Current view: Text account
Site description (2007 baseline):
Site location and context
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.
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.
Pressure/threats to key biodiversity
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.
Authors: Joseph Prosper, Victor Joseph, Andrea Otto, Shanee Prosper (Environmental Awareness Group)
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Hanson's Bay – Flashes (Antigua and Barbuda). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/hansons-bay-–-flashes-iba-antigua-and-barbuda on 22/11/2024.
