Codrington Lagoon is a long

lagoon A lagoon is a shallow body of water separated from a larger body of water by a narrow landform, such as reefs, barrier islands, barrier peninsulas, or isthmuses. Lagoons are commonly divided into ''coastal lagoons'' (or ''barrier lagoons'') a ...

which takes up much of the west of the

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

island of Barbuda. Its access to the sea was once only via Cuffy Creek, at the northern tip of the lagoon, but in 2019 the western edge of the lagoon was destroyed by storms and the lagoon is now completely open to the sea. The water is shallow, and much of the shore of the northern half of the lagoon is

marsh A marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous rather than woody plant species.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p Marshes can often be found at ...

land. The town of Codrington, the main settlement on the island, is located on the eastern shore of the lagoon.

Frigatebird colony

To the north of Codrington is a

frigatebird Frigatebirds are a family of seabirds called Fregatidae which are found across all tropical and subtropical oceans. The five extant species are classified in a single genus, ''Fregata''. All have predominantly black plumage, long, deeply forked ...

colony, centered on the lagoon's tiny Man of War Island, a forty-minute boat ride from Antigua. The colony, known as the Frigate Bird Sanctuary, is one of the main

ecotourism Ecotourism is a form of tourism involving responsible travel (using sustainable transport) to natural areas, conserving the environment, and improving the well-being of the local people. Its purpose may be to educate the traveler, to provide funds ...

attractions in Barbuda. During the mating season, from September to April, this rare bird displays a huge scarlet

throat pouch Gular skin (throat skin), in ornithology, is an area of featherless skin on birds that joins the lower mandible of the beak (or ''bill'') to the bird's neck. Other vertebrate taxa may have a comparable anatomical structure that is referred to as ...

to attract a female mate; the pair will lay one egg on a nest built precariously on the mangrove. These birds cannot walk or swim; they soar high in the clouds and live solely on fish, which they often steal from other birds, giving them their local name, ''Man of war''. They have few predators here, making this nesting site is one of the most important in the world for these endangered birds. Codrington Lagoon's magnificent frigatebird colony, the largest in the Caribbean region, had an estimated 2,500 nesting pairs prior to Hurricane Irma landfall in September 2017. The lagoon was inundated by Hurricane Irma's

storm surge A storm surge, storm flood, tidal surge, or storm tide is a coastal flood or tsunami-like phenomenon of rising water commonly associated with low-pressure weather systems, such as cyclones. It is measured as the rise in water level above the n ...

and its impact on the colony is still unknown.

References

Bodies of water of Antigua and Barbuda Geography of Barbuda Ramsar sites in Antigua and Barbuda {{Antigua-geo-stub