EAST BRUNSWICK
NATURE NOTES
— St. Croix,
United States Virgin Islands —|
EAST BRUNSWICK
NATURE NOTES
— St. Croix,
United States Virgin Islands — |
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| — Click on any photo above for a larger
image. — |
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To some
of us, there are few winter treats better than being able to switch
gears and head off to a warm place… where the air is sweet, the
environment a treat for the eyes, the flora and fauna curiously
engaging, and the people openly welcoming. During
the first week of January, my wife, college-aged daughter and I were
fortunate to
head off to St. Croix. This was our first trip to the Virgin Islands
(U.S. or British) and, despite the fact that our winter had been fairly
mild, to date, we looked forward to the change. We found this island to be one of major contrasts. On first impression, it is a place that has not really gotten over the awful beating it took from hurricane Hugo in 1989. Many negative effects are still quite evident. But this also a beautiful island, and one of the nicest places to visit as everyone welcomes you without hesitation. Places of beauty are abundant and opportunities for both relaxation and discovery await your pleasure. Here is a page that I hope will give you a little taste of what we experienced, enjoyed and loved about St. Croix. The positives truly overshadowed any minor negatives that we experienced, and in time, we will return to this lovely island. It important to understand that while I was using a very excellent, brand new camera (Canon EOS 20D), I was limited (at least on this trip) to the amazing 17-85mm lens that was bundled with it. So, while I could not, of course, get really close to most birds or other wildlife, the 8.3 MP resolution allowed some fairly high quality cropped enlargements. As it is, it was the best that could be done with this equipment at this time. In the future, I am hoping to be able to add a longer zoom lens with at least a 300 or possibly a 400 mm top focal length to my camera bag. That will make a huge difference with regard to bird photography. This was a great shake-out trip for the camera. Rich Wolfert |
| Tuesday,
Jan 3, 2006 Off to St. Croix. We were up just before 4 AM for a 7 AM flight on American Airlines out of Newark. (I leave New Jersey with a very bad cold and not much incentive to do anything other than recuperate.) By 7:15 we were ready to depart the gate. It was 39° and raining lightly but steadily at this time. Moved out of the gate at 7:18 but had a long line to take off (7:49), heading toward the north initially. Into the clouds in 1 minute and banked East. By 7:53 it was definitely brighter outside the plane but still in clouds. 7:57 and we were in sun. Yeaaa! By 9:15 we were above all the clouds in the system that had dulled the entire East Coast for days. At 12:15 (Atlantic Standard Time), we touched down in San Juan after a fairly smooth flight and straight in run. By 1:25, we boarded the flight to St. Croix on an ATR turbo prop with about 70 passengers. Finally took off at 1:53 and flew at 7,000 feet, somewhat above most of the cumulus clouds. The flight was a bit bumpy but my wife Gail persevered with Sudoku puzzles. We arrived in St. Croix at 2:20. There was a bit of a problem securing the reserved van and we were able to leave for the hotel by 3 PM. Oh, the tropical air smelled good, and the sun felt wonderful. I didn't realize that I had been light deprived. Well, this was the proper cure. First impressions are important, and what I saw of St. Croix while on the way from the airport to the resort was interesting. The route along which we were driven seemed old and tired. Now, this isn’t old as in “look at the centuries old buildings”, but old as in run down, not cared for. The road surfaces were frequently very rutted and pitted with potholes and the van driver seemed to know exactly where and when to slow down to 10 or 15 mph to avoid the bumps. This portion of the island (the largest of the three U.S. Virgin Islands) looked very tired. Traffic was quite bad in some places but it was just after school let out, and it was a business day. One thing I noticed immediately was that unlike Aruba (two years earlier), the homes here didn’t seem to be decorated with flowers in their gardens. Interesting! It was such an obvious omission. Upon arriving at our hotel, The Buccaneer, everything changed visually. The place was just beautiful…with 340 lush acres and well maintained grounds. It would seem that those who designed this nearly 60 year old hotel did so with a strong respect for the landscape and took full advantage of the elevations here. There are rooms in several 'out' locations and each grouping uses the lay of the land to best advantage, and each with physical and visual access to the Caribbean. A nice touch. What was lacking (and this is minor from for most) is that the hotel administration doesn't seem to know what a natural gem they have here. The grounds offer a wealth of opportunity for someone with interests in birds and photography. How very fortunate for me as we weren't aware of this when we booked the trip. They could definitely use this as a major selling point and raise their prices.   
The staff seemed to be wonderful, and sweet (if I can make that observation). This is something we learned repeatedly throughout our stay. The people of St. Croix are just the nicest people. I understand that not everyone can be courteous and polite all the time without some other moods coming through, but these were genuinely warm and friendly people, always, from cab drivers to everyone in restaurants or at the hotel. One interesting thing we all noticed is that every room is supplied with Off Insect Repellent. It seems that the common pest here are 'no see ums', a form of gnat or midgethat can bite frequently. I found them to be a minor annoyance at best and while I am usually dessert for mosquitoes, these bites were not very troublesome. Despite the cold, my need to bird and photograph things got the better of me and I managed to do a bit of both on our first day on St. Croix. Birds today: -Cattle Egret -Killdeer (not on the list for either of the 2 refuges here)  -White-crowned Pigeon -Zenaida Dove -Pearly-eyed Thrasher The sky is so clear here that cumulus clouds are visible right to the horizon. Nice! Also, there are several islands just visible in the distance, to the north. A hotel employee told us that the island to the left is St. Thomas, about 45 miles away, with St. John to the right and Tortola (from the British Virgin Islands) next to it. Amazing visibility. And, with binoculars, you can even make out the reflections off large, individual roof structures.  (St. Thomas on the horizon…45+ miles away.
I left the otherwise unimportant foreground in as a reference point.)
 (This is a heavily cropped and enlarged
section of the image directly above. Look carefully and you will
actually make out several large structures on the
island. What you see is the upper elevations of the island. The actual shore
line is hidden by the curvature of the Earth. Atmospheric transparancy
is amazing!)
Orion is the dominant constellation in this sky, amazingly bright and nearly directly overhead, with Canis Major, The Great Dog just below it, fully and easily visible at this low latitude. In New Jersey Canis Major seems to hang just above the horizon and is often difficult to see. Auriga the Charioteer is easily seen overhead, as well, as is Taurus the Bull and the Pleiades. Were it not for the moon washing out a bit of this very dark sky, it would have been even more amazing; perhaps as good as any sky to be seen in Vermont of Wyoming.  Here is the Orion region of the winter
sky. The Orion Constellation itself is centered in the frame. The
bright star on the lower left of center is Sirius, the brightest star
visible from anywhere on Earth. The triangle of Taurus the Bull is
visible at top right. These constellations are noticeably higher in the
sky in St. Croix than they are from New Jersey. This image was shot
with an ISO of 3200 causing the grain of the image to become very
evident at full size, but allowing for a short (3 second) exposure.
While a longer exposure (5-10 seconds or more) would have captured more
detail and fainter stars, the Earth's rotation would have become
increasingly evident causing the stars to begin to 'trail', that is,
appear as long streaks and not appear as points of light. (Click
on the image for a full-sized view
of this region. Even at wide angle, the enlarged image begins to
display the pink and blue of the Great Orion Nebula [M42], where
Orion's sword would be.)
Wednesday, Jan 4, 2006 There were very heavy but brief showers during the late evening, perhaps around midnight. (This would turn out to be the only real rain during our vacation.) By 9:30 AM, it was partly cloudy and beautiful. The air smelled just wonderful this morning. It was rich with growth, just as our air smells in May.  While I spent much of the day resting and letting the warm and soothing breezes work out the cold I had, it was very hard to just rest. Neither my wife or daughter understand this very well,( but most who share similar interests would). So, I explored a little. The hotel has 3 beach areas, one of which is not used for sunbathing or swimming, but is very pretty. Seemed like a very good, quiet place to walk…and I did. This beach is very narrow and parallels a portion of the golf course. Earlier on this day, from the dining porch during breakfast, I noticed a large, either freshwater or brackish pond at the far end of a portion of the golf course that ran along a point of land. (Click here to see a larger version of the photo that clearly shows this pond just beyond the golf course.) I was very much hoping to get into this area and made a concerted effort to do so, even asking some of the hotel employees about it. However, it was not to be. The golf course is completely surrounded by a tall chain-link fence and there was no easy way through or over it (without some good protective clothing). The walk, however, was not without merit.  -Magnificent Frigatebird (12±) -Gray Kingbird (many) -Brown Pelican (just for Gail-perhaps her favorite bird) -Zenaida Dove (refreshingly different after all the Mourning Doves we have at home) -Cattle Egret -Green-throated Carib* (hummingbird) -Bananaquit (sometimes hard to see, sometimes not, but always singing or calling.) -Northern Mockingbird -Pearly-eyed Thrasher  -Killdeer (another surprise not mentioned in the checklists for this season) -Common Ground Dove* (Finally, but no photos.) -Caribbean Elaenia* (fairly numerous today but didn't see them again after this day. Again, no photos.) -Black-faced Grassquit (these are so shy and quick that they are difficult to photograph) -Chimney Swift (a little surprise)  
With regard for the Common Ground Dove…I believe that I saw it in Aruba but it was for much too brief a time to have been certain then. Now, I am positive of the ID. (Have I mentioned that there are no really good checklists of St. Croix? There is a checklist that covers the Sandy Point National Wildlife Refuge (we didn't have a chance to go there) and the Green Cay National Wildlife Refuge (visited later in the week), but nothing covers the island as a whole. Also, the best field guide is said to be "A guide to the Birds of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands" by Herbert A. Raffaele (mine is the 1989 printing). It's barely adequate visually, and certainly lacks with regard to physical characteristics (Identification) and descriptions of voice. After using Peterson's, primarily, and Stokes, secondarily, for years this guide really left me wanting. Click here for the St. Croix Checklist that covers the two refuges [.pdf format].) During the late afternoon, I pointed out a sailboat to Gail that was just visible on the horizon. With binoculars she was able to notice that only the mast and sail were visible. The boat itself was not due to the curvature of the Earth. Good lesson there and just a perfect place to present it. While on the way to a restaurant this evening, taxi driver explained just how bad the roads were here, and it was obvious how right he was. He told us that after Hurricane Hugo in September of 1989, the island never really recovered. Several others confirmed this point of view throughout our vacation. It would seem that there is no one authority or commission working on helping this island to create an inviting environment that will beckon tourists. In Aruba, most houses, on all levels, had flowers and, at least, small gardens. Not so in the areas of St. Croix that we saw in the first several days. The roads were often in a state of severe disrepair and the route from the airport to the hotel seemed old, tired and in great need of refreshment. Also, we were told repeatedly (and quite voluntarily) about corruption in the Police Department. This is not to say that we ever felt unsafe. Far from it. But we were told of one or two areas to avoid at night, if not traveling with a group. I should mention that in the U.S. Virgin Islands, driving is as it is in England…you drive on the left side of the road. Because of this, and for one or several other reasons, I chose to not rent a car. Therefore, we used cabs to go everywhere. This wasn’t really very expensive and every taxi driver we encountered was extremely nice, with each seemingly friendlier and more helpful than the last. This needs to be stated again; these are wonderful people. Thursday, Jan 5, 2006 Very beautiful morning, clear and sunny with a soft breeze from the East. I could certainly get used to this with little effort. My cold was receding a bit more and I was feeling a little better each day. I was developing a good routine; some rest (but less each day not), some photography and some birding. Birds today: -Bananaquit   Bananaquit (a member of the warbler
family). This is a very fast moving and social bird usually appearing
in pairs. Each frame here is about 1/4 of the original image.
 -Brown Pelican
-Great Egret
-Zenaida Dove-Pearly-eyed Thrasher -Killdeer -Green-throated Carib -Magnificent Frigatebird -Brown Pelican
 
 The
spectacular finale to a beautiful day. Notice the
lights of homes visible on the mountain in the distance. The planet
Venus is clearly visible (top
middle).
Friday, Jan 6, 2006  Birds today include: -Northern Mockingbird -Gray Kingbird -Great Egret -Zenaida Dove -Green-throated Carib -Bananaquit -Brown Pelican -White-crowned Pigeon -Pearly-eyed Thrasher -Rock Dove (in Christiansted) -Cattle Egret
We spent a little time in Christiansted, the largest 'town' in St. Croix. This could be a wonderful place if reconstruction of some of these amazing colonial period structures was to be undertaken with some sense of urgency. As it is, several buildings and the old fort have been renovated and give some indication of what this island was like 250 years ago.  
 
It’s interesting to note (while walking around the hotel grounds) that the Small-leafed Ficus (ficus benjamina) is not just a (very common) house plant tree here as it is in the states. This tropical plant is used as a hedge here and is VERY lush and thick. Gail told me she saw 2 Mongoose today, running  across a path, while I was wandering about with camera and binoculars. She described them as brownish with a long nose. Something else of note for me happened on this day. As my daughter Heather usually pays little attention to the things of nature that so attracts her Dad, I was pleasantly surprised that she pointed out several things that I wasn't in a position to see or simply didn't notice. At one time she saw a beautiful and very large (4" long) caterpillar. Later that same evening, she pointed out a very large moth(???) on the wall just outside of her room door. Should any of you be able to identify them, please e-mail me.  
Saturday, Jan 7, 2006 Feeling much better today. I was going to take an introductory scuba diving lesson, to be given in the pool. My cold has cleared sufficiently and this would have worked today. However, they don’t offer lessons on weekends. I guess I lost out this time. I have this to look forward to in St. Thomas and St. John in October. The weather is just beautiful again today. Gail and I actually took a cab to go birding at the Green Cay National Wildlife Refuge on the north shore of the island (near the hotel, and at Great Bay on the south shore of the Island today. With some determination, the driver was able to help us find the small sign that indicated the entrance to the refuge. Not much of a place, at least formally, as the beach portion is said to often be used to to give local dogs a run (we saw no evidence of this and it was beautiful), and the inland portions as somewhat of a dumping ground.  
 An Island off of Green Cay Beach. Deep sky blue, azure and turquoise predominate the seascape. The views from the beach at Green Cay were beautiful, with no birds, however. After some exploring, I did manage to find a dirt road that allowed access to a shallow, fresh-water area. Saw some nice things there but it was muddy and too difficult to navigate without the proper footwear. After about 30 minutes we were off to Great Bay. Without a car of our own and the time to properly explore, we weren't able to see what we had thought we might find. Birds seen at Green Cay and Great Pond Bay today: -Bananaquit -Gray Kingbird -Cattle Egret -Brown Pelican -Smooth-billed Ani (too far for pictures)  
 Ocean and sky, looking South from Great
Pond Bay.
Feeling much better this afternoon and I took a very long walk along the edge of the Golf Course, reaching fairways that were not being used at this time. Throughout my walk, I was so impressed that the hedgerows (4-5 feet tall) throughout the facility were so beautiful.  Most of the hedgerows around the hotel are
as colorful as this.
At the far end of my walk, there was a very large, freshwater or brackish pond that was filled with a large number of species of bird. Here, I found: -White-cheeked Pintail  White-cheeked
Pintail Ducks taking flight. (To get an idea of the extent to which some
of these shots
are cropped just to obtain a frame like the one directly above, here is
a same
width version of the
full frame.)
 -Brown Pelican (sitting at the edge of the woods adjacent to a fairway) -Lesser Yellowlegs -Greater Yellowlegs (directly alongside the Lesser Yellowlegs for excellent size comparison) -Great Egret -Little Blue Heron (at least 8) -Tri-colored Heron (3) -Smooth-billed Ani (not a lifer, unfortunately) -Common Moorhen -Green Heron
 
 
 -Black-necked Stilt (about 25) -Kingfisher (at least 2) -Great-blue Heron -Pied-billed Grebe (also not on the checklist) -Coot (at least 8) -Blue-winged Teal (12+) -Spotted Sandpiper (6 sans spots during the winter) -Yellow-crowned Night Heron (1) (scared this one up from the shore as I turned a corner) -Black-faced Grassquit
 Black-faced Grassquit-heavily cropped and
enlarged (remember, limited to only 85mm focal length).
-Magnificent FrigatebirdAlso, there were deer tracks in the soft ground near the pond at the far end of my trek. I’m told that this is the same species that inhabit the Florida Keys (Key Deer). 
The golf course area was filled with a unique beauty that would have
made this walk worth it even without the birds. There was one
spectacular Banyan tree (a form of ficus) with a multitude of roots and
shoots. Got to see my first Mongoose today. In fact, saw 7. They ranged in color from medium brown to rusty and definitely had the appearance of a weasel. They are wary and don’t like to be near people. They run quickly from cover to cover when they need to. One taxi driver told us that when slavery was common in St. Croix, Cobra snakes were brought in to line areas surrounding where slaves were kept to prevent them from escaping. But, the cobras bred quickly and became a nuisance. Mongooses were brought in to control the Cobra population, but eventually they, too, bred out of control. It seems that the snakes are gone and the Mongoose population is very much under control now. They did do lots of damage with bird breeding (taking eggs) before their numbers were brought into check. It’s interesting to note that the grass and shrubbery at the forest margins on St. Croix are quite similar to our area in appearance. Grass here is not coarse like the St. Augustine grass in Florida, but is more fine in appearance, like Blue Grass, Fescue or Rye Grass. The brush at the woody margins is also not dissimilar to what we have. It may be that was because this part of the island more of an average rainfall throughout the year, with the Western side more like a rain forest and the Eastern side more desert-like. Sunday, Jan 8, 2006 Partly clouds and just slightly cooler today. Not that I can complain. Temperatures have been about 85° each afternoon and (maybe) 75° at night. Humidity has been no more than just noticeable as the soft winds keep you comfortable most of the time. This is just about perfect weather and I think I can live with it. Birds this last day on St. Croix: -Bananaquit (these are usually paired) -Zenaida Dove -Magnificent Frigatebird -Cattle Egret -Royal Tern (only one this vacation) -Brown Pelican -White-crowned Pigeon -Green-throated Carib (one chasing another) -Gray Kingbird -Smooth-billed Ani (at the hotel, a surprise) -Rock Dove (Christiansted) -House Sparrow (at the airport in St. Croix) The water was more colorful today, if that’s possible.  The azure blue and turquoise colors were just so strong and harmonious together. The sea is a source of endless visual variety and delight, much like a kaleidoscope of the ocean and sky. It's not easy leaving a place as beautiful and peaceful as this. As we were packing, I noticed a small Gecko (perhaps 3” in length) in my camera bag. This was extremely interesting as the bag had not been out of the room throughout our time at the hotel. I was able to get it our of the bag, off the floor, then off the wall, and finally outside where it climbed into a palm tree behind of our room. Had I not seen it, this little traveler would have hitched a ride to our much colder (and very inhospitable) climate. I’m glad to have enabled it to stay (and stay alive) in this little corner of paradise. While we were waiting in the main building of the hotel for a ride to the airport, I asked a waitress about a tree with large green fruit, between the size of oranges and grapefruit, that was common on the hotel grounds. She told me it was a native Calabash Tree and that the fruit are dried out and used as maracas. That was very interesting. The flight home was uneventful, but, as we have a very comfortable home, it really wasn’t difficult to come back to New Jersey. Now, to plan a possible trip to St. Thomas and St. John for our anniversary in October. ––––––––––––
Addendum: There were just a few disappointments with regard to birding but I could certainly blame some of this on the cold I had. I had hoped to see a Mangrove Cuckoo and a Brown Booby, and there were several other birds listed at Rare (at best). Next time. Also, we didn't explore the island as much as we might have liked. The next time we're in St. Croix, we'll have a car and will explore the ends of the island thoroughly. It is said that the northwestern part of the island has a Rain Forest environment. The southwest corner has the Sandy Point National Wildlife Refuge. And, finally, the eastern third of the island is more desert-like. Sounds as if photography (and birding) prospects are even better than in the center of the island where we spent most of our time. St. Croix is home to the eighth largest oil refinery in the world. On the way back to the airport we passed it. It is just amazing to see the scope of this operation. ––––––––––––
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– East Brunswick
Nature Notes –
St. Croix-United States Virgin Islands © 2004-2006 - Richard Wolfert - (ALL RIGHTS RESERVED) |
