Mating habits in Barbuda

Tania and I went to Barbuda for a day trip yesterday. It was a long way to go for a day – 30nm each way at 10-15knots – but it was a truly Caribbean experience!

The trip had been organised by the Environmental Awareness Group and it was to be a magical mystery tour! T and I caught an early morning bus to a bustling St Johns. Saturday morning is farmers market day and I have never seen the place so lively. T had never experienced St Johns before so I guided her to the fisherman's wharf via the destitute slums of St Johns where we were to join the small catamaran ferry. One sign was to be found to guide us to this tourist ferry and this sign was in sight of the ferry itself!

The ferry was very homemade looking but seemed to have a competent crew. An elderly Rasta man called Won Lovv gave the safety brief which was hilarious. He did the whole air-steward bit with the lifejacket and then proceeded to tell us how to move with the rhythm of the boat, "in the ocean, feel the motion..  move your body like this, and this” breaking into dance as he demonstrated.

Won Lovv

I got to chat with him later, asking if he ever saw whales or dolphins en-route, lamenting that I had never seen a whale in real life. He told me that April was the time for the whales – it was too early to see one just now. With that I excused myself and went to the very crude toilet only to hear shouting of joy through the thin wall … on exit to find that a whale had just then breached clear in front of the ferry. I of course had missed it! The whale did not reappear and I was gutted while Won Lovv was very sympathetic!

Nearly 3 hours after embarking we arrived. Barbuda is so low that you have to be within spitting distance before you can see the island. There is one outcrop of 120 feet otherwise the island is flat and low. It is a coral reef that has pushed above water and the sea is very shallow on the approach. The sea is that beautiful turquoise and the sands are golden. Off the ferry and into one of three small buses and off we go. Barbuda is large – half the size of Antigua with just 1500 people living on it. They all live in one town on the West coast though it seems that a few have aspirations to live outside the town as there were half built homes spread over a large area in the South West of the island. It was a mess caused, it appears, with the rule that no one owns land but you can stake a claim by starting to build a house, at which point you are granted a 99 year lease on the land.

Japanese built fishery

The Japanese have also been busy – they have built a community centre large enough to accommodate the entire population (surely a white elephant) and even more worrying, a HUGE fisheries big enough to process the entire fish population of Barbuda. Now Barbuda is a Nature Reserve and fishing is not allowed according to the tourist brochures … this does not compute to my way of thinking…. So why have the Japanese been so kind to the Barbadians? It is all to do with Whaling rights, now there is a surprise. I also learnt that the Japanese decided what they would build and where with no reference to the appropriate Minister. It was to do with a long standing agreement with an ex-minister who is long gone but apparently is now some world advisor on fishing policy.

First stop the 120 foot high outcrop, actually worth a visit. We scrambled up through a cave, where rain water had created colours and interesting shapes out of the coral, to the top where there were fantastic views of the East coast and the Atlantic sea. Our bus driver pointed to a, thankfully, unseen bay below us, apparently named Garbage Bay due to the amount of rubbish that ends up there! “Oh” I say “Do you guys clean it up”? “Well we always go and check for valuables. Sometimes someone buries or burns the rest”.

Nature Reserve, National Park… remember.

Now the highlight, the Frigate Bird colony. We were on another boat and whisked up the West coast to an amazing and extensive mangrove. This mangrove literally is covered with 20,000 Frigate Birds lying in the treetops, an amazing creature of the sky that has the largest weight to wingspan of any bird and is unable to take off from the ground or water. It therefore feeds from flying fish and any fish it can persuade another bird to give up. It is obviously successful at this! 

Our entertaining guide

It is mating season and everywhere we can see bright red balloons – an inflatable pouch under the chin of the males – and hear a drumming as the males, prone on their chosen nesting site, try to attract the attention of the females wheeling overhead. The female of course wants the best nest site and once she has picked her man she makes lots of promises – causing the balloon to deflate – before sending her male to collect building material for the nest while she stays to reserve the space. She does not mate until the male has brought at least 5 good sticks. After the egg has been laid the male is left to incubate the egg while the female goes out shopping for fish. She feeds the male until the single chick hatches and then feeds the chick too. The male stays around until the chick is big enough to not require protection, though not yet big enough to fish itself, then buggers off to Galapagos to find another female at the colony there. The juveniles go with him. Juveniles are last years’ chicks and do not mate until they are two years old. They are very visible with their white heads, watching the whole process.

We had a good view of the comings and goings of the birds – not really close enough for good photos but plenty close enough to observe the inflating and deflating of the balloons, the spreading of the wings to reserve as big a space as possible and hear the drumming and cries of the birds. Fantastic.

I hoped that on our way back we would see the whale again but sadly this was not to be. However, St Johns was even more loud and lively now that it had got dark. I have to say that T and myself felt a little uncomfortable though I am sure there was NO reason. It was the un-known. People were calling at us, trying to get us to come over to chat but we decided to head straight for the bus station. Luckily I know my buses and very quickly I found the correct and very packed bus which got us – slightly faster than I would have liked – back to English Harbour and home where we had to contend with equally loud but more familiar mis-behaviour from the yachties!

Next weekend Andy and I are going to the rain forest covered island of Donomica for a three day trek. We are very excited as we have heard only good things about this amazing island.