a black-whiskered vireo. I also shot an iris-looking plant that had a yellowish bud forming. However, I decided that I really do prefer the walk up towards Medelis. The cliff path is quite steep and I end up spending so much effort concentrating on footing and balance that I don't have enough left for the birds and the plants. So maybe I'll return to Anse Dufour and Medelis tomorrow.
In the afternoon we found the surf had quieted down a bit so that we could swim in Anse Noire, but there was little visibility, so we just swam laps without our snorkel gear. Afterwards, I took a bug walk around the campground. After quite a bit of effort I managed to get some small wasps that were hanging out behind our bungalow. I searched and searched for other bugs but didn't come up with much more than a few Condylostylus flies.
1/20/2023. Anse Dufour and Anse Noire, Martinique. 2.2 miles today, 4632.3 miles total.
Categories: birds, plants, underwater
This morning I walked down to Anse Dufour and got some bread at Marie Jo's restaurant, then headed up the hill towards Medelis looking for birds. I saw some grackles, kingbirds, mockingbirds, bananquits, and crested hummingbirds. I also focused a lot on looking at trees, starting with the ones I know: pink trumpet tree, mahogany, fence post tree. That helped me pick out the ones that were different. There is a really common one with compound leaves and flat lima bean shaped pods. It's everywhere. I picked a pod and a leaf and took it back home to ponder. When I got back to Anse Noire, I found Francois, the beach cleaner, and asked him if he knows what it is. He immediately told me that is savonnet, and that there are 2 kinds of savonnet, this one, which doesn't have any uses, and another one that grows in the forest and was used as soap in the past. Interesting!
Later in the morning my husband and I went out snorkeling to the right side of Anse Noire. The water was calmer but still had some turbulence near the beach. Further out along the reef it was clear. My camera battery was low, but I managed to shoot some very large comb jellies, including one that was getting nipped by a troop of bluehead wrasse.
1/21/2023. Anse Dufour and Anse Noire, Martinique. 0.8 miles today, 4633.1 miles total.
Categories: birds, plants, underwater
I slept in this morning and decided to take a short bird walk after breakfast on the hill behind the campground where our friend Marianne used to live. On the way I stopped to talk with the proprietor of the kayak rental place on the beach. He told me the names of several trees, the cotlette and the maboua. Now I need to search those Creole names to see if I can match them with any scientific names. I didn't see many birds on my walk, except for a mangrove cuckoo as I was returning back from Marianne's house.
Later in the morning, my husband and I walked over to Anse Dufour to meet the Saturday fruit truck and also go for a snorkle. Success on both accounts. During our swim, we saw several barracuda, which give me the creeps. We also saw some glassy sweepers, four-eyed butterfly fish, tiny jellyfish, and some very large colorful fish that I need to get some IDs on.
In the afternoon we had dueling raggae parties, one on the beach and one just offshore on 4 tethered boats, each trying to drown each other out. I took my camera for a bug hunt in the back of the campground, trying to escape the noise. I searched high and low and eventually came up with a large tiger moth, a robber fly, several long-legged flies, and some galls and leafminers on some blooming sunflowers at the edge of the beach.
1/22/2023. Anse Dufour and Plage de Gros Raisin, Martinique. 4.5 miles today, 4637.6 miles total.
Categories: birds, plants, underwater
This morning I headed up the staircase on my way to way to Medelis looking for birds. At the top of the staircase, a local man carrying a soccer ball greeted me. We chatted for a bit, and introduced ourselves. When I said I was heading up to Medelis, a big glow came over his face. It turns out he lives in Medelis, on the small road that runs downhill from the bus stop. He said it was too bad we didn't meet earlier, or he would have invited me to his cousin's birthday party yesterday. Down in Anse Dufour, I found a feed station set up for a big foot race that is an annual event, a 20 km from Anse D'Arlet through Anse Noir and up the cliff trail. Wow! I walked on up to Medelis, then down the little road to my new friend's house for the first time. There were about 4 houses on the road, plus some savolet trees, and a black-whiskered vireo in a gummier tree. On my way back down to Anse Dufour, some of the first runners from the foot race passed me. And Marie Jo from the restaurant stopped on her way to town to see if I needed any bread.
Later in the morning my husband and I took out the kayak to go explore the beach of the big raisin. Although the water in the bay at Anse Noire was quite calm, once we got out in the channel, there was a lot of wind and white caps. We pushed on and made it to the Gros Raisin in about 40 minutes of hard paddling. The beach is an isolated little cove covered with rocks. The rocks had snails and hermit crabs. We poked around the beach a bit, where I shot some moss, shrubby wood sorrel, and some beach grass, then did some snorkeling. The highlight of the day was a very large colorful fish which I'll have to depend on the experts to identify. We also saw some night sergeants, plus the usual array of reef fishes, like bluehead wrasses and redlip blennies.
1/23/2023. Anse Dufour and Anse Noire, Martinique. 3.1 miles today, 4640.7 miles total.
Categories: birds, plants, underwater
This morning I awoke early and intended to walk all the way to the intersection of the Anse Dufour Rd and the highway. But when I got to the far side of Medelice, a loose dog turned me back. It had all the dogs in the neighborhood, the nicely fenced dogs, all barking and excited. Meanwhile, I found bananaquits, grackles, king birds, and ground doves along the route.
Later in the morning I accompanied my husband over the hill to Anse Dufour to buy a take out meal. On our way back we caught up with a skipper butterfly with long tails. Then after lunch we went for a snorkel in Anse Noire along the north reef. I found some good-sized night sergeants, reef squid, a chain moray, and some parrot fish. We also got some good views of a large sea turtle as it came up for air.
1/24/2023. Anse Dufour and Anse Noire, Martinique. 3.1 miles today, 4643.8 miles total.
Categories: birds, plants, underwater
This morning I hoped to walk up to the intersection with the highway, but it was raining when I first woke up. So I went back to sleep, slept in, and then found myself short on time, so I only went as far as Le Jus de Bebert on my walk. I met Jules on the way, and he seemed quite sad to hear that we are leaving tomorrow. Just across from Le Jus de Bebert I found a bright green arrow painted on the road, a leftover from the race the other day...marking the trail head that I have been searching for for years that connects the trail behind the campfound to Le Jus de Bebert. I walked a short way down the trail, but then returned up to the road again since I didn't feel like tackling a major new trail before breakfast. Along the road I saw some grackles, some Zenaida doves, some grassquits, a mockingbird, and also a mangrove cuckoo.
Before lunch, my husband and I went for a snorkel along the south side of Anse Noire, going out as far as the big gully in the peninsula between Anse Noire and Anse Dufour. We managed to find an octopus hanging out in its hole, a puffer fish, and a turtle, as well as a coney and the usual fishy friends.
In the afternoon, I went on a bug walk around the campground but found precious little: a small moth, a small beetle, and a fly. How in the world did any flowers get pollinated here before honeybees arrived?
1/25/2023. Anse Dufour, Martinique. 3.4 miles today, 4647.2 miles total.
Categories: birds, plants
This morning I woke early and there was no rain, so I set off up the hill past Anse Dufour to see if I could make it all the way to the cistern and highway intersection. I met David in Anse Dufour, out checking his mail and said goodbye to him, then headed straight up the road. And yes, I made it to the top at last. I was quite interested to find a slightly different array of plants near the top of the road. Perhaps there is just a bit more moisture up there. I found some bamboo, pink trumpet tree, savonet, and spotted a perhaps wild mango along the road and some new trees that I didn't recognize. I shot the usual characters, grackles, doves, bullfinches and grassquits. On the way back down the hill I stopped to chat with 2 older women who were trying to hitchhike into town at the bus stop in Medelice. With the bus out of service, they are dependent on the kindness of neighbors to get out and do their business. I saw plenty of tourist cars shoot right past them, but I'm pretty sure that if a local came by he or she would stop for them. They were quite interested in what I had been doing, poking around their village with a camera. They seemed a bit relieved to hear I was just shooting birds and flowers.
1/26/2023. Belfond, Saint-Anne, Martinique. 2.7 miles today, 4649.9 miles total.
Categories: birds, plants, insects
This morning I got up early to try some birding around Belfond. It was a thrill to be back in our old neighborhood where we lived 5 years ago. We really enjoyed our time here in Saint-Anne back then--that's why we chose to return. We are staying in Cite Point Marin right now, a development of 1-story flat row houses at the extreme end of Sainte-Marin, on the back side of Club Med. This neighborhood used to be a favorite one for birding when we lived in Belfond, a French retirement community next door. I saw quite a few birds as well as some walkers and joggers, including grackles, doves, lots of mockingbirds, some bananaquits, bullfinches, grassquits, and cattle egrets, poking about the cattle tied up across from the sewage treatment plant. I took my meander up past our old apartment, where we will be moving back to in 5 months. The vegetation here is quite, quite different than in Anse Noire; the microclimate is clearly much drier here. The trees here are mostly fence post trees and various Fabaceae, with no savonets. I remember that were mahoganies and gumbo limbos down on the other side of town, but none here. Instead, we have portias and other large shrubs.
In the afternoon I went out for a bug walk in our neighborhood. I managed to find a few Condylostylus flies, but not much else, not even honeybees. I shot some mockingbirds, however.
1/27/2023. Belfond, Saint-Anne, Martinique. 4.2 miles today, 4654.1 miles total.
Categories: birds, plants, insects
I woke up early this morning so I managed to get out early for my bird walk. Today I headed up past the sewage treatment plant, then to the top of the hill and out along the farm road where I came across several joggers. I took the bike path back to the stadium and walked along the parking lot road behind the beach on my way back home. There was lots of birds out today--I'm slowly getting back into the groove of figuring out which birds I might see where. Two Brahman cattle were in the small field across from the sewage treatment plant, accompanied by 4 cattle egrets (guarde boefs in French). Two of the egrets were playing king of the mountain, climbing to the top of the larger bull's head to perch between his horns, pushing each other out of the way. The bull gave me a perplexed look. I was pleased to find some a flock of common waxbills near the bottom of the farm road, right where I had left them last 5 years ago. I also saw over 70 grackles, some doves, some bullfinches, and a pair of Eurasian collared doves. I found several Scirpus sedges, some pink trumpet trees, and 4-5 species of Fabacea trees, and a few Tetrio sphinx caterpillars.
In the afternoon I took a bug walk around our neighborhood but didn't manage to shoot a single one. I saw a Conydlostylus fly, but wasn't able to get a photo off before it disappeared. I did manage to find a noni bush in fruit, however.
1/28/2023. Saint-Anne, Martinique. 2.7 miles today, 4656.8 miles total.
Categories: birds, plants, insects
It was raining hard this morning when I first woke up so I turned over in bed and went back to sleep. By the time I woke up the rain had stopped, so after breakfast I took a walk into town to get some groceries. I hauled my big camera along hoping to shoot some birds on the way. I saw a few, including some bullfinches and grackles. On the corner by the roundabout I found a patch of peacock butterflies, so I was quite glad I had the big camera to shoot them with. On my way back with a backpack full of groceries, I wasn't so sure it was a good idea to bring the big camera after all.
1/29/2023. Val D'Or, Saint-Anne, Martinique. 3.5 miles today, 4660.3 miles total.
Categories: birds, plants, insects
This morning I decided to take a walk up towards English Hill, continuing on down the loop towards the mill and back past the beach. This loop involves a few 100 meters along the highway, which has no shoulder at all, then up a steep hill, then down a rocky trail through the woods beside some cattle fields. As I walked up English Hill, I kept an eye out for the grassland yellow finches I used to see here, but no luck. I did see plenty of cattle egrets, though, and several snowy egrets as well. Plus the usual grackles, bullfinches, and Zenaida doves. The fenche post trees are in full bloom right now, loaded with honeybees and the occasional carpenter bee.
1/30/2023. Club Med, Saint-Anne, Martinique. 2.5 miles today, 4662.8 miles total.
Categories: birds, plants, insects
This morning I decided to check out the beach at Club Med. French law says that beach front is public property up to the high tide line, so even though Club Med is posted all over as private, they have to let allow people access to walk along the shore. I walked straight past the (empty) guard station on the beach and all along the property to the point and beyond. I was pleased to find some sections roped off where they are trying to encourage dune plants. I found grackles, bananaquits, bullfinches, and several Eurasian collared doves, including a copulating pair on a tower. I shot some mangrove trees, some Tridax daisies, and a noni bush. I also found a big green coconut on the ground and a small pink clam shell, both of which I appropriated and brought home.
1/31/2023. Derierre Morne, Saint-Anne, Martinique. 3.2 miles today, 4666 miles total.
Categories: birds, plants
This morning I decided to walk in the neighborhood behind the church by downtown Saint-Anne. I took a detour first through the lower part of Belfond. I didn't find much of interest there, but I did shoot a grackle and a dove. On the way out of Belfond I got distracted on the road that goes through the mangrove swamp. I really need to spend some more time studying the mangrove species so that I can easily distinguish them on sight. There seemed to be quite a bit of bird life in the mangroves, and I managed to shoot a green heron (I heard 3 more). From there I headed up the hill towards Derierre Morne. Just as I was getting to the top of the hill, a French woman came up behind me, declaring several times "Je deteste (this hill)". I sympathized, but not too much--she wouldn't get far in Anse Noire or Anse Dufour. Derierre Morne is a mixture of local houses and low rent rentals. An ambulance with a police escort was parked outside of one of the rentals. I walked on by, all the way to where the road dead ends. Beyond that, a trail was quite evident. While I stood at the top of the trail, contemplating whether to continue, a local walked down the trail carrying a machete. I started to follow, but then I saw the trail went into a field with a bull, which the local kept a wary eye on. I turned back and continued my walk up to the top of the neighborhood, cut down through the lower part of Calvary Hill behind the church, and then back up the beach to our bungalow. Along the way, I shot some unfamiliar white flowers on a vine, a noni bush, some tamarind trees, and some portia trees.
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