Lluidas Vale, also known as Worthy Park, is a settlement in Saint Catherine Parish, Jamaica. It has a population of 3,413 as of 2009.[1]
Etymology
The name of the settlement either refers to the Spanish term luzida, meaning 'happy' or 'fine', or lluvias, meaning 'rains'.[2]
Geography and geology
Lluidas Vale, whose elevations range from 1,500 feet (460 m) to 3,250 feet (990 m), is bordered by Ewarton and Swansea Coffee Mountain.[3] A church is located at the heart of Lluidas Vale.[3] The Lluidas Vales Cave is located 0.5 kilometres (0.31 mi) southwest of the parish and near the Lluidas Sinkhole.[4] Lluidas Vales has an abundance of sugarcane fields[5] and also has a wide range of limestone karst.[6] In particular, the settlement is surrounded by kegelkarst.[7]
Flora and fauna
Most of the vegetation in Lluidas Vale has been cleared for agricultural purposes, although the wet limestone forest remains largely intact.
Trees commonly found in Lluidas Vale include:
- Terminalia latifolia
- Cedrela odorata
- Nectandra trees
- fig (Ficus) trees
Lluidas Vale is also home to a variety of birds including:
- Podiceps dominicus
- Podilymbus podiceps
- Butorides virescens
- Hydranassa tricolor
- Florida caerulea
- Ardeola ibis
- Egretta thula
- Nyctanassa violacea
- Cathartes aura
- Buteo jamaicensis
- Falco sparverius
- Porzana carolina
- Porphyrula martinica
- Gallinula chloropus
- Fulica americana
- Jacana spinosa
- Charadrius vociferus
- Columba leucocephala
- Zenaida aurita
- Zenaida asiatica
- Columbigallina passerina
- Leptotila jamaicensis
- Geotrygon montana
- Geotrygon versicolor
- Amazona collaria
- Amazona agilis
- Aratinga nana
- Forpus passerinus
- Hyetornis pluvialis
- Saurothera vetula
- Crotophaga ani
- Tyto alba
- Pseudoscops grammicus
- Nyctibius griseus
- Chordeiles minor
- Streptoprocne zonaris
- Cypseloides niger
- Tachornis phoenicobia
- Anthracothorax mango
- Trochilus polytmus
- Mellisuga minima
- Todus todus
- Centurus radiolatus
- Sphyrapicus varius
- Platypsaris niger
- Tyrannus dominicensis
- Tyrannus caudifasciatus
- Myiarchus stolidus
- Myiarchus barbirostris
- Myiarchus validus
- Contopus caribaeus
- Hirundo rustica
- Petrochelidon fulva
- Corvus jamaicensis
- Mimus polyglottos
- Dumetella carolinensis
- Turdus jamaicensis
- Turdus aurantius
- Myadestes genibarbis
- Sturnus vulgaris
- Vireo modestus
- Vireo altiloquus
- Vireo osburni
- Mniotilta varia
- Helmitheros vermivorus
- Parula americana
- Dendroica magnolia
- Dendroica caerulescens
- Dendroica tigrina
- Dendroica virens
- Dendroica striata
- Dendroica pharetra
- Seiurus aurocapillus
- Setophaga ruticilla
- Coereba flaveola
- Euneornis campestris
- Pyrrhuphonia jamaica
- Spindalis zena
- Piranga olivacea
- Quiscalus niger
- Icterus leucopteryx
- Icterus galbula
- Sicalis flaveola
- Loxigilla violacea
- Tiaris olivacea
- Tiaris bicolor
- Loxipasser anoxanthus
- Ammodramus savannarum
References
- ↑ "Jamaica: largest cities and towns and statistics of their population". World Gazetteer. Archived from the original on 5 December 2012. Retrieved 21 December 2009.
- ↑ "Place Names in Jamaica". National Library of Jamaica. 9 May 2020.
- 1 2 Horace Scotland (1890). On the Geology of Jamaica: Given at the Institute Rooms, Kingston, on Wednesday, 6th February 1889 ... On Mining in Jamaica, Retrospects and Prospects, Given at the Mico Institution, Kingston, on 5th March, 1889 ... M.C. DeSouza. p. 5.
- ↑ Raymond M. Wright; Edward Robinson (1993). Biostratigraphy of Jamaica. Geological Society of America. p. 425. ISBN 978-0-8137-1182-9.
- ↑ JAMAICA 1ED. Lonely Planet Publications. 1996. p. 480. ISBN 978-0-86442-372-6.
- ↑ Trevor A. Jackson (2002). Caribbean Geology: Into the Third Millenium: Transactions of the Fifteenth Caribbean Geological Conference. University of the West Indies Press. p. 275. ISBN 978-976-640-100-9.
- ↑ Cave Research Group of Great Britain (1967). Transactions. p. 8.
- ↑ Cruz, Alexander (March 1972). "Birds of the Lluidas Vale (Worthy Park) Region, Jamaica". Quarterly Journal of the Florida Academy of Sciences. 35 (1): 72–80. JSTOR 24318290.