Story and photos
by Nicole Martin
I spent three weeks working with Salterra, a new adventures-based resort located in South Caicos, in developing experiences that highlight two of the small island’s hidden treasures: dark skies and birds.
Using a sky quality meter provided by Dark Skies Missouri, I worked with the resort’s adventure team to collect and document sky quality readings around the island. (Good news: the sky quality in South Caicos is spectacular, with a limiting magnitude of 6+.) In addition, I gave stargazing presentations to guests at Salterra while they peered through an 8-inch telescope at planets, nebulae and the moon. I talked about my career with NASA and used this platform to interpret the issue of sky glow and how outdoor lighting is impacting wildlife and people.
During the day I led bird tours and showed guests around the historic salt-producing salt marshes, known as salinas, where over a hundred flamingos winter as well as several species of herons and shorebirds. Freshwater wells that had once been built for donkeys in the salt mining days were surrounded by warblers and vireos who could be heard singing all day in the 80 F sunshine. Some highlights were a flock of long-distance migrant Red Knots, charismatic breeding Reddish Egrets, and a pair of Clapper Rails who ran screaming out of the mangroves to introduce themselves to us.
Over the course of three weeks I documented 76 bird species. Between that, putting South Caicos on the dark skies map, and in conjunction with the resort’s commitment to turtle-safe lighting and native plant landscapes, I feel the island is in a unique position to protect important stopover and wintering habitat for migratory birds and will be accessible to a wider audience. The land side of the island was so captivating, I barely made it to the sea!
