Botanic Park And Salina Reserve Important Bird Area on:
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The Botanic Park and Salina Reserve Important Bird Area comprises two separate sites on Grand Cayman, one of the
The Botanic Park and Salina Reserve Important Bird Area comprises two separate sites on Grand Cayman, one of the Cayman Islands
The Cayman Islands () is a self-governing British Overseas Territory—the largest by population in the western Caribbean Sea. The territory comprises the three islands of Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac and Little Cayman, which are located to the ...
, a British Overseas Territory
The British Overseas Territories (BOTs), also known as the United Kingdom Overseas Territories (UKOTs), are fourteen dependent territory, territories with a constitutional and historical link with the United Kingdom. They are the last remna ...
in the Caribbean Sea.
Description
Both sites lie in the East End district of Grand Cayman. The 50 ha Queen Elizabeth II Botanic Park in the centre of the island contains fragments of native dry forest andshrubland
Shrubland, scrubland, scrub, brush, or bush is a plant community characterized by vegetation dominated by shrubs, often also including grasses, herbs, and geophytes. Shrubland may either occur naturally or be the result of human activity. It m ...
, with a lake and ''Conocarpus erectus
''Conocarpus erectus'', commonly called buttonwood or button mangrove, is a mangrove shrub in the family Combretaceae. This species grows on shorelines in tropical and subtropical regions around the world.
Range
Locations it is known from in ...
'' dominated wetlands. The Botanic Park site is also largely surrounded by the Frank Sound Forest
Frank Sound Forest lies near the southern coast of the East End district of Grand Cayman, one of the Cayman Islands, a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean Sea. It is one of the territory's Important Bird Area ...
IBA.
Salina Reserve, lying inland from the north-east coast, is a 125 ha freshwater herbaceous
Herbaceous plants are vascular plants that have no persistent woody stems above ground. This broad category of plants includes many perennials, and nearly all annuals and biennials.
Definitions of "herb" and "herbaceous"
The fourth edition of t ...
wetland. It is surrounded by a fringe of ''Typha
''Typha'' is a genus of about 30 species of monocotyledonous flowering plants in the family Typhaceae. These plants have a variety of common names, in British English as bulrush or reedmace, in American English as reed, cattail, or punks, in A ...
'' sedgeland and ''Conocarpus'' shrubland
Shrubland, scrubland, scrub, brush, or bush is a plant community characterized by vegetation dominated by shrubs, often also including grasses, herbs, and geophytes. Shrubland may either occur naturally or be the result of human activity. It m ...
, with 135 ha of '' Swietenia mahagoni'' dominated dry forest on the northern boundary. The reserve lies over the northern part of the largest freshwater lens
In hydrology, a lens, also called freshwater lens or Ghyben-Herzberg lens, is a convex-shaped layer of fresh groundwater that floats above the denser saltwater and is usually found on small coral or limestone islands and atolls. This aquifer of f ...
in the eastern part of the island and is not easily accessible.
Birds
The two sites, with a combined area of 276 ha, have been identified byBirdLife International
BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding ...
as an Important Bird Area
An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations.
IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Int ...
(IBA) because it supports populations of West Indian whistling ducks (with 10 breeding pairs), white-crowned pigeons, Cuban amazons (10 pairs), Caribbean elaenia
The Caribbean elaenia (''Elaenia martinica'') is a species of bird in the family Tyrannidae found in the West Indies and parts of Central America. Its natural habitats are tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forest, subtropical or tropical moi ...
s, thick-billed and Yucatan vireos, and vitelline warblers.
References
Important Bird Areas of the Cayman Islands Grand Cayman {{Caymans-geo-stub