The Martinique Zoo

The Martinique Zoo

February 14, 2024

Yesterday, we walked south from St. Pierre to visit the Zoo and gardens at Habitation Latouche.  In the ruins of an old sugar plantation that was destroyed in the eruption of 1902, a lovely set of gardens was developed.  Over time, animals were added to increase the attractiveness to tourists and locals.  We saw a spectacled thrush and weaver birds (both new species for us ... and not in an enclosure!), scarlet ibis (sadly not wild), and many purple-throated caribs (a hummingbird). We enjoyed strolling through the gardens and seeing the animals.  The highlight for us was the walk-in aviary with orange-winged parrots, rainbow lorikeets and a few peafowl.  There was also a very active and inquisitive sulfur-crested cockatoo.  She perched on a line near us and worked her way down a knotted rope.  Mike was taking pictures when she decided that she “fancied him”.  Poor Mike didn’t take kindly to her attempt to land on his shoulder! 

Our guidebook suggests that the tour through the zoo takes an hour or two.  I think we were there more than five hours! We were both ready to sit down under an awning and eat our lunch before walking back to St. Pierre.

Gloria

These hummingbirds are aptly named ... Purple Throated Caribs. I took many shots of this bird, but this is the only one where the light reflected perfectly off the gorgete. This is not artificially manipulated in Photoshop! 

Purple Throated Carib, side profile.

I was lucky to catch this Purple Throated Carib just as it took off. Their hearts beat 1200 times / minute and their wings beat 70 times / second! 

Orange-winged parrots, introduced from Africa and now wild in Martinique. This was a captive bird in the zoo.

Rainbow lorikeet - just unbelievable colors.

Monarch butterfly. This one was so still that I was able to set up my camera on a tripod and shoot a set of 30 shots with focus-shift. I positioned the lens so the butterfly was against a backdrop of a back-lit palm leaf. The images were focus-stacked using Helicron focus software to generate the final image

This waterlily image was also generated by focus-stacking a set of 20 images.

A different type of waterlily

A fairly common tropical flower found in the Caribbean