It was October 2001, a few weeks after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, when BirdLife Jamaica launched the first ever poster to illustrate all of Jamaica’s endemic birds at the Public Affairs Auditorium of the United States Embassy in Kingston, Jamaica. The newly minted U.S. Ambassador to Jamaica, Sue McCourt Cobb, attended the launch.
Dr. Herbert A. Raffaele, then Chief of Division of International Conservation at U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, was scheduled to be the keynote presenter at that event, but was unfortunately not able to attend. All senior-level U.S. federal government employees were on high alert and non-essential international travel had been banned. Despite the stress-filled and unusual atmosphere, the launch of Birdlife Jamaica’s poster and associated booklet, entitled “Birds of Jamaica — A Celebration,” to illustrate all of Jamaica’s endemic birds proceeded and was an immediate success. The 2001 poster, along with copies of the Teacher’s Guide to the Birds of Jamaica and the book “Birds of Jamaica” by Downer & Sutton – which provided full photographic coverage of every resident bird species in Jamaica – was distributed free of cost to almost 600 primary, all-age and secondary schools across the island.
Twenty years later, Dr. Raffaele was again guest speaker on July 25, 2021, when BirdLife Jamaica launched a new, updated poster to illustrate Jamaica’s endemic birds. This time he was able to attend the launch, albeit on Zoom, due to the pandemic. Raffaele applauded BirdLife Jamaica for the organization’s leadership in shedding light on the island’s commonly marginalized natural history. He emphasized that today there was more interest, and greater opportunities to bring Jamaicans face-to-face with the island’s biodiversity and to magnify the local eco-culture. Raffaele said, “This is what conservation is all about! Working with local people to develop respect and pride in THEIR biodiversity.”
He added, “Your success at this will ultimately be reflected in the extent to which future generations of Jamaicans will have prospering populations of local birds to enjoy. This poster can prove a valuable tool in such a process. I and the Cape Cod Bird Club congratulate you on this especially important accomplishment.”
This new poster features thirty one species of birds (download the PDF here). The 2001 edition featured 30 species. So why thirty-one? On the new poster, the Olive-throated Parakeet (Eupsittula nana) which has one subspecies in Jamaica (E.n. nana) and one in Central America (E.n. astec), is now considered by some taxonomists as two full species—the Jamaican Parakeet (Eupsittula nana) and Aztec Parakeet (Eupsittula astec). BirdLife Jamaica President Damany Calder explained:
“As with a number of other birds, whether the Jamaican Parakeet (or Olive-throated Parakeet) is considered an endemic species or not depends on which classification system is used.
“The American Ornithological Society, which publishes the AOS Checklist of North and Middle American Birds* does not consider the bird endemic at the species level. It is lumped together with the Central American bird. However, AOS did change the scientific names of a number of parakeets, including Jamaica’s. The Jamaican and Central American population are now Eupsittula nana and the Jamaican subspecies is E.n. nana. In the UK, however, they use a different taxonomy. By the closest of votes, the British Ornithologists’ Union adopted the International Ornithological Council’s World Bird List as its favored taxonomy. So that list too classifies the Jamaican parakeet as a subspecies. A third classification system is that of Birdlife International, which compiled the Handbook of Birds of the World. That is the system used in the recent “Birds of the West Indies” (Lynx and BirdLife International Field Guides) written by Kirwan et al. That system splits many more species, including the Jamaican Parakeet as a distinct species, using the same scientific name as above – that is, Eupsittula nana.
“So, it comes down to preferences. The two primary ornithological societies lump the Jamaican population with the Central American population; the UK’s top bird non-profit organization splits it. A paper in Zootaxa by Remsen et al. reviews the genetics of these birds and led to the change in the genus name. For us working in Jamaica, we are inclined to split the bird into a distinct species, because it can be justified by a solid source and it gives us another important selling point to push for the conservation of this widely persecuted Jamaican species, which is perceived as a pest.”
The production of the first poster and informational booklet in 2001 received broad corporate sponsorship and support (from Shell Jamaica Ltd, The Caribbean Cement Company, The Hilton Hotel, and the Jamaica Gleaner Company, among others). The poster quickly became a fixture at major hotels across the island. On this occasion, BirdLife Jamaica took the position not to solicit sponsorship directly from corporations whose values and goals directly conflicted with the conservation of birds and their habitats. BirdLife Jamaica believes this to be a critical issue. Calder noted: “We felt it might be confusing and even counterproductive to add the names and logos of businesses whose existence depended on the continued degradation, pollution and marginalization of the natural world.”
This time around, the Cape Cod Bird Club in Massachusetts is a major sponsor of the new poster. BirdLife Jamaica provided a 100% match to the Cape Cod Bird Club grant through donations from its Board. The Club provides small grants of up to US$1,000 to the Caribbean for projects relating directly or indirectly to the well-being and protection of birds.
In launching this long-anticipated public educational resource, BirdLife Jamaica Calder described the poster as invaluable for school education programs. He believes it will help all Jamaicans learn about the island’s rich and globally significant natural heritage, encouraging Jamaicans to value nature and to acknowledge the public’s right to a clean, healthy environment.
BirdLife Jamaica is the only organization on the island specifically concerned with the conservation of birds and their habitats. Ten species of Jamaican birds are considered globally threatened by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), that is, at risk of becoming globally extinct, and at least two Jamaican species have become extinct since the 1800s. Field-based efforts are ongoing to determine whether the latter two species, namely the Jamaican Petrel and the Jamaican Pauraque, may yet survive in remnant populations within the most inaccessible areas of the island, such as the Cockpit Country and Blue & John Crow Mountains National Park.
The poster is perfect for schools, libraries, and anyone who loves birds. It will be officially available from September 1st, 2021 but you can pre-order yours using this form.
*The AOS Checklist is considered the official source on the taxonomy of birds in North and Middle America, including adjacent islands. It is the checklist used by Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s popular eBird program and Birds of the World – the new comprehensive website on all of the world’s birds, bringing together content from 4 different resources (a subscription to this website is included in BirdsCaribbean membership). Hence, if you are entering your sightings of the Jamaican Parakeet in eBird Caribbean you will not find Jamaican Parakeet, you need to search for Olive-throated Parakeet and enter it as such in your eBird checklists. If, in the future, the species is deemed to merit full species status by the AOS Checklist Committee, then your sightings will be updated to the new name, Jamaican Parakeet. Similarly, note that the Red-billed Streamertail and Black-billed Streamertail are no longer considered two distinct species by the AOS. They are now lumped into one species “Streamertail” (Trochilus polytmus) with two subspecies: Streamertail (Red-billed) – T.p. polytmus and Streamertail (Black-billed) – T.p. scitulus). In ebird you have the option to enter your sighting as Streamertail or Streamertail (Red-billed).
Enjoy the Gallery of Photos below showing presentations of the poster to different agencies and organizations in Jamaica and also a few screen shots from the July 25th poster launch event on zoom. Click on each photo to see it larger and to view as a slide show.
One comment
Comments are closed.