Hanson's Bay – Flashes (20878)
Antigua and Barbuda, Caribbean

Site overview

KBA status: confirmed

Year of last assessment: 2009

National site name: Hanson's Bay – Flashes

Central coordinates: Latitude: 17.1090, Longitude: -61.8733

System: marine, terrestrial

Elevation (m): 0 to 10

Area of KBA (km²): 1.85951

KBA classification: Global/Regional TBD

Legacy site: Yes

Site details

Site description: Hanson’s Bay – Flashes IBA is on the west coast of Antigua, just west of St John’s. More specifically it lies south-east of Five Island Village, and south-west of Gray’s Farm/Green Bay. The area comprises a complex wetland system (with salinas and mangroves) which forms the seaward outfall of the Body Ponds – Big Creek watershed (Antigua’s largest). The dense stand of mangroves (the largest mangrove woodland on Antigua) borders Hanson’s Bay, and this grades to salina and wet pasture (and bordering shrubland) on the landward side.

Rationale for qualifying as KBA: This site qualifies as a Key Biodiversity Area of international significance because it meets one or more previously established criteria and thresholds for identifying sites of biodiversity importance (including Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas, Alliance for Zero Extinction sites, and Key Biodiversity Areas)

Additional biodiversity: This IBA is significant as a feeding area for the Vulnerable West Indian Whistling-duck Dendrocygna arborea, with up to 80 occurring. Globally significant counts of 400 Laughing Gulls Larus atricilla have been reported. Good numbers of shorebirds, herons and egrets occur along with up to 100 White-cheeked Pintail Anas bahamensis , and the three species of restricted-range hummingbirds. Non-bird biodiversity: Nothing recorded.

Habitats

Land use: not utilised

IUCN Habitat	Coverage %	Habitat detail
Marine Intertidal	5
Marine Neritic	32
Forest	32
Marine Coastal/Supratidal	32

Threats

Summary of threats to biodiversity at KBA: State owned, but totally unprotected. There are no conservation actions being undertaken at this site. Hunting is the largest threat to the birds within this IBA – the Bird Protection Law of 1913 permits an open season for hunting. Tourism related development on the shores at the mouth of the Flashes is very likely in the future, and it is possible that the garbage dump at Cook’s is affecting water quality in the Flashes.

Additional information

References: Bacon, PR., (1991);Bunce, L., (1993);Caribbean Conservation Association. (1991);Lindsay, k. and Horwith, B. (1997);MacPherson, J. (1973);Martin-Kaye, P., (1969);Martin-Kaye, P., (1959);Pregill, GKD et al.(1994);Raffaele, H., et al. (1998); Spencer, W (1981)