To maintain or improve local conditions for nesting bird populations

To maintain or improve local conditions for nesting bird populations

To maintain or improve local conditions for nesting bird populations

Installation des dispositifs de régulation des espèces exotiques envahissantes | Installation of control devices for invasive exotic species
Installation des dispositifs de régulation des espèces exotiques envahissantes | Installation of control devices for invasive exotic species

Action IP5 : Implement management actions on introduced species

As part of the France Relance plan aimed at regulating populations of introduced small mammals, the islet of Tintamarre was subject to a trapping operation between July 2022 and October 2023. In total, 150 automated traps were installed and have accumulated 7,500 activations to cover two-thirds of the islet. The deployment strategy consisted of initially positioning the traps in the first and then in the second third of the islet, before transferring them to the last third in September 2023 for the final phase of the project, scheduled until the end of February 2024. The first indicators of success for this initiative are notable: no more complaints from campers, and the absence of rat tracks on the beaches. Although these observations are promising, a more in-depth evaluation of the effects on the flora will be carried out during the next floristic inventory in two years, thus allowing for the assessment of the long-term impact of this regulation on the ecosystem of the islet.

Noddi brun | Brown Noddy
Noddi brun | Brown Noddy

Action PR2

  • Develop and appreciate scientific collaborations (priority 1)

Action CS23, 24

  • Study of shore birds and their nesting habits

The Natural History Museum asked the Réserve Naturelle to be their go-between in Saint Martin. Antoine Chabrolle, advisor to the Museum and active with the National Network For Marine Birds, was particularly interested by the data produced concerning nesting marine birds, especially the least tern, the red-billed tropicbird, and the brown noddy. From March through June 2023, the Réserve counted the least terns at the salt ponds, as well as the red-billed tropicbird and the brown noddy at their coastal sites.

The data was sent to the Museum, as a means to augment the information already compiled from sites throughout the Caribbean.

Un rat s’approchant de nuit d’un piège A rat approaches a trap at night
Un rat s’approchant de nuit d’un piège A rat approaches a trap at night

The fight against the proliferation of rats continues

The project to battle the proliferation of rats on the small island of Tintamarre continues. Part of Plan France Relance, this operation against exotic invasive species placed 150 baited traps in June 2022, covering one third of the island. The advantage of the rat traps used it that they are automated and kill the rodents immediately. In the past, the traps required two visits per day to kill one captured animal: a very time-consuming solution, but indispensable to identify the species present on the island, and therefore the technical means of regulation. Today, each baited trap is designed to attract the rats, who release a small hammer, activated by gas in a canister. The rat then falls on the outside of the trap, which is once again operationnal, and can reset itself 24 times per canister. The rat is also available as food for local fauna and can be consumed without risk, which avoids a progressive impoverishment in an area with limited resources. Every 15 days since the traps were set, they have been inspected and if necessary refilled with CO2 and bait, an action that employs the time of most of the agents from Réserve; luckily they are helped by a team of volunteers. The mission will continue until the island is covered with traps, with the permanent retention of a sanitary cord with traps behind the beach at Baie Blanche, to avoid new arrivals of rats by the sea, and to maintain the pressure in this zone open to the public.

Faucon émerillon Merlin
Faucon émerillon Merlin

A project for the protection of birds

known and certain species benefit from regular scientific monitoring, the same is not true for the rest of the island. It is to fill this gap that Vincent Lemoine, a naturalist fascinated by ornithology, has covered the entire French side, binoculars in hand. Commissioned by the LPO for the LIFE BIODIV’OM program as part of the ZICO (Zone of interest for the protection of birds), his goal for this project was to create a map of the species present on the island, starting by doing an inventory. As a result, Vincent Lemoine explored more than 130 sites between November 1, 2022 and February 28, 2023, and discovered a wide general diversity, divided among the salt ponds and the heights of Pic Paradis, as well as along the coasts, and observed 94 species of birds. He made a special mention of migrating species, with a minimum of 170 blue-winged teals at just one site, and he observed eight species of new world warblers. Shorebirds—sandpipers, greater yellowlegs, little ringed plovers—are often seen, as well as the presence of a group of 200 blackwing stilts, regrouped in a small corner of the pond. Tropicbirds are among the others who chose to live on the well-named Cliff of Birds, where at least three nests were noted with 15 individual birds observed. Vincent Lemoine also noted several differences between the ornithological history of Saint Martin and that of Guadeloupe. For example, if the three species endemic to the Lesser Antilles— the scaly-breasted thrasher, the purple-throated Carib hummingbird, and the bridled quail-dove (also present in Puerto Rico)—all live in Saint-Martin, they are very lightly represented, even rare for the latter two species, and the island does not have a single species endemic it to alone. On the other hand, certainly due to decreased activity, various hunted species are perhaps more numerous than in Guadeloupe. As for birds migrating from North America, their populations are more numerous than in the islands in the southern Caribbean, due to Saint Martin’s proximity to the North American continent. Shared species such as the black-faced grassquit, the bananaquit, the Zenaida dove, and the common ground dove are everywhere. There are also non-endemic species such as the Eurasian collared dove and the house sparrow, and a newcomer, the bare-eyed pigeon. The essential goal for this ornithologist is, outside to the sites already protected in the Réserve Naturelle, to reinforce the protection of birds by designating sites as the most important for conservation, such as Pic Paradis or the Cliff of Birds.

Un piège à rats Installation d’un piège à rats
Un piège à rats Installation d’un piège à rats

Regulation Of Small Rodents on Tintamarre

The goal of the second France Relance project is to fight against the proliferation of rats on the small island of Tintamarre. The rat traps being used have the advantage of being automated and killing the rodents immediately, in contrast to the kind of traps used in the past. Each baited trap is designed for one rat to enter and be immediately bludgeoned by a small hammer that is released by compressed gas in a cartridge. The rat then falls on the outside of the cage, which is once again back in operation by rearming itself up to 24 times per cartridge. 150 traps were set in the month of June 2022 on a third of the surface of the island, with the help of Axelle Verdière, an intern at the Réserve from February through July 2022. The results are verified every two weeks, in order to eventually replace the gas cartridges, rebait the traps, and count the number of times the hammer was triggered, as indicated on an integrated counter. 400 to 450 times over a 14 days period: a big number even if it has to be reduced somewhat, as other animals—hermit crabs, lizards—might trigger the trap. The 150 traps will later be moved to the other two thirds of Tintamarre, and several will be placed in a cordon sanitaire behind the beach at Baie Blanche, for a year.

The rat, which feeds on turtle eggs, small reptiles, and by nibbling on grains and young plant sprouts, has a very negative impact on our biodiversity. At the same time, the Réserve was getting regular complaints from campers, bothered by starving rats, who for example managed to put a hole in the thick plastic cover of a hard plastic cooler. The good news: the most recent campers questioned during the month of August, did not see any rodents.
Axelle Verdière
Axelle Verdière

Axelle Verdière

Axelle Verdière, 24 years old, studied biological sciences at the University of Louvain in Belgium. With a Master 2 degree, she specialized in organism biology and in ecology. She did an internship at the Réserve at the end of her studies.

Alice Aune

Alice Aune, a Master candidate in environmental studies as well as student at the political science institute, served as an intern at the Réserve Naturelle in June and July 2022, to work on the two France Relance projects. She has worked on the definition of ecological preservation professions and measures that should be put into place for the management of protected zones. This is a field of particular interest to her, in terms of her professional future.

Flora Pouzeau

Flora Plouzeau, a 21-year-old student, spent her summer vacation with the Réserve Naturelle, while getting her undergraduate degree in the management and protection of nature at Cours Diderot in Montpellier. Her task was to take the reins from Alice Aune to work on the France Relance project for the extermination of rats on the island of Tintamarre. She went on the field, prepared digital dossiers to manage the data online and analyse the statistics, with Aude Berger, head of the project.

 

The Birds of Saint Martin By Month

The birds of Saint Martin are in the spotlight in the 2022 calendar published by the LPO as part of the BIODIV’OM Life project, in collaboration with the Réserve Naturelle. One hundred of these pretty calendars were given to the Réserve’s partners, as well as teachers and partners of BIODIV’OM Life.

Formation baguage sur le terrain… Training program on the field...
Formation baguage sur le terrain… Training program on the field...

Study the birds to better understand them

To better understand the avifauna of the French West Indies: that is one of the goals of the French Office For Biodiversity (OFB), which encompasses the French Agency for Biodiversity (AFB) and National Office For Hunting And Wildlife, as of January 1, 2020. One of the ways to improve our knowledge about these birds is by banding them, and the OFB organized a training program on March 9-13 2020 in Guadeloupe. Focused primarily on the banding of shore birds, this training was important for Saint Martin, an island where the salt ponds have numerous and diverse avifauna. Led by two specialized ornithologists from the French National Museum of Natural History (MNHN) — which manages the issuing and fabrication of the bands, and maintains the only national registry for the identification of these birds —the goal of this training was to give the participants the theoretical and practical knowledge necessary to contribute locally to the regional study of shore birds, and to better understand the birds in the French West Indies. At the same time, the Réserve Naturelle agreed to installation of a radio antenna, which will record the passage of birds—primarily migratory species—thanks to a beacon that covers a diameter of 18 kilometers, as past of the international scientific project, Motus (see motus.org). Funded by BirdsCaribbean, this program, which is popular in the USA, Canada, and Europe, is limited in our region for the time being to the islands of Puerto Rico and Barbados, as well as French Guyana. The installation of two antennas is planned, one on Petite-Terre in Guadeloupe, and the other in Saint Martin. This radio system, which is much less costly than a GPS, is well adapted for birds and features a small harness with a miniature transmitter placed on the birds, which can be removed after several weeks of use, once their movements have been tracked. Locally, the same technology could be used to monitor various animal species.

Camille Sanchez
Camille Sanchez

An intern at the Réserve Naturelle from February 18 through August 16, 2019, Camille Sanchez has since earned her master’s degree at the University Paul Sabatier in Toulouse. She contributed to the collection of data on shorebirds that visit the salt ponds in Saint Martin and entered the results on the eBird database, which includes all information collected since 2011 as part of the shorebird project. In the same spirit as the UNESCO MAB (Man and the Biosphere) program, which looks at the interactions between human activities and ecological systems with an eye toward sustainable management of natural resources, she completed a field-based perception survey with residents and tourists. The idea was to evaluate their knowledge on the existence of the ponds, the shorebird populations that visit them, and the management of these spaces and species. After her successful internship, Camille is currently looking for a job or might prolong her days at the university and begin a thesis.

Aigrette neigeuse et ses petits, dans la héronnière de l’étang Guichard A snowy egret and her babies in the bird habitat at Guichard pond © Julien Chalifour
Aigrette neigeuse et ses petits, dans la héronnière de l’étang Guichard A snowy egret and her babies in the bird habitat at Guichard pond © Julien Chalifour

ZICO: Zones of Importance for Bird Conservation. On April 1, 2019, to help define these high-priority sites, Julien Chalifour and Aude Berger, from the scientific division of the Réserve Naturelle, hosted a mission from the League For The Protection of Birds (LPO), as part of the European BIODIV’OM LIFE project. The goal was to initiate the process of defining ZICO for Saint Martin, which will be based on existing data and the acquisition of additional knowledge in order to delineate sites that represent major challenges for protected species, such as the little tern or blue egret. Once identified, a list of these high-priority zones will be presented to ornithology experts for validation, and certain zones will be added to the ZICO world list. Being included on the list would create new opportunities for the recruitment of experts and the funding of activities to promote the protection of birds on our island. This project comprises the Réserve Naturelle of Saint Martin, as well as five additional structures in French Guyana, Martinique, Reunion, and Mayotte. The LPO, coordinator of the BIODIV’OM LIFE project, serves as the liaison between the European Union and the six participating partners.

The LPO has published brochures as part of a public awareness campaign, and for the benefit of those involved in the protection of targeted species in the BIODIV’OM LIFE project in each of the participating territories. These brochures are available at the new offices of the Réserve Naturelle: rue Barbuda, Hope Estate. Additional information is available on the web at lifebiodivom.fr and on the BIODIV’OM LIFE Facebook page.
Camille Sanchez
Camille Sanchez

A student at the Paul Sabatier University in Toulouse, Camille Sanchez has been working with the Réserve Naturelle since February 18 and will remain through mid-August. At the age of 28, she decided to study “Man & Biosphere” (MAB) as part of her master’s program in biodiversity management. In the spirit of UNESCO’s MAB program, this training requires knowledge of interactions between human activities and ecological systems, for a more sustainable management of natural resources. Her mission in Saint Martin consists of studying the populations of shorebirds that feed on the salt ponds, adding a sociological take to this scientific study.

Èchasse d’Amérique Black-necked stilt © Julien Chalifour
Èchasse d’Amérique Black-necked stilt © Julien Chalifour

According to a study by the US Fish and Wildlife Service, amateur bird watchers brought 36 billion dollars to the American economy in 2006, and 20% of Americans identify as bird watchers. At the same time, the Kuşcenneti National Park in Turkey— a Ramsar site like Saint Martin—attracts amateur bird watchers from around the world. Thus represents direct and indirect revenue of more than $1million per year. Guided visits have become a major activity, with no less than 127 businesses offering visits around the globe. Knowing that the avifauna counted on the ponds of Saint Martin comprises more than 85 species of birds, this abundance and this richness have naturally encouraged the Réserve Naturelle and the Conservatoire du Littoral to promote the conservation of these species and their habitats, by way of development adapted at for public access at each site. The idea, in the absence of a tourism strategy other beach-oriented in Saint Martin, is to propose the development of eco-tourism based on bird watching, for which Saint Martin has perhaps the best potential for all of the Caribbean. For this to develop, it is necessary in parallel to expand the protection of coastal zones by developing them for properly for human activities. In the post-Irma context, at which time everyone agrees it is necessary to rethink our model for the development of coastal areas in Saint Martin, other than for their heritage value, the increase of eco-tourism in Saint Martin could be the answer. The Réserve estimates that a budget of 1.6 million euros is needed for the renewal of the salt ponds.

The salt ponds of Saint Martin, an important buffer zone between the shore and the sea, are too often still thought of as unhealthy places. Their negative image, combined with development issues facilitating their destruction, is partially the reason for their disastrous evolution. The overall coastal zones in Saint Martin were impacted by the violence of the winds brought by hurricane Irma. The mangroves are practically destroyed, the vegetation along the shores disappeared, ripped up by the strong gusts. The impact on the biodiversity for marine and terrestrial fauna is difficult to quantify, but it is certain that the disappearance of these habitats and ecosystems will have a lasting impact in the short, middle, and long term on the global stock and production of animal and vegetable biodiversity. Actions taken for the renewal of the biodiversity for coastal zones will allow to minimize such impacts and to lessen the effect on the biodiversity in a general manner in the future.
Suzanne Gonnier
Suzanne Gonnier

Suzanne Gonnier, a 22 year-old student at the National Superior School for Landscape (ENSP), worked as an intern at the Réserve Naturelle in June and July 2018. A future landscape architect, she decided to come to the Réserve Naturelle to work with a leader in island management with the idea of starting her career in an environmentally protected area. Her task was to present a rehabilitation project for the Salines d’Orient, hit rather hard by Irma. The current thinking is to reconcile regeneration and conservation of the eco-systems with use by the public. Gonnier focused on the tidal reservoir, a favorite spot for nesting birds, and her recommendations comprise reconfiguring the canals in this area as well as stabilizing the banks with the planting of mangroves from the nursery created in collaboration with students from the middle school in French Quarter, as part of the Educative Marine Park program for Galion Bay. These improvements will help isolate the nesting and resting zones for the avifauna, which previously could be disturbed by terrestrial predators. These new gathering places could also allow for the development of activities such as bird watching. This work adds to the thought already given to the rehabilitation and management of this site, which is protected as part of the Réserve Naturelle Nationale with Ramsar and SPAW labels, for the richness of the eco-systems it houses.

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