Celebrate the Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival (CEBF) with us! Our theme in 2021 is “Sing, Fly, Soar—Like a Bird!” Have fun learning about a new endemic bird every day. We have colouring pages, puzzles, activities, and more. Download for free and enjoy nature with your family at home.
Endemic Bird of the Day: Jamaican Euphonia
The Jamaica Euphonia (Euphonia Jamaica), locally known as Short-mouth Bluequit, Blue Quit, and Cho-Cho Quit, is endemic to Jamaica. A common resident throughout the island, it is a small, stocky bird about the size (11.5 cm) of a finch, with a short, stubby, gray bill. The male is a lovely bluish-grey all over with some bright yellow on the mid-belly. Females and juveniles have an olive-green upper body, with a paler gray head and underparts than the male.
The Jamaican Euphonia has the most amazing song—a melodious, rapid-fire jumble of whistles, trills, squeaks, and buzzes. They also have a distinct “chur-chur-chur-chur-chur” call that sounds like a car that has run out of gas trying to start.
The Jamaican Euphonia’s habitats include forest, woodlands, fields with large trees, and gardens, from sea level to the mountains. It is a frugivorous bird, feeding on berries, fruits, buds, and flowers. Favorite fruits in the forest or garden include figs (Ficus), Jamaican mistletoe berries, Cecropia, soursop, Otaheite apple, papaya, guava, and fruit of cho-cho vines (Sechium). They are important dispersers of mistletoe seeds.
Jamaican Euphonias nest from March to May. They use plant materials such as bromeliads and mosses to construct a spherical nest with a side entrance, often concealed in Spanish moss. They are not globally threatened and their population is regarded as stable. However, at the micro-level, habitat loss due to large clearings will impact the species. It is important to monitor this species to ensure that the status of this island endemic does not change under climate change, habitat loss, and other threats. Learn more about this species, including its range, photos, and calls here.
Colour in the Jamaican Euphonia
Download our West Indies Endemic Bird colouring page. Use the photos below as your guide, or you can look up pictures of the bird online or in a bird field guide if you have one. Share your coloured-in page with us by posting it online and tagging us @BirdsCaribbean #CEBFfromthenest
Listen to the song of the Jamaican Euphonia
The song of the Jamaican Euphonia is a melodious, rapid-fire jumble of whistles, trills, squeaks, and buzzes. They also have a distinct “chur-chur-chur-chur-chur” call that sounds like a car that has run out of gas trying to start.
Puzzle of the Day
Click on the image below to do the puzzle. You can make the puzzle as easy or as hard as you like – for example, 6, 8, or 12 pieces for young children, all the way up to 1,024 pieces for those that are up for a challenge!
Activity of the Day
FOR KIDS: Use the information above and the clues on the sheet to untangle our our word scramble – all about the Jamaican Euphonia, what is looks like, what it likes to eat, how it behaves and where is lives. When you’ve finished you can check all the answers to the clues here.
FOR KIDS AND ADULTS: Enjoy this video of Jamaican Vireos in the wild! This video was recorded in Jamaica’s Blue Mountains; it show two male Jamaican Vireos (all blue-grey with yellowish lower belly) on a branch. One male seems to be calling at the other with the chu-chu-chu-chu-chu call – perhaps he is a rival and the calling bird is telling him to go away?