Great Bird Island is a tiny islet lying 2.5 kilometers off the northeast coast of

Antigua Antigua ( ; ), also known as Waladli or Wadadli by the local population, is an island in the Lesser Antilles. It is one of the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean region and the most populous island of the country of Antigua and Barbuda. Antigua ...

. Measuring just , it is smaller than most city parks. It is a private island but open to the public.

Fauna

The island was named by sailors who were amazed at the number of birds that they found living and nesting there. It forms part of Antigua’s Offshore Islands

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), designated 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 i ...

because it supports significant populations of various bird species, including

West Indian whistling-duck The West Indian whistling duck (''Dendrocygna arborea'') is a whistling duck that breeds in the Caribbean. Alternative names are black-billed whistling duck and Cuban whistling duck. Taxonomy The West Indian whistling duck was formally describ ...

brown pelican The brown pelican (''Pelecanus occidentalis'') is a bird of the pelican family, Pelecanidae, one of three species found in the Americas and one of two that feed by diving into water. It is found on the Atlantic Coast from New Jersey to the mouth ...

laughing gull The laughing seagull (''Leucophaeus atricilla'') is a medium-sized gull of North America, North and South America. Named for its laugh-like call, it is an opportunistic omnivore and scavenger. It breeds in large colonies mostly along the Atlantic ...

s, and least and

royal tern The royal tern (''Thalasseus maximus'') is a tern in the family Laridae. The species is endemic to the Americas, though vagrants have been identified in Europe.Buckley, P. A. and F. G. Buckley (2020). Royal Tern (Thalasseus maximus), version 1. ...

s. The island is the only place on Earth where you can see an Antiguan racer (''Alsophis antiguae'') in the wild. It is also home to the near-threatened

lizard Lizard is the common name used for all Squamata, squamate reptiles other than snakes (and to a lesser extent amphisbaenians), encompassing over 7,000 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica, as well as most Island#Oceanic isla ...

'' Pholidoscelis griswoldi'' and red-billed tropicbirds.Bob Downin
Antigua offers 365 beaches full of sand, sights and water sports for travelers
''Akron Beacon Journal'' Jul 10, 2011

References

Uninhabited islands of Antigua and Barbuda Important Bird Areas of Antigua and Barbuda Private islands of Antigua and Barbuda Saint Peter, Antigua and Barbuda {{Antigua-geo-stub