Caribbean Birding Trail

Know the Caribbean, Bird by Bird

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  • About the CBT
    • Interpretive Guide Training
  • Countries
    • Countries A-I
      • Anguilla
        • Cove Pond
        • Dog Island
        • East End Pond
        • Forest Bay Pond
        • Katouche Canyon
        • Long Pond
        • Meads Bay Pond
        • Merrywing Pond System
        • Prickly Pear Cays
        • Road Salt Pond
        • Scrub Island
        • Sombrero
        • West End By-the-Sea Ponds
        • West End Pond
      • Antigua and Barbuda
        • Bethesda Dam
        • Christian Valley
        • Codrington Lagoon
        • McKinnon’s Salt Pond
        • Two Foot Bay National Park
      • Aruba
        • Spaans Lagoon
      • Bahamas
        • Abaco
        • Andros
        • Cat Island
        • Crooked Island and Acklins
        • Eleuthera
        • Exumas
        • Grand Bahama
        • Great Inagua
        • Long Island
        • Mayaguana
        • New Providence
        • San Salvador
      • Barbados
      • Bonaire
        • Dos Pos IBA
        • Gotomeer
      • British Virgin Islands
        • Josiahs Bay Salt Pond
        • Sandy Cay
      • Cuba
        • Guanahacabibes
        • Humboldt National Park
        • Mensura-Piloto National Park
        • Viñales
        • Zapata Swamp
      • Curaçao
        • Christoffel National Park
        • Salt Pans of Jan Thiel
      • Dominica
      • Dominican Republic
        • Central Mountain Range
          • Constanza and Valle Nuevo
          • Ebano Verde Reserve
          • Hatillo
          • Jarabacoa with Armando Bermúdez and José del Carmen Ramírez National Parks
          • La Joya de San Francisco
          • Loma Quita Espuela
          • Pico Diego de Ocampo, Santiago
        • Southeast
          • Bávaro
          • Cumayasa
          • Del Este National Park
            • Del Este National Park: Boca de Yuma
            • Del Este National Park: Guaraguao
            • Del Este National Park: Padre Nuestro Trail
            • Del Este National Park: Saona Island
          • Ecological Foundation Trail, Punta Cana
          • Limón Lagoon
          • Los Haitises National Park
            • Los Haitises National Park: Caño Hondo
            • Los Haitises National Park: Los Limones
          • Monte Plata
        • Southwest
          • Aguacate and Zapotén
          • Cabo Rojo and Pedernales
          • Cabral Lagoon
          • Cachote, Eastern Bahoruco
          • Jimaní
          • Lake Enriquillo
          • Loma Charco Azul
          • Oviedo Lagoon, Jaragua National Park
          • Puerto Alejandro and Tortuguero
          • Rabo de Gato and Puerto Escondido
          • Sierra de Bahoruco National Park
            • Los Arroyos, Sierra de Bahoruco National Park
        • North Coast
          • Cayos Siete Hermanos
          • El Choco National Park, Cabarete
          • El Limón, Samaná
          • Estero Hondo
          • Loma Guaconejo
          • Loma Isabel de Torres, Puerto Plata
          • Monte Cristi and Saladilla
          • Nalga de Maco National Park, Río Limpio
          • Samaná
        • Around Santo Domingo
          • Las Salinas de Baní
          • Mirador del Norte Park
          • National Botanical Garden
          • Ozama Wetlands
      • Grenada
        • Antoine Lake
        • Beausejour/Grenville Vale
        • Diamond Rock
        • Grand Etang National Park
        • Levera National Park
        • Mt. Hartman National Park
        • Telescope Pond
        • Woburn Bay MPA
      • Guadeloupe
        • Mountain Road
        • Pointe des Chateaux
    • Countries J-Z
      • Jamaica
        • Ahhh…Ras Natango Gallery and Garden
        • Barbecue Bottom Road
        • Black River Great Morass
        • Cockpit Country
        • Ecclesdown Road
        • Flagstaff
        • Green Hills Field Station
        • Hardwar Gap
        • Hope Gardens
        • Portland Bight Protected Area
        • Stewart Town
      • Martinique
        • Rocher du Diamant
      • Montserrat
      • Puerto Rico
        • Camuy Coastal Area
        • Culebra National Wildlife Refuge
        • Laguna Cartagena National Wildlife Refuge
      • Sint Eustatius
        • Pilot Hill
        • Quill/Boven National Park
        • Zeelandia Beach
      • St. Lucia
      • Sint Maarten
        • Great Salt Pond
        • Little Bay Pond
      • St. Martin
        • Amuseum Naturalis at The Old House
        • Étang Cimetière de Grand Case
        • Étang de la Barrière
        • Pic Paradis
      • St. Vincent and the Grenadines
        • Grenadines
          • Bird Sanctuary
          • Mustique Lagoon
          • Mustique Ponds Walk
        • Saint Vincent
          • Richmond Beach
      • Trinidad and Tobago
        • Tobago
          • Kilgwyn Swamp
          • Little Tobago
        • Trinidad
          • Asa Wright Nature Centre
          • Brasso Seco Paria Village
      • Turks and Caicos
        • Grand Turk
        • Middle Caicos
        • North Caicos
        • Providenciales
        • Salt Cay
        • South Caicos
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You are here: Home / Sint Maarten / Great Salt Pond

Great Salt Pond

  • About Great Salt Pond
  • The Birds
  • How to Get There
  • Tour Operators and Guides

The Great Salt Pond is the reason why the Dutch settled on Sint Maarten in 1631; the salt collected from the pond was the main source of income for over 300 years, selling it as an export to both Europe and the Americas. Remains of the salt production era can still be seen when the water level is not too high and the walls of the salt pans are visible.

Currently this Important Bird Area is not used for salt production, but the walls which formed the salt pans still remain and—during winter and spring when water levels are lower—birds happily take advantage of these rocks sticking out above the surface. Birds use the 17th century rock walls to rest, nest (e.g. Black-necked Stilts), and feed from.

Black-necked Stilts (Photo by Seagrape Tours)
Black-necked Stilts (Photo by Seagrape Tours)

Other animals that can be spotted here (unfortunately all invasive): Green Iguanas, Red-eared Slider pond turtles, fish such as Tilapia.

There are several viewpoints around the pond for viewing the numerous Great and Snowy Egrets, fishing Brown Pelicans and Magnificent Frigate Birds, Black- and Yellow-crowned Nightherons, Green Herons, American Coots, White-cheeked Pintails, Common Gallinules, Pied-billed Grebes, Black-necked Stilts and, during Summer, lots of Laughing Gulls and other terns and gulls.

Photo by Seagrape Tours
Snowy Egret (Photo by Seagrape Tours)

This is a great site to visit for a couple of hours! If you’re arriving via cruise ship, walk from the cruise ship terminal toward Philipsburg, keep following the main road and you will run into a roundabout with a statue of a freed slave in the middle. From there, it’s a great view on the east side of the pond, you can then also see the island (with sanitary landfill) in the middle of the pond which is blocking the view of the rest and greater West side of Great Salt Pond.

Birding at Great Salt Pond (Photo by Seagrape Tours)
Birding at Great Salt Pond (Photo by Seagrape Tours)

For that part of the pond: keep on walking along the main road (Pondfill Road, officially known as Walther Nisbeth Road) and pass the Salt Pickers roundabout, then view from the sand parking lot lining the south bank of Great Salt Pond, behind the parked cars.

Other viewpoints require a car or taxi to get there, including the canal between Fresh Pond and Great Salt Pond and from the sand strip behind the Sint Maarten Zoo (both on the north side of the pond).

Binkie van Es, born in the Netherlands and a 34-year resident of Sint Maarten, is a trained guide and very active bird conservationist. He sits on the board of the Sint Maarten Nature Foundation, is Vice Chair of the Board of the Dutch Caribbean Nature Alliance, and heads the Dutch Caribbean Bird Conservation Initiative in partnership with Vogelbescherming Nederland and Birdlife International. He is also active as an educator with Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s Bird Sleuth program and is the regional validator for eBird.

Binkie offers private tours through his business, Sint Maarten Birding, maximum 3 persons with larger groups by special request only. His tours will, at a minimum, cover all the sites mentioned on the Caribbean Birding Trail and will contain many stories about the history and culture of the island. He loves showing off “his” island and birds!

Common Gallinule (Photo by Seagrape Tours)
Common Gallinule (Photo by Seagrape Tours)

Ilja Botha of Seagrape Tours also visits this pond on their 3.5 hour tours of a maximum of 6 guests.

Great Salt Pond

Sint Maarten Sites

  • Great Salt Pond
  • Little Bay Pond

Sint Maarten Partners

  • Environmental Protection in the Caribbean (EPIC)


Sint Maarten Tour Operators

  • Sint Maarten Birding

Recommended Field Guides

The Incomplete Guide to the Wildlife of Saint Martin by Mark Yokoyama

Birds of the West Indies by Herbert Raffaele, James Wiley, Orlando Garrido, Allan Keith, and Janis Raffaele

Birds of the Lesser Antilles by Ryan Chenery

Want to know how you can be involved?

Do you know of a place that should be part of the Caribbean Birding Trail? Are you the owner of a lodge or hotel and want to attract eco-tourists? Are you a guide interested in the birdwatching market? Then, get involved with our project!

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