Silver Thatch Excursions

25/05/2024

It's time to celebrate our favorite finned friends! 🌊🐢 With World Sea Turtle Day approaching, it's time for another Sea Turtle Festival. Stay tuned for info on all the exciting events coming soon!

21/05/2024

Lot of work went into this. Glad to see this information finally getting out there!

11/05/2024

21/04/2024

Celebrate Earth Week Trivia Tuesday with the National Trust!

Eco Trivia Night at Salty's Grand Harbour

Date: Tues 23 April 2024
Time: 7:30pm
Venue: Salty's Restaurant Grand Harbour

If you would like to reserve a seat please contact Salty's 333-1944. Raffle prizes to win.

21/04/2024

With Cayman Turtle Centre: Island Wildlife Encounter – I just got recognised as one of their top fans! 🎉

21/04/2024

We are nurtured by nature

Did you know that spending time appreciating nature with "awe" slows our heart rate, helps with digestion and cools down the inflammation process? It’s true! We are very literally nurtured by nature!

https://tinyurl.com/awewonderwalk

https://tinyurl.com/naturehealthstudy

Here at DoE, every day is Earth Day, week, month and year. But to help you give a little more attention to nature, we’ve come up with some themes, activities and ideas to try throughout next week – and perhaps even beyond!

We love our incredible Cayman Islands and are deeply committed to preserving the native animals, plants and habitats that existed before humans arrived so our children and great-great-grandchildren alike can continue to find joy and wonder in them.

So take some time – make some time – to appreciate nature in your life. Together, we can build – and preserve - the Cayman Islands that we want, and wish for our children to inherit.

14/03/2024

22/07/2023

A perspective on the importance of biodiversity:

The air you breathe, the water you drink and the food you eat all rely on biodiversity, but right now it is in crisis – because of us. What does this mean for our future and can we stop it, asks Damian Carrington?

16/07/2023

It's finally officially public after having already been established for maybe about 5 -6 years now! Cayman Islands officially has its second endemic full bird species (apart from the now-extinct Grand Cayman Thrush).
In my opinion, we still have a couple other candidate endemic sub-species that can also qualify for full species status, but the wheels grind slowly...

Get out your binoculars and plan a Caribbean birding adventure because we’ve got five new species of birds for you! The American Ornithological Society has just announced their 64th Supplement to t…

11/06/2023

23/01/2023

27/10/2022

Members of the Cayman Brac community are invited to join us for a Cayman Brac Amazon parrot release. This event will take place on Friday 28 October, 11.30am, at the Agriculture Department’s Bluff Compound in Cayman Brac.

This event is open to all and free to attend so feel free to come along and join us for this special release!

07/10/2022

The brats find their forever home

Last Saturday, 3 Grand Cayman Parrot yearlings were released into the Queen Elizabeth II Botanic Park after being rescued as hatchlings from a fallen tree by DoE's Terrestrial Resource Officer, Jane Haakonsson. Rehabilitation efforts were a partnership between the Department of Environment and the Cayman Turtle Centre: Island Wildlife Encounter, where "the Brats" as they are affectionately called, were first hand-reared and then placed in an isolation enclosure alongside other parrots to learn wild behaviours and communication with minimal human contact.

Watch the video of their release!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZie3sJJl6c

Special thanks to the Cayman Turtle Centre’s Terrestrial Exhibits & Education Programs Curator, Geddes Hislop and Veterinarian, Dr. Vandanaa Naveena Baboolal for helping us save these beautiful birds so they can continue to thrive in the wild.

05/10/2022

This is what else I do! This was a long time coming!

08/09/2022

Meet Smiley! Our hybrid saltwater crocodile is 11.5 feet long and weighs over 300 pounds, and she is still growing!

In 2006, Grand Cayman received this unexpected visitor, the first crocodile seen in the Cayman Islands since the late 1950s. Smiley and her ancestors were originally called “caimanas” by early Spanish explorers, from which the Cayman Islands derived its name. Due to her being a natural hybrid, Smiley has two compartments in her enclosure – freshwater and saltwater – and she enjoys spending time in both. Crocodiles have a slow metabolism, so Smiley is only needs to be fed a couple of times a week, but feeding times are spectacular!

08/09/2022

Sharing a post from my Cayman Islands Parrot 2022 breeding project. Raising the Cayman Brac Amazon parrot,- rarest of all the Amazon parrots by virtue of it's severely limited range. The entire world population of the species (except for our breeding stock) is found exclusively on the 14-square mile island of Cayman Brac.

01/06/2022

HAPPY WORLD PARROT DAY!!

26/05/2022

From April until late June is the breeding season for our local feathered friends. You may notice that many birds are moving around in pairs, males are being especially more vocal and some flying with nesting material in their beaks. Some birds, such as Doves, Grackles (Ching-Chings), Kingbirds and Mockingbirds will have eggs or chicks right now and will be swooping at passersby in defense of their nests.

This also means that we are coming to the time of year when baby birds leave their nests. As the chicks grow and test their wings, they will often fall from their nests and appear helpless on the ground, calling for their parents.

Our human instinct is to pick up and care for helpless baby birds, but most likely you will have startled away the parents who will usually be watching nearby and aware of their offspring’s plight. Moving a chick completely from where you found it will endanger its chances of survival if the parents cannot find it. Trying to care for a wild chick will be subjecting yourself to a most demanding task as a growing chick will need to be fed approximately every half-hour from sunup to sundown.

Contrary to popular belief, most wild animals require special diets and do not thrive very well solely on birdseed, bread, or cat food! The chick’s parents are much better suited for that job.

The best advice for when you come across nest-fallen chicks is to leave them where they are. Unless the chick is in immediate danger such as in the road or being harassed by a cat or dog, just leave them where they are or carefully move them into nearby vegetation for cover. If you see a nest nearby, put the chick gently back into the nest. Do not worry about the parents rejecting the baby bird. Contrary to popular belief, parent birds will not abandon their chick because you touched it as most birds have a very poor sense of smell.

If you do feel responsible for a fallen nestling, observe the situation, and get a description or photo of the chick and parents if possible. Contact the Cayman Islands Department of Environment for advice before you intervene.

26/05/2022

This has been a long time coming! Unfortunate for the perpetrator, but this headline brings great attention to the plight of Cayman Parrots (the National Bird) as World Parrot Day approaches...
https://www.caymancompass.com/2022/05/26/man-sentenced-for-taking-parrot-hatchlings/

An East End man who took two hatchling Cayman parrots from their nest, which died ten days later, has been fined $2,000 and sentenced to 200 hours of community service.