Scrub Island is an island lying off the eastern tip of the main island of

Anguilla Anguilla is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean. It is one of the most northerly of the Leeward Islands in the Lesser Antilles, lying east of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands and directly north of Sa ...

, a

British Overseas Territory The British Overseas Territories (BOTs) or alternatively referred to as the United Kingdom Overseas Territories (UKOTs) are the fourteen dependent territory, territories with a constitutional and historical link with the United Kingdom that, ...

in the

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

. It is easily reached by boat. Privately owned, the remains of an abandoned air field still exist. There are several abandoned houses on the island, mainly due to damage from hurricanes. There is no electricity or plumbing.

Fauna

The island has been identified 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 ...

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 ...

, mainly because of its nesting

seabird Seabirds (also known as marine birds) are birds that are adaptation, adapted to life within the marine ecosystem, marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, behaviour and physiology, they often exhibit striking convergent ...

s. These are

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 as well as

royal Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family or Royalty (disambiguation), royalty Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Ill ...

, roseate and

least tern The least tern (''Sternula antillarum'') is a species of tern that breeds in North America and locally in northern South America. It is closely related to, and was formerly often considered conspecific with, the little tern of the Old World. Oth ...

s. Resident landbirds include Caribbean elaenias and pearly-eyed thrashers. The island's five species of reptiles comprise the Anguilla Bank ameiva, ''

Anolis gingivinus ''Anolis gingivinus'', also known as the Anguilla Bank tree anole, Anguilla bank anole, and Anguilla anole, is a species of anole lizard that is endemic to the Caribbean Lesser Antilles islands of Anguilla and its satellites, such as Saint Martin ...

'', little dwarf gecko, island dwarf gecko and the

endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching, inv ...

leeward island racer.

Green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a com ...

and leatherback turtles have been recorded.

Feral goat The feral goat is the domestic goat (''Capra hircus'') when it has become established in the wild. Feral goats occur in many parts of the world. Species Feral goats consist of many breeds of domestic goats, all of which stem from the wild go ...

s and

rat Rats are various medium-sized, long-tailed rodents. Species of rats are found throughout the order Rodentia, but stereotypical rats are found in the genus ''Rattus''. Other rat genera include '' Neotoma'' (pack rats), '' Bandicota'' (bandicoo ...

s are present.

Whale Whales are a widely distributed and diverse group of fully Aquatic animal, aquatic placental mammal, placental marine mammals. As an informal and Colloquialism, colloquial grouping, they correspond to large members of the infraorder Cetacea ...

s are commonly seen west of Scrub, along the southern coastline.

References

External links

Exploring Scrub Island
Islands of Anguilla Geography of Anguilla Private islands of the Caribbean Important Bird Areas of Anguilla Seabird colonies {{Anguilla-geo-stub