The Bluff is the highest part of the Cayman Islands, a British Overseas Territory in the

Caribbean Sea The Caribbean Sea ( es, Mar Caribe; french: Mer des Caraïbes; ht, Lanmè Karayib; jam, Kiaribiyan Sii; nl, Caraïbische Zee; pap, Laman Karibe) is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere. It is bounded by Mexico ...

. It stands at the eastern end of the island of

Cayman Brac Cayman Brac is an island that is part of the Cayman Islands. It lies in the Caribbean Sea about north-east of Grand Cayman and east of Little Cayman. It is about long, with an average width of . Its terrain is the most prominent of the th ...

and has a maximum elevation of .

Description

The Bluff is a low plateau of karstic

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

, gently rising towards the eastern end of the island. Much of it supports a diverse

dry forest Dry or dryness most often refers to: * Lack of rainfall, which may refer to **Arid regions **Drought * Dry or dry area, relating to legal prohibition of selling, serving, or imbibing alcoholic beverages * Dry humor, deadpan * Dryness (medical) * ...

dominated by '' Cedrela odorata'', '' Sideroxylon salicifolium'', '' Exothea paniculata'', ''

Chionanthus caymanensis ''Chionanthus'' , common name: fringetrees, is a genus of about 150 species of flowering plants in the family (biology), family Oleaceae. The genus has a wide distribution primarily in the tropics and subtropics, but with three species exten ...

'' and '' Bursera simaruba''. The forest has a long history of logging and is a mosaic of

old growth An old-growth forestalso termed primary forest, virgin forest, late seral forest, primeval forest, or first-growth forestis a forest that has attained great age without significant disturbance, and thereby exhibits unique ecological featur ...

and second growth trees. Some 473 ha has been identified by BirdLife International as the Bluff Forest Important Bird Area (IBA) because it supports significant populations of

white-crowned pigeon The white-crowned pigeon (''Patagioenas leucocephala'') is a fruit and seed-eating species of bird in the dove and pigeon family Columbidae. It is found primarily in the Caribbean. John James Audubon painted these pigeons, including the waterco ...

s, Cuban amazons, Caribbean elaenias,

thick-billed vireo The thick-billed vireo (''Vireo crassirostris'') is a small songbird. It breeds in the West Indies in the Bahamas, Turks and Caicos Islands, Cayman Islands, Tortuga Island in Haiti and on cays off the coast of Cuba. It occasionally can be found ...

s and

vitelline warbler The vitelline warbler (''Setophaga vitellina'') is a songbird species in the New World warbler family (Parulidae). It is found in the Cayman Islands and on the Swan Islands in Honduras. Taxonomy This species is part of the large New World warbl ...

s. The IBA encompasses the 82 ha

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

’s Brac Parrot Reserve which protects mature and standing dead trees as nesting habitat for the Cuban amazon parrots.

References

External links

*
The Bluff - Cayman Islands
Geonames.com. Cayman Brac Landforms of the Cayman Islands Important Bird Areas of the Cayman Islands {{Caymans-geo-stub