February 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
2/1/2023. Belfond Sewage Treatment Plant, Saint-Anne, Martinique. 1.5 miles today, 4667.5 miles total.
Categories: birds, plants
I had plans to go into town this morning to catch the bus to Morin, so I needed to keep my bird short. I decided to check out some of the dead end roads around the sewage treatment plant. The roads are populated with the standard rental apartment buildings found in the rest of Belfond. There weren't many interesting birds or plants on these roads, however, there is a small agricultural field directly across from the sewage treatment plant that has 2 Brahmin cattle tied up in it. On the far side of the field, on one of the dead end roads, I found a flock of common waxbills and a pair of mockingbirds. On my way back, I greeted the farmer who had arrived to take care of his cattle, chickens, geese, and guinea fowl. His 2 cats also came out to greet him and were clearly quite excited to see him. When I walked past, though, they scattered into the bushes.
2/2/2023. Beauregard Cemetery and Belfond Sewage Treatment Plant, Saint-Anne, Martinique. 5.5 miles today, 4673 miles total.
Categories: birds, plants, insects
This morning I awoke a little after 5 but thought it was later because our eternally noisy neighbors turn on their porch light when they get up at 5. I ended up heading out for my walk at 5:45, which was simply too early. It was still quite dark, and the birds were barely singing, let alone visible. Since I had plenty of time, I decided to go check the Beauregard Cemetery, which is at the end of a side road from the highway on the south end of Sainte-Anne. It was still to dark to photograph birds when I walked up the farm road, but by the time I got to the top of the farm road hill, there was enough light to take photos. I found more waxbills, some mockingbirds, grackles, doves, grassquits and bullfinches. I also shot a honeybee, a small Tetrio sphinx caterpillar, and a blue butterfly. I found the road at the back of the cemetery roped off and overgrown, but the cemetery appears well cared for (i.e., few unintended plants). In the cemetery I found some green-headed caribs and Antillean crested hummingbirds.
In the late afternoon I went out for a bug walk. I headed up towards the field across from the sewage treatment plant hoping to find at least a bug or 2. I began, however, by shooting the tiny ants on our patio and some of the fruit flies in our garbage. I shot a few more ants in the road. The same farmer that I met yesterday was out tending his cows and I greeted him again. Once he left for the evening, I shot some flies on his cows' back. I also managed to find a moth and several small beetles (same species), plus some leafhoppers in the sun near the cattle fence.
2/3/2023. Malgre Tout, Saint-Anne, Martinique. 4.6 miles today, 4677.6 miles total.
Categories: birds, plants, insects
This morning I returned to Habitation Malgre Tout for the first time in 5 years. This is a farm road that would be called Class 4 in Vermont, navigable with care in a motorized vehicle. It starts from the Val d'Or mill and goes up over the hill towards the Atlantic. Today I made it a bit further up the hill than I ever used to before. I got an early start, so I had some more time. Right at the mill I found a wandering muscovy duck, the first of the season. For some reason, eBird notes Muscovy duck, domestic type as unreported. I know I've reported them here before, so they must have been mis- or re-classified. I also managed to spot a mangrove cuckoo in a tree and a flock of shiny cowbirds by the bikepath along the highway, in addition to the usual Zenaida doves, grackles, and grassquits. For plants, I noted a patch of untended sugar cane, a kapok tree, plenty of fence post trees, a yellow flowered poddy-thing.
2/4/2023. Anse Caritan, Saint-Anne, Martinique. 4.9 miles today, 4682.5 miles total.
Categories: birds, plants, insects
This morning I needed to do some food shopping at the market, so I got a late-ish start (6:45) and walked through Sainte-Anne center on the way on Anse Caritan, the other side of city. I paused at the bank machine on the way to get some cash, but it is still broken. If the machine doesn't get cash by Tuesday, I guess we'll have to a take another bus trip to Morin just to get some money. But meanwhile, I greatly enjoyed the walk out past the People's Beach bar and the Club IGESA bungalows. I recalled how sad I had been to make my last walk out to this stretch of coastline 5 years ago, knowing that it would be a while before I would return. It occurred to me that that's one advantage of staying for a while in one place and returning there. You get to know it well enough to develop a deep bond with the landscape and its inhabitants. If you always go to new places each time you travel, that simply doesn't happen. I found some blue land crabs in the wetlands behind the beach, a mangrove cuckoo, a spotted sandpiper, and even 2 brown pelicans today, the first time I recall seeing pelicans in Sainte-Anne. They were perched on top of a wooden swingset set up just off the beach. I closely examined the plants on the beach and found I am beginning to tell the difference between Portia tree (friendly) and manchineel (not friendly). I also spotted some green buttonbush, locally known as gray mangrove. Plus some new sidewalk weeds and some feral chickens on my way back through town.
2/5/2023. Club Med, Saint-Anne, Martinique. 1.2 miles today, 4683.7 miles total.
Categories: insects
This morning I slept in and missed my morning bird walk. To make up for it, I got my macro gear together and went for a bug walk along the beach after breakfast. I stopped for a few ants along the way, then went right to one of the trees where we often hang out under when we go swimming to get some cotton stainer photos. Cotton stainers are bright red bugs that seem to congregate on certain trees on the beach near the water. I got my cotton stainers, then headed up the Club Med beach to see if I could find any flies to document. I passed a professional photographer taking some photos of a young local couple, plus quite a few other folks who didn't seem to be staying at the resort. I think a lot of people are taking advantage of the law that provides public access to all waterfronts, a great law. But I also wonder if that might be one factor driving Club Med's new "beach restoration" areas of roped off land where beach used to be--trying to prevent the public from invading their space en masse? I found a few more ants along the beach, some Hanno blue butterflies, and a few shore flies. Eventually the photographer and his models came along, and the photographer asked me what I was shooting. I tried to explain iNaturalist to him, and told him I was shooting les mouches. I don't know whether he thought I was crazy or lying. But I did get a few photos of flies for my efforts.
2/6/2023. Bellevue, Saint-Anne, Martinique. 3.4 miles today, 4687.1 miles total.
Categories: birds, plants
This morning I decided to take my bird walk through town to check the bank machine once again. No luck at the bank machine, but the debris in the street from last night's pre-Carnival parades was mind-boggling. Amidst all the bottles and other trash, I was delighted to find a flowered Carnival necklace, just what we needed to decorate our homemade hummingbird feeder. I continued on up to the hillside on the south side of town, the one marked Bellevue on the map. I remembered that I used to see some interesting birds on the hill, but I couldn't remember what. Today I spotted a spectacled thrush on the hill, as well as some grackles, Zenaida doves, bullfinches, and also a snowy egret in the ditch by the stadium bus stop. I was delighted to find a savonet tree on the hill, the first I've seen in Sainte-Anne, as well as the usual fence post trees and mahoganies.
2/8/2023. Beauregard & Sewage Treatment Plant, Sainte-Anne, Martinique. 4 miles today, 4691.1 miles total.
Categories: birds, plants, insects
This morning I took a walk through downtown Sainte-Anne to pick up some more cash and avoid another cash crisis. The bank machine was working, so that mission was a success. I also found the usual characters along the road, Zenaida doves, grackles, and bullfinches. Plus some Eurasian collared doves along the beach, and some chickens, including a hen with chicks running around in the municipal campground waking campers. I was pleasantly surprised to find the streets and town square entirely picked up after the weekend's revelry. Except, the garbage trucks hadn't come by, so there were massive piles of garbage overflowing from every trash bin. I walked out the road on the far side of town that meets the highway at Beauregard, and noted a new dirt road going through. Indeed, there was the field where I said seen the bull last week on my visit to Derriere Morne. The bull wasn't there this morning, and I could have made a very short cut to Derriere Morne. Or, I could have walked the other way to the Lot. Oiseaux in the other direction. Five years ago, I had poked around the dead end from Lot. Oiseaux--it's great to see that it's no longer a dead end but goes through to make a great pedestrian short cut into town.
In the afternoon, I took a short bug walk up by the sewage treatment plant. I found a few ants (hard to photograph!), a few flies in the puddle in the road, and a single millipede. Bugging is hard around here--I'm glad I'm not a bird and dependent for sustenance on what I find.
2/9/2023. Bareto Trail, Sainte-Anne, Martinique. 4 miles today, 4695.1 miles total.
Categories: birds, plants
This morning I headed up the farm road behind Belfond intending to return to English Hill, perhaps. But then I made an impromptu decision to veer off and see if I could find the passage I had seen on the map towards Bareto, a small settlement between Sainte-Anne and Marin. Satellite maps show a trail through the woods from the farm road towards Bareto. Five years ago I walked about 20 feet off the road into the cattle field but gave up when I didn't see the trail right away. This morning, I followed the traces of a trail between cow pats and quite soon found the trail up through the woods. The woods were quite dry forest, shrub lands dominated by aroma bush, yellow balsam, cacti, and other shrubs making a canopy about 15' high. After about 1/4 mile, the trail came out through a cattle guard and fence onto a dirt road heading toward the coast. There were many fewer birds here so I spent quite a bit of time photographing plants. Perhaps most of the birds that I see in Sainte-Anne are dependent on humans--grackles, Zenaida doves, bullfinches, so once I get away from humans there aren't so many birds. For plants, I found bay-leaved caper, mahogany, white lead tree, plus some bushes with large white berries, and some devil's horsewhip wrapped in a vine.
In the afternoon, I went snorkeling with my husband on the Club Med beach. We have never found many fish here in Sainte-Anne, but after studying some aerial shots of Club Med, we spotted some areas where there might be some reef, especially around the dock. We walked in on the beach past the security gate, then entered the water a little ways before the dock. We found a lot of shallow areas filled with turtle grass, but not many fish, just some donkey dung sea cucumbers and some yellow goat fish. Right by the dock we found a tiny section of reef, with some sponges, magnificent feather duster worms, giant anemones (one with a yellow crab), and a good selection of fish, including sergeant majors, squirrel fish, bluehead wrasse, parrotfish, and some gregories.
2/10/2023. Bareto, Martinique. 3.3 miles today, 4698.4 miles total.
Categories: birds, plants
This morning I went out to the farm road again and up the trail towards Bareto. At the top of the trail where it opens out onto the road, I walked down to Bareto, then out along the highway down to the intersection with the farm road, and back to Point Marin. The Bareto section was simply lots of apartment blocks, not very interesting. And the highway was treacherous for walking, as always. Still, I was curious about the distance and how long the loop would take. It wasn't long at all, but I can see how the trail would be a great shortcut for anyone in Bareto to get to either Sainte-Anne or the beach on foot. I saw some Zenaida doves and grassquits. Also, along the return down the farm road, I came across a large flock of nearly 20 cattle egrets who came to hang out with the cattle in the upper field.
2/11/2023. Belfond, Sainte-Anne, Martinique. 1.4 miles today, 4699.8 miles total.
Categories: birds, plants
This morning I took a short walk through Belfond, trying to save my feet for the long walk into town and back for Saturday shopping. I still managed to fit a walk on a road I haven't yet seen this year, a road that runs through the central part of Belfond, past some of the small rental cottages. I spent quite a bit of time examining the weeds growing in the gutter, including some whitehead spikesedges and red tasselflowers. I found quite a few feral cats along the way. I think the cats must be thick in Belfond because so many tourists take pity on them and leave food out. Birds today included the usual grackles, bananaquits, and Lesser Antillean crested hummingbirds.
2/12/2023. Val D'Or, Sainte-Anne, Martinique. 3.8 miles today, 4703.6 miles total.
Categories: birds, plants
This morning I decided to walk up English hill and take the back path to the Val D'Or mill. It was a good thing I didn't have my heart set on exploring more of the trail to Bareto since the cattle were in the lower field today. I wasn't about to try to push my way through a herd of large horned beasts. Maybe that's why folks from Bareto don't try to use the trail to Sainte-Anne on a regular basis--they wouldn't know if the cattle were in the field until they got right down to it, and they would have to turn around if they were. I had great fun inspecting the trees along the farm road for leafminers, and found a few. I found over 20 cattle egrets in with the cattle, in addition to the usual grackles and grassquits. I've been searching for the grassland yellow finches that I used to see along this road and up on English hill, but no luck today.
2/13/2023. Club Med, Sainte-Anne, Martinique. 2.4 miles today, 4706 miles total.
Categories: birds, plants, insects
This morning I took a walk out along the Club Med beach. I took along my clip-on macro lens in hopes of seeing some seaweed flies. I found a few, plus some ants. I also found a sandpiper out along the point. It looked quite small to be the usual spotted sandpiper. I wonder if it was a solitary sandpiper. I also shot some green buttonwood and red mangrove along the shore.
2/15/2023. Beauregard, Sainte-Anne, Martinique. 5.5 miles today, 4711.5 miles total.
Categories: birds, plants, insects
This morning I needed to get some more cash, so I took my bird walk towards the town center. From there, I walked up towards Beauregard but took the new back way into the Hameau de Beauregard development. Five years ago when I tried exploring this route, which showed up as a trail on my map, there was no sign of a trail, and I turned around after finding an abandonded house in the woods. Today there was no sign of the house, but the trail appears well traveled, but new, through some new tightly cropped small pastures. I continued down the bike trail along the highway to the roundabout at the mill and picked up some fruits at the fruit stand. Then I returned down the farm road to the back of Belfond. Across from the mill I saw the feral muscovy duck, which was my only "rare" bird for the day. I also saw plenty of grackles, doves, and bananaquits.
In the afternoon I went out hunting for holopothrips and their galls on pink trumpet tree for a researcher who is looking for photos for his book about pink trumpet trees. I took my full macro gear on my camera but didn't find many insects. And of course, since I was actually looking for pink trumpet trees, they were scarce. I finally found one in lower Belfond with lots of galls on the leaves. I brought home some leaves and tried to get some photos on the white tiles of our patio. Of course, holopothrips are really small, probably too small for my macro lens, which is only 1 little better than 1-1. What I really need is a dissecting scope.
2/16/2023. Cite Pointe Marin, Sainte-Anne, Martinique. 1.2 miles today, 4712.7 miles total.
Categories: birds, plants
This morning I went out on a mission, not only to shoot birds, but to try and find the Airbnb lodgings in our neighborhood based on the photos from their listings. We are starting to think about next year and realizing it is already a little late to book the best places. Unfortunately, the place we are currently staying in is going off the market. It's a dump, but it's spacious and conveniently located as well as very cheap. We love this neighborhood for its location, so we'd prefer to stay here if we can find a place that's available and affordable. I walked around and around the block looking very suspicious as I kept checking my phone to match photos with front gates and gingerbread styles in the eaves. I also managed to shoot a few doves, bullfinches, and bananaquits along the way, and located 5 of the 7 Airbnb properties on the block.
2/17/2023. Belfond, Sainte-Anne, Martinique. 3.1 miles today, 4715.8 miles total.
Categories: birds, plants, insects
This morning I planned to head up English Hill when I went out. I first crossed over towards the school, where I found a common gallinule and green heron arguing over territory in the mangrove swamp. Then on my way towards the sewage treatment plant, I had an impulse to check out the end of the trail right by the plant. I walked down this trail a week ago but dutifully turned around at the chain across the road. Today I decided the chain was meant to keep vehicles from driving down the road, but not people walking on foot. So I stepped over the chain and kept walking. Just 70 meters down the road, there was a small fork, with the right end going up a small hill to a clearing with bee hives. I decided to save that part of another day and instead turned left. Within another 30 meters, the road ended right at the water. On both sides of the road and all around were tall red mangroves, some magnificent specimens. There were also green herons hunting along the shoreline, although I didn't manage to get any photos of them. Instead, I shot a lot of the plants in the mangrove swamp before heading back up towards the sewage treatment plant. It would be tempting to try swimming in the mangrove swamp at the end of the road, except for the fact that the outlet from the sewage treatment plant into the sea has to be right there somewhere as well. As I walked up into upper Belfond above the sewage treatment plant, my feet turned right instead of left and took me through a tour of upper Belfond, still trying to seek out some more of the apartments we have been looking at on Airbnb. I passed by the place we'll be moving to in Les Cocotiers in a few weeks and headed up hill, trying to find the location of the cheap studio with great view that I had seen online. The higher I climbed, the quieter it got, until I was stunned by the silence as well as the views. And there it was, the last remaining cheap place on our list, with a view that was even nicer than the one that we'll enjoy down below in Les Cocotiers. And out across the distance, I shot a cattle egret that flew across the Belfond skyline. I also shot a few more bananaquits and some crested hummingbirds that were feeding in the garden of a bungalow in lower Belfond.
2/18/2023. English Hill, Sainte-Anne, Martinique. 5 miles today, 4720.8 miles total.
Categories: birds, plants, insects
This morning I set out with a more clear intention of exploring English Hill, and I actually made it there. In my previous visits to English Hill, I had always turned down the farm path towards the mill and returned along the highway. Today I decided to do an out and back, going as far as I could up the hill until 7:30, and then turning around. I enjoyed exploring the new-to-me section of the road, and turned back at 7:28 when I came to a house with a sign that said "Attention au chien" and an open gate. A very loud chien did come out on the road and bark at my back, but I never turned around to look at it. Fortunately, it didn't take off after me but returned inside the gate when I ignored it. On my way back down the hill, a cloud gathered and it began to rain hard with wind. Just at that moment, a farmer in a pickup truck loaded with wood came drove out of a field and offered me a ride down the hill. Yes, of course, even though I didn't get to visit with the plants along the way. The farmer dropped me off down on the highway, pointing out the house of his patron along the way, by which point, the rain had blown over. From there I walked back down the farm road towards home again. Along the way I shot a grackle, a kingbird, and some grassquits. I also found some bloodwood trees, an airplant, a Mexican primrose, and a tree with round yellow flowers that was very popular with the honeybees this morning. I also found quite a few leafminers, including some on fencepost tree and morning glory vines.
2/19/2023. Anse Caritan, Sainte-Anne, Martinique. 4.8 miles today, 4725 miles total.
Categories: birds, plants
This morning I took a big walk out to Anse Caritan. Yesterday just as we arrived at the butcher shop in the covered market, a huge rain storm arrived with lots of wind and the butcher shop window was getting heavy rain, so we moved a little deeper into the market and got our veggies first. But when we returned to the butcher counter a few minutes later, he had sold out. He promised to reserve some steaks for us if we returned today, so I needed to make another walk into town. Hence the decision to hike out to Anse Caritan, which is on the other side of the town center. Last time I did this route, I ended up returning home for a very late breakfast, so today I ate first, then took my time and enjoyed the hike. I walked down the beach road to town, then from town, cut behind the market and along the fishermen's beach, then I took the long way around the People's Beach bar, a road that passes through mature figs with dangling roots and all sorts of interesting plants. Once down to the beach, I walked a little ways along the trail to Les Salines. This part of the trail passes through a narrow section of dry littoral forest, with the ocean on one side and cattle grazing fields on the other. The upper story trees in the forest are mainly mahogany, with some fence post and pink trumpet trees mixed in. Below these are machineel, portia, and white lead. I got great practice recognizing machineel this morning, and found the largest machineel I had ever seen in my life, a tree as big as a mature sugar maple. I also took special note of the bark of the mahogany trees, which has largish plates. Along the way I shot some doves, grackles, feral chickens, and terns. Down on the beach in Anse Caritan was a spotted sandpiper.
2/20/2023. Club Med, Sainte-Anne, Martinique. 2 miles today, 4727 miles total.
Categories: birds, plants, shells
This morning I only had time for a quick walk, so I headed up the beach through the Club Med property. I forgot my clip-on Raymox lens, so I had to walk past the seaweed flies along the shore and stay focused on birds. Besides the usual Zenaida doves and grackles, there were also a few Eurasian collared doves, and out at the point where Marin comes into view, there was a small bird that I called a spotted sandpiper last time, but now I think it might be a semipalmated plover. It had an extra ring around its neck, which seems to be more ploverish than sandpiper. I also found several shells along the beach, including a flat white bivalve, a round brown snail, and a small brown spiny snail.
2/21/2023. Val D'Or, Sainte-Anne, Martinique. 3 miles today, 4730 miles total.
Categories: birds, plants, insects
This morning when I headed out I intended to head up English Hill and return down the back trail to the mill at the Val D'Or roundabout where I could pick up some fruit at the fruit stand. However, my feet had a mind of their own once I got out on the trail. They took me down the dirt road behind the sewage treatment plant to check on the mangroves out there. Once again, at the water's edge, I found several green herons but wasn't able to photograph any. I am quite fascinated with mangroves right now and feel drawn to this spot. On my way back up the trail towards the road, I encountered a man carrying a huge machete and an armload of crab traps. Crabs are an essential part of Eastern dinner here, so the mangroves are filled with traps right now, long wooden boxes (18"x5"x5") that get placed over crab holes to catch the crabs as they come up to feed. The crabs are collected from the traps daily and put into wire mesh cages where they are fed fruit for several weeks. Apparently, the crabs taste pretty rank when they feed on their regular diets, but are much better when they only get to eat fruit. In any case, I saw lots of crab traps today as well as folks out placing traps.
I walked past the sewage treatment plant where I saw 2 common gallinules on the rim of one of the settling tanks. The tank rims used to have lots of birds, especially cattle egrets and snowy egrets, with the occasional spotted sandpiper, but these were the first birds I've seen up on the rims this year. I continued on to the farm road, where, at the top of the hill, I turned around to see the source of the commotion coming up behind me--a group of about 10 local mountain bikers charging up the hill. Just as they pulled up close, one shouted out to me to take his picture. I did, and then noticed he was wearing a red tutu, "For carnival!" he explained and laughed as he zoomed down the other side of the hill with his buddies.
I continued on to the roundabout to buy my veggies. The shop owner was serving one customer, while another was waiting. He turned to me and asked where I was from. I recognized him as a frequent walker on the bike path. He said he could tell by my accent that I was a foreigner. All I've ever said to him before was "Good morning". I must really be slaughtering that pretty badly if my accent even stands out there. He was cheerful, though, and friendly despite my lousy accent. After buying my fruits, I checked out the parking area behind the roundabout for the feral muscovy duck (no luck), then headed up the bike path towards home. I managed to shoot a couple of crabs along the way, as well as a black-whiskered vireo, lots of cattle egrets, some grackles, and doves.
2/22/2023. Val D'Or, Sainte-Anne, Martinique. 3.7 miles today, 4733.7 miles total.
Categories: birds, plants
This morning when I went out for my walk I didn't know where my feet would take me. I thought I might head up English Hill, but first I had to check out the mangroves behind the sewage treatment plant. They were in fine condition, and I think I saw an eleania in the trees. There were no birds at the sewage treatment plant today, but there were the usual cattle egrets tending the cattle in the field across the road. I walked up the farm road and found a snowy egret in one of the ponds. The cattle were in the lower field again, so I couldn't go check out the mud flats on the trail to Bareto. By the time I got to the end of the farm road, it was getting late, so I headed on down to the roundabout by the mill, then went a short ways to Malgre tout, just to the large kapok tree, since it was late. I paused near the parking area by the mill to explore some weedy plants in the field, then returned via the bike path. But at the stadium, my feet took me up into lower Belfond on my way back home. Just as I entered our neighborhood, I came across a flock of common waxbills, a great addition to the day's bird list, since I mainly saw just grackles, doves, and grassquits along the route.
2/23/2023. Sewage Treatment Plant, Sainte-Anne, Martinique. 1.1 miles today, 4734.8 miles total.
Categories: birds, plants
This morning I slept in and only had time for a short walk before the sun got hot. I headed out towards Belfond intending to a take a loop around the mangove swamp, but instead, found myself back in the mangroves behind the sewage treatment plant again. I relished simply standing on the edge of the mangroves, learning to visually parse the scene. I can now recognize some of the main actors, the red mangrove, green buttonwood, manchineel, white lead, guamuchil, and passionflower vines. Some of the others I know just be their faces, not their names, not yet anyway. I took a short exploratory walk up towards the bee hives, just far enough to verify that the hives are active. I managed to catch sight of some elaenias and saltators. And I also got my first photo of a mongoose this season. On my way back, I wandered along the mangroves across the street from our development and noted that the stream there widens to a large pond. There was a gallinule swimming in the middle of the pond. It's no wonder that this section of the mangroves was never developed--wet, truly wet.
2/24/2023. Societe de Chasse De Le Pluvier, Sainte-Anne, Martinique. 2.1 miles today, 4736.9 miles total.
Categories: birds, plants, insects
This morning I began my walk by heading out the farm road at the top of Belfond. When I got to the cattle fields, I found that the cattle were on the west side of the road, so I headed out onto the trail across the field on the east side, towards Bareto. Except, this time, instead of following the trail up to Bareto, I turned left intuiting the trail through the mud flats and mangroves. The trail soon led to a very large pond. I was overwhelmed with the beauty of the spot--true wildness, so close to Sainte-Anne and Marin. The pond was a several acre stretch of shallow open water surrounded and interrupted by mangroves. For mangroves, I saw mostly black, but also a few red. I also saw guamuchil, aroma, and lots of upright cactuses. Back in the mangroves, I heard a yellow warbler briefly, but he never came out. A curious bullfinch came right up to me, though. Along the edge of the pond I came to a large hunting blind. On one side of the blind was an altar with offerings. There were also some folding chairs, and baseball cap that looked very fresh. I decided to back off and return to the main trail. Clearly, the space was sacred not only to me, but to whoever built the hunting blind, and he had territorial claim over the area, not me. On my way out of the area, I read the sign again. I had first interpreted it as saying that hunting was reserved for members of the club, but now I wondered if it meant that the entire area was reserved. It also said no hunting on Wednesdays. Does that mean people can hunt throughout the year on other days? Maybe I should stick to Wednesdays if I return. As I crossed back over the field to the farm road again, I found a white butterfly, a sulphur, and a prickly orange caterpillar. I also paused to shoot a dragonfly in flight and a broad-winged hawk.
2/25/2023. Belfond, Sainte-Anne, Martinique. 3.2 miles today, 4740.1 miles total.
Categories: birds, plants, roadkill
This morning I took a short walk through Belfond since I needed to save me feet for a long walk after breakfast to re-provision at the market. I found a flock of common waxbills near the entrance to our neighborhood, then went across the street to look for the common gallinule in the mangrove swamp. No luck with the gallinule today, but I did find a mangrove crab and shot some new weeds behind the recycle bins across the street from the school. I walked past the Bonaventure apartments where we will be spending a month next year, and past Les Cocotiers where we will be moving next week. On my route, I saw quite a few grackles and Zenaida doves, as well as some grassquits and bullfinches. I walked back along the western edge of the mangrove swamp and was delighted to find that for once, no one was parked on the sidewalk so I didn't have to walk in the street.
After breakfast, my husband and I walked into town to do our weekly shopping. Behind the stadium on the bike path I found half a lizard (Martinique anole). I paused to get out my cell phone to shoot it. Just then a boat person (what we call people who live on sail boats and think they live in a separate reality) walked past smoking. She gave me a look that was half quizzical, half disgusted and said "Il est mort." I agreed with her, and as soon as she passed, I shot the poor lizard to memorialize it on the Dead Herps project. Barely a block away I came across a very squashed cane toad in the street, recognizable mainly by its size and a toe or two on the edges. And not far from that was a flattened American cockroach in the road.
2/26/2023. Beauregard, Sainte-Anne, Martinique. 3 miles today, 4743.1 miles total.
Categories: birds, plants, insects
This morning I took my bird walk into town to visit the ATM. I started with a walk down the beach where I dutifully counted the grackles (65), Zenaida doves (23), and bananaquits (45). I also saw the flock of common waxbills still hanging out in the tall grass on our corner, 3 Eurasian collared doves which have taken up residence on the beach over the last 5 years, some bullfinches and grassquits, and 9 feral chickens in the campground and park. I tried to visit the cemetery on the hill over the bay to inventory the weeds and peer out at the wild trees on the hillside, but to my surprise, the gate was locked. I managed to shoot a few trees from the parking lot by the cemetery, however. After getting some cash at the ATM, I continued into town, where I paused to shoot some Sally lightfoot crabs along the pier, then made a loop up to Beauregard Manor and through to Derriere Morne. To do this, I walked up past a bull that was chained behind a farm building. He didn't seem pleased with my presence, so I found myself a back path to the end of the parking lot at Residence Canne au Sucre and continued on my way. I paused to shoot some honeybees in some castor flowers. An older woman approached and told me I was looking at papaya trees, a whole field of papaya trees. I told her no, the plants were toxic. She said no, she lived here and they were papaya trees. So then I told her I was a botanist and looked up the French word for castor bean on my phone-Ricin, go figure. In French, that's pronounced "reh-SU(n)". Go figure again. Now she believed me, and we tried to describe together the differences between papaya leaves and castor leaves. I also showed her the spiky little fruits. I told her I wanted to find out if the honey from Ricin flowers would be poisonous, but she assured me it wouldn't because it didn't kill the bees. I let that one go. She told me I should travel up in the north part of the island if I really want to see real plant diversity. Maybe I will, but after I get at least the trees around here under my belt. On my way home, near the stadium, I looked up the storm drain canal and saw a green heron catch a spiky fish.
P.S. Apparently, the pollen of castor bean plants is toxic to bees, but not the honey is not a problem for people.
3/04/2023 Bar Harbor, wooded yard 123 yds (can't find my other posts here to add the miles)
Today there is between 12" and 13 " of un-drifted snow in the yard, and in the driveway, which has been plowed twice today, there is 6". Air is pleasantly cold at 31 degrees F. with no wind, but air quality is bad. Don't know if this is from a local source, the neighbors above us who burn rotted wood to make charcoal, perhaps. I walked from the house to the compost area in an untrammeled part of the yard and then to the end of the driveway. .Then I walked the length of the driveway, back and forth, several times, taking 40 minutes. There were no birds to be observed here, since the snowplow had scraped all the seed off the driveway, twice, and the feeder birds had retired for the day. There were no insects observed since the sun was already behind the trees in the woods and the snow surface was fresh and unstable.
I enjoyed looking at the silhouettes of trees against sky and snow. I took a few photos of the tall easy-to-identify trees, the big White Pines, the Red Oaks and the Balsam Fir. And at first I was confidently photographing the Red Spruce (Picea rubens) but then when I came in and was about to post them as iNaturalist observations I lost confidence. There is one White Spruce in the yard, maybe there are more visible now that I am mistaking for the Red. I'm not sure if I can tell the difference from a distance. So I didn't post those. The little Black Spruce (Picea mariana) at the end of the driveway used to be a confident ID, because when we first moved here, 22 years ago, there were cones on the ground. But that tree is dead now, due to warmer, drier weather and encroaching Balsam Fir. There are others in wet spots near the vernal puddles, but not visible from the driveway, and I always need to measure their needles and look for tiny glands on twigs to be sure. That couldn't happen today. Tomorrow I'll put on something more waterproof and try to look at a few of the woody shrubs to see how they are doing. Last week the Versant Power Company sawed branches of trees in the ditch and edges of the wood along the common dirt road that leads to the paved road. The pruning was insensitive, lopping everything off the side facing the road. And then the sawed branches were chipped and the chips left on top of beautiful Sphagnum mosses in the ditch, and the smaller Spirea shrubs and young Tamarack. Now snow is covering the wood chips. I think if I can't somehow clean them up after the snow melts the raw shredded wood will change the soil chemistry and some of those plants won't survive. A similar situation resulted in the disappearance of every mushroom along a section of a road in Roque Bluffs. That was decades ago and the mushrooms never made a recovery. There used to be such a variety, and now just the most robust survive.
A few trees were still cloaked in snow late this afternoon, especially the younger Balsam Fir (Abies balsamea) in the woods visible from the drive, and the Apple Tree, which is more than 20 years old and looking mature. But the large Eastern White Pines (PInus strobus) and the Northern Red Oaks (Quercus rubra) have lost most of the snow on twigs and small branches. The deciduous trees, except for the Apple, didn't have much coating.
So, nothing surprising to report this afternoon. Very early this morning, just after 4:00am a Barred Owl hooted, that was fun, even though it woke me up. And two nights ago a Condylostylus Fly emerged as an adult from the open and thawed bag of Potting Soil in the hallway and somehow made its way to the kitchen sink! That was very cool. The Condylostylus caudatus complex usually appears on leaves at the edge of woods in June and July, there was one in the yard in July, 2022. Checking Proctor's 1938 Insecta of the Mount Desert Region, and using ITIS.gov to find the synonym, that species, then called, by another name (synonym), was collected in July at a location about 2 miles from here. I hear the snowplow on the dirt road again...
05/03/2023 Acadia National Park, Ocean Drive near Sand Beach .5 miles 41 degrees F. unplowed parking
categories: Birds, Mammals, Trees, Shrubs, Lichens, Fern
Wally and I usually come here together and then he walks to where the Loop Road is blocked for the winter and then he returns to join me. I never get much farther than the Thunder Hole because I am doing observations. I'm extra glad he was with me because he is a more expert birder and also carries binoculars, which I do not; I carry two cameras. Also, he found my cell phone in the snow after I had dropped it while taking photos for observation. He saw 4 additional Common Loons (Gavia immer) to the one I had spotted and photographed, and he also IDd the male Long-tailed Duck (Clangula hyemalis) and the two Red-breasted Merganser (Mergus serrator). With my photo I was able to ID one as an Adult male and its companion as a first winter male, which looks quite different, with rusty colors, and also has the punk crest. I heard a Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapillus) in the woods, and a gull I could not identify flew out over the water.
The Park Service has plowed the two-lane Loop Road on only one side and left the remaining side for x-skiers and snowmobilers. There is a narrow margin of packed snow path between the unplowed lane and the woods and rocks and that's where I walked, hoping to see arthropods on snow because it was sunny and over 40 degrees. But I didn't see any. I saw tracks of White-tail Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) Great scientific name! And there are almost always humans. The keeper at the Park Gate was not the usual ranger who requires one of us to show BOTH our park pass AND our photo ID and carefully examines them. She asks us to do this every time we drive through, about three times a week. Diligent! We had the IDs all ready but it was a Ranger we hadn't seen before. There were a dozen snowmobilers in groups of two or four (what is a group of human snowmobilers called?) A couple was walking their mature Black Lab, they passed me coming and going. There was a group of four teenagers and a few solo walkers. A few cars and a pickup went by.
I had determined to look for seasonal change, and to take photos of Trees and Woody Plants in Winter. The Pitch Pines are uncommon enough that I never fail to stop and admire them; they are as slow and gnarly at the joints as I am. I enjoy that thought. There were a few cones on the ground, falling apart in the snow! They hang on the tree for years and are slow to release seeds, so that was a treat. The snow along the path was evenly scattered with tiny seeds, about a quarter inch long. A seed, smaller and flatter than a mustard seed at the tip of a single wing . I'm fairly sure these are not from the Pitch Pines, but rather from the cones of the Red Spruce, plentiful across the road. I looked online and in my references but haven't been able to ID them for certain. There are also Birch trees and Eastern White Pine and Red Maples nearby. I took photos of a young-adult Maple. Some branches were low enough for me to reach the clustered buds for a photo. I've noted some of these woody shrubs along the way on previous observations, but today a red cane with thorns was hanging over the path. I took several photos; this was the event of the day.
I can't remember what this shrub looks like when in leaf and bloom. It is not a Beach Rose. iNaturalist AI suggested Rubus allegheniensis, Common Blackberry, but I was doubtful. Later at home I studied the options in "The Plants of Acadia National Park", my Bible. There are not many photos of stems, and the one of the Common Blackberry does not look like this stout red stem with dangerous looking paired thorns with a bud and a scar below. Online, the Ohio State University OSU Bio Museum website was a great help: O.OSU.edu/biomuseum/2016/01/18/trees-and-shrubs-in-winter/ It describes forms of "pointed outgrowth" on stems and what these are called by botanists. The sturdy outgrowths with bud and scar beneath are "a modified stem, called a thorn." Not a Spine, not a Prickle, both of which arise elsewhere in relation to leaf nodes on a stem and represent other forms of tissue growth, a modified leaf, or modified surface cells. The Plants of Acadia National Park uses this correct nomenclature, of course, but I did not know how to interpret it. Now I know. So, not R. alleghenienisis. My study of this shrub will continue.
2/27/2023. Sewage Treatment Plant, Sainte-Anne, Martinique. 0.3 miles today, 4743.4 miles total.
Categories: birds, plants
This morning I only had a short amount of time available for walking since we had an appointment at 9:30 and I didn't get out until just before 7. I decided to make a loop through lower Belfond, but first I needed to check out the mangroves by the sewage treatment plant to see if I could find the green herons. I shot a few common waxbills by the edge of our neighborhood, then some Zenaida doves out on the road towards the sewage treatment plant. I walked down the path by the sewage treatment plant, hopping over the chain by the parked pickup truck, then continued down to the water's edge. I didn't see any herons, but I thought I could intuit a bit of a trail in the mangroves behind the beehives. Could this be an alternate route behind the hives. I stepped over some 18" tall plants, then paused to shoot a well-weathered cow skeleton. I had just started moving again when whoosh, a rock rolled out from under my shoe, on the narrow slant between dry land and the mangroves. And I went down with a loud crack. On the ground, one glance at my foot was enough to tell me I was in big trouble--it was completely facing the wrong way. At least the skin wasn't broken, but this was a major break in my shin bone. I got out my phone and verified that there was still no SIM card in the phone. With that, I realized that if I didn't want to share the same fate with the cow, I needed to pick my foot up and get back to the top of the trail, all on my own, since no one, absolutely no one, would be coming along to help. I grabbed hold of my shoe laces and stabilized the loose bones by pulling on the laces. Then I began the slow process of scooting along the ground on my butt, with my injured leg suspended in front of me. I developed a rhythm, moving 15 paces, calling for help 5 times while I rested, then moving again. I managed to regain the main trail by the water, then after 30 minutes, made it back up to the chain. I kept going, calling more loudly now since I figured I was close enough to the road for someone to hear me. After scooting for another 15 minutes, I was within 50 of the main road when I saw a group of people walk by. I yelled and yelled to them and motioned them to come down the trail. They didn't understand me at first, but eventually they got the idea I needed help of some sort. When they saw my foot, they called an ambulance. One of them also went off to find my husband back at our house and let him know what had happened. It took another 45 minutes for the ambulance to arrive. When it did, the lead EMT took one look at my leg and from a distance, called for the others to bring a stabilization boot. She also made the decision to haul me straight to the university hospital in Fort-de-France, an hour and half away, but the only hospital on the island that does emergency orthopedic surgery. And so ends this chapter of free-roaming through the woods on my own. When I do return to the woods, I will never again do so alone.
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