Scientific studies from no less an authority than the United Nations’s Food and Agriculture Organization have shown that coconut water, a natural isotonic beverage, has exactly the same electrolytic balance as human blood. Low in fat (it’s 99% fat free), low in natural sugars, but full of vitamins and minerals, coconut water has been proven to lower arterial pressure, reducing risk of heart attack. In tropical countries, it’s used to counter malnutrition and for re-hydration, in rare occasions given intravenously. Coconut water, however, is best consumed fresh out of the shell; once exposed to air, the liquid begins to ferment, and quickly loses much of its nutritional characteristics.
Although just about every Caribbean country has an abundance of coconuts, the coconut is not indigenous to the region. Portuguese explorer Vasco Da Gama first brought the fruits to the region, to Puerto Rico from the Cape Verde islands in the 1500s, having identified its contents as an excellent source of drinking water. The Portuguese gave the fruit its enduring name: the word “coconut” comes from the word “cocos”, meaning monkey face, because they found a resemblance to a monkey’s face in the round “eyes” and hairy brown exterior of the nut’s shell. Native to South East Asia, in India the coconut tree is called “kalpa vriksha”, or “the tree that gives everything needed for life”, probably because almost every single part of the tree can be— and is—used for some useful purpose.
We like to put the coconut to good use in a refreshing rum punch:
Coconut Rum Punch
1 liter coconut milk
1/2 liter white run
dash of cinnamon
dash of nutmeg
juice & zest of 1 lime
simple syrup to taste
1 vanilla pod, split and seeds scraped
In a punch bowl, add all of the ingredients and allow flavors to develop. Pour in glasses filled with ice. Warning: very potent!
Source: Skywritings Magazine
Stripping off the white linen suit and Panama hat, laying aside the panatella and the silver-headed malacca cane, the Planter’s Punch is just another rum-sugar-citrus drink (see the daiquiri, the mojito, and the caipirinha). In 1930, the English traveler Alec Waugh described the “ritual of mixing a Creole punch” thus: “quarter of a finger’s height of sugar, two fingers high of rum, the paring of a lime, the rattling of ice.” That’s about it for the basic version. Not fascinating, but as long as you use a decent dark rum — from Jamaica, Barbados, or Martinique — distinctly palatable. But that’s not the whole story. There are variations: with orange juice, with grenadine, with curaçao, with Angostura bitters, with just about anything vaguely Caribbean — even cayenne pepper. Garnishes range from none to sensible to amusing to ridiculous. In fact, the plain old Planter’s Punch has become an umbrella drink.
There’s no shame in that. Not much, anyway. Man cannot live by the stemmed glass alone: Sometimes there must be a tiki mug. So put on your Hawaiian Punch hat, turn Martin Denny up on the hi-fi, and give out with the “How low can you go?” Here’s a recipe from 1947; it’s a killer. And dig the crazy color.
Planter’s Punch
- 3 ounces dark rum
- 1 ounce lime juice
- 1/2 ounce lemon juice
- 1/2 ounce grenadine
- 1/4 teaspoon superfine sugar
Glass Type: Collins glass
Stir well with cracked ice, then strain into a Collins glass full of cracked ice; stick a straw in it and garnish with whatever the hell you want. We recommend using Jamaican rum.
Source: http://www.esquire.com/drinks/planters-punch-drink-recipe#ixzz1alosAyCh
Heritage Kitchen on Boggy Sand Road in Grand Cayman, is, as its name might imply, an oasis of the past. This little beachside restaurant behind the West Bay four-way stop, shaded by a weathered guinep tree and decorated by deep pink bougainvillea, looks like a traditional Cayman Caboose (the semi-detached outdoor kitchen and eating area of 18th century Cayman homes).
Set amongst the onslaught of the modern, the Heritage Kitchen experience harkens back to another time, with its fretwork eaves, its painted tin sides and its rustic nature, its pan-fried fish and traditional Caymanian “fritters” (a slightly sweet fried dumplin, not unlike a New Orleans-style beignet without the powdered sugar).
You sit at worn wood tables over a worn floor beneath an open-raftered worn tin roof, behind a rough wood sign painted yellow that says “Welcome”, and you feel welcome. You eat fish that is succulent and flavourful, you eat it with hot peppered onions and you eat with glee. You wash this down with a natural juice, a coconut water or perhaps with a West Indian-style ginger beer; there’s no liquor license but you’re free to bring your own beer or wine or liquor if you plan to sit here, within the sound of the waves and make an evening of it.
Dora Ebanks, her hair a gorgeous deep red, greets us from the front window of the restaurant, a window that opens out to a view of the sea, above a wall of zinc sheeting that’s painted to depict a colourful primitive ocean, its fish swimming toward the window. It feels like she’s inviting us into her home. She along with her husband Dalkieth own Heritage Kitchen; both are warm, friendly, generous people-Caymanian people- although Dalkieth spent many years in Belize. Its 5:30 in the evening and the fish is almost done cooking.
“‘Nother 10, 15 minutes,” Dora says. Her son is helping in the kitchen, her sister lights the warmers under the chaffing dishes. It’s a family affair.
Tonight’s dinner, written on a blackboard propped by the open window dora ebanks (left) with nadine and jen from heritage kitchen is whole snapper, mahi mahi, fish tea or barbeque chicken. Some nights there’s jerk pork or jerk chicken; Dalkieth says he likes to barbeque.
The beach, a mere 16 feet away and on the other side of a sea-wall, is lovely, a pink white and powdery sand; the sun is setting, shafts of it break through the clouds to our right over Northwest Point, Seven Mile Beach curves away to the south and toward real high-rise development density. Boggy Sand Road it’s interesting to note, part of the original village of West Bay, now contains some of the most expensive real estate in the Caribbean, but here the light is soft and slanting, it mellows everything.
You sit on the sea wall to wait for the fish to finish cooking and look out; others are doing the same, people are in the sand, a dog runs by chasing a thrown ball, there’s no noise but the noise of the sea. And then, the fish is finished cooking -it’s time to eat.
Heritage Kitchen in West Bay, Grand Cayman, is open from 5 p.m. till 10:30
p.m. on Wednesdays and 5 p.m. till midnight Fridays and Saturdays.
Source: SkyWritings Magazine
Photo credit: Jeremy Francis
Can’t make it to Caymanian hot-spot, Coconut Joe’s Beach Bar & Grill for your happy hour Beergarita tonight? Try making one at home with this recipe below. At Coconut Joe’s, this delicious drink is served in a large beer pitcher with an upside-down Corona inserted into the slushy margarita mix; lift Corona slightly to allow more beer to flow into the pitcher as needed. We recommend sharing with a friend!
Giant Beergarita
2 oz. tequila
3/4 oz. Triple Sec
3 oz. lime juice
1 cold bottle of beer (we recommend Corona)
1 lime
kosher salt
Combine margarita ingredients and blend with ice. Lime and salt glass; fill with frozen drink; insert beer and two straws; find a thirsty friend.
Recipe source: caribbeantravelmag.com
Image source: hotelchatter.com
One of Cayman’s best loved festivals, Pirates Week, takes place from 10th – 20th November. The eleven-day party celebrates the island’s heritage with mock pirate invasions, local food & drinks, music, dancing, parades, competitions, fireworks and more! Heritage days take place in various districts around the island, and offer some of the best in local food and music. The fun and frivolity has another dimension with the demonstrations of traditional Caymanian activities, such as thatch rope making, which adds an interesting element and showcases the country’s heritage.
Source: easier.com
Photo by Stephen Clarke
Sun-seeking tourists aren’t the only ones flocking to the Cayman Islands.
You probably know that the Cayman Islands’ wealth of feathered friends of all stripes, shapes and colours has made it one of the Caribbean’s top spots for birdwatching. But did you know that we humans are just as interesting to the birds as they are to us?
“When I first started conducting birding tours about three years ago … I could not understand why native birds seemed to be interested in people and attracted to the sound of my voice,” says Stuart Mailer, a field officer at the National Trust for the Cayman Islands, a conservation organisation tasked with preserving the destination’s natural environments and places of historical significance. “I would frequently stop to talk to a curious bird and encourage it to hop closer, only to have several other birds of different species gather around as well.”
This is part of the magic of bird-watching in the Cayman Islands, a place where you can see and interact with about 230 species of birds — of which 50 are island breeders, while the other 170 are non-breeding migrants.
Fortunately for avid bird-watchers, the Cayman Islands lay at the edge of the western fly-way, between North and South America; and migrating birds can often be spotted in the spring and fall seasons.
Some of the best spots in Grand Cayman to see birds are also the island’s top tourist attractions. On the Mastic Trail from Frank Sound Road to North Side, bird-watchers can spot some or, if they’re lucky, all 13 of Cayman’s endemic sub-species of birds. These include two near-threatened species; the vitelline warbler and the Cayman parrot, which is the national bird of the islands.
The list also includes the Caribbean dove, West Indian woodpecker, northern flicker, Caribbean elaenia, loggerhead kingbird, bananaquit, thick-billed vireo, Yucatan vireo, western spindalis, Cuban bullfinch and the Greater Antillean grackle.
“Almost all our local birds in the Mastic Reserve are quite approachable, if not actually inclined to come to you,” Mailer says. “The Caribbean dove is a good example. It is usually walking down the trail as hikers approach, rather than taking flight. On more than one occasion, I have almost stepped on a dove that I had failed to notice in time!”
The native forests and formal gardens of the Queen Elizabeth II Botanic Park off of Frank Sound Road are also replete with zenaida doves, parrots, bullfinches, vitteline warblers, mangrove cuckoos and other breeding land birds, as well as migratory warblers during the winter.
There’s also a wetland area at the park that’s home to whistling ducks, herons, egrets, least bitterns, teal, stilts and sandpipers.
The Road Less Travelled
For naturalist Ann Stafford, who operates guided tours of Grand Cayman through her company CaymANNature, visitors will have to venture further off the beaten track to see some of the finest feathered friends of the Cayman Islands.
“The Queen Elizabeth II Botanic Park and the Mastic Trail are well worth visiting; they’re well-known and well-publicised, and are therefore easier to promote. But Grand Cayman has more to offer the nature lover,” she says. These areas, which Stafford says are neither well-known nor promoted, include Barkers National Park in West Bay and Bel Air Park in South Sound, where bird-watchers can catch a glimpse of the West Indian whistling duck, herons and egrets, among other bird species.
Other underrated viewing spots include the Governor’s Pond at Governor Michael Gore Sanctuary, where waterbirds can be seen in the early morning at the sanctuary’s freshwater wetland; as well as the Central Mangrove wetland, either from the North Sound Estates dyke roads or by boat; and Bel Air Park in South Sound, where West Indian whistling ducks, herons and egrets are known to congregate.
At the Agricultural Pavilion off of Agricola Drive in Lower Alley, breeding forest birds such as parrots, woodpeckers, vitteline warblers, Yucatan vireos, bullfinches and western spinalis can be seen; as well as transient migratory warblers, vireos, tanagers, grosbeaks and indigo buntings.
Meanwhile, at Meagre Bay Pond, a protected area east of Bodden Town on the main road, rafts of pied-billed grebe, flocks of migratory herons and egrets, osprey, frigatebirds, ducks, waders, and least terns can be seen breeding in numbers during the summer.
The Cayman Islands attracts such a diversity of birds because of its many different plant types. It has roughly four different vegetation zones that attract wide-ranging species of birds: the coastal areas, wetlands, dry evergreen forests with woodlands and shrub-lands, and man-modified areas such as parks and gardens.
“The diversity of Cayman’s plant communities provides a fascinating variety of areas for those interested in natural history at whatever level, from the casual observer to scientific researcher,” says Stafford. “On walks along the beach or rocky iron-shore, in parks, along roadsides, on trails and dyke roads, by ponds and lakes, one may see plants and creatures that might not be easily seen elsewhere.”
And sometimes, spotting jaw-dropping birds is just a matter of being in the right place at the right time. “One day, about half an hour before sunset, when I was walking along the Patrick’s Island dyke roads, I followed some snowy egrets to see where they had alighted,” she says. “Rounding a bend, I saw them gathering to roost on a little mangrove cay. I saw five white ibis — and on various occasions I’ve seen glossy ibis — great blue herons, great egrets, little blue herons, tricolour herons, cattle egrets, and nearby were green herons and black-crowned night herons, and a belted kingfisher.”
Birds of the Sister Islands
Cayman Brac and Little Cayman both offer a myriad of locations for watching birds in their natural environment.
On the Brac, westerly ponds and areas southwest of the airport are good grounds for spotting all species of waterbirds, including uncommon ones such as the white ibis, and migratory warblers in the mangrove fringe. In recent years, Mailer says a large flock of whistling duck can also be spotted in the area.
Areas around the hotels and condominium rental properties on the Brac are also an excellent site for uncommon migrants such as grosbeaks, buntings, tanagers, warblers and vireos. Frigate birds, shorebirds, gulls and terns can also be spotted there.
Herons, egrets, rails and migrant shorebirds, like the killdeer, can be seen at Salt Water Pond and the marshes; and the stilt, willet and least tern bird species also breed in the pond during the summer.
On the bluff path to the lighthouse, keen observers along the walking trail should keep a sharp eye out for frigate birds, doves, mangrove cuckoos, the red-legged thrush and grey kingbirds in the summer; and for brown boobies breeding at the extreme northeast of the bluff, from October to June.
Of course, the National Trust Brac Parrot Reserve is a great place to see parrots, as well as loggerhead kingbirds and black-whiskered vireos.
Red-legged thrush, migrant warblers and vireos can also be seen throughout the bluff, while thick-billed vireo and vitelline warblers favour bushland and yellow-faced grassquits, cattle egret and smooth-billed ani species prefer open habitats.
The red-legged thrush can only be found on Cayman Brac; while the Cuban parrot, loggerhead kingbird and thick-billed vireo are found only in Grand Cayman and Cayman Brac.
Meanwhile, the Greater Antillean grackle (sometimes called the “ching-ching”) can only be found in Grand Cayman and Little Cayman.
A must-do for all bird enthusiasts is to visit the Booby Pond Nature Reserve in Little Cayman, which is home to the largest breeding colony of red-footed boobies in the western hemisphere, and in addition, is the breeding ground for a colony of majestic frigatebirds.
It’s also an overwintering site for herons, shorebirds, waders and ducks, and there are viewing platforms at the National Trust House, Little Cayman Beach Resort and Southern Cross Club.
As can be expected, a variety of waterbirds can be found on all the roadside ponds and lagoons, while migrant warblers and vireos are found in the mangrove fringes. Several ponds have viewing platforms, including Spot Bay Pond, Jackson’s Pond and Grape Tree Pond.
Little Cayman’s Tarpon Lake has a boat dock that can be a good spot for glimpsing migrant ducks, gulls, pelicans, herons, egrets and shorebirds.
And no matter what island you’re on, the early bird does get the worm when it comes to bird-watching, so be sure to rise and shine in the wee hours. The best time for bird-watching for most types of species is as soon as daylight breaks for about an hour or late in the afternoon before sunset.
For those that need a guide, CaymANNature offers private guided nature tours of Grand Cayman’s Eastern Districts by an air-conditioned car, in which passengers will get to see the island’s varying wildlife in its different vegetation zones.
The route follows the South Coast to Bodden Town, East End Village, Colliers, Queen’s Highway, Old Man Bay and Frank Sound Road, before heading back to the starting point; with full-day tours available from CI $360 (or US $450) for up to four people and half-day tours also available. Contact Stafford at caymannature@candw.ky.
For more information on the educational and environmental programs run by the National Trust for the Cayman Islands, visit the non-profit organisation’s web site at nationaltrust.org.ky.
Destination Weddings
Having a destination wedding doesn’t mean having to compromise. Only an hour south of Miami, the Cayman Islands strikes a balance between the exotic and the comfortable.
Long regarded as one of the Caribbean’s safest and most welcoming destinations, the Cayman Islands is also one of its most cosmopolitan. Cayman has a bevy of on-island wedding planners to help you realize your perfect wedding day. And our selection of service providers–from photographers and caterers to cake designers–provides a level of professionalism and sophistication unmatched in the Caribbean.
Why Cayman
For couples looking to plan an exotic island wedding, the Cayman Islands offers something few destinations can match…exquisite natural beauty infused with civility and commitment. The result is a sort of “barefoot elegance” that promises to make your special day truly remarkable. Whether you’re planning a grand, sophisticated church wedding for 200 or an intimate beachfront ceremony for two – Grand Cayman, Little Cayman and Cayman Brac afford the locales, activities and attractions to make your experience larger than life. With a host of wedding professionals ready to help you with everything from floral arrangements to legal requirements, tying the knot in this corner of the Caribbean couldn’t be easier.
Weddings
The size and scope of a Cayman Islands’ wedding ceremony is limited only by the imagination. Couples can opt for a traditional wedding in a quaint chapel, stately church or luxury resort. To add a bit of Caymanian flavor, consider marrying amidst the pageantry of the Queen Elizabeth II Botanic Park, beneath the gazebo at the Grand Old House, (a stately 1900’s plantation manor), or overlooking the azure waters of the Caribbean on the grounds of Pedro St. James – the birthplace of Caymanian democracy.
For a more intimate ceremony, couples can choose to marry on a stretch of sugar white sand along famed Seven Mile Beach, or just above the enchanting crystal clear water on the pier at legendary Rum Point.
Seafarers can choose to marry aboard a luxurious catamaran or set sail aboard a replica 17th century galleon for a spectacular sunset ceremony.
Those couples arriving by cruise may choose any of the above, or instead opt for a portside wedding along the cobblestone streets of historic George Town – the Cayman Island’s capital.
However and wherever you choose to tie the knot, you’ll find a venue ready, willing and able to exceed your expectations.
What is a Sand Ceremony?
The “Unity Sand” ceremony is a popular addition to our beach weddings offering. Simply put, it represents two lives blending into one. In original sand ceremonies, the bride and groom would toss handfuls of sand together into the wind. The grains combined and, unable to be separated, symbolized the unity and eternity. In today’s sand ceremony, different colors or containers of sand are used to represent each person and their respective families. The bride and groom each pour their containers of sand into one vase and bring home a keepsake of the moment they united their lives in marriage.
Use a Strobe
Though not always necessary, strobes can really make a huge difference to your underwater photographs. A strobe helps introduce light thereby adding true colors to your photographs and reducing that blue/cyan hue on all your pictures. A strobe also helps freeze motion, and get higher shutter speeds from your camera, which is crucial while photographing skittish fish.
Go Digital
The underwater digital cameras can be the greatest thing for anyone starting out underwater photography as it can be very forgiving, allowing the diver to take multiple shots and play around with settings to experiment and get that perfect shot. Digital cameras also allow you to instantly review the image which helps determine if your composition is right, which is very difficult to do using a cameras tiny viewfinder wearing a dive mask.
Stay Shallow
For the best underwater photographs while starting out, stay shallow, where the light from the sun penetrates the most to get the best photographs. The shallower you are the less light gets absorbed by the water, giving you more light to work with and results in more colors in your pictures. Most underwater photographers won’t bother carrying their cameras with them on a deep dive unless they have powerful strobes with them.
Get in Close to your Subject
Perhaps one of the more common tips for underwater photography for a good reason too. While underwater, get in as close as you can to your subject, and when you think you’re close enough, get in closer. The reason for getting closer to your subject is because water is 800 times denser than air, and the further you are from the subject the bluer your photographs get. If you are using a strobe, then by getting in close, you capture the best details, get the most light and reduce the chance of any debris causing backscatter.
Use a Color correcting filter
A secret tip to get better looking photographs is to use underwater color correction filters on your camera, which are essentially red filters which can be screwed onto the front of your camera’s lens that corrects the color balance by reducing the cyans or Blues in your pictures. Choose a filter density according to the depth at which you will be photographing and the color of the water, ranging from dark blue to green.
Take pictures when the sun is overhead
In order to get the maximum light into your pictures, shoot while the sun is directly overhead for the best natural lighting photos. The reasons for this is that the light refracts off the surface of the water when the sun’s light is angled, and only a part of the light enters the water. When overhead, the suns light entering the water is the greatest. Even so, using a strobe or fill flash in addition to the suns light will help improve your photographs further.
Learn proper Buoyancy Control
One of the biggest tips for anyone wishing to do underwater photography, is to master Buoyancy control first. The secret to all sharp photographs is steady hands and no camera shake. The only way to achieve this underwater is to be absolutely stationery and hover using breathing techniques. For those that have not learned to control their buoyancy, your only chance is to take photographs while resting on the sea floor or using their camera burst mode to get as many photographs as they can and hope one of them turns out ok.
Minimize Backscatter
While using a Strobe underwater, one of the most annoying things is backscatter. Backscatter refers to the reflection of suspended particles or debris underwater which turns up on the photo as a bright spot. Backscatter can be minimized by using a strobe arm and aiming the stroke top down, so that the particles don’t get illuminated front of the lens. Backscatter can also be minimized by shooting against a busy background or reducing the distance between the subjects.
Post Processing
One of the best friends of an underwater photographer is computer post processing. Using a good image editing software, you can add filters, correct color and reduce that annoying cyan tinge bringing out the true colors of things. Imaging suites also help get rid of backscatter using the spot correction tool. A post processing software can magically enhance any of your underwater photographs, but is still no substitute for a sharp well taken picture to begin with.
Shutter Speed
Setting camera shutter speed is always a tricky issue when dealing with underwater photographs. If you set the shutter speed to low, you are going to get more light in but blurry subjects. If you set the shutter speed too high, you will freeze motion and get beautifully detailed pictures, but not enough light, and that annoying black backgrounds. The trick is to use a high ISO setting, a powerful strobe and a medium shutter speed that will capture enough ambient light without blurring the subject.
Source: Aquaviews
Shiver your timbers with pirates and parrots in the Cayman Islands at this November’s Pirate Festival.
The only festival to take place on all three of the Cayman Islands, the Pirate Festival is geared towards infant swashbucklers. The ten-day programme of music, dances, costumes, games and controlled mayhem begins with a mock invasion. Two replica 17th-century galleons, accompanied by other boats and even the odd submarine, all swarming with rogues, carry out a ‘surprise’ attack on George Town Harbour, Grand Cayman. The ensuing action differs from year to year, but the general idea is that the mangy seadogs battle the defending force, capture the governor and throw him in the clink. Pillaging of the world’s fifth-largest commercial centre is kept to a minimum.
In fact, most of the fun on offer is safer than a censored sea shanty. There’s a 5km run, sponsored by accountants Deloitte, and a 10km sea swim, sponsored by petrol giant Texaco. The tough-sounding Pirate Rock is the happy hour at the Hard Rock Cafe. If you’re an anti-capitalist pirate, best point the forecastle towards another port.
One of the more entertaining events is the Cardboard Boat Regatta, with gongs for the shortest race, best costume and most spectacular sinking. Shortly afterward, the Trial of the Pirates, fireworks display and street party bring an end to the cutlass-waving.
Don an eye patch and get hooked!
For festival dates and the activity schedule see www.piratesweekfestival.com
Source: Lonely Planet
The West Indian Whistling Duck is the largest of the eight species of Whistling Duck to be found in the world. It has numerous other common names, including Cuban Tree Duck, Black-billed Whistling Duck, Mangrove Duck, Night Duck, Yaguaza and Gingeon. Its Latin name, Dendrocygna arborea, means tree-swan, and acknowledges the fact that many of these birds spend large parts of their time perched in trees. With its long neck and legs, this duck is actually far more closely related to geese and swans, and like those birds, moults just once a year.
Generally, the West Indian Whistling Duck, whose call is a haunting four or five syllable whistle, is between 20 and 24 inches tall, and weighs about two and a half pounds. It has a chestnut brown forehead, with a dark brown/black stripe from the crown down the back of the neck. Its face is pale ginger, fading to grey and white on the chin, throat and neck. The feathers on the back and tail are medium brown, as are the wings. The primary feathers of the upper wing have silvery buff patches on them. The duck’s sides and flanks are black with distinctive white mottling. They have black beaks and the legs and feet are dark blue/black. In flight, the duck’s legs trail behind them and are longer than the tail.
Normally a night feeder, the West Indian Whistling Duck spends daylight hours roosting in mangroves, woodlands or swamps. At dusk they fly to their feeding grounds which are usually ponds (fresh, brackish or salt water) surrounded by thick vegetation or seasonally flooded grasslands. The ducks are largely vegetarian, feeding on fruits and seeds of grasses and other plants. They also eat freshwater snails, however, and some even develop a taste for tadpoles!
The breeding season varies from island to island. In Cayman it seems to occur at any time throughout the year, but most commonly at the onset of the rainy season in May/June. Breeding pairs often stay together for more than one season, and both male and female build the nest. The nests can be found in tree holes and on horizontal branches, although it is not uncommon for pairs to nest on or near the ground, or on ironshore outcrops in lagoons. Clutches typically number between 5-13 eggs and both birds take turns every 24 hours to incubate them. When the fledglings hatch, both parents assist in care for several weeks afterwards.
The first recorded sightings of the West Indian Whistling Duck in the Cayman Islands were made in 1916 by T.M. Savage-English. In his Notes on Some of the Birds of Grand Cayman, West Indies, Savage-English mentions them as being “by no means uncommon”. By 1971, they had been described in Avifauna of the Cayman Islands by D.W. Johnson et al as an “uncommon breeding resident”. In 1985, P.E. Bradley estimated a total, but falling population of about 320 ducks, comprised of flocks ranging from 12 and 60 birds. It is thought that between 1985 and 1991, the ducks suffered a further drastic decline, down to less than 100 birds in Grand Cayman, with similar losses in Little Cayman. From 1990 to 1992, the Cayman Islands Bird Club organised a series of watches in Lower Valley and North Sound Estates in Grand Cayman, but never found more than 28 birds in a flock. This was a low point in the fortunes of the West Indian Whistling Duck in Cayman.
The ensuing upward trend of recent years can be largely attributed to the work of just one man. In December, 1990, a single pair of ducks and seven young birds began to feed at the farm of Mr. Willie Ebanks, at Hutland, Northside, in Grand Cayman. Willlie grows fruit and vegetables and raises pigs, and he noticed that the ducks were nibbling at the pig food. So he began to put out extra feed for the birds. Soon the ducks were joined by others and by 1992, 16 pairs were regularly feeding at his farm. In 1995, the numbers were estimated to be close to 300 birds. The ducks arrive at dawn and return at dusk to dine on the split corn put out for them. In 1992, in recognition of his work, the National Trust for the Cayman Islands presented Willie with its prestigious Award of Distinction for Environmental Conservation. A reduction in illegal hunting on Little Cayman has also allowed the ducks to recover there, and in 1995, they bred on Cayman Brac for the first time in many years.
Also in 1995, the Trust hosted a study conducted by Fiona O’Brien, from Queen’s University, Belfast, Northern Ireland, to assess the duck population at Willie’s farm. The study aimed at establishing if and how the supplemental feeding programme had affected the bird’s behaviour; whether the ducks continued to use their remaining natural feeding and breeding grounds; and if the ducks were becoming overly domesticated. It is encouraging to report that the study found that many of the potential dangers have not yet materialised. The ducks are spending less than 30% of their time at the farm, so clearly still making use of their natural feeding grounds, and are teaching their young to do the same. Many appear to be breeding in the Central Mangrove Wetland, far from the farm. Today, the West Indian Whistling Duck is classed as a vulnerable species: its range is confined to the Cayman Islands, the Greater Antilles, and the Bahamas. The duck’s natural predators are few, but introduced species such as rats, feral dogs and cats, and, on some islands, the Indian Mongoose, present a very real hazard to its survival. The serious regional decline in its numbers in recent years is due principally to the rapid development of wetlands, the misuse of pesticides, and hunting. Hunting of the West Indian Whistling Duck is now illegal in the Cayman Islands, but poaching remains the biggest single threat to this bird. In 1995, the Cayman Islands Government expressed determination to protect this species with stricter control of hunting and gun licenses. With such measure in place, it is hoped that the numbers of ducks in Cayman will continue to rise to ensure its future in the wild.