
Franklin's Forest lies near the centre of the East End distinct of
Grand Cayman, one 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 is one of the territory's
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 ...
s (IBAs).
Description
Franklin's Forest is a 111 ha tract of native
tropical dry forest bordered by ''
Conocarpus''
wetland
A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The ...
s and farmland. It lies south of the Salina Reserve and east of
Queen Elizabeth II Botanic Park. It is unprotected and partly privately owned.
[
]
Birds
The IBA was identified as such by BirdLife 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 ...
because it supports populations of white-crowned pigeons, Cuban amazons, 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 vireos, Yucatan vireos and vitelline warblers.
References
Important Bird Areas of the Cayman Islands
Tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests
Grand Cayman
{{Caymans-geo-stub