Incredible Journeys: Migratory Birds on St. Martin

	1.	Today we’re here to talk about migratory birds on St. Martin. Who knows what migratory means? It means they spend part of their year in one place and part in another. So our migratory birds are part time residents. If you think about it, maybe you can think of birds you only see part of the year. 
	2.	So how do they get here? Yup, they fly. If you think about it, it is pretty amazing. Until pretty recently, less than 100 years, birds could get to St. Martin faster than people. And where are they coming from?
	3.	As you can see from this map, our migrants arrive from North America. Some come from as far away as the Arctic Circle. Different birds take different routes. Some can make longer direct flights, while others stop island by island through the Bahamas on their way down here. Some will spend the whole winter here and leave in April, others may just pass through on their way to South America. Let’s meet some of these birds.
	4.	The Semipalmated Sandpiper is one of our most common migrants. It is what we call a shorebird or a wader. They have long bills and long legs so they can feed on tiny animals living in water, mud or sand. These birds can often be found in flocks and they are usually on beaches, ponds or mudflats.
	5.	The Ruddy Turnstone is another shorebird, and it makes some incredible journeys. How many kilometers do you think a bird can fly in a year? They can travel from the arctic all the way down to Chile and back in a year. Tracking on one bird found that it traveled over 27,000 kilometers in a year. They can fly more than 1,000 kilometers in a day.
	6.	The Whimbrel is another shorebird, and it can fly from Canada to the Caribbean without stopping. It takes several days. If you look at this photo, you can tell this bird just arrived. How? Yes, because it is so skinny. You can see the breastbone. What do you think it does when it arrives? Yup, it eats. And what do you think it eats? As you can guess from the shape of its bill, it eats fiddler crabs, and it can stick its bill right in their burrows to grab them.
	7.	Here’s another shorebird. It’s beautiful, but it is rarely seen. It’s called a Snipe, and in some places people use the term “snipe hunt” to mean an impossible task. That’s because these birds are incredibly good at camouflaging themselves. Does anyone know what you call someone who can shoot a snipe? Yup, a sniper, and that word comes from this bird.
	8.	So these birds eat crabs and snails and insects, so what do they do when they arrive to an island in drought? They can keep going to find a place where there is water. They can look for ponds that aren’t dry. Even though this year’s drought may be very unusual to us, it’s important to remember that these birds have been traveling these migratory pathways for millions of years, so they have been through this before, by adapting.
	9.	Right now, one way they can adapt is to use the sargassum. The huge piles of stinky, rotting sargassum are full of tiny crustaceans and insects and you will see lots of shorebirds foraging there.
	10.	We have plenty of other migratory birds. Ducks, like the Blue-winged Teal, come here for the winter. They often come later in the fall because they can survive in North America until the weather gets really cold.
	11.	The Great Blue Heron is another bird that winters here. Even though it is closely related to the Great Egret that lives here all year, different species have different life histories, even when they are closely related.
	12.	The Osprey is another bird that winters here. Some of them live in the Caribbean all year while others come down only in the winter. Even within one species, different populations can have different migratory preferences.
	13.	We also have about two dozen species of songbird that winter here, like the American Redstart. These birds usually weigh between ten and fifteen grams. If you have two quarters, hold them in your hand—that’s how much one of these birds weighs. Still, they can travel thousands of kilometers. In some ways they’re the most amazing migrants we have. 
	14.	Here’s another songbird, a Black and White Warbler. Someone is holding it, because they are putting a band on its leg. Banding birds is a way to find out where they travel, how long they live, and whether they return to the same spot year after year. Many of the warblers visiting St. Martin come to the same exact spot each year.
	15.	Of all the songbirds, the Blackpoll Warbler makes one of the longest journeys each year. They spend their winter in South America. They often pass through St. Martin about this time, October, but they may only be on the island for a period of a week or two.
	16.	These birds truly unite the Western Hemisphere with their incredible journeys. We hope you enjoy learning a bit about them and the ecosystems they depend on. They are a reminder of how important this island is. In order to survive, these birds need places to live throughout their migratory range from Canada and the US to the St. Martin.
	17.	We encourage you to go see these birds today and throughout the winter. Many species are right here on the Great Salt Pond.
	18.	The salt pans are both a reminder of the island’s heritage and identity, and a great spot for seeing birds.
	19.	Baie de l’Embouchure and our other beaches are full of birds right now.
	20.	We also have viewing platforms at Etang de la Barriere in Cul-de-sac
	21.	And Etang de Baie Lucas near Oyster Pond
	22.	If you have a bit more patience, you can also find songbirds in the forests of Pic Paradis
	23.	Good luck and thank you!