Sites - Important Bird Areas (IBAs)

Ornithological information Audubon’s Shearwater Puffinus lherminieri is suspected of breeding at Pelican Rock in unknown numbers due to the presence of fledglings in March and May (Voous and Koelers 1967) although none were seen in June 2004 (EPIC, unpublished data). Brown Pelican Pelecanus occidentalis breeds annually, with a maximum record of thirty-five nests (Voous 1983). One hundred breeding pairs of Laughing Gulls Larus atricilla were estimated in 2004. Royal Tern Sterna maxima observations included 47 nests with eggs and 90 individuals. Bridled Tern Sterna anaethetus eggs were found and 15 nests estimated based on the number of adults calling (EPIC, unpublished data). Brown Noddy Anous stolidus reported as breeding in unknown numbers by Voous and Hoogerwerf in 1970s and 80s but none observed in 2004 by EPIC (unpublished data).

Site description Pelican Rock is a small rocky islet about 3 acres in size located approximately one mile southeast of St. Maarten.

Populations of IBA trigger species

Protected areas

Protected area	Designation	Area (ha)	Relationship with IBA	Overlap with IBA (ha)
St Maarten	Marine Park	5,128	protected area contains site	328

Habitats

Land use

Other biodiversity Not applicable.

Management considerations Threats are limited within the IBA. There is no evidence of rodents or other predators. Threats to birds using the IBA are primarily outside, such as overfishing, oil spills, and plastics entanglement.

Protection status Pelican Rock lies within a marine protected area where jet skis, fishing, anchoring, and ship traffic is prohibited.P> Pelican Rock falls within the boundaries of the conservation area of the marine park; it does not have its own boundary. The Marine Park is in the process of drafting a management plan for the execution of the Marine Park Ordinance in which all islets within the conservation areas of the marine park will be accounted for. In January 1997 the marine park was unofficially established. The completion of the Marine Park Ordinance, which is in the final stages of completion, will make the park an official marine protected area.

Conservation response The islet is managed by Nature Foundation St. Maarten as part of the St. Maarten Marine Park. Moorings have been installed and the area is popular for diving. Access to the islet itself is prohibited and human visitation is rare. EPIC has conducted weekly population counts of Brown Pelicans from the mainland every winter since 2001. A ground truthing survey was conducted on the island in June of 2004 by EPIC.

Acknowledgements St. Maarten Nature Foundation

Further web sources of information 

Site profile from Important Bird Areas in the Caribbean: key sites for conservation (BirdLife International 2008)

References COLLIER, N.C. and A.C. BROWN. Unpublished data;COLLIER, N.C., A.C. BROWN, and M. HESTER. 2002;COLLAZO, J. A., J. E. SALIVA, AND J. PIERCE. 2000;DANFORTH, S. T. 1930;HOOGERWERF, A. 1977;ROJER, A. 1997;VOOUS, K. H. 1955a;VOOUS, K. H. 1955b;VOOUS, K. H. 1983;VOOUS, K. H. AND H. J. KOELERS. 1967.

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Recommended citation  BirdLife International (2013) Important Bird Areas factsheet: Pelikan Rock, Sint Maarten. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 26/05/2013

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