Looking across to St. Giles Island from Little Tobago | |
Geography | |
---|---|
Location | Caribbean Sea |
Coordinates | 11°18′N 60°31′W / 11.300°N 60.517°W |
Archipelago | Lesser Antilles |
Adjacent to | Caribbean Sea, Atlantic Ocean |
Area | 1 km2 (0.39 sq mi) |
Length | 1.9 km (1.18 mi) |
Width | 1.4 km (0.87 mi) |
Highest elevation | 37 m (121 ft) |
Administration | |
Ward | Tobago |
Parish | St. John |
Additional information | |
Time zone |
Little Tobago (or Bird of Paradise Island) is a small island off the northeastern coast of Tobago, and part of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago.
The island supports dry forest. It is an important breeding site for seabirds such as red-billed tropicbird, Audubon's shearwater, brown booby, brown noddy, sooty and bridled terns. A few pairs of white-tailed tropicbirds are also nesting here.
Little Tobago is also a good site from which to see birds which breed on neighbouring small islands, including red-footed booby and magnificent frigatebird. The latter species is frequently seen harassing the tropicbirds, boobies and terns.
A few species of reptiles have been recorded on Little Tobago. Among them are lizards such as Green Iguanas, Ameiva atrigularis, Rainbow whiptails, Antilles leaf-toed geckos, Turnip-tailed geckos, Ocellated geckos (Gonatodes ocellatus), Mole's geckos (Sphaerodactylus molei), Allen's bachias (Bachia heteropa alleni), and snakes including Boddaert's tropical racers (Mastigodryas boddaerti) and Oliver's parrot snakes (Leptophis coeruleodorsus).
Among the more conspicuous of the invertebrate fauna on the island are large terrestrial hermit crabs.
The sea between Tobago and Little Tobago is shallow, and glass-bottomed boats enable the attractive corals and brightly coloured tropical fish to be seen on the crossing. It is a popular area for snorkelling and diving, especially on Angel Reef in front of Goat Island.