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 Vireo
As its Latin name Vireo modestus suggests, the Jamaican Vireo is indeed rather modest in appearance. It is a small, rather rounded, grey-green and olive bird, whose main distinguishing features are its white iris, two white wing bars, pale yellow underparts, and bluish-grey legs. It is one of the least colourful of Jamaican endemic species. Its behaviour is unexceptional too. It can be a little hard to see because it tends to be skittish and stays hidden in dense vegetation, where it feeds on insects and small fruits. Its nest is a cup of finely woven fibers decorated with lichen. It is common and widespread, found on forest edges and roadsides at all elevations. Nothing special, you may think. But when it comes to song, this bird is unsurpassed in its variety and skill.
On almost any wooded trail in Jamaica, you may be sure to hear it. First, try to ignore the persistent, loud, and monotonous calls of its noisy cousin, the Black-whiskered Vireo Vireo altiloquus, whose insistent calls of “John Chew-it, sweet John” haunt the woodlands from March to September. Then, listen out for something very different—loud, sweet variations on the theme of “Witchy-witchy-woo.” How many variations? There are so many that experienced birdwatchers in Jamaica will tell you that if they hear a bird song they cannot recognize, it is almost certainly a Jamaican Vireo.
When you think you hear one, listen again; you might be hearing two. The Jamaican Vireo often engages in counter-singing, a common practice among male birds that are defending their territories. When the dominant individual sings, any rival nearby responds with the same song. The two will repeat this performance for several rounds, until one of them changes the song pattern, upon which the other will respond with the new song. This behaviour is called song type matching. It can go on for hours!
Song type matching is correlated with aggressiveness and willingness to get into a confrontation. Some species of birds are so aggressive that they respond before their rival has finished and their songs overlap. Not the Jamaican Vireo. He bides his time and only responds after a few seconds. This reminds us that no matter how important it is to make our voices heard, it is important to listen to what others have to say. Perhaps this is a small token of modesty. Learn more about this species, including its range, photos, and calls here.
Colour in the Jamaican Vireo
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 Vireo
The song of the Jamaican Vireo is high-pitched with varied repeated phrases including “chi-wuh, chi-wuh, chi-wuh, zha” and “chi-wee“.
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!
The Jamaican Vireo’s dull grey-green colouring makes it one of the least colourful of Jamaican endemic species. It is often found in dense vegetation searching for insects to eat. (Photo by Eric Hynes).Jamaican Vireos have a loud, sweet and very varied song. When you think you hear one, listen again; you might be hearing two. (Photo by Rafy Rodriguez)
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 Vireo, how it behaves and where is lives. You can find all the answers to the clues here.
FOR KIDS AND ADULTS: Enjoy the video below of a Jamaican Vireo in the wild! Can you spot it flitting about in the vegetation? Jamaican Vireos can be tricky to spot, not just because their drab grey-green colouring helps them blend into the background; but also because of their habit of hiding in dense vegetation. With their loud and varied “Witchy-witchy-witchy-woo” refrain you are more likely to hear this bird than see it!
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: Puerto Rican Tody
The Puerto Rican Tody or San Pedrito is a small chunky bird with bright green upperparts, red throat patch, white breast, and yellow sides. The bill is long and flat. It is endemic to Puerto Rico and is one of five species of Tody that are unique to the Greater Antilles islands. They have adapted to all elevations and ecosystems on Puerto Rico—from the driest to the wettest. It is easy to identify it in the forest especially when it vocalizes. Its call is similar to that of a cricket, and when it calls it bobs up and down as if doing push-ups!
To feed, the Puerto Rican Tody perches on a branch and remains still, scanning the vegetation for insects. With a short quick flight it catches insects on or under leaves with a sweeping movement of its flat bill. Sometimes it catches insects on the fly. Todies mainly eat insects, but they also hunt for lizards and frogs, and they occasionally eat small fruits (berries). During the breeding season in spring, the male usually hunts insects to give to his mate.
Puerto Rican Tody pairs build their nests in earthy banks along a slope or ravine. They dig a curved tunnel ~30cm long and ~2cm in diameter that ends in a nest chamber ~5cm x ~7cm. This excavation takes about two months. Both sexes share incubation and chick-rearing duties. The task of feeding 2-3 hungry chicks is exhausting – the parents spend the whole day coming and going with insects of all kinds to feed their fast-growing young! When it is time for the chicks to leave the nest, the adults, with food in their beaks, give calls to encourage them to come out.
Puerto Rican Todies are considered common. However, their conservation status needs review. There is evidence that terrestrial arthropods, a main food source of the tody, are declining. In addition, tody populations are threatened by invasive introduced predators like the Indian mongoose and also habitat destruction. We all need to do our part to educate about these special birds and the importance of conserving their habitats. Learn more about this species, including its range, photos, and calls here.
Colour in the Puerto Rican Tody
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 call of the Puerto Rican Tody
The calls of the Puerto Rican Tody are a loud, slightly rasping “beep” or “be-beep”.
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!
A female Puerto Rican Tody, one way to distinguish the male from the female is by eye color. The female’s iris is bluish white and the male’s is dark gray (Photo by Guillermo Plaza)The Puerto Rican Tody perches on a branch and remains still scanning the leaves for insects. With a quick movement and a short flight it catches insects on or under the leaves. (Photo by Alberto Estefania)
Activity of the Day
FOR KIDS: Can you find the words in our Puerto Rican Tody word search? All 15 hidden words are about this colourful little bird! You can see where all the words were here.
Watch these three wonderful videos of Puerto Rican Tody behaviour in the wild! In the first you can see the adult birds excavating their nest tunnel, this will be around 30cm long and ends in a nest chamber. This excavation will take them about two months. In the second you can see adult birds feeding, how many different types of prey items can you spot? In the final video you can see a fledgling Puerto Rican Tody sitting on a branch being fed by an adult.
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: Hispaniolan Pewee
A quick, flitting movement in the lower canopy catches your eye. And then it’s gone. No it’s not! There’s a small drab, but cute, bird sitting motionless on a low branch. It’s a Hispaniolan Pewee!
This little flycatcher is not very well known, despite being fairly widespread on the island of Hispaniola where it is endemic. It is found in lowlands, foothills and mountains, but is restricted mostly to undisturbed habitats and remote areas. It’s mostly brown and gray coloration allows it to remain unnoticed, unless it sallies out to catch an insect. Then, you have to watch closely where it goes to see if you can spot it perched. It often returns to the same perch, or one close by.
This pewee has few distinguishing field marks. It is olive-gray above, with a slightly darker head. Its underparts are pale gray with a yellow, olive, or brown wash. Its wing bars are inconspicuous (pale buff) or absent. One of only five flycatcher species on the island, it is the plainest overall in appearance, and at 16cm in length, is smaller than the others except the Greater Antillean Elaenia which is 15cm. They are similar in appearance, except that the elaenia is paler gray, has stronger wingbars, and has a much smaller bill. The other similar species, the Stolid Flycatcher, is quite a bit larger and much more strongly marked and brighter colored, especially the yellow belly.
It is not a very vocal bird either. Pewees are named for their whistling “Pee-WEEE” call, but this species makes a faint “peet-peet-peet”, and that’s about it.
In lowlands, it is found mostly along the coast in scrub forest and mangroves, and in the mountains, in forested areas, often along the edges of trails, roads and fields. Not abundant anywhere, seeing one or two on a walk may be all you’re going to get! But if you have a sharp eye for that quick fly catching bird, you will be rewarded. Learn more about this species, including its range, photos, and calls here.
Colour in the Hispaniolan Pewee
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 call of the Hispaniolan Pewee
The calls of the Hispaniolan Pewee are a repeated “peet-peet-peet.”
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!
The Hispaniolan Pewee is found mostly along the coast in scrub forest and mangroves, and in the mountains, in forested areas, often along the edges of trails, roads and fields. (Photo by Dax Roman)The Hispaniolan Pewee is a small, drab, but cute bird. It’s mostly brown and gray coloration allows it to remain unnoticed, unless it sallies out to catch an insect. (Photo by Jose Miguel Pantaleon)
Activity of the Day
FOR KIDS: The Hispaniolan Pewee is a type of flycatcher, but that doesn’t mean that they only catch and eat flies! Their diet will included many different types of flying insects. Moths make a delicious meal for a Hispaniolan Pewee, can you find your way through our maze and help this Pewee find some moths? You can find the correct route here.
FOR KIDS AND ADULTS: Don’t forget about our endemic Bird Zine Contest! This is a fantastic opportunity for children and adults to revisit and creatively express their understanding of birds. You will find detailed guidelines and judging criteria in these docs: Bird Zine Contest Guidelines and What is a Zine and Bird Zine Contest Instructions. Be sure to read both documents carefully. There are prizes for each age category and two awesome GRAND PRIZES of a pair of waterproof Vortex Optics Binoculars!
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: Cuban Solitaire
What’s that magical sound? Is there a flutist nearby? No, it’s the Cuban Solitaire! This bird, endemic to Cuba, is a member of the thrush family. It is medium size and wears inconspicuous colors. Its upper parts and tail are olive-brown in color and the lower parts are pale gray. On the wings there is a diffuse patch of reddish-brown color. It has a white eye ring, small bill, and a fine dark mustache stripe.The most remarkable thing about this bird is its beautiful, haunting, flute-like song. It is melodious and varied—some say it resembles the sound produced when a wet finger is rubbed against the rim of a wine glass! This excellent songster is considered relatively common but very local. Its distribution is limited to mountainous forest areas on the eastern and western ends of the island. The Cuban Solitaire lives in humid and shady forests: semi-deciduous woodlands and pine forests, preferably close to cliffs of limestone rock. It is difficult to detect unless it sings because it remains very still while perching high up in the trees. Sometimes it flies down to bushes close to the ground in search of food. Its diet consists of fruits and small insects that it catches on the fly, sallying out from a perch like a flycatcher. Nesting occurs between the months of May and July. The solitaire builds a cup-shaped nest, composed of fine fibers of plant material, rootlets, and animal hair, usually covered with lichens and mosses. Nests are located at heights greater than 5 meters, in crevices of rocky cliffs and tree cavities. Females lay 2-3 whitish or light green eggs stained brown or gray.The solitaire previously inhabited Isle of Youth (formerly the Isle of Pines), a Cuban island located south of Pinar del Rio province and Havana. It was extirpated from that island in the 1930s.The Cuban Solitaire is very sensitive to changes in its habitat. Its current status is Near Threatened, however, local experts suggest it should be classified as Vulnerable, mainly due to its restricted distribution, deforestation of its habitat, and the fact that it is persecuted as a cage bird due to its beautiful song. Learn more about this species, including its range, photos, and calls here.
Colour in the Cuban Solitaire
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 Cuban Solitaire
The Cuban Solitaire has a remarkable song, with a combination of loud trills and flutelike notes on different pitches.
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!
The Cuban Solitaire lives in humid and shady forests: semi-deciduous woodlands and pine forests. It can be difficult to see unless it sings because it remains very still while perching high up in the trees (Photo by Max Schwenne)The Cuban Solitaire is very sensitive to changes in its habitat and is listed as is Near Threatened, mainly due to its restricted distribution, deforestation of its habitat, and the fact that it is persecuted as a cage bird due to its beautiful song (Photo by Bill Hebner)
Activity of the Day
FOR KIDS: Do you know what the different parts of a bird are called? Knowing them can help you to learn how to describe and identify birds, as well as colour them in. Learn the names for the parts of a bird by checking out the diagram in this page. Then test your knowledge by filling in the parts on this sheet. You can colour in the drawings on these pages too! FOR KIDS AND ADULTS: Enjoy the videos below of the Cuban Solitaire in its natural habitat. Although these are not the most colourful birds, they have an amazing high-pitched melodic and varied song. You can hear the birds calling and singing in both videos – what does the sound of their song remind you of?
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: West Indian Woodpecker
Rowdy and feisty, but resourceful and a master carpenter – that’s the West Indian Woodpecker (Melanerpes superciliaris). It is a resident bird in Cuba, Grand Cayman, and The Bahamas. Like many other birds across the Caribbean, it has many local names, for example in English the Bahaman Woodpecker, Cayman Woodpecker, and often simply Red-head.
At 26-30 cm long this is quite a large, impressive woodpecker, with a big black bill, crimson eye, and boldly marked with black-and-white barring and chevrons on the back, wings, and tail. Both sexes have bright red on the head, males with a complete red cap, females only at the nape. In flight its white wing patches are especially striking. There are regional differences: Cuban birds (subspecies superciliaris) have a big black eye-mask, which those on Grand Cayman (caymanensis) lack. In The Bahamas, 3 subspecies occur – on Abaco (blakei), San Salvador (nyeaus) and Grand Bahama (bahamensis). The Abaco and Grand Bahama population have more black behind the eye than the San Salvador population. Bahamas birds are also smaller than the nominate subspecies.
West Indian Woodpeckers are frequently heard before they are seen, constantly chattering loudly, some might say they are noisy! When breeding they also communicate with each other by knocking out drumming rolls on branches and snags. All in all, West Indian Woodpeckers are hard to miss.
Typically found in open, dry or damp, scrubby woodlands, they have moved into man-made environments like palm groves, plantations, parks, and even gardens. Thankfully, this is one woodpecker that is generally doing well, being widespread in Cuba and Grand Cayman. The Grand Bahama subspecies is in trouble, however. It was thought to be extirpated after hurricanes devastated woodland habitats in 2004-2005, but then individuals were heard calling on the eastern part of the island in 2019. We don’t know yet if the population survived after Hurricane Dorian in 2019.
West Indian Woodpeckers will hack into trees to find insects, but like some other Caribbean woodpeckers they are omnivorous and opportunistic, eating lizards, frogs, berries, and fruit, and feeding these to their young. These resourceful birds forage at all levels, from tree-tops to the ground. Finally, and fascinatingly, West Indian Woodpeckers have shown how intelligent they are by using so-called ‘anvils’—cracks in trees where they wedge and work on large or hard items of food. This is regarded as a form of tool-use. Learn more about this species, including its range, photos, and calls here.
Contributed by Gerard Gorman. Gerard is author of Woodpeckers of the World (Helm/Bloomsbury 2014) which includes all the woodpecker species found in the Caribbean.
Colour in the West Indian Woodpecker!
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 call of the West Indian Woodpecker
The distinctive calls of the West Indian Woodpecker are a high-pitched harsh, often repeating trilling “Krrruuuuu-krrruuuu-kruu….”
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!
West Indian Woodpecker- These are impressive birds, with a big black bill, crimson eye, and boldly marked with black-and-white barring and chevrons on the back, wings, and tail. (Photo by Gabriel Lugo)West Indian Woodpeckers will dig into trees and under the bark to find insects, but but they also eat lizards, frogs and berries . (Photo by Lisa Sorenson)
Activity of the Day
FOR KIDS: Remind yourself of some our interesting endemic bird facts by searching out all the clues in our West Indian Woodpecker word search. Can you find all the words? You can find the answers here.
FOR KIDS AND ADULTS: With lots more Caribbean endemic birds to enjoy and colour in during the coming weeks take a look at our colouring-in guide. This will give you some hints and tips on how to make your endemic birds look even more beautiful! Share your coloured-in page with us by posting it online and tagging us @BirdsCaribbean #CEBFfromthenest
Enjoy the videos below of West Indian Woodpeckers in the Wild! The first shows a male excavating a nest hole in Cuba. In the second you can see a female in Cuba, search for termites to eat. The final clip, also from Cuba, show a juvenile female preening on top of a tree stump.
We have a new activity for the Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival (CEBF) and we think you’re going to love it! This year’s CEBF theme is “Sing, Fly, Soar — Like A Bird!” And BirdsCaribbean has lots of fun events and activities planned around this theme, including a zine (pronounced zeen) making contest!
We are very excited to invite you to participate in our first Bird Zine Contest. This is a fantastic opportunity for children and adults to revisit and creatively express their understanding of birds. You will find detailed guidelines and judging criteria in these docs: Bird Zine Contest Guidelines and What is a Zine and Bird Zine Contest Instructions. Be sure to read both documents carefully. There are prizes for each age category and two awesome GRAND PRIZES of a pair of waterproof Vortex Optics Binoculars!
What is a Zine?
A zine is a self-published booklet. Zines tend to be a collage of different images, text, and messages put together by writing, drawing, and/or cutting and gluing content into a booklet. The booklet can be reproduced through photocopying and hand-binding, or shared online via a PDF or flip booklet. Because they are informal and colorful, they are an engaging way to learn and accessible to different types of learners. Need more information? We’ve put together this document that explains how it works, and how you can make your very own!
The Bird Zine Contest was created to allow people in all walks of life, children and adults, to creatively explore the fascinating world of birds. Entries could be from researchers, educators, photographers, students, tour guides, storytellers, artists, advocates – even the ‘I saw my first bird in the wild yesterday’ people! We hope that these zines will also illuminate the intimate relationship between birds and people. It can also be an enjoyable way to further connect our community, so that zine creators will communicate with each other, find opportunities, or even collaborate on future projects.
Remember, birds are super clever and resourceful. They freely express themselves everyday. So should YOU!
We look forward to receiving your bird zines. This collection is meant to reflect our incredibly diverse species of birds and culture and your creativity.
Help us spread the word! Tell your friends and family about the contest and the cool prizes.
Be sure to read these 2 documents and follow instructions carefully:
St Lucia Parrot Zine cover, created by Aliya Hosein, Trinidad and Tobago. You can view the full zine booklet below.
Bird Zine Contest Guidelines – information on who is eligible to participate in the contest, how to submit your zine, prizes, judging, and more.
The deadline for submission is 11:59 PM EDT on Sunday, May 30th, 2021.
Learn More About Zines
A quick online search for ‘Zines’ can provide you with endless examples and tutorials. Here are some zines, many environmental, to look at to get your creative juices flowing.
The Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival (CEBF), now in its 21st year, announces its return for a month-long celebration of the region’s endemic birds! This year’s theme is “Sing, Fly, Soar — Like a Bird!” We will learn about our feathered friends, exploring their beautiful songs and astounding power of flight. Their flight expresses pure freedom and their songs reach out to us, as we connect with them and reflect on their amazing journeys with mixed feelings of envy and admiration. Who hasn’t wished they were able to slip “the surly bonds of Earth” and “danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings”?* These emotions stir us as we embrace this evocative theme.
CEBF creativity – online
How are we reflecting the theme in our CEBF 2021 activities? The #HumansofBirdsCaribbean have been busy behind the scenes preparing webinars, e-books, art classes, colouring pages, videos, origami, puzzles, activity sheets and so much more. A fan favourite, the ‘Endemic Bird of the Day’ series is back with a line-up of 30 new endemic bird species. Be sure to follow BirdsCaribbean on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to see if your favourite bird made the cut. BirdsCaribbean is also excited to host our first ever Bird Zine Contest (pronounced zeen) and a virtual social event, Bird Jeopardy, this year to the festival!
Last spring the event kicked off with a discussion on the Bahamas’ mysterious “Chickcharney” led by the Bahamas National Trust’s Scott Johnson. Dr Ancilleno Davis led a wonderful story time session about mangroves and gave us a virtual tour of his backyard, which happened to be a thriving mangrove habitat! Christine Elder and Josmar Esteban Marquez helped us to realize our potential as artists by inviting us to follow along as they sketched Caribbean birds. New birders were treated to a six-session course “Birding for Beginners,” organized and hosted by Antigua’ Environmental Awareness Group (EAG). The BirdsCaribbean flock has expanded considerably and we hope to continue to build interest and enthusiasm for the region’s rich bird diversity.
An interactive festival experience
This year, during April and May, we have another astonishing line-up of talks. We will dive into a range of topics, including how to record and use birdsongs to understand bird behavior; endemic hummingbirds in the Bahamas; the role of wildlife rehabilitators in nurturing the next generation of champion conservationists; and new discoveries in regional bird research.
However, CEBF participants will not only be sitting and watching; we have also worked on making the CEBF even more interactive. For the past 18 months we have collected stories, myths, and beliefs about birds from our members, which are currently being compiled into an e-book. We have also launched a zine-making contest called the Bird Zine Contest: you will find more details here. And throughout the festival we will be accepting short videos of our members, explaining what this year’s theme means to them – more details on this coming shortly!
Meanwhile, stay safe…
The well-being of our partners and supporters remains the highest priority for BirdsCaribbean. Following the model of our hugely successful virtual “From the Nest” edition of CEBF in 2020 we will provide activities that can be done from the safety of your homes. Some countries are still experiencing serious COVID challenges, while others are doing better. Do follow your local public health guidelines and mask up, socially distance, and stay home if this is called for. With vaccinations now being administered, there is a light at the end of the tunnel—hopefully we will be able to up meet at birding hotspots across the region in the coming months!
The CEBF is a great opportunity for people of all ages to learn about and connect with the Caribbean’s 171 endemic bird species. These birds inspire us to rise above our challenges. In spite of the threats they face; from loss of their habitats to hurricanes to invasive species, they continue to sing, fly and soar!
Visit birdscaribbean.org or follow @BirdsCaribbean on social media for fun and free activities this spring.
Welcome to our first ever Bird Zine Contest, being held as part of our Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival 2021 activities! We hope to inspire you to get creative and join the contest. We have some awesome prizes for winners in each age category plus 2 overall grand prize winners – see below! Please read the Contest Guidelines and Rules carefully and be sure to follow them. Read more about the CEBF theme for 2021 (Sing, Fly, Soar — Like a Bird) and the contest here.Detailed Instructions for making a Zine and the contest categories/ topics for your zine are in the ‘What is a Zine and Bird Zine Contest Instructions‘ document.
Contest Guidelines and Rules
Eligibility
Participants must belong to one of the following four age categories:
7 – 9 years old
10 – 12 years old
13 – 15 years old
16+ (Adult)
We welcome submissions to the contest* from all the insular West Indies including: the Bahamas, Bermuda, Turks and Caicos Islands, Greater Antilles (Cuba, Hispaniola, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Cayman Islands), Lesser Antilles, Trinidad and Tobago, Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao. *Children and adults from other countries are most welcome to create a zine and share it with us, for inclusion in our Bird Zine Library online, but only folks from the countries/ islands listed above are eligible to be part of the contest.
Language
We will accept zines in English, Spanish and French.
What to enter: you may create a physical zine or digital zine – details on each are below. Zines must be created using one of the four topics identified and described in the What is a Zine and Bird Zine Contest Instructions.
Physical Zines:
Participants must select ONE topic from the list below.
Choose between a four (4) page zine, i.e. one letter sized page folded in half OR an eight (8) page zine i.e. two letter sized pages folded in half and binded in the middle .
The first page of the zine must be used as the cover with a title.
Participants may use images (photos & artwork) only or images and text. Text-only zines will be disqualified.
Participants may draw/trace or cut & paste images into your zine.
At least one full body photo or drawing of an endemic bird must be included in the zine (see list of endemic birds here).
The common name/s of the endemic bird/s featured in your zine must be included. You may include local bird names too.
The information must be written in your own words, not copied from a source.
Pages must be numbered (bottom left); excluding the cover page
ONE SUBMISSION PER PERSON.
Digital Zines:
St Lucia Parrot Zine cover, created by Aliya Hosein, Trinidad and Tobago. You can view the full zine booklet below.
Same as the above with the following additional guidelines:
The zine can be created using Microsoft Word (blank template provided) or any other online design software.
Zine must be created from scratch.
Participants must obtain permission to use photos and credit the photographer.
No videos may be embedded and no links may be shared in the digital zine.
See example of St. Lucia Parrot digital zine booklet below.
Winners from each age category will receive the following:
7-9 year old – coloring books, colored pencil set, BirdsCaribbean hat & buff
10-12 year old- coloring books, coloured pencil set, BirdsCaribbean hat & buff
13-15 year old – coloured pencil set, copy of ‘Birds of the West Indies Field Guide’ (Herbert A. Raffaele et al.), BirdsCaribbean hat & buff
16+ year- coloured pencil set, copy of ‘Birds of the West Indies Field Guide’ (Herbert A. Raffaele et al.), BirdsCaribbean hat & buff
There will also be a Grand Prize for children (overall) and adults (overall). Each grand prize winner will receive a brand new pair of binoculars, outstanding for birding: Vortex Diamondback HD 8 x 42 waterproof binoculars which come with an Unlimited Unconditional Lifetime Warranty.
How to Enter your Zine
You or an adult can email completed zines to info@birdscaribbean.org with copy to aliya.hosein@birdscaribbean.org. Include your full name, age, country, selected topic, title of zine. Email subject: Bird Zine Contest
Physical zines: Scan and save as a PDF. Name PDF as follows [first name-last name-age-topic]
Digital zines: Save as PDF. Name PDF as above.
Submissions Deadline
By 11:59PM (EDT) on Sunday, May 30th, 2021
By submitting your zine to BirdsCaribbean as part of this contest, you agree that your zine may be shared on our website, social media, and BirdsCaribbean Zine Library online. All authors retain copyright and all zines will be credited with your name.
Judging
Zines will be reviewed by a panel of judges with points awarded for each of the following criteria:
Originality
Creativity and visual appeal
Details clearly seen in art and images i.e. not blurry/ too large/ too small
Correct bird photos or drawings used
Correct information given; use of technical terms for e.g., endangered, dimorphic, nocturnal
Easy to read and understand
Interesting and correct details about bird/s included relevant to selected topic
Handwriting is legible/ Font is legible (digital zines)
Hannah Carey (left) and Marie-Eve Cyr teach kids at the bird festival. (photo by Belmont Estate)
Do House Wrens on Grenada have different songs in different places? In 2017 Marie-Ève Cyr, a masters student from the University of Manitoba, visited Grenada to find out. Read all about her research and the celebration of Grenada’s birds that Marie-Ève and her lab-mates held whilst on the Island.
Back in 2017, I had the chance to visit the island of Grenada and the southern West Indies on a field course with other students from the University of Manitoba. As a group, we were there to learn about the natural history of the island, local socioeconomics, and sustainable tourism. As a researcher with the Koper lab at the University of Manitoba, I also planned to study resident House Wrens. During our stay we were helped and guided by a multitude of wonderful local organizations, including Belmont Estate, SPECTO, and Almost Paradise Cottages.
Learning from each other
Beyond academic goals, we wanted to give back to the community. As part of the field course, we created the 2017 edition of Celebration of Grenada’s Birds Festival, hosted by Belmont Estate, where we taught local children about Grenada’s avian fauna. The festival was a success and an amazing experience. But during the field course, I also collected recordings of Grenada House Wren songs, and in October 2020, my colleagues and I published a paper about these recordings in the journal Bioacoustics. So, during our stay in Grenada, we learned from the community and they learned from us.
Click on photos below to view larger and see captions.
Rojin Amani at teaching table festival. (photo by Belmont Estate).
Zoya Buckmire releasing Lesser Antillean Tanager. (photo by Belmont Estate)
Changing their tune in the city
This research on Grenada House Wrens started from discussions with other Canadian students who had visited Grenada before me. We were discussing how the Grenada House Wrens appeared to sing differently from those they usually hear in Canada; and that there were variations in their song across the island. However, we could not find any studies on House Wren songs in Grenada. My interest was piqued! Because my background is the study of the effect of noise and human activity on birds, those two ideas merged in my mind. I focused my attention on figuring out whether those differences in the House Wren songs that my colleagues had identified were associated with the human presence in their environment. As it turned out, my colleagues were right. House Wrens did sing differently in different parts of the island, and adjusted their song when living in urban habitats.
Kim Wetten and Lee Sutcliffe with a House Wren. (photo by Belmont Estate)
Singing in different spaces
House Wrens are found throughout North and South America. They are one of the most widely distributed species and their song is extremely variable. With a variety of life history traits throughout its range, there is some discussion about the status of the House Wren as a single species with over 30 recognized subspecies. Could one or more of these subspecies qualify as full species?
Accompanied by two colleagues, I recorded House Wrens in five urban areas and five rural areas in Grenada in 2016 and 2017. Grenada is a Small Island Developing State, where cities are characterized by buildings a few storeys tall. The capital of St. George’s has fewer than 40,000 inhabitants. This contrasts greatly with big cities in North America and makes this research all the more interesting. Since most of the literature regarding urbanization and its impact on birds was done in North American cities, it is hard to look at them within the context of Grenada. We felt that birds in Grenada, including House Wrens, might deal with the challenges of urban environments differently.
A lovely Grenada House Wren in the hand. House Wrens are widely distributed across North America, South America, Central America, Mexico, and the Caribbean. They are migratory in northern latitudes but are year-round breeding residents in the tropics and much of South America. House Wrens are resident in the Lesser Antilles islands of Dominica, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Grenada, and Barbados.
Competing with the humans
We found that House Wrens did adjust their singing style in urban areas to improve their communication, using a mix of strategies. As is often observed in North American birds, they increased the lower frequency of part of their songs, specifically the introductory part. This reduces the masking of their song caused by the noise created by humans. However, unlike their North American counterparts, they sang faster trills in urban habitats. Fast trills can quickly disappear in closed habitats, but can also transmit further. This might explain why Grenadian House Wrens increase the number of trills as a compensatory mechanism in urban settings. It also suggests that birds in Grenada, and in other parts of the Caribbean, face different challenges compared to birds in larger North American cities. Why might this be?
Grenada House Wren singing. (photo by Kim Wetten)
Birds and buildings
The high number of large and tall buildings, such as skyscrapers, in North American cities create a closed environment. There are lots of opportunities for echoes and the reverberation of sounds from the walls of buildings. But in Grenada, the dense and tall surrounding forest might actually be more closed than urban surroundings. Buildings in Grenada’s towns are generally less than four storeys tall, are not very close together, and are separated by roads. This is a good reminder that socio-economic context is important to consider, and bioacoustics research should expand its scope outside North America. More research from the Koper lab is ongoing in Grenada—there is much more to learn, so stay tuned!
Marie-Ève Cyr is a graduate student working on her Master of Natural Resource Management in the lab of Professor Nicola Koper at the University of Manitoba. Her current focus is on bioacoustics research and conservation biology, studying bird species under anthropogenic pressures in the Canadian prairies and the Caribbean.
Dr. Nicola Koper is a Professor in the Natural Resources Institute of the University of Manitoba. She studies avian conservation biology in Canada and the Neotropics. Currently, she is focusing on effects of anthropogenic noise, oil and gas activity, and agroecology of birds.
Click on photos below to view larger and see captions.
Zoya Buckmire holding a Black-whiskered Vireo with Kim Wetten at Belmont. (photo by Belmont Estate)
Lesser Antillean Bullfinch. (photo by Paul Des Brisay)
Kim Wetten banding a Mangrove Cuckoo. (photo by Belmont Estate)
Common Ground Doves. Photo by Paul Des Brisay.
Chris de Ruyck teaching Wing String 2019. (photo by Belmont Estate)
Black morph of the Bananaquit. (photo by Paul Des Brisay)
Celebrate the Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival (CEBF) with us in our virtual “From the Nest” edition! 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: White-chinned Thrush
Walk along any wooded road or trail in Jamaica and you will probably spot a medium-sized dark bird hopping along, with its tail cocked up. This will be a White-chinned Thrush, one of the most common Jamaican endemic birds. It is found in the lowlands, mountains, gardens, and woodlands.
Look again to confirm your identification and you will note a dark grey-black body, bright orange legs and bill, and tiny white epaulettes on the wings. Do not expect to see the white chin; it is so small that you can barely make it out even if you are using binoculars. There are similar looking endemic thrushes in similar habitats in the forests of several other islands, including the Red-legged Thrushes of the Bahamas, Cuba, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, and Dominica. Most of them have much more obvious white or spotted patches below their bills.
The local name – Hopping Dick – is much more descriptive. Hopping is what this bird does! Look for it bouncing over grasses and twigs on the margins of forest patches or along the larger branches of trees as it forages for insects, worms, snails, lizards, berries and seeds. As it hops along, it frequently pauses, looking around to check for predators.
Hopping is supposedly more energy efficient for small birds, such as grassquits and warblers that feed in grasses or fine twigs. Larger birds, such as doves and crows, usually walk as they feed on the forest floor or on large branches. Some thrushes feed mostly on the ground, others mainly in trees. Some hop, some walk and others do both. The White-eyed Thrush, Jamaica’s other endemic thrush, is rarely seen on the ground.
Why is the White-chinned Thrush known as Hopping Dick? It comes from the name “Dicky Bird” – the collective name for common garden birds in the seventeenth century, when many small birds in Jamaica were first named by the British. Learn more about this species, including its range, photos, and calls here.
Colour in the White-chinned Thrush!
Download the page from Endemic Birds of the West Indies Colouring Book. Use the drawing above or photo 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 White-chinned Thrush
The White-chinned Thrush has a variable musical song in the breeding season, also a shrill whistle p’lice, p’lice and a repeated chicken-like clucking.
Puzzle of the Day
Click on the images below to do the puzzles. 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!
White-chinned Thrush (Photo by Matt Grube)White-chinned Thrush (Photo by Instigatrix)
Activity of the Day
FOR KIDS & ADULTS: Check out the two short videos of the White-chinned Thrush in Jamaica. The first one shows a bird with a small lizard in its beak. In the second video, a parent is feeding its tiny naked chick with insects. Videos by AvesPuertoRico Felpe.
BirdsCaribbean, like many other organizations, has had to “rethink” and restructure many of its regular activities in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival (CEBF), celebrated each spring by diverse groups and partners throughout the Caribbean, moved into the online world for 2020. It transformed into a “virtual festival” from our homes—our “nest.”
Vivian and her grandson Diego enjoy birding in Punta Cana in the DR. Grupo Acción Ecológica developed a simple protocol so that the citizens could make observations of birds from their homes and nearby surroundings, departing from traditional group activities for CEBF for the first time. They report that 70 species were sighted, of which 19 (27%) were endemic. Furthermore, the Festival generated wide family participation and photographs of birds, with much excitement and enthusiasm for this birding-from-home activity (Credit: Grupo Acción Ecológica).
Making the Most of the Challenge
In the 19-year history of the CEBF, we have always found fun and creative ways to connect people to our rich and diverse regional avifauna, with a special focus on the unique 171species that live only in the region. Each year, partner organizations, led by BirdsCaribbean organize educational, social and scientific events, gathering people of all ages together at various birding “hotspots.” This year, the planned theme was to celebrate our Birds and Culture; but the challenges of COVID-19 and the social distancing restrictions on the islands’ residents presented unusual challenges for participants.
However, adjusting to difficult situations is nothing new for the region, points out CEBF Regional Coordinator Eduardo Llegus: “Caribbean people—and birds—are very resilient. We have endured catastrophic hurricanes, severe droughts, heavy rainfall and flooding, pollution, and a number of impacts on our environment caused by human activity.”
“Despite these challenges, our enthusiastic partners and bird educators still inspire everyone to help conserve our winged friends and their local habitats, as well as our natural resources, in harmony with humans,” he stressed.
The Virtual Festival Takes Off
Children, teens and adults engaged in a safe, fun, and educational “virtual festival” for CEBF 2020. Online discussions, webinars, courses, educational videos, bird puzzles, maps, eBooks, colouring pages, blog and newspaper articles all formed part of an exciting range of remote activities.
Birding safely from the house in the Dominican Republic! Due to COVID-19, many people enjoyed watching and learning about birds from their house for this year’s CEBF. Many people started birding for the first time (credit: Grupo Acción Ecológica)!
BirdsCaribbean launched pages from the recently published Endemic Birds of the West Indies Colouring Book on our website. This delightful book features 50 endemic Caribbean birds and includes a wealth of additional information on each bird. BirdsCaribbean is especially grateful to the artist Christine Elder, Mark Yokoyama, and many other contributors, including bird photographers. We featured an Endemic Bird of the Day for 50 days on our From the Nest page, and shared photos, puzzles, activities, videos, bird songs and calls, and more.
Throughout this spring, the online world was busy. Birds Caribbean was no exception, with visits to our website and to social media pages increasing by more than 500% in the last two months. BirdsCaribbean now has hundreds of new friends and followers, all engaged and interested in our work.
BirdsCaribbean partners created their own online initiatives for CEBF 2020, mainly on their social media pages, reaching more than 100,000 people all around the Caribbean region, and across the globe. The Bahamas National Trust offered the first online talk, exploring the mysteries of the legendary “Chickcharney”, an owl-like folkloric creature. Artist Christine Elder live-streamed hands-on workshops on Sketching Hummingbirds and Sketching Parrots assisted by parrot expert, Aliya Hosein, in Trinidad.
Social media post by a new BirdsCaribbean fan, Trinidadian Katrina Khan-Roberts, of her sketches from Christine Elder’s Caribbean Hummingbirds Webinar
Josmar’s Drawing and Coloring Caribbean Endemic Birds YouTube Series
Cuban groups partnered with the University of Havana to focus on an Endemic Cuban Bird each day on Facebook, with wonderful photos and fascinating information on each species.
The Cubans shared a different Cuban endemic bird each day of the Festival.
Les Fruits de Mer, BirdLife Jamaica, SOH Conservación, Grupo Acción Ecológica, Puerto Rican Bird Photographers and other Caribbean non-governmental organizations posted on social media about endemic birds and their habitats.
Puerto Rico’s Department of Natural and Environmental Resources Twitter post on the Puerto Rican Parrot
Learning New Ways to Connect
CEBF 2020 was remarkable, offering fresh insights and perspectives through the online experience. BirdsCaribbean and its partners entered a new world of creative possibilities, discovering fresh ways of communicating our important messages on endemic birds. We explored different options, learned to handle Zoom meetings and to present online, and stepped up our social media presence. The response was enthusiastic. The festival was more than just a substitute for regular organized, in-person events. CEBF 2020 highlighted in an innovative way the importance of our unique native wildlife, and emphasized how essential it is to protect our endemic species.
Visit BirdsCaribbean to find From the Nest page, our Youtube channel, and Resources page to enjoy our Endemic Bird of the Day series with photos, puzzles, activities, videos, and more. Follow BirdsCaribbean (@BirdsCaribbean) and your local nature groups on social media with #CEBFFromTheNest and #Festival_de_Aves_Endémicas_del_Caribe.
Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival events are held annually between Earth Day on April 22nd and International Biodiversity Day on May 22nd. Contact your local environmental group to find out about events on your island, or contact BirdsCaribbean to organize an event of your own: CEBF@birdscaribbean.org.
Thank you to all of our partners and friends across the region for participating so enthusiastically and making CEBF 2020 memorable and special. Enjoy the gallery below! (hover over each image to see the caption; click on each photo to see it larger and to view images as a gallery).
Sustainable Grenadines Inc in Union Island, did a fantastic job sharing sightings of birds at local habitats throughout CEBF!
Corredor Biológico en el Caribe shared information about the much beloved endemic Cuban Tody for CEBF 2020.
Artwork from the DR shared by Grupo Accion Ecologica.
Dominica’s Forestry, Wildlife and parks Division challenged their followers to ID birds throughout the month.
BirdsCaribbean offered online puzzles of endemic birds with each Endemic Bird of the Day; these can be accessed at our From the Nest page.
Participants in our parrot sketching workshop by artist and naturalist Christine Elder, showed off their artwork on social media!
Ave Zona in Venezuela was active ni sarhing information about endemic birds and habitats for CEBF.
The Dominica Forestry Dept did a lot of great sharing about birds found Dominica’s diverse habitats.
Bird Photographer in Puerto Rico shared many outstanding photos of Puerto Rico’s endemic birds.
Parrot expert and enthusiast, Aliya Hosein, in Trinidad, did a wonderful job sharing information, artwork, and stamps of the Caribbean’s endemic parrots
Dr. Adrianne Tossas in Puerto Rico gave an outstanding webinar on the endemic birds of Puerto Rico, co-hosted by the DRNE and BIrdsCaribbean.
Celebrate the Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival (CEBF) with us in our virtual “From the Nest” edition! 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: Hispaniolan Parrot
Are those treetops extra loud or is it just us? No, it’s the Hispaniolan Parrot! Known as the Cotorra in Spanish and the Jako or Jacquot in Haiti, these birds often travel in large groups squawking and screeching as they hunt for ripe fruits. Their bright green plumage works well as camouflage as they forage in tropical treetops. The Hispaniolan Parrot is one of the smallest parrots in the genus, Amazona, measuring in at only 28-31 cm. These charismatic birds are brilliant green with a maroon belly, white forehead, light blue headband, pale beak, dark blue cheek patches, and red in the tail. Their bright blue flight feathers help to distinguish them from the similar Hispaniolan Parakeet in flight.
Hispaniolan Parrots are endemic to the island of Hispaniola and are currently listed as Vulnerable. They live in a variety of wooded habitats, from arid palm-savanna to pine and montane humid forest. They typically nest in tree cavities, laying 2 to 4 eggs during the February to June breeding season. Formerly common throughout the island, Hispaniolan Parrots are now much reduced in numbers and locally common only in major forest reserves. Their population decline is due to loss of habitat from deforestation and illegal capture for the local and international pet trade. In addition, these birds forage in cultivated crops and are shot as crop pests.
In the Dominican Republic it is illegal to keep these birds as pets, but the presence of parrots in Dominican households is not uncommon. The government has made a strong effort to seize illegal birds and rehabilitate them in the Santo Domingo Zoo. NGOs and community groups have carried out education campaigns. Some poaching still continues, however, with chicks robbed from nests at a young age and sold as pets. This activity also destroys nest sites because nesting trees are often cut down to reach the chicks.
Fortunately, Dominican conservation groups have led the way in efforts to involve local communities in helping to protect wild populations. Farmers and people living in rural areas often have the best knowledge of the local flora and fauna, including where birds like parrots are known to nest. These people are hired as park rangers and provided monetary incentives to ensure breeding parrots in the area fledge chicks. This not only protects parrots when they are most vulnerable, but also gives communities more ownership and pride in hosting these unique parrots on their farms. You can do your part to help conserve parrots by educating others and supporting conservation of their forest habitat. Learn more about this species, including its range, photos, and calls here.
Colour in the Hispaniolan Parrot!
Download the page from Endemic Birds of the West Indies Colouring Book. Use the drawing above or photo 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 call of the Hispaniolan Parrot
The Hispaniolan Parrot‘s has a wide variety of loud squawks and screeches and 2-syllable bugling flight calls. Dominicans will commonly refer to Hispaniolan Parrots as “cú-ca”, in reference to one of the their most common sounds and calls.
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!
Hispaniolan Parrots eat a wide variety of fruits and seeds, especially palms, cacti, Caesalpinia, and guava. They help to regenerate forests by dispersing seeds. (Photo by Dax Roman)Hispaniolan Parrots are a much beloved bird. Sadly, their populations are declining due to habitat loss from deforestation and illegal capture for the pet trade. (Photo by Francisco Alba)
Activity of the Day
FOR KIDS & ADULTS: Don’t miss this excellent short video about the Hispaniolan Parrot featuring Dr. Yolanda Leon, Executive Director of Grupo Jaragua. This conservation group is working hard to save the parrot and other invaluable biodiversity in the Dominican Republic.
The Caribbean is home to 9 species of endemic parrots – how many do you know? Test your knowledge and learn more about these special birds with our fun Caribbean Parrot Memory Match Game.
Celebrate the Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival (CEBF) with us in our virtual “From the Nest” edition! 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: Scaly-naped Pigeon
The Scaly-Naped Pigeon is a large, forest-dwelling pigeon that occurs throughout the Caribbean, except for Jamaica and the Bahamas. It feeds on seeds, fruits, leaf buds, and snails. It is arboreal, feeding in forest canopies. But it will feed opportunistically on the ground, such as on farms or following forest destruction by hurricanes. It is 14 to 16 inches in height. This pigeon, like others, are important seed dispersers, which means that they help us by spreading seeds around to plant trees.
The Scaly-naped Pigeon is commonly found perched high in trees, that is, if you can find it! In many islands, they are skittish, probably due to hunting pressures. They can be detected by their distinctive, melodic, and maybe even wary, Who Are You? call as they peer down from the safety and cover of tall, forest trees. Sometimes, you may only hear the flapping sounds of their wings as they flee the scene to a different, undisturbed location. In other islands though, Scaly-naped Pigeons are at ease with the human population and in built-up areas. For example, they are easily seen on the Grenadine islands shared between Saint Vincent and Grenada, and are affectionately known by the locals as Ramier.
At a distance, Scaly-Naped Pigeons appear entirely slate gray in colour. At closer range you can see that the head, neck and breast are purple-red, with gorgeous iridescence on the hind neck when the sun hits just right. The neck feathers also grow in a scaly-looking pattern thus giving rise to that description in both its common and scientific name (squamosa means scaly). Scaly-Naped Pigeons can also be identified by their red legs, red eyes, and red at the base of their light-coloured beaks. Their red eyes are surrounded by a patch of bare yellow skin.
The Scaly-naped Pigeon is common on some islands, including Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and some islands of the Lesser Antilles. It is less common on others due to lack of habitat or hunting pressure. It calls from January to July, with peak calls occurring with the fruiting of preferred tree species. The nest is a loose, stick platform constructed on a tree limb, epiphyte, or occasionally on the ground. The female lays 1 or 2 glossy, white eggs and incubates for about two weeks. The young fledge in 18 to 22 days. Local Names: Red-necked Pigeon, Red Head, Blue Pigeon, Mountain Pigeon, Paloma Turca, Torcaza Cuellimorada, Ramier, Ranmye Koa Wouj, Pigeon a Cou Rouge, Ramier Cou Rouge, Grote Blauwe Duif. Learn more about this species, including its range, photos, and calls here.
Colour in the Scaly-naped Pigeon!
Download the page from Endemic Birds of the West Indies Colouring Book. Use the drawing above or photo 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 Scaly-naped Pigeon
The Scaly-naped Pigeon‘s song is a an emphatic cruu. . . cruu-cru-cruuuu…cruu. . . cruu-cru-cruuuu … with the heaviest accent on the fourth syllable. The first syllable is soft and separated by a pause. The last three syllables are repeated and sound like Who are you! It also gives a low-pitched rolling call rhurrrrrrrrrr.
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!
Scaly-naped Pigeon (Photo by Canter Photography)Scaly-naped Pigeon (Photo by Canter Photography)
Activity of the Day
FOR KIDS & ADULTS: The Caribbean has many species of pigeons and doves – how many do you know? Become more familiar with these beautiful birds with our fun Caribbean Pigeons and Doves Memory Match Game.
Celebrate the Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival (CEBF) with us in our virtual “From the Nest” edition! 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: La Selle Thrush
The La Selle Thrush is close cousins with the American Robin. Both belong to the genus Turdus – the true thrushes. The genus has 84 species worldwide, including five in the Caribbean: White-eyed, White-chinned, Red-legged, Forest, and the extinct Grand Cayman Thrush. The handsome La Selle Thrush, found only on the island of Hispaniola, is one of the most secretive. This bird is so elusive that scientists didn’t even know it existed until 1927. An expedition to southeast Haiti first found it atop the 2,000m high La Selle ridge, from which it takes its name.
To see this rare bird, you will need to climb up to the dense wet broadleaf forests high in the mountains above 1,300 m (~4000 ft). With an early start and a bit of luck, at first light you will hear the slow, well-spaced phrases of the La Selle Thrush’s wistful song. As it perches on a mossy branch or hops into view, you will see how its jet black head, back, and wings contrast with its bright orange bill and yellow eye ring. Its black upper parts fade to slaty gray on its upper breast and a rich reddish-rufous on its lower breast and sides. Despite its well-earned reputation as a shy skulker, this bird will sometimes come out in a forest opening. Like other thrushes, it forages on the ground, eating insects, earthworms, and fruit.
The La Selle Thrush lives in wet and cloud forest habitats in the Dominican Republic and Haiti. It is listed as Vulnerable to extinction by the IUCN because its population size is small, fragmented and declining. The main threat is loss of habitat from cutting of trees for agriculture and charcoal production. More frequent and severe droughts from climate change is another challenge for the long-term survival of these ancient forests and their wildlife.
Download the page from Endemic Birds of the West Indies Colouring Book. Use the drawing above or photo 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 La Selle Thrush
The La Selle Thrush‘s song is a series of deliberate and spaced out notes tu-re-oo and cho-ho-cho. Also heard singing in the distance is a Rufous-throated Solitaire and a calling Hispaniolan Woodpecker.
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!
La Selle Thrush (Photo by Alberto Rojas)La Selle Thrush (Photo by Dax Roman)
Activity of the Day
FOR KIDS & ADULTS: Here’s a short video of the handsome La Selle Thrush hopping on the ground in Pedernales, Dominican Republic.
Celebrate the Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival (CEBF) with us in our virtual “From the Nest” edition! 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: Cuban Grassquit
The Cuban Grassquit, called Tomeguin del Pinar in Cuba, is a very small (11.5 cm) seed-eating bird with a conical bill. The male has a black face ringed with a bright yellow collar. He is olive green above and grayish below with a black patch on the breast. The female is similar but duller with a chestnut and gray face and no black breast patch.
The Cuban Grassquit is endemic to Cuba and widespread across the island in coastal scrub, woodlands, pine forests, and thickets near cultivated fields. Because of their bright colors and beautiful song, many people want to keep these birds as pets. Sadly, this has led to a tremendous decline in numbers of this species due to illegal trapping for the caged bird trade, including much international trade. In areas where they were abundant 20 years ago, they have completely disappeared. Conservation partners in Cuba are working on education campaigns to discourage trapping and keeping these birds as pets. Loss of habitat from deforestation is also a problem.
During the non-breeding season, Cuban Grassquits are usually in flocks with Yellow-faced Grassquits, feeding on seeds, small fruits, and plant shoots. In the breeding season, from March to October, flocks divide into pairs. The nest is a large globular mass of woven dried grass built near the ground, with a side entrance. Females lay 2-3 eggs that are white with brown spots. Both parents feed the nestlings.
The Cuban Grassquit is also found on the island of New Providence, in the Bahamas, where it was introduced in 1963. An airplane carrying a cage of Cuban Grassquits from Cuba to Europe landed in Nassau with mechanical problems. Before the plan could continue on its route, the birds were beginning to die so the cage was opened to release the birds. Cuban Grassquits are now common on New Providence. Because they are non-migratory they have not spread to other islands. Learn more about this species, including its range, photos, and calls here.
Colour in the Cuban Grassquit!
Download the page from Endemic Birds of the West Indies Colouring Book. Use the drawing above or photo 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 Cuban Grassquit
The Cuban Grassquit‘s song is a shrill tsit-tsit-tilloi, or chiri wichiwichi, chiri wichiwichi, chibiri wichi wichi. Pairs also sing in duet as courtship and against territorial rivals. The call is a soft chip or high tsit, often repeated.
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!
The Cuban Grassquit is a small seed-eating bird endemic to Cuba; there is also an introduced population in New Providence, Bahamas. The male is striking with a black face and bright yellow collar. These birds are experiencing a serious decline due to trapping for the caged-bird trade. (Photo by Rick Evets)Cuban Grassquit female – she is similar to the male but duller. Her face is mostly chestnut brown instead of black and she does not have a black patch on the breast. (Photo by Rick Evets)
Activity of the Day
FOR KIDS & ADULTS: Enjoy the videos of a Cuban Grassquit below. The first two videos show a male and female perched on a branch in Cuba by Cuban bird guide and author of the Birds of Cuba, Arturo Kirkconnell. The third video shows lovely close-up footage of a male foraging for seeds on the ground.
Celebrate the Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival (CEBF) with us in our virtual “From the Nest” edition! 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: Sad Flycatcher
Sometimes one can get a bad name through no fault of one’s own. In this respect the Sad Flycatcher must be one of the unluckiest birds in Jamaica and perhaps the world. Rufous-tailed Flycatchers have Rufous-tails. Ring-tailed Pigeons have rings on their tails. But there is nothing sad about a Sad Flycatcher. It doesn’t sound sad or look sad. It is a pretty, perky little bird, one of the most common sights in the wooded pastures of central Jamaica. So where did it get its name?
The Sad Flycatcher was first described by P.H. Gosse in the mid-nineteenth century. He called it the Black-billed Flat-Bill, and gave it the scientific name Mylobius tristis. Tristis means sad in Latin. This appears to be the origin of the name. In his description, Gosse wrote that the song of this bird was, “A single wailing note, somewhat protracted, particularly sad to hear, but sometimes followed by one or two short notes in another tone.” While almost everything in his book, “The Birds of Jamaica” is correct – an astonishing feat, considering the how little time he spent in Jamaica – he was wrong about this sound. The call of the Sad Flycatcher is not sad at all. Instead it is a cheery pip, pip-pip pereeee!
The Jamaican Pewee, on the other hand, does indeed have a mournful, single-noted call. This species was also first described by Gosse. The two species are often found in the same habitat. Perhaps Gosse confused the two, and so one of the happiest little birds in Jamaica got a bad name.
The Sad Flycatcher is endemic to Jamaica. It’s local name is Little Tom Fool. It feeds on small insects by sallying from high perches to capture its prey, often returning to the same perch. It also eat small fruits. It has a dark brown crown, brown upperparts, a white throat and upper breast, and a yellow belly. The Sad Flycatcher can be found in forests, woodlands, and pasture edges at all elevations across Jamaica. Learn more about this species, including its range, photos, and calls here.
Colour in the Sad Flycatcher!
Download the page from Endemic Birds of the West Indies Colouring Book. Use the drawing above or photo 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 call and song of the Sad Flycatcher
The Sad Flycatcher‘s call is a frequent pip or pip-pip. It’s song is a rising, cheery pip-pip pereeee.
Puzzle of the Day
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The Sad Flycatcher is endemic to Jamaica. It is the smallest of the 3 Jamaican Myiarchus flycatchers. It usually perches in an open area, flying out to catch flying bugs and beetles. (Photo by Eric Hynes)The Sad Flycatcher is endemic to Jamaica. Jamaicans call it Little Tom Fool because it tends not to move even when people get close. (Photo by Paul Jones)
Activity of the Day
FOR KIDS & ADULTS: Enjoy these two short video of the Sad Flycatcher. The first one is by Aves Puerto Rico Felpe – the bird is perched, looking around and it gives its cheerful call pip, pip-pip pereee several times. This video was filmed in the Blue Mountains of Jamaica. The second video is lovely clear footage of a perched bird, filmed in Kew Park, Westmorland Parish, Jamaica. The bird flies out and lands back on the branch to give us a nice view of its colors from behind.
Celebrate the Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival (CEBF) with us in our virtual “From the Nest” edition! 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: Forest Thrush
The Forest Thrush is a shy forest dweller endemic to the Lesser Antilles, where it occurs only on four islands: Montserrat, Guadeloupe, Dominica and Saint Lucia. It is locally called the Yellow-legged Thrush – it’s name in French, Grive à Pattes Jaunes, means just that. The legs, bill, and bare skin around the eye of this bird are bright yellow. Its upperparts are brown while its underparts have white feathers edged in brown, giving it a scaled effect. Males and females have the same plumage.
The preferred habitat of the Forest Thrush is mountain forests, but it also occurs in swamp forests in Guadeloupe. Like other thrushes, it sings a soft musical song, but it mainly sings at night. This forces ornithologists to get up very early to go and count them! In Guadeloupe, the French Biodiversity Office has been monitoring the species for 6 years. The results of the 2020 census are very encouraging with record numbers of birds in some areas. This is good news because the population had suffered a decline from Hurricane Maria in 2017. Moreover, thanks to a successful campaign, including a petition to the French government and letter-writing campaign by BirdsCaribbean, the species will not be hunted in 2020 in Guadeloupe!
The Forest Thrush was previously classified as Vulnerable by the IUCN. Its population had declined throughout its range from deforestation, introduced predators, hunting, and severe habitat loss from the Soufrière Hills volcanic eruptions on Montserrat in 1995-1997. Surveys show it has been gradually increasing in remaining habitat in Montserrat and numbers are up in Guadeloupe as well. This led to a downgrading from Vulnerable to Near Threatened in 2019. Unfortunately, however, the Forest Thrush has declined drastically in St. Lucia and it is now extremely rare, if not extirpated. Ornithologists do not know why.
Each of the four islands where the Forest Thrush lives host a different subspecies, which all look a little different. The thrush feeds on insects and berries from ground level up into the tree canopy. Breeding takes place from April to July. A bulky cup-shaped nest is built, usually not far from the ground, in a bush or tree. Two to three greenish-blue eggs are laid. Learn more about this species, including its range, photos, and calls here.
Colour in the Forest Thrush!
Download the page from Endemic Birds of the West Indies Colouring Book. Use the drawing above or photo 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 Forest Thrush
The Forest Thrush‘s song is a musical pattern of clear notes, fairly loud and far-reaching. Calls include sharp chuk or chuk-chuk.
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!
Forest Thrush (Photo by Anthony Levesque)Forest Thrush (Photo by Alistair Homer)
Activity of the Day
FOR KIDS & ADULTS: Enjoy this short video of a Forest Thrush in Guadeloupe hopping along the ground and tossing aside leaf litter as it forages for insects and berries to eat.
Celebrate the Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival (CEBF) with us in our virtual “From the Nest” edition! 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: Adelaide’s Warbler
This striking little bird has a sunny yellow belly and sings a sweet trilling song. It can be identified by its gray upperparts, yellow underparts, and two white wingbars. It has a yellow eyebrow stripe that may be edged by black above, and a yellow or white patch under the eye. The tail is gray with white outer feathers. Females differ from males by having less white in the tail, and less pronounced black edging in the eyebrow stripe.
The Adelaide’s Warbler (Setophaga adelaidae), along with the Elfin Woods Warbler (Setophaga angelae), is one of two endemic Parulid warblers on the island of Puerto Rico. The two species have different habitat preferences, however, and only coexist in Maricao Commonwealth Forest, in the western part of the island. The Adelaide’s Warbler is abundant in dry coastal scrubland and thickets, moist forests of middle elevation and haystack hills. It is an active bird, moving constantly as it gleans insects and spiders from leaves and twigs. The local name for this species is Reinita Mariposera which means “butterfly-eating warbler,” due to its fondness for eating caterpillars.
Adelaide’s Warblers typically breed from March to June but the season can be variable with the timing and nest success depending on rainfall. They build cup-shaped nests at heights of 1 to 7 in dense cover. Females lay 2 to 4 white or greenish-white eggs, flecked with small small brown spots. Although currently listed as a species of Least Concern by IUCN, the long-term survival of the Adelade’s Warbler could be threatened by loss of its forest habitat and global climate change. As the planet warms, summer drought is expected to increase in many Caribbean islands, and this could reduce survival of the young.
Previously, the Adelaide’s Warbler population in Puerto Rico was considered a single species with races from Barbuda and Saint Lucia. However, in 2000 the species was split into three distinct species. The other two species were named Barbuda Warbler (Setophaga subita) and St. Lucia Warbler (Setophaga delicata). The Puerto Rican species has the name of the daughter of Robert Swift, who captured the first specimen. Learn more about this species, including its range, photos, and calls here.
Colour in the Adelaide’s Warbler!
Download the page from Endemic Birds of the West Indies Colouring Book. Use the drawing above or photo 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 Adelaide’s Warbler
The Adelaide’s Warbler‘s typical song is described as a variable and loud trill that may increase or decrease in pitch and speed. They have a very large song repertoire and individuals have been recorded as having an average of 23 song types per individual! They also have a pip and a chick call.
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!
Adelaide’s Warbler (Photo by Hemant Kishan)Adelaide’s Warbler Singing (Photo by Hemant Kishan)
Activity of the Day
FOR KIDS & ADULTS: Enjoy the two short videos of Adelaide’s Warbler below by AvesPuertoRico FelPe. The first video is lovely footage of a bird singing it’s trilly sweet song. The second video shows how active these birds are—hopping along quickly as they forage for insects on twigs and branches, stopping only to sing.
Celebrate the Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival (CEBF) with us in our virtual “From the Nest” edition! 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: Cuban Trogon
Cuban Trogon (Priotelus temnurus), Tocororo
This beautiful bird, of resplendent plumage, is the National Bird of Cuba. It’s colors match the colors of the nation’s flag. It is iridescent dark blue-green above, with a violet-blue crown and nape, grayish white throat and breast, and brilliant red belly and eyes. The wings and tail are patterned in blue, black, green and white. The underside of the tail appears mostly white and the tips of the tail feathers are prominently flared. When perched, its size, bright colors, distinctive voice, and posture make this bird unmistakable.
Cuban Trogons are rather inactive birds and are easily approached. They are usually seen alone or in pairs. Their most common call is a repeated toco-toco-tocoro-tocoro,from which it’s local name Tocororo is derived. They are common in wet and dry forests at all altitudes, and are widespread all over Cuba, the Isle of Youth and some cays. These birds do not build a nest. Instead, they use abandoned woodpecker holes or other natural cavities, where they lay 3-4 white eggs from April to July. Their diet is flowers, fruits, insects, and reptiles, including Anolis lizards, which they also feed to their young. It hovers while feeding, much like a flycatcher.
There are 43 species of trogons in 6 genera in the Family Trogonidae (6 quetzals and 37 trogons), that live in tropical and subtropical forests of the Americas, Africa and Asia. The Cuban trogon is one of two species restricted to the islands of the Caribbean; the other species is the Hispaniolan Trogon. Undisputedly Cuba’s national bird is one of the most beautiful representatives of its family. Trogons are colorful and beautiful birds, but the particular shape of the Tocororo’s tail makes it unique. Learn more about this species, including its range, photos, and calls here.
Colour in the Cuban Trogon!
Download the page from Endemic Birds of the West Indies Colouring Book. Use the drawing above or photo 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 call of the Cuban Trogon
The Cuban Trogon‘s call is a repeatedtoco-toco-tocoro-tocoro, from which it’s local name Tocororo is derived. The throat and tail vibrates as the bird calls (see videos below).
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!
Cuban Trogon (Photo by Jose Pantaleon)Cuban Trogon (Photo by Rafy Rodriguez)
Activity of the Day
FOR KIDS & ADULTS: Enjoy these short videos of Cuban Trogons calling. The video is by Cuban ornithologist, Arturo Kirkconnell, the bird perched out in the open and calling (turn up the volume). Note its upright posture and red, white and blue colors. Its throat and tail vibrate as it calls. You can hear another trogon calling in the distance. The second video shows a closer view of a calling trogon.
Celebrate the Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival (CEBF) with us in our virtual “From the Nest” edition! 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: Hispaniolan Parakeet
Meet the charming face of Hispaniola – the Hispaniolan Parakeet, known as the Perico in the Dominican Republic, or the Perruche in Haiti. These gregarious, green goofballs are most easily seen chattering noisily from the rooftops of Santo Domingo. They are extremely social and often hang out in large groups with as many as several dozen individuals.
This parakeet is bright green overall, with a long and pointed tail, white eye-ring, pale beak and legs, and red patch on the wing’s wrist area that shows up well in flight. The sexes are identical. The Hispaniolan Parakeet is best distinguished from the similar green Hispaniolan Parrot by its much longer tail and higher pitched squawk-like vocalizations. While they are the only native and endemic parakeet on the island, the Olive-throated Parakeet has been introduced to some of the more urbanized parts of Hispaniola. Similar in size, these parrots can be distinguished by their blue wing patches, instead of the red boasted by the Hispaniolan Parakeet. Interestingly, Hispaniolan Parakeets also used to also exist in Puerto Rico, though they were declared extinct on the island in 1882. Yet one other introduced population persists on the island of Guadeloupe.
The Hispaniolan Parakeet’s natural habitats are forested mountains and lowlands, but there are populations that live in urban areas like the ever-increasing one in Santo Domingo. They feed mostly on fruits and seeds, but sometimes also on corn and other crops and therefore regarded as a pest by farmers. They travel and forage in flocks.
Like many other parrots in Latin America and the Caribbean, Hispaniolan Parakeets are threatened with extinction, currently listed as Vulnerable by the IUCN. Their biggest current threat is poaching, where young parakeets are taken from nests and sold into the pet trade. Deforestation is also a problem— the parrot has been disappearing in areas where forests have been cut down for agriculture. Their current population is estimated at several thousand individuals, with trends showing continuing declines. It is illegal to keep these and the Hispaniolan Parrots as pets. Let’s continue to educate about keeping these magnificent birds free and wild to decrease their presence in captivity and help them survive for future generations to enjoy. Learn more about this species, including its range, photos, and calls here.
Colour in the Hispaniolan Parakeet!
Download the page from Endemic Birds of the West Indies Colouring Book. Use the drawing above or photo 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 call of the Hispaniolan Parakeet
The Hispaniolan Parakeet has a noisy screeching flight and perch call kree, higher pitched that than the Hispaniolan Parrot.
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!
Hispaniolan Parakeet Eating (Photo by Dax Roman)Hispaniolan Parakeet (Photo by Dax Roman)
Activity of the Day
FOR KIDS & ADULTS: Read more about the laws that protect Hispaniolan Parakeets, Parrots and other birds that are captured for the illegal pet trade. What can you do to help?
Celebrate the Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival (CEBF) with us in our virtual “From the Nest” edition! 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: Crested Quail-Dove
You have to get up early if you want to see Jamaica’s endemic Crested Quail-Dove. And you will have to be in the mountains—in the dense, dripping wet, thousand shades of green foliage, coolness of the mountains. If you’re lucky, you may first detect its presence by a rustling of leaves on the hillside beside you. Freeze and you may spot one, walking along the forest floor, looking for fruits and seeds. It will be bobbing its plush, grey, helmeted head and tail as it struts along; its beady, red-ringed eyes seeking out small fruits and seeds on the ground.
When you see a Crested Quail-Dove you will know, because it is coloured like no other Jamaican bird. It has an iridescent reddish-purple upper back that contrasts with its grey neck, crest, and underparts; an iridescent purplish-blue lower back, and reddish primaries and secondaries (flight feathers). Keep still and savour the experience while you can. If it sees you, it may fly heavily a short distance and vanish back into the safety of the undergrowth. Sometimes it freezes on the ground or on a low perch, allowing for extended views.
The Crested Quail-Dove lives in the Blue and John Crow Mountains, Mt. Diablo area, and Cockpit Country. Locals call it Mountain Witch, Blue Dove or Blue Partridge. It’s two-part song is a mournful whuuOh..whuu, the first note sharp with the following notes softer and lower in pitch. The dove is much more likely to be heard than seen. Like other forest birds, its long-term survival will depend on preservation of Jamaica’s forests.
There are nine species of quail-dove in the genus Geotrygon and each one is uniquely beautiful. They are all found in the tropical or subtropical forests of the Caribbean and Central and South America. The Crested Quail-Dove was the first to be named by the nineteenth century naturalist, Philip Henry Gosse. “No description can give an adequate notion of the lustrous radiance of this most lovely bird,” he wrote in his book, “The Birds of Jamaica” published in 1847. When you see one you will agree with him. Learn more about this species, including its range, photos, and calls here.
Colour in the Crested Quail-Dove!
Download the page from Endemic Birds of the West Indies Colouring Book. Use the drawing above or photo 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 Crested Quail-Dove
The Crested Quail-Dove‘s song is a mournful two-note whuuOh..whuu, the first note sharp and the second note softer and lower in pitch. The dove is much more likely to be heard than seen.
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!
The Crested Quail-Dove is a creature of awesome beauty. (Photo by David Havel)The Crested Quail-Dove has a unique crest on the nape of its neck that looks like a helmet. (Photo by Francisco Piedrahita)
Activity of the Day
FOR KIDS & ADULTS: Check out the videos of this elusive endemic bird! The first video shows a close-up view of a handsome Crested Quail-Dove perched on a branch. The second video shows the dove walking along the road with it unique habit of bobbing its head and tail. BirdsCaribbean member and guide, Ricardo Miller, helped James Currie of Nikon’s Birding Adventures find this bird on the famed birding hotspot, Ecclesdown Road, in the Blue and John Crow Mountains, Jamaica.
Celebrate the Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival (CEBF) with us in our virtual “From the Nest” edition! 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: Puerto Rican Emerald
The Puerto Rican Emerald (Chlorostilbon maugeaus), or Zumbadorcito de Puerto Rico in Spanish, is an endemic hummingbird found only in the archipelago of Puerto Rico. Measuring from 3.5 to 4 inches and weighing approximately 3 g, it is the smallest bird species in the island. It is not much larger than the smallest hummingbird species of the world, the Bee Hummingbird from Cuba, which weighs only 1.8 g. For comparison, a penny weighs 2.5 g, similar to these tiny birds!
The Puerto Rican Emerald is sexually dimorphic, meaning that males and females look different. The male has iridescent green feathers on its body and a black tail, while the female has white underparts and white outer tail feathers. This hummingbird can be distinguished from other hummingbirds in the archipelago by its shorter, straighter bill, and black forked tail. Emeralds are distributed throughout forests and woodlands from the coast up to the mountains. They are highly territorial, often defending territories with intense aerial pursuits.
The Puerto Rican Emerald mainly feeds on nectar taken from a variety of brightly colored, scented small flowers of trees, herbs, shrubs and epiphytes. They use their long, extendible, straw-like tongues to retrieve the nectar while hovering with their tails cocked. Sometimes they may be seen hanging on the flower while feeding. Many native and cultivated plants on whose flowers these birds feed heavily rely on them for pollination. With its smaller size, this species feeds on the nectar of flowers with shorter corollas (petals). Sometimes they reach the nectaries from larger flowers by piercing the base of the flower. This is a form of “nectar robbery” because it does not provide the essential service of pollination to the plant. Emeralds also take some small spiders and insects, especially females, which provide an important source of protein during the breeding season.
Puerto Rican Emeralds may visit local hummingbird feeders for some sugar water, or drink out of bird baths or water fountains where they will either hover and sip water, or they will perch on the edge and drink. Do you have Puerto Rican Emeralds visiting your yard? If not, entice these colorful gems by providing native flowering plants that they are fond of, like Malvaviscus penduliflorus (Turks cap, sleeping hibiscus, carriaquillo), Hamelia patens (firecracker bush, firebush), and Odontonema sp (cardinal’s guard). You can also enjoy their presence by providing a feeder. Just be sure to clean it and refill it every couple of days! Learn more about this species, including its range, photos, and calls here.
Colour in the Puerto Rican Emerald!
Download the page from Endemic Birds of the West Indies Colouring Book. Use the drawing above or photo 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 Puerto Rican Emerald
The Puerto Rican Emerald‘s song is a repeated twittering phrase of high-pitched descending notes, tseereetseetseetsee-tslew-tslew-tslew-tslew-tslew. Calls include a constantly repeated high-pitched tsik and irregular series si..si..sik-sik…tsik. (other birds heard in this recording: Black-faced Grassquit, Puerto Rican Tody, Puerto Rican Vireo, Elfin Woods Warbler, Puerto Rican Woodpecker).
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!
Male Puerto Rican Emerald sipping nectar from a Star Vine Flower. (Photo by Rafy Rodriguez)Female Puerto Rican Emerald – note her white underparts. (Photo by Engie Photography)
Activity of the Day
FOR KIDS & ADULTS: Enjoy the videos below by Aves Puerto Rico Felpe. First, a male sipping nectar from flowers, including slow motion of the bird hovering while it feeds. The second incredible video shows a female feeding her chick, newly fledged and out of the nest, but still being fed by Mom. The third video shows 2 chicks (male and female) in the nest at 17 days old. Their feathers are growing and they will fledge soon – they are nearly too big for the tiny cup-like nest!
The female alone builds the nest using plant fiber, wild cotton, moss, cobweb and its saliva; and decorates it with lichens. She lays 2 eggs and incubates them for about 14-16 days. Chicks fledge (leave the nest) at about 20-22 days old.
Celebrate the Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival (CEBF) with us in our virtual “From the Nest” edition! 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: Red-legged Thrush
Found in the Bahamas 🇧🇸: Thrush; Cuba 🇨🇺: Zorzal Real; Dominican Republic 🇩🇴: Chua Chua, Haiti 🇭🇹i: Ouèt-ouèt; Puerto Rico🇺🇸: Zorzal Patirrojo; Cayman Islands 🇰🇾: Old Thruss, and Dominica🇩🇲: Pyé-jòn, this Caribbean endemic is similar in behavior to its North American counterpart, the American Robin. The Red-legged Thrush (Turdus plumbeus) is about 25-28 cm long. Its colors vary depending on what island you’re on, but it is always distinguished by its bluish-gray or slate gray upperparts, bright reddish-orange legs, red eye ring and white tail tips. Males are larger than females.
There are six subspecies (three described here). The Bahama race (T. plumbeus plumbeus) has a black throat, black bill and tail, mid-gray under parts and white chin patch. The Western Cuban, Isle of Pines and Cayo Coco sup species (T. p. rubripes) has a white chin, black throat, blackish to reddish bill, black tail, greyish breast and orange buff belly. The Hispaniola and Puerto Rican, subspecies (T. p. ardosiaceus) has a boldly striped throat, black tail with white tips, reddish orange bill, with greyish underparts.
The Red-legged Thrush inhabits forests, pinelands, scrub, shade coffee plantations, gardens, and residential areas. It is a common and year-round resident throughout most of its range. It is omnivorous, feeding on a variety of fruits, insects and small vertebrates like anole lizards and greenhouse frogs. It forages mainly on the ground, working through leaf litter to find invertebrates. Like the American Robin, it is a common visitor to gardens and lawns, hopping along with its tail held up.
Breeding behavior of the Red-legged Thrush is poorly understood and varies with subspecies, but pairs have been observed defending breeding territories. They build cup-shaped nests with roots, grasses, mosses and leaves. Three to four eggs are laid and chicks leave their nests about 15 days after hatching. Breeding may take place from January to September, but peaks from April to July. Learn more about this species, including its range, photos, and calls here.
Colour in the Red-legged Thrush!
Download the page from Endemic Birds of the West Indies Colouring Book. Use the drawing above or photo 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 call of the Red-legged Thrush
The Red-legged Thrush has a number of different calls, including a low weecha and high-pitched chu-week. The song is a melodious but monotonous series of two to three phrases similar to the Pearly-eyed Thrasher (Margarops fuscatus), but a bit more musical: chirri chirri eeyu chirr biyuyu … tewi …shooh tewi
Listen to the song of the Red-legged Thrush
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!
Red-legged Thrush in Cuba – this subspecies has a reddish-brown abdomen, white chin and black throat. (Photo by Aslam Ibrahim)Red-legged Thrush in Hispaniola – this subspecies has a whitish abdomen and boldly striped throat. (Photo by Dax Roman)Red-legged Thrush in the Bahamas – this subspecies has black throat with white chin patch and gray underparts. (Photo by Erika Gates)
Activity of the Day
FOR KIDS & ADULTS: Enjoy this lovely video of a Red-legged Thrush in Puerto Rico where it is a common resident. It is called and gray in Puerto Rico. You can hear a Black-whiskered Vireo calling in the background. Video by AvesPuertoRico Felpe.
Celebrate the Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival (CEBF) with us in our virtual “From the Nest” edition! 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: Cuban Parrot
The Cuban Parrot, formerly known as the Rose-throated Parrot, is not actually endemic only to Cuba. It also occurs on two islands in the Bahamas (on Abaco and Great Inagua) and the Cayman Islands. It is a pigeon-sized parrot (~30 cm). Coloration varies between the islands but this attractive parrot is mostly green with a pinkish-red chin, throat, and cheeks, and purplish abdomen. The forehead and eye ring are white and flight feathers are soft blue. The bill and legs are yellow. Is a very noisy bird, especially when they are in flocks in the non-breeding season. During the breeding season they are usually in pairs.
In the Cayman Islands, the parrot is called the Cayman Parrot and it is the national bird of the Cayman Islands. In the Bahamas it is called the Bahama Parrot, and in Cuba – Cotorra Cubana.
In Cuba, the Cuban Parrot lives in dense woodland (including the Isle of Pines). It inhabits native broadleaf and pine woodlands in the Bahamas, and dry forest and agricultural areas in the Cayman Islands. The parrot has also been recorded in savannas with palm groves, mangroves, plantations and gardens. They eat a variety of fruits and seeds, including including gum elemi (Bursera simaruba), poisonwood berries, wild guava, mastic, white torch, mahogany seeds, and fruits of many species of palms. For nesting they mainly use old woodpecker nest holes and dead palms that have lost their foliage. The Abaco Island population has the unique behavior of nesting in limestone crevices in the ground, which makes them vulnerable to predation by feral cats and raccoons. Females lay 3-4 white eggs; breeding is from March to September.
The Cuban Parrot was formerly much more numerous and widespread. Christopher Columbus was so struck by the numbers of parrots when he made landfall in The Bahamas in 1492, that he wrote in his log, “flocks of parrots darken the sun.” Sadly, this parrot has been extirpated from much of its former range due to habitat destruction and capture for the pet bird trade. Hurricanes also kill birds and damage habitats. Some conservation actions have helped: such as the creation of the Abaco National Park in 1994 to protect the parrot and campaigns to educate people that capture of wild parrots is illegal and they should not be kept in cages. But more work is needed to ensure the long-term survival of this near-threatened species. Learn more about this species, including its range, photos, and calls here.
Colour in the Cuban Parrot!
Download the page from Endemic Birds of the West Indies Colouring Book. Use the drawing above or photo 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 call of the Cuban Parrot
The Cuban Parrot is very noisy, especially when perched in a flock. It has a wide variety of screeches and calls. In flight, it utters a harsh squawk squawk.
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!
The Cuban Parrot’s short rounded bill is characteristic of all true parrots. The bill is a powerful multi-purpose tool used for eating, climbing, defending, preening (grooming), and playing. (Photo by Ger Bosma)Four sub-species of Cuban Parrots are recognized: two in the Cayman Islands (Grand Cayman and Cayman Brac), one in Cuba, and one in the Bahamas. (Photo by Richard on Flickr)
Activity of the Day
FOR KIDS & ADULTS: Enjoy the videos below which show the Cuban (Bahama) Parrot in the wild. The first video shows a Cuban Parrot feeding on tamarind seed pods in Matanzas, Cuba. The Bahama Parrot video by Scott Johnson and the documentary from 2011 provide details on the threats to Bahama Parrots in Abaco and Great Inagua and research and conservation actions by the Bahamas National Trust to protect the parrot. The fourth video is QUINCY’S SONG – a rap song created for the first Rare campaign in the Bahamas to protect the Bahama Parrot in 1992.
Learn more about the Cuban Parrot in these articles:
Celebrate the Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival (CEBF) with us in our virtual “From the Nest” edition! 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: Antillean Siskin
Take a walk in a sun-filled, rolling meadow up in the mountains of the Dominican Republic (DR). If you’re lucky, you will see a small flock of beautiful black and yellow birds take flight. They emerge from their hiding place within the thick grasses to then swirl up and into the sunshine. These are Antillean Siskins. Contrary to what their name implies, they occur nowhere else but the island of Hispaniola.
Antillean Siskins are small chunky birds with a light yellow conical bill. Males have a distinctive black head and bright yellow collar and underparts. Their back is olive-green, the tail is black with two yellow patches. Females are olive-green above and yellowish-white below with grayish streaks. Antillean Siskins are incredible songsters. Check out the amazing ensemble of different sounds they can make below.
Antillean Siskins live in montane pine forest and grass savanna habitats in the border region of the DR and Haiti. They may wander down to other habitats at lower altitudes during the colder, non-breeding months of the year. Siskins feed on seeds from a variety of grasses, shrubs, and trees. They forage in small to large flocks. Breeding takes place in May and June. Pairs build a cup nest made of moss in bushes or the lower branches of pine trees.
Unfortunately, the “islands in the sky” that Antillean Siskins and other montane species call home are shrinking. The habitat is disappearing due to human encroachment. The next mountain top can be a long flight away, and is likely facing the same problems. It is up to us to protect their remaining habitat. We can also help with ongoing efforts to reforest Hispaniolan mountain forests and grassland habitats. Learn more about this species, including its range, photos, and calls here.
Colour in the Antillean Siskin!
Download the page from Endemic Birds of the West Indies Colouring Book. Use the drawing above or photo 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 songs and call of the Antillean Siskin
The Antillean Siskin sings an amazingly eclectic song (starting at 0:32) without seeming to take a breath, including a jut-jut, a shrill and buzzy zzhhreeeee, and a buzzy insect-like zzzzzzzzzt that is upward inflected.
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!
Male Antillean Siskin (Photo by Dax Roman)Female Antillean Siskin (Photo by Dax Roman)
FOR KIDS AND ADULTS: Enjoy this shirt video of a lovely male and female Antillean Siskin eating fruit – the white-fleshed pitahaya or dragon fruit (Hylocereus undatus), a species of Cactaceae.
Celebrate the Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival (CEBF) with us in our virtual “From the Nest” edition! 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: Hispaniolan Woodpecker
Hispaniolan Woodpecker – friend or foe? This charismatic endemic is found all over the island of Hispaniola and has garnered quite the reputation for itself. With darting lemon yellow eyes, and sporting a flashy bee-striped back pattern, these loud birds can often be seen throwing their heads back and proclaiming a loud waaakkkkkaaaaa to the world. Unlike most woodpeckers they are very social, often nesting in loose colonies of up to 20 pairs. Pairs excavate a cavity for nesting and the adults in the colony defend the nesting tree. Pairs greet each other upon arrival to the cavity by swinging their heads from side to side.
Although Hispaniolan Woodpeckers prefer to build their nests in Royal Palm trees, many people misperceive this bird as a pest, believing it prefers Dominican homes. But it does not, and these birds are actually quite useful to keep around. First, they are valuable seed dispersers. They eat a variety of native fruits and through their poop, help to regenerate deforested palm savannah pastures. Second, they are fond of eating those pesky large cockroaches that many people are not too keen to host in their homes. Many people did not realize that the woodpecker provided these valuable ecological services. In the past, it used to have a bounty, with the government paying for each woodpecker tongue collected. Thankfully, even with a price on its head, the woodpecker has persisted, remaining a common and widespread bird.
Hispaniolan Woodpeckers are buffy dark-olive below, their back is covered in yellow and black stripes. Males have a red crown and nape while females have a black crown and red nape. Their tail base is brilliantly red while the tail itself is black. The rump is olive-grey. Males are larger than females and their bill size is ~20% bigger. They eat insects, fruit, and seeds taken through gleaning, probing and pecking on trees, bushes, epiphytes and cacti.Learn more about this species, including its range, photos, and calls here.
Download the page from Endemic Birds of the West Indies Colouring Book. Use the drawing above or photo 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 call of the Hispaniolan Woodpecker
The Hispaniolan Woodpecker is quite vocal, emitting a range of sounds including yapping, squeaking, rolling and nasal calls. They give a long series of up to 23 notes in long-distance communication. Drumming is done only occasionally.
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!
Hispaniolan Woodpecker eating bananas (Photo by Jose Miguel Pantaleon)Female Hispaniolan Woodpecker (Photo by Jose Miguel Pantaleon)
Activity of the Day
FOR KIDS & ADULTS: Enjoy this video of a male Hispaniolan Woodpecker feeding by probing and pecking on a tree trunks to find insects.
This video has some great footage of a female Hispaniolan Woodpecker perched on a tree trunk and calling repeatedly.
Celebrate the Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival (CEBF) with us in our virtual “From the Nest” edition! 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: Elfin-woods Warbler
The Elfin-woods Warbler is a rare bird found only in mountain forests in Puerto Rico. Describing it as an elusive bird is an understatement—the warbler avoided discovery until 1969 and was not described as a new species until 1973! This could in part be due to its similarity to the Black-and-White Warbler, which migrates through Puerto Rico. The species was named after Angela Kepler, one of its discoverers. It is the last new species to be described for the region.
The Elfin-woods Warbler is a small bird with black and white plumage. Adults have a black crown and back, incomplete white eye ring, thin white eyebrow and 2 white wing bars. The underparts are white, with black streaks on the throat, breast and flanks. The sexes look alike but males tend to have larger amounts of black streaking on the breast and throat. Juveniles have a similar pattern as the adults, but the black is replaced by grayish-green on the back and yellowish-green on their heads and underparts.
The Elfin-woods Warbler can be differentiated from the Black-and-white Warbler by the absence of white streaks on its back and different black and white pattern on the head. Their behavior also differs: Black-and-white Warblers creep along the trunks of trees whereas Elfin-woods Warblers glean small insects from leaves and small branches of trees and bushes. It moves rapidly among ravines and dense understory of its preferred habitat in moist montane dwarf forest. It often flocks together with other birds – this may also explain how it remained undetected for so many years.
Its current range is limited to just two locations, Maricao Commonwealth Forest and El Yunque National Forest, in the western and eastern parts of Puerto Rico, respectively. The species is listed as Endangered due to its small range and declining population size. The main threat is ongoing loss and modification of its prime forest habitat, even in protected areas. Since the 1980s, the construction of communication infrastructure (e.g., cell phone, microwave and radio towers) and roads, as well as expanded recreation facilities, continues to destroy and fragment its dwarf forest habitat. Conservationists are trying to create a biological corridor that they hope will increase the Elfin-woods Warbler’s range.
The species’ common name in Spanish Reinita de Bosque Enano refers to the place where it was discovered as well as to its size. In Puerto Rico most people call small birds “Reinita” and “del Bosque Enano” refers to the dwarf forest where it was seen for the first time. It is one of the 12 species of New World warblers exclusively found in the Caribbean region. Learn more about this species, including its range, photos, and calls here.
Colour in the Elfin-woods Warbler!
Download the page from Endemic Birds of the West Indies Colouring Book. Use the drawing above or photo 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 call of the Elfin-woods Warbler
The Elfin-woods Warbler”s song is a series of short, rapidly uttered, unmusical notes on one pitch, increasing in volume and ending with a short series of distinct double notes. It also produces a short metallic “chip” call and a contact call which is similar to the song but without the double-note ending.
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!
Elfin Woods Warbler (Photo by Gloria Archilla)Elfin Woods Warbler (Photo by Gloria Archilla)
Activity of the Day
FOR KIDS & ADULTS: Check out the great video of the rare Elfin-woods Warbler moving through the forest vegetation and gleaning insects from the leaves and branches. This video was recorded in the Maricao State Forest (Monte del Estado).
Celebrate the Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival (CEBF) with us in our virtual “From the Nest” edition! 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: White-breasted Thrasher
With a chocolate brown back, striking white chest, and piercing red eye, the White-breasted Thrasher is not among the flashiest of Caribbean birds, but it is certainly among the most elegant. This plumage, its pervasive alarm calls, and namesake habit of thrashing through the leaf litter in search of invertebrate prey makes the thrasher unmistakable among birds in the dry forest.
“One of the rarest birds in the West Indies,” is how James Bond described the thrasher in the early 20th century, and the species is still rare today. Found only in Saint Lucia and Martinique, where it is known as Gòj Blan and Moqueur Gorge Blanche, respectively, there are fewer than 2,000 thrashers left. Its dry forest habitat has been fragmented by large-scale development for tourism. It has also been degraded by small-scale timber extraction and livestock grazing. In addition, non-native mammalian predators such as rats, mongoose, and cats have invaded the habitat. These invasive mammals prey on thrashers and other wildlife and are a major cause of the species decline.
Despite being Endangered, however, this bird is not particularly difficult to see if you find yourself in the dry forest. This is partly because they are noisy, but also because they often live in large family groups, a unique behavior called cooperative breeding. Rather than dispersing to breed independently as most birds do after they fledge, some thrasher offspring from one year forgo breeding to help their parents in raising offspring (their siblings) in the next few years. One consequence of this behavior is extremely short dispersal distances, which in turn, has resulted in a lack of gene flow between the two island populations. Should the two subspecies of thrashers in Saint Lucia and Martinique be split into separate species? Probably…stay tuned! Learn more about this species, including its range, photos, and calls here.
Colour in the White-breasted Thrasher!
Download the page from Endemic Birds of the West Indies Colouring Book. Use the drawing above or photo 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 call of the White-breasted Thrasher
The White-breasted Thrasher’s call is a short, harsh, rasping (tschhh). It also has a more complex song. Thrashers are particularly noisy when defending a territory, using persistent and variable cries, both metallic and nasally.
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!
The White-breasted Thrasher forages on the ground, making it vulnerable to predators like invasive rats, mongoose, and cat. It tosses aside leaf litter in search of small invertebrates, particularly insects. It also feeds on berries, fruits, and even small lizards and tree frogs. (Photo by David Belfan)The White-breasted Thrasher often droops its wings and may twitch or flick them when excited or curious. (Photo by Hank Tseng & Adams Toussaint)
Activity of the Day
FOR KIDS & ADULTS: See the White-breasted Thrasher in action! This foraging bird was filmed in Martinique. You can see how it tosses aside leaf litter to find insects and other food items.
Celebrate the Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival (CEBF) with us in our virtual “From the Nest” edition! 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: Zapata Sparrow
The Zapata Sparrow (in Cuba: Cabrerito de la Ciénaga) is one of three endemic Cuban birds discovered in 1926 by the Spanish naturalist, Fermín Zanón Cervera. Apparently it had a much wider distribution in the past but now just three small populations persist in three widely separated areas. They are each considered different subspecies belonging to endemic genus Torreornis. The earliest known population was discovered by Cervera in the Zapata Swamp. A second population was found in the Guantanamo province in southeast Cuba in the 1950s. The third population was finally discovered in the Cayo Coco Cays on the north coast in the 1970s.
Zapata Sparrows are plump sparrows with yellow underparts, a white throat, and a dark mustache stripe. The crown is dark reddish-brown and upperparts are olive-gray. The Zapata and Cayo Coco races are quite similar, with bright colors. The race from the coastal area east of Guantánamo is duller with the crown almost gray. The three races live in quite different habitats. In the Zapata Swamp they live in sawgrass prairie that is flooded about half the year. In Cayo Coco, they inhabit coastal scrub and low forest, and in Baitiquirí (Guantánamo) they live in low thorn scrub with cacti and scattered trees (this is the most arid part of Cuba).
Zapata Sparrows are usually seen in pairs, sometimes accompanied by a third individual. They are weak fliers due to having short and rounded wings. Pairs appear to defend a territory year-round. During the dry season they feed primarily on seeds, fruits, and flowers, but in the wet season they expand their diet to include animal matter such as insects, caterpillars, moths, spiders, snail eggs, and even small lizards. They nest from April to June, and lay two eggs in a cup shaped nest, usually less than one meter from the ground.
Because of their small ranges and population sizes, all three races are vulnerable to natural threats like hurricanes, and human-caused impacts such as ongoing habitat loss and degradation. The Zapata Sparrow is listed as Endangered by the IUCN. Special care must be taken to ensure that the habitat in the 3 areas where it occurs is not damaged or developed. Learn more about this species, including its range, photos, and calls here.
Colour in the Zapata Sparrow!
Download the page from Endemic Birds of the West Indies Colouring Book. Use the drawing above or photo 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 call of the Zapata Sparrow
The Zapata Sparrow’s typical call is a high-pitched metallic trill tziii-tzziii-tzziii repeated at intervals while the pair forages.
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!
Zapata Sparrow (Photo by Aslam Ibrahim)Zapata Sparrow (Photo by Rafy Rodriguez)
A lovely video of the handsome Zapata Sparrow, perched on a branch during a windy day in the Zapata Swamp. The bird turns once so that we get a great view of its front and back:
Celebrate the Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival (CEBF) with us in our virtual “From the Nest” edition! 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: Golden Swallow
If you ever get the chance to go birding in the mountains of the Dominican Republic (DR) or Haiti, you’ll want to add Golden Swallows to your list of birds to see. It’s not uncommon for people to spend hours watching these amazing birds fly around open meadows where they feed. They twist, turn, and dive through the air with incredible grace and precision as they hunt for airborne insects—their primary food source. These little aerial acrobats weigh only 13 grams—the same as a AAA battery—which allows them to maintain flight for a long time with limited effort!
As for their name, the debate of whether this swallow’s colouring better matches its English common name (golden) or its Spanish common name (verde = green) is a fierce one. We’ll settle it right here—they are both! The colours you see on their upperparts are ever-changing as they fly around and catch the sunlight at different angles. In a few seconds you might observe a blue-ish sheen changing to a golden iridescence that then changes to an olive-green!
Because of their erratic flight, it’s challenging to get a good look at a Golden Swallow with binoculars! Instead, you might do better if you can locate one of their nests. They are secondary cavity nesters, which means that they nest in cavities already built. So look for them using old woodpecker holes in dead snags, as well as rocky cliff sides that offer small crevices for nesting. Like many other types of cavity nesting birds (ex. bluebirds and flycatchers), Golden Swallows will sometimes use man-made nest boxes. Scientists in the DR have been successful at attracting Golden Swallows to nest boxes. This has helped them to study the birds and figure out how best to protect them. It turns out that conservation of these swallows is definitely needed!
Although once found in small numbers on the neighboring island of Jamaica, Golden Swallows are now found only on the island of Hispaniola. We don’t know why they have disappeared from Jamaica, but it could be for the same reasons that other swallow species are declining. Swallows feed on insects, and we now know that insects worldwide have been decreasing at alarming rates for a long time. This is from destruction of native habitats as well as the widespread use of insecticides (also called pesticides). Truth be told, we’ve become too good at killing insects, and we’re only now waking up to the realization that our ecosystems depend on them. The good news is that there is an easy way that everyone can help: plant as many native plants as you can on your property. Native plants attract native insects (not pest insects!), and these insects provide lots of food (filled with protein!) for MANY different bird species.
Try to replace lawn space that you don’t use with native trees and bushes. Lead or join community efforts to add more native greenery to your neighborhood. Let’s work together to rebuild the food web from the bottom up to help conserve our birds! Learn more about this species, including its range, photos, and calls here.
Colour in the Golden Swallow!
Download the page from Endemic Birds of the West Indies Colouring Book. Use the drawing above or photo 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 call of the Golden Swallow
The flight call of the Golden Swallow sounds like tchee-weet.
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!
Golden Swallow perched on a nest box in the DR, showing blue, green and golden colours on is back and head! (Photo by Eladio Fernandez)Golden Swallow (Photo by Dax Roman)
Activity of the Day
FOR KIDS: Insects are an important food resource for many species of birds. Can you match the pictures of 8 insects with the name of the insect? How many types of insects can you find in your backyard or neighborhood? Do our Insect Matching Activity and then check your answers with the Answer Key.
If you need help identifying them, download Seek, by iNaturalist, a very cool mobile app that can help you identify insects, plants, amphibians, lizards, birds, mammals, and more!
FOR KIDS & ADULTS:
The free ebook, Heritage Plants, is a guide for backyard beautification and habitat restoration using native Caribbean plants and trees.
Learn about key native plants that are beneficial to native and migratory birds with our eBook: Heritage Plants: Native Trees and Plants for Birds and People in the Caribbean. The plants highlighted in this book are perfect for backyard gardens, neighborhood landscaping, and other habitat restoration projects big and small. Browse the book, get inspired, and find new plants to grow in your backyard! Check with your local Forestry Department as they may have some of these plants available at no cost. Available in both English and Spanish!
The Golden Swallow website – lots of great information here on the work that researchers have done with these swallows over the last ten years.
Video of Golden Swallows at their nest box, in flight, feeding chicks, and more! This video highlights the best footage that scientists were able to capture across three summers of research in the Dominican Republic. Most of the video is on the breeding population in the Parque Valle Nuevo, with a glimpse of the population at Aceitillar.
Enjoy the video below from Cockpit Country, Jamaica.This is the last place that Golden Swallows were seen on in Jamaica before they disappeared. Watch the morning fog slowly drift away and listen to all of the birds waking up in the lush jungle below.
Read about Justin Proctor’s marvelous adventures and findings from field work on the Golden Swallow in the DR and Jamaica!
