| Great Bird Island | |||||||||||
| Location: | Caribbean | ||||||||||
| Pushpin Map: | Antigua and Barbuda#Lesser Antilles#Caribbean | ||||||||||
| Pushpin Label Position: | top | ||||||||||
| Pushpin Relief: | 1 | ||||||||||
| Coordinates: | 17.145°N -61.7242°W | ||||||||||
| Timezone1: | AST | ||||||||||
| Utc Offset1: | -4 | ||||||||||
| Additional Info: | Private island
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Great Bird Island is a tiny islet lying 2.5 kilometers off the northeast coast of Antigua. Measuring just 20acres, it is smaller than most city parks. It is a private island but open to the public.[1]
The island was named by sailors who were amazed at the number of birds that they found living and nesting there. It forms part of Antigua’s Offshore Islands Important Bird Area (IBA), designated as such by BirdLife International because it supports significant populations of various bird species, including West Indian whistling-ducks, brown pelicans, laughing gulls, and least and royal terns.[2]
The island is the only place on Earth where you can see an Antiguan racer (Alsophis antiguae) in the wild. It is also home to the near-threatened lizard Pholidoscelis griswoldi and red-billed tropicbirds.[3]