Category: Conservation

August 29, 2018

Funding Opportunity—The Betty Petersen Conservation Fund to Help Caribbean Birds

2018-2019 Awards Now Open!

Size of Award: One grant up to $135,000 or 2 or more grants up to $65,000 each

Deadline for Pre-proposals: September 27th, 2018 at midnight EDT.

Address Questions and Send Application to: Lisa Sorenson, Executive Director, BirdsCaribbean, Lisa.Sorenson@BirdsCaribbean.org; copy to info@birdscaribbean.org

Invitations to submit full proposals will be sent by October 10th, 2018, and those proposals are due by October 31st, 2018.

Announcement of Awards: November 15th, 2018

Donations to the Fund: Tax-deductible (U.S.) at this link.

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Betty Petersen helped many aspiring conservationists; we honor her legacy with this conservation fund.

Inspiration: Betty Petersen (1943-2013), a lifelong resident of Massachusetts, U.S.A. was, in her own way, a wizard. With nothing more than donated birding equipment, books, and a bit of cash, she turned local communities and school kids into committed conservationists, struggling NGOs into recognized players on the inter-American scene, and “paper parks” into real protected areas. And in the process she reminded us how rewarding it is to lend a hand when none is expected.

The Goal of the Betty Petersen Conservation Fund is to advance the conservation status of birds and habitats in the Caribbean region. The Fund provides competitive grants to groups or individuals to engage and empower communities and stakeholders to protect and benefit sustainably from their birds. The Fund and its grants will be administered by a designated advisory group within BirdsCaribbean.

Eligibility: Applications are invited from conservation organizations, academic programs or government working in the Caribbean. Successful proposals will benefit the conservation of birds and their habitats in the greater Caribbean region, including Bermuda, the Bahamas, and all islands within the Caribbean basin. Innovative projects that engage local communities and decision makers to alleviate threats and/or encourage sustainable use of threatened natural resources will receive priority for funding, as will projects that benefit high priority areas—such as Important Bird Areas or Key Biodiversity Areas—that are under serious threat.

Matching Funds: Applicants are encouraged to provide at least 1:1 matching funds toward the project cost. In-kind match qualifies. Proposals providing a higher match ratio may receive preference.

Application Guidelines

Applicants shall initially provide a pre-proposal in English, French, or Spanish. All require an English language version of the abstract.
Applications need to be emailed as a Microsoft Word document, with “Betty Petersen Conservation Fund Pre-Proposal” in subject line.
The application comprises a cover page, proposal (see guidelines below), and a curriculum vitae for the applicant that includes the names, affiliations, telephone and e-mail address for three individuals who can attest to the applicant’s effectiveness in previous bird conservation work.

Evaluation:

A committee appointed by BirdsCaribbean will review the pre-proposals and may invite full proposals from applicants whose projects seem best aligned with the goals and most likely to affect positive change.
The committee may select one or more projects each year for funding.
Awardees are required to submit a report 13 months from the day of the award explaining the results of the project to that point and also an accounting of how funds were used. For single-year projects this will be considered the final report. Multi-year projects must report annually, with continued funding dependent on adequate progress and use of grant funds. In all cases, unexpected challenges as well as progress beyond initial expectations require notation.
Awardees are encouraged to present the results of their work at the biennial International Meeting of BirdsCaribbean and publish in The Journal of Caribbean Ornithology.

Download the application form (PDF) here.

August 28, 2018

Redonda Rebounded—Magical transformation spells brighter future for Redonda’s wildlife

August 23, 2018

Bird Feared Extinct Rediscovered in the Bahamas

Bahama Nuthatch observations fuel hope for the species

One of the rarest birds in the Western Hemisphere, the Bahama Nuthatch, has been rediscovered by research teams searching the island of Grand Bahama.

The finding is particularly significant because the species had been feared extinct following the catastrophic damage caused by Hurricane Matthew in 2016, and had not been found in subsequent searches.

It is unclear how many nuthatches may be left. Observations of two birds together and other single birds (including a juvenile) scattered across miles of forest indicate that five or more birds could survive.

The Bahama Nuthatch is an Endangered species, only known from native pine forest on Grand Bahama Island, which lies approximately 100 miles off Palm Beach, Florida. Closely related to the Brown-headed Nuthatch of the southeastern United States, the Bahama Nuthatch is considered by some authorities to be a distinct species (Sitta insularis) while others regard it as a subspecies (Sitta pusilla insularis) of the Brown-headed Nuthatch (Sitta pusilla).

The Bahama Nuthatch can be distinguished from North American populations by its longer beak, shorter wings, whiter belly, and distinctive vocalizations that differ from the mainland population.

Locations of Brown-headed (Bahama) Nuthatch sightings on Grand Bahama in ebird. Most sightings are in the Lucaya Estates Pine Forest. The sighting in Freeport is at the Rand Nature Center in November 1978.

Common on Grand Bahama in the 1960s, the species declined drastically. Extensive population surveys in the mid-2000s by Hayes et al (2004) and Lloyd and Slater (2009) confirmed that the birds had become very rare; it was estimated that 1,000 to 2,000 individuals remained, all within the “Lucaya Estates” area. It had not been seen since Hurricane Matthew hit Grand Bahama in October 2016.

Two search teams worked in coordination with Bahamas National Trust (BNT) to rediscover the bird during the breeding season, starting in April of this year. One team was led by Zeko McKenzie and his students at the University of The Bahamas-North, supported by American Bird Conservancy, and another by University of East Anglia (UEA) masters students Matthew Gardner and David Pereira, in conjunction with BirdLife International.

Both teams first observed nuthatches in May 2018, documenting their observations with photographs. McKenzie’s team observed five birds in all, starting with a sighting of two individual Bahama Nuthatches together on May 1. The next sighting was on May 23, over a mile from the first observation, and included a juvenile bird accompanying a Bahama Warbler. The juvenile was distinguished from adults by the lack of distinctive brown plumage on the crown of the bird’s head. A video recording of this juvenile Bahama Nuthatch by McKenzie was the earliest documentation of the species’ continued survival in 2018, and was followed by additional photographs of adult birds by both research teams later in May and in subsequent months.

The Bahama Nuthatch exhibits several highly unusual and endearing behaviors: It is one of the very few bird species that conducts co-operative breeding, in which young males assist with nest construction, nest sanitation as well as feeding of the female sitting on the eggs, nestlings and fledglings. It is also one of the few birds known to utilize a tool. On occasion, it uses a bark chip, held in its bill, to pry off bark portions during foraging for insects and grub. (photo by Carrol Henderson)

Dr. Diana Bell, from UEA’s School of Biological Sciences, said, “The Bahama Nuthatch is a critically endangered species, threatened by habitat destruction and degradation, invasive species, tourist developments, fires and hurricane damage.”

Regarding the moment when he saw the Bahama Nuthatch, Matthew Gardner recalled, “We had been scouring the forest for about six weeks, and had almost lost hope. At that point we’d walked about 400km (250 miles). Then, I suddenly heard its distinctive call and saw the unmistakable shape of a nuthatch descending towards me. I shouted with joy, I was ecstatic!”

“The photographs clearly show this distinctive species and cannot be anything else,” said Michael Parr, President of American Bird Conservancy. “Fortunately this is not a hard bird to identify, but it was certainly a hard bird to find.”

Parr continued, “Despite the critical situation for this species, other birds—such as the New Zealand Black Robin—have recovered from tiny populations. We are optimistic that conservation can also save the Bahama Nuthatch.”

All of the Bahama Nuthatches was observed within the Lucaya Estates, an area previously logged during the mid-1900s and since developed with many miles of roads for residential development.

Bahama Nuthatch photographed in July 2018. (photo by Erika Gates)

A last sighting and photographs of a pair of Bahama Nuthatches was made by Erika Gates, well-known Grand Bahama birder and guide and BirdsCaribbean Director, on June 28, 2016, prior to Hurricane Matthew on October 6, 2016. She is elated at the recent sightings of the bird. “This will hopefully generate sufficient excitement in the scientific community to begin aggressive research and map a much needed conservation strategy,” she commented.

Bahamian researcher Zeko McKenzie said, “Although the Bahama Nuthatch has declined precipitously, we are encouraged by the engagement of conservation scientists who are now looking for ways to save the species.” Zero had previously set up nest boxes for the Bahama Nuthatch, but they were not used.

“The Bahamas National Trust feels that research on endangered species, such as the Bahama Nuthatch, is really important,” said Shelley Cant-Woodside, Director of Science and Policy of the Bahamas National Trust, “especially in the face of a changing climate.”

“These recent observations confirm that the Bahama Nuthatch is not extinct; it is critical that we raise awareness about the precarious status of this unique species and do all we can to make sure it survives,” declared Lisa Sorenson, Executive Director, BirdsCaribbean.

Participants at BirdsCaribbean’s 18th International Conference in Grand Bahama in July 2011 were fortunate to observe this rare species on one of the mid-conference field trips to the pine forest. (photo by Erika Gates)

July 29, 2018

Coming to the Rescue of Caribbean Birds: BirdsCaribbean’s Donations Bring Help and Hope to the Islands

July 25, 2018

Flying with the Devil – Part I: On the Ridge

Its local name is “Little Devil.” But not much is known about this elusive bird, either on land or at sea. An intrepid group of conservationists go on an expedition in the mountains of the Dominican Republic to find out more about the Black-capped Petrel.

A Seabird in the Mountains

Map of study site in the Sierra de Bahoruco National Park, Dominican Republic (Map by Aly Ollivierre)

We park the pickup trucks at the park ranger’s hut and unload our gear and supplies. I climb the flimsy wooden stairs of the nearby fire tower, hoping to catch a glimpse of the sunset. We have arrived on the ridge of the Sierra de Bahoruco, the Dominican Republic’s southernmost relief and the eastern end of the De la Selle mountain range. This is the backbone of Hispaniola’s southern peninsula. Below me, the forest of Occidental pines unfurls in a deep green velvet. To the north, I can see the dark plains surrounding Lago Enriquillo, already in the shadow of the mountains. To the southwest, the glistening waters of the Caribbean Sea. Further to the west, below the setting sun, Haiti is already disappearing in the fog that has started to accumulate against the escarpment. From atop the fire tower, I try to imagine what might happen in a few hours. Not far from our camp, a small silhouette will pierce the night clouds, crashing through the trees before rushing to its burrow. It’s a Black-capped Petrel – the region’s only endemic seabird and one of the most endangered seabird species in the Atlantic Basin. The petrel is returning to feed its single chick after a week at sea.

For the next two weeks, we will stay in the mountains of the Sierra de Bahoruco National Park to try and gather more information about how this elusive bird behaves at sea. Our team consists of Ernst Rupp, senior researcher and project manager at Grupo Jaragua, the Dominican conservation NGO monitoring the petrel’s nesting sites in the country; Pirrín Jairo Matos, Gerson Feliz, José Luis Castillo and Ivan Terrero, indispensable field technicians with Grupo Jaragua; Patrick Jodice, lead scientist at USGS – South Carolina Cooperative Fish & Wildlife Research Unit (SC CRU); and myself, Yvan Satgé, early career biologist at the SC CRU – Clemson University. As the temperatures drop with dusk and the wind picks up, I join my colleagues huddled around the cooking fire. At 2,000m above sea level, even a mid-April evening in the Caribbean can get cold.

The team, still fresh and clean on the first day of fieldwork. Left to right: Pirrín Matos, Ivan Terrero, Yvan Satgé, Patrick Jodice, and José Luis Castillo – not pictured: Ernst Rupp and Gerson Feliz (Photo by Ernst Rupp)

The Mysterious “Little Devil” – What We Know

The Critically Endangered “Diablotin” or Black-capped Petrel in flight. (Photo by Doug-Gochfeld)

Black-capped Petrels (Pterodroma hasitata), like most gadfly petrels of the Pterodroma genus, are famously hard to study on land. As pelagic seabirds, they spend most of their lives at sea, only coming to land to nest from mid-January to mid-June. They were once more common in the Greater Antilles. They are locally known as Diablotin, the little devil. They are night birds and their eerie calls during the mating season give them their name. The bird’s breeding sites have been especially hard to find. They were only re-discovered in the 1960s in Haiti, and the 1980s in the Dominican Republic. As recently as last year, Ernst and his team found a new nesting area in the central mountain range of the Dominican Republic. There is hope that Black-capped Petrels might also be nesting in the Sierra Madre of Cuba (where they are known as brujas, the witches) and Dominica, but none have yet been found there.

Although better-studied than breeding sites, the marine habits of Black-capped Petrels also remain vague. Until recently, they were thought to fish the waters off the southeastern United States year-round. However, our 2014 satellite tracking study of three adults showed that they might in fact forage off the coasts of Colombia and Venezuela while raising chicks. During this expedition, we plan to track a dozen nesting petrels with lightweight GPS loggers and to study their diet. Once we know where they go and what they eat, we will better understand the secrets of their travels and the threats they face at sea.

“Como una aguja en un pajar” – The Proverbial Needle in a Haystack

Grupo Jaragua field technician Pirrín Matos walks among prime Black-capped Petrel nesting habitat in Loma Quemada, Sierra de Bahoruco, Dominican Republic. (Photo by Yvan Satgé)

Before we can study the petrels though, we need to catch them. This is where the knowledge of Grupo Jaragua’s field technicians comes into play. The expression “a needle in a haystack” translates well in Spanish, and applies particularly well to their mission. In a haystack of dense mountainous vegetation, they are experts in finding the petrels’ burrows—underground “needles” hidden among rocky screes or under thick layers of leaf litter. Pirrín’s skill is in locating the nest entrances among the rocks and vegetation. He confirms his findings with the presence of a fly that seems to favor active nest sites: “Pirrín’s fly”. José Luis is in charge of the borescope. Maneuvering the thick cable of optical fibers as far as 2 meters underground, he inspects every corner of the burrow for signs of recent activity: a well-defined nest cup, an adult incubating the pair’s single egg, or a sleeping chick. Gerson, the team’s memory, can remember every burrow Grupo Jaragua has ever monitored. Knowing how to use rock-climbing equipment, he is also the group’s de facto safety officer, were the terrain to become too abrupt and exposed. Ivan is still a trainee; but if he learns as fast as he walks through the thick vegetation or climbs up and down the steep ravines, he will be finding new nesting sites very soon.

Small but Helpful Gems Found in a Burrow

José Luis Castillo uses the borescope to look for signs of activity in a nest previously located by Pirrín Matos (right). (Photo by Yvan Satgé)

At each active burrow, I collect as many samples as I can. The first nest brings me beginner’s luck: just in front of the entrance a petrel dropping awaits. It is shiny and fresh from the previous night. My colleagues joke as I collect the dark part of the poop as if it were a golden nugget (the white part, urea, is useless for our testing). As insignificant as it looks, this little sample can tell us a lot. Thanks to my fellowship with the Dave Lee Fund, I will use DNA found in the sample and others like it to identify the species of prey eaten by Black-capped Petrels. Dave Lee himself had studied the petrel’s diet off the coast of North Carolina and showed that they favored squid. The technique available at the time, however, tended to put heavier focus on prey species that took a long time to digest (such as squid, whose beak fragments tend to build up in the digestive tract). With the molecular analysis of fecal DNA, I’m hoping to refine our knowledge of the diet of Black-capped petrels. This will help us better understand their life at sea.

José Luis hands me a few breast feathers left behind by adult petrels when they enter or exit the tunnel. Feathers can tell us about the broad diet of the bird through an analysis of stable isotopes. We can also use them to measure the bird’s exposure to mercury, which Black-capped Petrels are prone to bio-accumulate. Finally, if we are lucky, DNA left in the quill will inform us on the genetics of the local population. We are also interested in collecting remnants of eggs. If the egg has hatched, the remaining shell can be tested for contaminants. It can also provide clues to the diet of the female when she produced the egg. If the egg proved infertile, we will collect it with great care to bring it back to the Dominican National Museum of Natural History for their specimen collection.

More Finds for the Test Tube

Typical entrance of a Black-capped Petrel burrow in Loma del Toro, Sierra de Bahoruco, Dominican Republic. Note the chicken-wire of a trap shining inside the tunnel. (Photo by Patrick Jodice)

In an active burrow, I find an insect that seems to use the discarded feathers to make its cocoon, a black tube with protruding white barbs of the petrel’s feather. Could it be Pirrín’s fly? I plop the fly into a test tube; each sample joins our growing collection in a freezer, until we have enough funding to analyze them. Then Ivan comes back to me with good news. The team found a group of four nearby nests, with a chick in each burrow. To limit disturbance, we will be using GPS loggers that remotely send their tracking data to a base-station. Due to the dense vegetation and the steep surroundings, the range of the base-station is limited to a radius of about 300m. It is therefore crucial that we choose nest sites close to each other. Under Pirrín’s supervision, we set chicken-wire traps at the entrance of each tunnel to capture the adults as they return at night. After carefully concealing the traps’ openings under the rocks, sod, or pine needles surrounding the burrow, we take a deep breath and hike up to the nearest ridge. We are hoping for success when we come back at sunrise.

By Yvan Satge. Yvan is a Research Associate in the Lab of Dr. Pat Jodice, at the South Carolina Cooperative Fish & Wildlife Research Unit, Clemson University. He has been studying various aspects of seabird ecology for the last few years.

I am grateful for support for this project from the Neotropical Bird Club, BirdsCaribbean’s Dave S. Lee Fund, Grupo Jaragua, and the USGS – South Carolina Cooperative Fish & Wildlife Research Unit.

Next time: Part II: Finger bites and football matches

July 23, 2018

Birding Tours of Cuba in 2019 from BirdsCaribbean

Cuban Tody—one of Cuba's most beloved endemic birds. (photo by Aslam Ibrahim) — Colorful and friendly, the Cuban Tody is one of Cuba’s most beloved endemic birds. (photo by Aslam Ibrahim)

Join BirdsCaribbean, the Caribbean Birding Trail and acclaimed Cuban bird guide, Ernesto Reyes Mouriño, on the adventure of a lifetime in January or March of 2019.

Cuba is well-known for its amazing landscapes, vibrant culture and unique biodiversity. According to the new Endemic Birds of Cuba: A Comprehensive Field Guide, 371 birds have been recorded in Cuba, including 26 which are endemic to the island and 30 which are considered globally threatened. Due to its large land area and geographical position within the Caribbean, Cuba is also extraordinarily important for Neotropical migratory birds—more than 180 species pass through during migration or spend the winter on the island.

Our itinerary takes you to several of the best and most beautiful birding locations in Cuba, providing opportunities to see many of Cuba’s endemic species and subspecies as well as many migrants. Along the way, we will meet people in local communities, stay mainly in Bed & Breakfast establishments (casas particulares) and eat in private restaurants (paladars), allowing you to experience Cuba’s rich culture, delicious food, friendly people, and generous hospitality. We will also have the opportunity to meet and have discussions with local ornithologists and conservationists that have been working with BirdsCaribbean for many years.

BirdsCaribbean is offering two tours in 2019: an 8-day trip in January and a 12-day trip in March. Find detailed itineraries for both trips below. Traveling with us helps Caribbean birds as a portion of the proceeds from the trip supports our bird conservation programs and partners in Cuba and the Caribbean. See some of the world’s most beautiful and memorable birds, knowing you are helping ensure their welfare by supporting the people who study and protect them. Read testimonials and see photos from past trips in the gallery below.

Our 2019 tours are now full, but do email us to get on the waiting list or to be the first on the list for our 2020 trips.

Send an email to Lisa.Sorenson@BirdsCaribbean.org

Check out the report and photos from our January 2016 trip here and from our July 2017 trip to Havana and Zapata Swamp here. See testimonials and photos from past trips below. Purchase the new Endemic Birds of Cuba Field Guide here.

NOTE: The recent policy changes in the Cuban Assets Control Regulations do not affect BirdsCaribbean’s birding trips or the requirements of US citizens traveling with us. Their birding trips consist of group travel under the general license that authorizes travel transactions that support the Cuban people (also known as the people-to-people general license.) The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) requires that (1) all people-to-people travel be conducted under the auspices of an organization that is subject to U.S. jurisdiction and that sponsors such exchanges to promote people-to-people contact (BirdsCaribbean), and (2) such travelers be accompanied by a person subject to U.S. jurisdiction who is a representative of the sponsoring organization (the BirdsCaribbean trip leaders). While you are on the trip, BirdsCaribbean will ensure that you have a full-time schedule of activities that engage private citizens (e.g., local guides, Cuban biologists, private business owners), and avoid transactions with the State Department’s List of Restricted Entities and Subentities Associated with Cuba (“the Cuba Restricted List”).

June 24, 2018

Wish You Were Here: Treasures of the Northern Exumas

Jennifer Wheeler shares “postcards” from her recent volunteer vacation in the Bahamas, where she sailed the ocean blue with a crew of dedicated conservationists. She shares stories from a week spent in the beautiful northern Exumas, surveying and banding shorebirds and seabirds, and removing invasive plants.

Dear folks,

I’m recently back from my “volunteer vacation” in the Bahamas. I’m a bit burned, battered and bruised, but that’s the nature of the work we were doing to find and protect some special birds! Similar to last year, Conservian, a non-profit in Florida, invited BirdsCaribbean to share in the chartering of a sleep-aboard sailboat to take us from island to island. This photo was taken on a sunny afternoon, but much of the trip was overcast … too bad clouds don’t keep you from getting sunburned! (Photo by Dawn Rasmussen)

As you know, the Bahamas is made up of a lot of islands (about 700!) and during my week on the boat, the route focused on the Exuma Cays, which begin about 35 miles east-southeast of Nassau and stretch southeast in a gently curving arc for about 90 miles. Over a week, we visited the stretch between Allen Cay and Warderick Wells cay, which includes the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park.

So what were we looking for? Our primary targets were breeding populations of Wilson’s Plover, White-tailed Tropicbird and Audubon’s Shearwater. We deployed in teams to various cays to search the beaches and cliffs, walking many hours during the day (and sometimes night). We took note of other birds, as well, including American Oystercatchers, Laughing Gulls, and Least Terns. (Photo by Dawn Rasmussen)

Wilson’s Plover is a medium size (about 8” tall) shorebird that forages on the sand and wrack; pairs of plovers set up breeding territories widely separated along beach habitats. To find Wilson’s Plover, teams visited cays with suitable habitat and carefully walked the beach looking for adult birds to call out in warning. One or two adults chirping and/or pretending injury was a good sign that a nest was nearby. (Photo Bella Rooney)

Actually finding the plovers’ simple nest is not easy. The spotted eggs blend perfectly into their surroundings. Careful where you walk! (Photo by Dawn Rasmussen)

The White-tailed Tropicbird is a striking white bird, 14-16” long, not counting its long streaming tail feathers. To find these birds, one must do a lot of stooping and peering, as these beautiful birds nest in the holes and crevices formed in the wind and wave-carved limestone made of ancient corals (very, very sharp, by the way). We found most tropicbirds on a single egg or new chick; the males and females take turns in the burrow, waiting on average nine days until their turn to fly far out to sea to forage for squid, flying fish, and other prey. (Photo by Dawn Rasmussen)

In all, we found about 150 tropicbird nests on three different islands in the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park. We banded 60 new birds and recaptured more than 10 that were banded in previous years. Though graceful in the air, in the hand these birds are fighters. The White-tailed Tropicbirds were none too pleased to be pulled from their nest holes and each came out screaming and biting. We took care to minimize the stress on the birds when handling and worked quickly to band them. (Photo by Lisa Ferguson)

Audubon’s Shearwater is another bird of the open ocean, which returns to land only in darkness and nests in natural cavities, under rocks, or in burrows it creates; it is a stocky, black and white bird, 12” from bill to tail. Surveying for shearwaters requires working at night. Being smaller, drabber, and more deeply tucked in than tropicbirds, shearwaters usually can’t be seen from the surface. Instead, a recording of courtship calls (or rather, screeches- listen below!) is played to prompt the birds to call out, sometimes from right beneath your feet. (Photo by Lisa Ferguson)

With a sleeping mat to cushion against sharp rock and vegetation, one can reach in to pull out struggling shearwaters, which fortunately are not able to bite nearly as hard as tropicbirds. We banded several, but it seemed as if shearwaters were taking a year off from breeding, something that is not uncommon when spring weather is bad (as it was this year). The good news is that the rodent traps that we set out for a week on Allen Cay yielded no mice! It would appear that the mouse eradication conducted in 2012 was successful. Mice did not directly harm the Audubon’s Shearwaters there, but their presence encouraged Barn Owls to settle on the island, which indiscriminately killed shearwaters. Also, a careful survey in daylight hours revealed very few fresh bird corpses – yay! (Photo by Jennifer Wheeler)

Keeping an eye on bird populations is important to conservation, but our project also involved taking action to help the birds. Caribbean bird populations today are just a remnant of the masses that once called the region home – historically reduced by human harvest, introduction of predators, and development and conversion of habitat to human uses. The small, uninhabitable cays and those in the Park are protected from development, but still threatened by alien species, and some cays are inhabited. In addition to bird sightings, teams recorded the state of the habitat and signs of threats, such as tire prints and footprints indicating human disturbance or predators. (Photo by Dawn Rasmussen)

Introduced mammals are a big problem for island birds. The Warderick Wells tropicbird colony is still recovering from its decimation by dogs several years ago. On this trip, we encountered dogs on Shroud Cay. They were very friendly, and you know I love dogs, but it was definitely not good to see them there! Dogs running free pose a threat to the birds, not to mention iguanas, hutias (native rodents), and other native species. (Photo by Dawn Rasmussen)

Introduced plants can also be a big problem. A prime example is Casuarina, or Australian Pine (Casuarina equisetifolia). The plant was originally brought to the region for landscaping and is now a scourge. Its fast growth and prolific seeding has distributed it to almost every island in the Bahamas, where its thick litter smothers native vegetation and increases beach erosion. We spent a full day killing casuarina on Shroud Cay, using axes to hack girdles and spraying an herbicide into the cuts. The “hack and squirt” method is quite effective, but hundreds of trees in, gets very tiring. Plus, the necessary gloves, glasses, long sleeves and pants makes for very hot work! (Photo by Lisa Ferguson)

All and all a great trip for me – the birds were awesome, my team members were great, the sailboat crew superb, the weather decent and no sea-sickness! It felt good to contribute to our knowledge of Bahamas birdlife and conservation efforts. I’m grateful to Margo Zdravkovic, Director of Conservian, for organizing the trip, Will Mackin, Co-chair of BirdsCaribbean’s Seabird Working Group, for leading the seabird monitoring work, the many volunteers who assisted with the work, and the fantastic captain and crew of the sailboat Avalon (charter them at Lost Island Voyages)! (Photo by Lisa Ferguson)

Love,

Jennifer

Jennifer Wheeler is an avid adventurer and loves volunteering her time to help conservation causes. She was the coordinator of the Waterbird Council for 10 years and is currently a member of the Board and Treasurer of BirdsCaribbean.

This trip was supported by BirdsCaribbean, Conservian, and many partners and donors. For more information about multi-week excursions that Conservian organizes to the Bahamas and the trip sponsors and partners, see the full trip description and visit Conservian’s Facebook page

May 29, 2018

Post-Irma, Parrots in the Abaco Pinelands Are Holding Their Own

The beautiful Bahama Parrot, one of three subspecies of the Cuban Parrot .(photo by Lynn Gape)

Scott Johnson shares with us his recent experience conducting surveys of Bahama Parrots in the wilds of Great Abaco with Dr. Frank Rivera-Milan— read on to find out more about the challenges these birds face and the results of their work.

The chilly 52 degree breeze stung my face as I headed to our champagne coloured SUV. As the vehicle started and warmed up, I waited patiently for Frank to leave our residence and jump into the jeep. We were staying at the Research Center of Friends of the Environment, a non-governmental organization in Marsh Harbour on the island of Great Abaco, The Bahamas. Once Frank got settled in the vehicle, we began our hour-long drive south to the home of the Bahama Parrots.

The Bahamas National Trust (BNT) is a non-governmental organization that manages the national park system of The Bahamas. It currently protects over 2 million acres of marine and terrestrial ecosystems in its 32 national parks across the Bahamian Archipelago. Great Abaco is the second largest island in The Bahamas, with no less than six national parks. Abaco National Park is the southernmost, consisting of a 22,500 acre terrestrial park and including the habitat of the second largest population of Bahama Parrots.

The Bahama Parrot, which is currently listed as a sub-species of the Cuban Parrot, has three populations on three islands in The Bahamas: Great Abaco, Great Inagua and New Providence. Population monitoring and assessments are important for the management and conservation of these charismatic birds.

Irma’s Impact

Classic pine forest habitat in Abaco—prime habitat for the Bahama Parrot.(photo by Frank Rivera)

In the destructive fall of 2017, Hurricane Irma passed over the southern Bahamas. devastating the Ragged Island chain. Irma also severely impacted the island of Great Inagua, home of the largest population of Bahama Parrots. After Irma had passed, there was great concern for both the parrot and the American Flamingo populations. How were they doing, and how had they been affected? The BNT decided to conduct post-hurricane assessments. Based on information from BNT park wardens on Great Inagua, most of the flamingos flew to other islands prior to the storm. The status of the parrots remained unknown. Because of logistical challenges, the BNT had to postpone the Bahama Parrot surveys on Great Inagua to late summer. They were anxious, however, to determine the status of the Great Abaco parrots, last surveyed in 2016. The BNT enlisted the help of population ecologist Frank Rivera-Milán, who helped me with the search for these lively birds. With financial support from Birds Caribbean and BNT, we travelled to Abaco on March 23^rdand spent 10 days surveying the parrot population in the central and southern parts of the island.

Parrots Disturbing the Peace

The dynamic duo in the field – Dr. Frank Rivera-Milan (aka “Crazy Frank”) and Scott Johnson. (photo by Scott Johnson)

As we approached Abaco National Park, the cool, calm morning was interrupted by the vociferous squawking of dozens of parrots conversing with each other in the pine trees. I was super excited to see them, particularly because I had never seen Bahama Parrots on Abaco, let alone in the pinelands. As my mind began drift away from reality due to the sheer joy of hearing the birds, the survey point was just 200 meters away.

We stopped and parked the car at the point. We quickly got out, binoculars, range finders, and datasheets in hand (and around our necks) and listened and observed attentively. We were conducting point count surveys. Once a parrot was seen or heard, the information (such as the number of birds heard and seen, the distance from the point, food availability and habitat type) was recorded in our datasheet. We counted parrots at each point for 6 minutes.

Parrots – in Holes?

As we were continued counting, a pair of parrots flew into our survey area. “This pair is looking for a nest site,” Frank said. “The female is on the ground inspecting holes and the male keeps watch.” We watched as the female disappeared in the scrubby understory vegetation as the male remained perched on a pine branch just a few feet above her. Bahama Parrots are devoted couples; they tend to mate for life.

There is something very special about the Bahama Parrots on Abaco. They are the only parrots that habitually nest in solution holes underground – that is, holes or crevices created by rainwater dissolving limestone rock. This is an adaptation to the fire-dependent pineland ecosystem. In their holes, the birds can avoid the heat. No other New World parrot engages in such behaviour. Bahama Parrots feed on a variety of plants, such as West Indian Mahogany, Lignum Vitae, Cinnecord, White Torch, Gum-elemi aka Gumbo Limbo, and False-Mastic.

Dangers Lurk

Fire is one of several threats that Bahama Parrots face; too many fires (often set by humans) in the pine forest damage the habitat for parrots and other wildlife. (photo by Frank Rivera)

As we were driving to a survey point, we saw some rustling in the vegetation on the side of the road. It was a feral cat. These creatures are the biggest threats to parrots. Hurricanes are seasonal and of course, do not always hit Abaco. Cats present a different kind of danger – an everyday threat. They kill both chicks and incubating females. During the survey, we saw seven cats – three in areas where Bahama Parrots were known to nest. These cats gone wild have been a major conservation problem for the Bahama Parrot on Abaco. However, BNT Park Warden Marcus Davis and colleagues have been making tremendous efforts to remove this invasive species from the park. As a result, the numbers of parrots have increased from an estimated average of about 5,100 in 2008 to about 8,800 in 2016 – an impressive gain of nearly 60% .

Another regular threat is fire. One morning, as we were driving south to our study site, we noticed smoke in the distance, near the area where we had survey points. As we continued driving, the smoke increased and we saw fire in the pinelands and near the road. This fire had just been lit that morning. People often light fires to clear the understory so that they can hunt wild hogs, another invasive animal found in the pinelands.

Although fire plays its part in rejuvenating the pinelands, too many fires can cause great harm to the pine forest ecosystem. Frequent blazes can kill young pine trees and change the composition of the understory vegetation. Often, after pine fires, invasive bracken ferns move into the newly vacant space, blanketing the entire area. These invasive plants can quickly turn a once diverse understory, teeming with fruit-bearing shrubs that the parrots love, into a monoculture of ferns. Bahama Parrots will avoid these fern-dominated areas, which means that there is less suitable breeding and foraging habitat for them. For the Bahama Parrots, this is not good news.

A Healthy Population

Bahama Parrot feeding in a favorite tree – the Gumbo Limbo tree. (photo by Frank Rivera)

One evening, as we were driving along an old logging road in the pinelands, a flock of parrots flew into view and settled in the canopy of pine trees. Being the “somewhat” impulsive person that I am, I quickly jumped out of the vehicle and ran to the location where I saw the parrots. There they were, dozens of them squawking, their green plumage blending perfectly with the green vegetation, their white faces betraying their presence. The parrots then flew off in unison and headed to what appeared to be their roosting site. As I was observing and thoroughly enjoying the sight of these spectacular birds flying by in a huge flock, the ever-astute Frank was diligently counting. Ninety-three parrots!

After eight days of surveys, we analysed the data, using the program DISTANCE and other statistical software. Based on the survey data collected, we estimated that approximately 8,832 parrots dwell in central and southern Abaco. This suggests that the population appears to be stable and doing well – thanks to the management efforts of BNT’s park wardens. I take my hat off to them!

Conservation Partnerships Are Key

Upside down parrots! Bahama Parrots are partners for life. (photo by Scott Johnson)

The Bahamas National Trust, BirdsCaribbean and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service continue their partnership to accomplish the mission of managing and conserving wildlife and ecosystems in The Bahamian Archipelago and the Caribbean region. The Caribbean is home to a variety of important species, from endangered Rock Iguanas to American Flamingos. Wildlife management and conservation can be very challenging. It is not just about the animals and birds. It involves people, policy and laws, and the search for the right balance between the needs of humans and the needs of wildlife. As wildlife conservationists, we understand that our work illustrates the importance of biodiversity. We recognize that weare the active voices speaking up for the native and endemic plants and animals that may go extinct if no conservation action is taken.

It is always a joy to see our beautiful parrots flying wild and free. Let’s continue to work together to ensure that our future includes the amazing creatures that also call the Caribbean…home.

By Scott Johnson (Bahamas National Trust) and Frank F. Rivera-Milán (United States Fish and Wildlife Service). Scott is a Science Officer with the BNT; his work focuses on terrestrial fauna in the national parks and he loves Bahamian birds and reptiles. Frank is a Population Ecologist with US Fish and Wildlife Service. He frequently conducts field studies of doves and pigeons. He especially enjoys studying parrots.

Click on the photos below to see a larger version and slide show.

Devoted couple – Bahama Parrots pair up for life. (photo by Frank Rivera)

Lookout! Only in Abaco do you find a parrot crossing sign! (photo by Scott Johnson)

Bahama Parrot surveying his domain. (photo by Scott Johnson)

93 is the count for a huge flock of parrots that flew by. (photo by Frank Rivera)

Scott Johnson getting ready for the next count. (photo by Frank Rivera)

Bahama Parrots perched on a bare tree. (photo by Frank Rivera)

Pine Forest habitat with bracken form understory following fire passing through the area. (photo by Frank Rivera)

May 2, 2018

Worth Its Salt: Bonaire’s Cargill Salt Ponds Designated a Shorebird Site of Regional Significance

April 22, 2018

Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival 2018 Celebrates the Year of the Bird

The Great Lizard Cuckoo is endemic to the Bahamas and Cuba. They have a loud ka-ka-ka-ka-ka call and can be spotted perched in trees and running along the branches. (Photo by Lisa Sorenson)

It’s springtime in the Caribbean and all across the islands, the landscape will be painted with the vivid colours of the striking yellow and pink poui trees, the gentle blue from the blossoms of the Lignum Vitae, and so many other trees, bursting with colour. This too is the time when our birds settle down to nest and raise their chicks.

This year, 2018, is an extra special celebration of our birds. The year was designated “The Year of the Bird” by the National Geographic Society (NatGeo) to commemorate 100 years of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. This was (and remains) a powerful document that has lessened the human threats on birds. Some 15 Caribbean countries and 40 organizations will celebrate the Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival (CEBF), now in its 17^thyear. More than 100,000 Caribbean residents, friends and visitors will join in the activities, led by BirdsCaribbean. For 2018, the region’s largest wildlife conservation-focused NGO will support the theme “The Year of the Bird.” April 22 (Earth Day) marks the beginning of the festival, which will end on May 22 – the International Day for Biological Diversity.

Children having fun on a bird walk and count at Ashton Lagoon, Union Island, St. Vincent and the Grenadine. (Photo by Orisha Joseph)

In the nearly two-decade history of the CEBF, BirdsCaribbean and its enthusiastic partners across the region have always found fun and creative ways to connect people to our Caribbean endemic birds. The endemics – which are found only in our region and nowhere else in the world – are one way in which people who live in or visit the Caribbean islands can easily appreciate and understand nature more deeply and incorporate these lovely birds into their lives. The birds simply “speak for themselves.” The festival seeks to encourage responsible behaviour in humans of all ages and walks of life to conserve our birds and our natural environment. This is even more critical in the wake of 2017’s devastating hurricanes. The recovery and the resilience of our bird populations must also be recognized in the coming months.

Why is the CEBF important? Well, the Caribbean is well known for its high level of endemism. Of the 565 species of birds in our region, 173 are unique to us. Some may be easier to spot than others; some may be only found in one country. The CEBF is also an expression of who we are and how we connect with the environment. It brings people together, whatever their ages, abilities, nationalities or cultural backgrounds. Learning about our birds takes place in a diverse, harmonious setting. In previous years, church services, radio and television interviews, street parades, fairs, information booths, drama and art competitions have all formed part of the CEBF celebrations.

Planting firebush (Hamelin patens), an excellent native plant for birds, especially hummingbirds. CEBF activity at The Academy in the Dominican Republic. (photo courtesy of Simon Guerrero)

You do not have to celebrate birds and support conservation through your local organization alone. Earth Day’s philosophy is for individuals to take action. There is a lot that you can do all by yourself, or in small groups, to help birds and the environment. Grab a friend or two and head outside to admire nature, noting the birds you see. Stick decals on your glass doors to reduce bird collisions. Plant a native tree, to add to the beauty of your home. This will also become a home for a variety of creatures – including birds. What other actions can you take that will help our birds?

NatGeo has partnered with the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, National Audubon Society and Birdlife International and many other organizations for The Year of the Bird. Each month brings a new theme and a new, specific call to action, promoting the conservation of birds: there are inspiring articles, informational features, fun quizzes, photographs and insights into the incredible world of birds to be explored online.

Visit birdscaribbean.org or find BirdsCaribbean on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for more information about the CEBF, with updates throughout the month. For more information on how to #BirdYourWorld, visit the official site for tips and resources.

By Emma Lewis and Natalya Lawrence, members of BirdsCaribbean’s Media Working Group. Thanks to the US Forest Service, Environment for the Americas and Optics for the Tropics for supporting our Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival!

April 7, 2018

Travel to Cuba with Holbrook and BirdsCaribbean

The colorful and friendly Cuban Tody, known locally as “Cartacuba.” (photo by Bill Hebner)

Join Holbrook Travel and BirdsCaribbean for an unforgettable birding tour of Cuba’s foothills, wetlands and coast, November 3-13, 2018.

Cuba’s protected natural areas, geographic isolation, and limited development combine to create an ideal destination for birders. The country’s diverse habitats support over 360 avian species, more than two dozen of which are endemic to the island. Join BirdsCaribbean and Holbrook on this 11-day program, where you’ll have the opportunity to observe specialties like the Cuban Tody, Cuban Trogon, Zapata Wren, and Oriente Warbler, and explore dry scrub, mangrove, wetland, and coastal ecosystems. Gain deeper insight during meetings with Cuban conservationists to discuss projects and governmental policies. During your travels, meet Cuba’s friendly people and discover the rich history and culture for which the country is known.

Program Highlights

Learn how an urban park in Havana is connecting locals with nature.
Watch for target species like the Cuban Grassquit and Olive-capped Warbler and meet with residents at Las Terrazas, a community and reserve that is a model of sustainability and ecotourism.
Go birding at La Güira National Park, several sites in the Zapata Swamp, and on Cayo Coco, where we will have an excellent chance to see most of Cuba’s endemic birds, as well as many regional endemics.
Visit the limestone cave that was Ernesto “Che” Guevara’s headquarters during the Cuban Missile Crisis and an excellent place to spot Cuban Solitaire and Scaly-naped Pigeon.
Holbrook is kindly donating a portion of the proceeds from this trip to support BirdsCaribbean’s conservation efforts in Cuba and the Caribbean.

What’s Included

Bilingual local guides and group leader
Driver & private transportation
Accommodations
Activities
Meals & non-alcoholic beverages with meals
Carbon offsetting

Detailed itinerary and pricing (NEW lower pricing!)- click here.

For more information and to reserve your spot, click here or contact Debbie Sturdivant Jordan by email or by phone (866-748-6146)

About our Guides

Alejandro Llanes receives his certificate upon completion of BirdsCaribbean’s Caribbean Birding Trail Interpretive Guide Training Workshop, October 2018. Left to right Instructor Rick Morales, course organizer Maikel Canizares, Alejandro Llanes, Instructors Lisa Sorenson and Beny Wilson. (photo by Ernesto Reyes)

Our local bird guide will be Alejandro Llanes Sosa. Alejandro is a research ornithologist at the Instituto de Ecología y Sistemática in Havana, where he studies and bands birds. He has expert knowledge of Cuba’s birds and natural history and has guided specialized bird tours for Holbrook since 2015. Alejandro recently completed BirdsCaribbean’s Interpretive Bird Guide Training Workshop, held in Cuba in October 2017. He received certification as a Level 5 (highest level) Caribbean Birding Trail guide. Alejandro is dedicated to advancing ornithology and bird tourism in Cuba and is a warm and kind person. He looks forward to sharing Cuba’s beautiful birds, landscapes and culture with you!

Our group leader is Lisa Sorenson. Lisa Sorenson is an ornithologist, conservation biologist, and executive director of BirdsCaribbean. She has been working in the region for 30 years, starting with field research on the White-Cheeked Pintail in the Bahamas for her PhD. Lisa coordinates many of BirdsCaribbean’s programs, raises funds, mentors young Caribbean wildlife professionals, develops materials, and facilitates training workshops in conservation education, bird research and monitoring techniques, and bird guide training. She is passionate about the region’s amazing and unique birds and habitats and has dedicated her life to their conservation. She has traveled to and worked with partners in nearly every country in the region and is looking forward to sharing her love of Cuba and its people with you.

A common mode of transportation in Cuba. (photo by Roland Bahret)

April 5, 2018

BirdsCaribbean Awards David S. Lee Fund Grants for Five Projects to Study and Conserve Caribbean Birds

The critically endangered Diablotin (Black-capped Petrel) in flight; the Diablotin will be studied with David S. Lee award funding. (photo by Doug-Gochfeld)

BirdsCaribbean is excited to announce 2018 awards for the David S. Lee Fund for the Conservation of Caribbean Birds. Five young scholars will carry out important research that will increase our knowledge of Caribbean birds and the actions needed to conserve them. The 2018 award recipients are Yvan Satge, Janine Antalffy, Juan Carlos Fernandez-Odoñez, Eduardo Manuel Llegus-Santiago, and Holly Garrod.

The David S. Lee Fund was established in 2016 to recognize the scientific and conservation efforts of David S. Lee, a biologist and naturalist dedicated to Caribbean biodiversity. The award funds innovative avian conservation research in the Caribbean. All projects demonstrate a commitment to engaging with local scientists, government officials, organizations and communities, as appropriate, to involve them in the research, share results, and build interest in local birds and their conservation. The projects are described below.

Thanks to support for the fund from a number of generous donors, BirdsCaribbean is able to provide a grant of $1,000 to each of the 2018 recipients. Congratulations to these dedicated and hard-working scholars, who we are confident will make important discoveries that will lead to enhanced conservation efforts and awareness of our amazing birds. Several students (Holly Garrod, Spencer Shubert, Maya Wilson, Paige Byerly) that received support last year have written blog articles sharing their exciting findings. We wish this new flock of Dave Lee award recipients all the best in their upcoming field seasons and look forward to hearing about their results in future articles and publications.

Foraging choices of the Diablotin Black-capped Petrel: using spatial ecology and diet to inform conservation

Yvan Satge, Clemson University

Yvan Satge will study the diet of Black-capped Petrels using DNA analysis of fecal samples.

The Diablotin (Black-capped petrel; Pterodroma hasitata) is one of the most endangered seabirds in the western north Atlantic and one of only two extant seabird species endemic to the Caribbean. Although loss of terrestrial breeding habitat is a primary threat to the species, disturbances affecting the marine environment, which have been under-studied, are also likely to impact the survival of the population. Yvan Satge will study the diets of adult and juvenile Diablotin through novel DNA analysis of fecal samples collected at nest sites in the Dominican Republic. Data will inform conservation efforts by the Black-capped Petrel Working Group regarding use of marine resources by breeding Diablotin. The success of this project will be measured by evaluating diet composition and comparing those results to at-sea habitat use by tracked birds to assess the distribution of prey in the marine environment.

Conservation biology of the Bahama Oriole, a critically endangered island endemic

Janine Antalffy, University of Maryland, Baltimore County

Bahama Oriole adult on Andros. It could be a male or a female, as both sexes have this striking black and yellow coloration. (photo Daniel Stonko, UMBC)

The Bahama Oriole (Icterus northrop) is a critically endangered songbird restricted to the Andros island complex in The Bahamas. Having disappeared from the neighboring island of Abaco in the 1990s, a 2011 study suggested that fewer than 300 individuals remained on Andros. Little is known about life history traits and causes of population decline of this species. Janine’s research will contribute knowledge to inform conservation strategies for the species through addressing three questions about the Oriole, including assessing genetic diversity and connectivity between populations in the Andros Islands, assessing the response of this species to logging (to estimate population size during wholesale clearcutting in the mid 1900s), and distribution modelling to look at past populations on Andros and for the extinct Abaco population. These data will be useful for The Bahamas government to determine if the species should be managed as one or several populations, and to guide the reintroduction of the Bahama Oriole to Abaco.

Updating information about Audubon’s Shearwater (Puffinus lherminieri loyemilleri) at Los Roques archipelago (Venezuela)

Juan-Carlos Fernandez Ordoñez, Fundación Científica ARA MACAO

An Audubon’s Shearwater feeds along the surface of the water.

Audubon’s Shearwater (Puffinus lherminieri) is a small seabird that inhabits warm waters, mostly in the tropics. It breeds in colonies on islands and offshore cays. Once common, it’s status is now vulnerable due to disturbance and loss of breeding habitats. Audubon’s Shearwater is known to breed in the islands of the Los Roques archipelago off the Caribbean coast of Venezuela. Thanks to its strategic geographical location, the 314 islands, cays and islets of this archipelago provide important stopover and breeding sites for migratory and endemic birds. Juan-Carlos will revisit the remote and unspoiled Los Roques Archipelago to locate and survey nesting populations of Audubon’s Shearwater. JC will also identify and describe threats at the breeding sites. These colonies have not been visited in many decades, thus JC’s work will fill in major gaps in our understanding of of the status of these nesting populations. In his analysis, JC will test occupancy models as a much faster way of monitoring remote populations. He will share his results with local managers to aid conservation efforts in the archipelago.

Restoration and Monitoring of Nesting Areas of Shorebirds in the Punta Cucharas Natural Reserve, Ponce, Puerto Rico.

Eduardo Llegus (seated with blue plaid shirt) with Punta Cucharas Team. Left to right: Miguel García, Nashalie Aponte, Pier Le Compte, Israel Jr. Rivera, Ian Maldonado, Gilmarie Rivera, Karla Oquendo, Hommy Pacheco.

Eduardo Manuel Llegus-Santiago, University of Puerto Rico at Ponce

Eduardo will work to restore and monitor beach-nesting bird habitat in Punta Cucharas Natural Reserve, an estuary ecosystem located at southern Puerto Rico, in the City of Ponce . This community-centered project will rebuild fences that were created to protect birds from invasive dogs, cats, and vehicles during their nesting. The project includes the restoration of the fence and monitoring of the birds with volunteers and an educational program to teach local communities about shorebirds with the production of a bird guide for the area to stimulate bird-friendly tourism. Eduardo will also monitor survival rates of shorebirds in the restored area and compare them with other colonies within the natural reserve.

A tale of two todies: understanding how vocalizations mediate hybridization between two sympatric species

Holly Garrod with a tody in the hand at her field site in the Dominican Republic.

Holly Garrod, Villanova University

Climate change and other human disturbances are causing range shifts in bird populations around the world. In some cases, species that were previously separated may come into contact and hybridize, which ultimately can result in long-term losses of biodiversity. In the Dominican Republic, Broad-billed and Narrow-billed Todies separate on an elevational gradient, with the Broad-billed Tody (Todus subulatus) in lowland wet forests and the Narrow-billed Tody (Todus angustirostris) in montane cloud forest. Climate change may push Broad-billed Todies upslope, increasing the overlap (sympatry) in the two species’ ranges at mid-elevation. Increased competition and hybridization could disproportionately harm one of the species, most likely the Narrow-billed Tody, because the high-elevation tody has “nowhere to go.” Holly will use playback experiments to investigate the extent to which the two species recognize and respond to each as competitive threats (e.g., for males defending territories) and as potential mates. If species recognition mechanisms are imperfect, this could lead to hybridization. To date, one such hybrid has been documented. Holly’s research will likely yield important insights about different ways in which behavior mechanisms influence hybridization. Holly’s research in 2017 (supported with David Lee funds) examined nesting success of todies in different habitats – read about her exciting results here.

To learn more about the David S. Lee Fund for the Conservation of Caribbean Birds, click here. If you would like to contribute to the fund and help support future projects, click here. You can choose to designate your gift to the David S. Lee Fund.

BirdsCaribbean thanks the scientists that provided thoughtful and constructive reviews of the proposals. We are very grateful to all that have donated to the David S. Lee Fund. We are pleased and proud to honor Dave’s legacy with the funding of these exciting projects that will advance the development of young Caribbean scientists and contribute to the conservation of Caribbean birds.

April 3, 2018

BirdsCaribbean Speaks Out on Recent Controversial Export of Threatened Parrots from Dominica to Germany

BirdsCaribbean, its members and partners note the controversy surrounding the export of two Sisserou (Imperial Parrots Amazona imperialis) and ten Jaco (Red-necked Parrots Amazona arausiaca) from Dominica to a facility in Germany on March 17th, 2018. Both species are endemic to Dominica, both are globally threatened, and the habitats of both were badly damaged by the passage of Hurricane Maria in September 2017. The Sisserou is Dominica’s iconic national bird, appearing on its flag, coat-of-arms, Parliamentary Mace and other national symbols and instruments. The Sisserou has long represented a unique flagship of national pride for Dominicans.

The Parrots Were in Good Condition

Rescued and rehabilitated Imperial Parrot (Sisserou) on the right; 18 year old Sisserou female on the left. Also a rescue (having fallen from the nest), this female successfully reproduced in captivity in 2010. (photo by Stephen Durand)

The parrots in question were wild-hatched and most were rescued after Hurricane Maria. They were being rehabilitated in an aviary operated by the Forestry, Wildlife and Parks Division of the Ministry of Agriculture in Dominica, with the support of Rare Species Conservatory Foundation (RSCF) and International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW). BirdsCaribbean understands that the birds were in very good condition—four had recently been released back into the wild. It was expected that the remaining Jaco parrots would also soon be ready for release, where they would have made an important contribution to the survival of the remaining populations.

While there is no doubt that disastrous events like hurricanes pose a serious threat to the persistence of endangered species, there is evidence that both species are resilient and recovery in the wild is possible. Dominica’s parrot populations were greatly affected but recovered after Hurricane David in 1979. Their survival has been aided by multiple conservation measures taken in Dominica including parks and protective legislation, community outreach and education events, programs to reduce agricultural conflicts, complemented by research and monitoring.

Despite the confidence of local and international experts (who have been working in Dominica with the parrots since 1981) that on-island efforts to support the recovery of local populations would be successful, some politically-appointed individuals within the Government of Dominica, apparently decided to facilitate the export of these parrots as an “emergency measure” to support the establishment of a captive breeding population in Germany by the Association for the Conservation of Threatened Parrots (ACTP).

Conservation Issues for Threatened Bird Species

This action raises many issues concerning the conservation of threatened bird species. BirdsCaribbean has engaged with local partners in the region for 30 years, and we support the position of most threatened species specialists that:

Conservation programmes for threatened species should be guided by recovery action planning based on sound science, engagement by all stakeholders, and international laws and guidance.
Conservation programmes for threatened species should focus firstly on recovery of wild populations in the wild, with captive breeding as a last resort.
There are many risks associated with captive breeding, including risks in transport, transmission or exposure to new diseases, acclimation to a new environment, and loss of genetic diversity and natural behaviors. These programs must be carried out in an extremely careful manner and risks increase if the program is in another country.
Captive breeding programs can be an effective and important conservation tool (e.g., as shown for the Puerto Rican Parrot), but they must be based on sound science, be proposed and vetted transparently to the conservation community, and wherever possible, be in the country of origin.
Threatened species programs must involve and empower to the maximum extent possible the local organizations and communities who are ultimately the stewards for the species.

Red-necked Parrots (aka Jaco) in aviary on Dominica, recovering and doing well following Hurricane Maria. (photo by Stephen Durand)

BirdsCaribbean suggests that there are legal, scientific and ethical reasons to question the export of Sisserou and Jaco parrots from Dominica.

The export of globally threatened species is controlled under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) to which Dominica and Germany are both signatories. Export permits are granted through the local CITES management authority, which may only license export of threatened (Appendix 1) species under very strict conditions. In Dominica, this is the Environmental Coordinating Unit (ECU). BirdsCaribbean has been reliably informed that the permit for the export of these parrots to Germany was not granted by the ECU and the ECU was not consulted. (see https://goo.gl/dB9SF2). Additionally, Dominica was under suspension of all trade under CITES since January 2018 for failure to file annual reports for three consecutive years. Therefore, no CITES Appendix I species should have been permitted for export.

The Situation Was Not an “Emergency”

Any argument that the export was justified as an “emergency” action is contradicted by the following:

All of the exported animals survived the hurricane;
The female Sisserou at the aviary had lived there for 18 years and successfully reproduced at the aviary in 2010;
Ongoing parrot surveys reveal that both species’ wild populations also survived the hurricane, with the ecologically common Jaco parrot now widely distributed and some sightings of wild Sisserous; known to be shy and difficult to survey in the wild;
The aviaries were in the process of being refurbished, with new enclosures, wire and supplies already sent to Forestry;
The aviary birds were examined and attended to with multiple animal-care teams from IFAW;
The exported Jaco parrots were being prepared for release into the wild;
No proposal for emergency action was presented to Forestry, the personnel responsible for animal-care at the aviary, nor ECU.

BirdCaribbean is surprised that a permit would be granted by any authority, because it would appear that the export is detrimental to on-going local conservation efforts. We are especially concerned about the export of the Sisserou, partly because their local breeding populations are smaller, and partly because two individuals are not sufficient to establish a breeding programme. This calls into question the scientific justification for this export and whether there may be additional requests for exports in the future.

BirdsCaribbean Supports Dominican Experts, Local Partners

Imperial Parrot feeding on palm fruits in the wild. (photo by Bertrand Jno Baptiste)

In addition, the scientific authority for CITES in Dominica, the Forestry, Wildlife and Parks Division, was also not consulted about the export—no proposal, conservation plan or agreement was shared with the team in charge of parrot conservation on the island. Instead the arrangements were apparently made in secret and the birds taken without the knowledge or permission of either CITES authority on the island.

Our Dominican partners remain committed to the on-island conservation programs and the protective measures it has developed for its parrots over many years. Thanks to generous donors, BirdsCaribbean has assisted in Hurricane Maria recovery by shipping more than US$12,000 worth of supplies to aid recovery of Dominica’s parrots, including bird feeders, bird seed, tools and field equipment. We have long supported outreach, education and surveys conducted by Dominica’s own experts, who have decades of experience and knowledge. We believe that the conservation of Dominica’s parrots is best done in Dominica by Dominicans, – supported, but not undercut, by foreign entities.

We know that the people of Dominica are resilient and proud of their beautiful birds and in particular, their National Bird, the Sisserou. For this reason alone, the recent removal of these birds from the island calls for far more explanation and justification than has been made public.

What You Can do to Help

Rescued and rehabilitated Jaco parrots at the aviary in Dominica. (photo by Stephen Durand)

1. Share this article with your networks.

2. Sign the petition: Return Native Endangered Parrots from Germany to Dominica and share with your networks.

IMPORTANT UPDATES – April 5th 2018

BirdsCaribbean is one of thirteen signatory organizations expressing concern over the recent export of endemic parrots from Dominica to Germany. We include here a joint communication shared today, April 5, 2018, with the Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) as well as representatives within CITES, the government of Dominica, the US Fish and Wildlife Service and the European Union. Read the UNEP letter.

April 18th 2018

Read Rare Species Conservatory Foundation’s response to ACTP post on April 17th. Their original response to the export is below this response: A Commentary on Dominica’s Parrots after Hurricane Maria.

March 28, 2018

New publication—Annotated Checklist of the Birds of Cuba

It is a pleasure to announce the publication of the first issue of the Annotated Checklist of the Birds of Cuba by Nils Navarro Pacheco and Ernesto Reyes Mouriño (No 1, 2017). This publication will serve as an official list and platform for work in the field of ornithology within the Cuban archipelago, as well as keeping the ornithological community updated on changes in taxonomy, systematics and new additions to the bird list of Cuba.

Earlier lists or volumes describing the birdlife of Cuba (Garrido and Montana, Catalogo de las Aves de Cuba 1975; Garrido and Kirkconnell, Field Guide to the Birds of Cuba, 2000; and Endemic Birds of Cuba, Navarro 2015) provide ample details on species behavior, habitat and range. This new checklist condenses and provides updated and new information on conservation status, endemism, abundance, breeding, and seasonality for 398 naturally occurring species and 15 exotics.

The checklist is beautifully illustrated with color photographs of Cuba’s 28 endemics on the back cover. The authors intend to update the list on an annual basis as verifiable information becomes available. With increased numbers of homegrown birders and professional ornithologists as well as foreign contributions, a “living” checklist under the careful stewardship of Navarro and Reyes makes perfect sense.

Cuba is the largest island in the West Indies and boasts 28 endemics as well as some of the most important habitats found in the region. Cubans, with support from abroad, have responded to the need to protect these habitats especially for endemic birds by developing many national parks and reserves, conducting ornithogical research, delivering outreach and education programs, and monitoring birds, for example, through the Caribbean Waterbird Census. While these efforts may have limited resources, the Cuban people and the conservationists they support are very proud of their birds and significant achievements. That passion bares fruit in this checklist when you look through the references and supporting documentation.

As one who is particularly interested in the ever-evolving state of West Indian avian biogeography, I appreciate the inclusion of a short communications section with articles on recent sightings and banding records and photographs of documented (with citations) recent rarities. I have no doubt that at least two factors—climate change and the increase in knowledgeable observers—are contributing to requisite checklist updates which the authors also recognize. The authors in fact encourage reporting of bird sightings through eBird Caribbean (Cornell Lab of Ornithological Database). Reports are vetted by local experts and contribute greatly to our knowledge of the status and trends of migratory and resident trends and status of species in Cuba as well as the West Indies. Many of you already understand that neotropical migrants, for example, spend only a few months (May-August) raising young on the North American continent before returning to the tropics. As you may have sensed, checklists of birds anywhere are outdated by the time they go to press.

So, in the tradition of James Bond’s Supplements to the Checklist of the Birds of the West Indies (1956-et seq.), this checklist is expected to provide intermittent updates founded by substantiating evidence and hopefully commentary by two of the leading field biologists in Cuba. I have worked with both Nils and Ernesto on reviving Christmas Bird Counts in Cuba since 2012 and can attest to their depth of knowledge and commitment to preserving the natural patrimony of Cuba. This and subsequent updates to the checklist should be a part of any West Indian ornithological library, both private and public, as a resource to measure changes in status of both resident and migratory Cuban birdlife in this hemisphere.

The checklist, published by Ediciones Nuevos Mundos, is a 40 page booklet, 8.0 x 11.5 inches in size, illustrated, with saddle stitch binding. The first print run is in English. The checklist can be purchased from the publisher for $12.00 (plus $3 shipping) at this link. A downloadable version is available here.

Robert Norton is a founding member of BirdsCaribbean (then the Society of Caribbean Ornithology); initiating author of the West Indies Region report (1980- ) North American Birds, American Birding Association; West Indies regional editor Christmas Bird Counts, National Audubon Society; eBird reviewer, Virgin Islands, Cornell Lab of Ornithology; coauthor w/ Patricia Bradley, Inventory of Breeding Seabirds of the Caribbean, 2009.

March 16, 2018

In Search of the Piping Plover: A Post-Hurricane Story from the Turks and Caicos Islands

Caleb Spiegel, Beth MacDonald, Jen Rock, and Elise Elliott-Smith Searching for Piping Plovers (Photo by Eric Salamanca)

We have heard the painful stories of the 2017 hurricanes, which had devastating effects on humans and birds on some islands. How did our shorebirds weather the storm—especially those we are most concerned about from a conservation viewpoint? Elise Elliott-Smith shares her story of post-hurricane surveys in the Turks and Caicos Islands in February 2018.

For the past three years, I have been privileged to work with an international team of scientists led by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center. Working with local partners and other international partners we have conducted surveys for Piping Plover (Charadrius melodus) and other shorebird species of conservation concern in the Turks and Caicos Islands.

The Charming Piping Plover

The Piping Plover is a small, round-bodied shorebird, with a charming, big-eyed look. It breeds on beaches in the interior and Atlantic Coast of the U.S. and Canada, migrating to beaches in the southern Atlantic U.S., the northern West Indies, and across the Gulf Coast into northern Mexico. There are three discrete breeding populations, all of which are listed as endangered in Canada, and threatened or endangered in the U.S.

Piping Plovers (Photo by Eric Salamanca)

Fifteen years ago, no one knew that large numbers of Piping Plover winter in the Bahamas and northern Caribbean. But there was a surprise in store. During the 2011 International Piping Plover Census, it was discovered that around 1,000 birds wintered in the Bahamas. So, searching the Turks and Caicos Islands became a priority for the next Census in 2016 (read about 2016 International Piping Plover Census here). Our 2016 search yielded almost 100 Piping Plover and we counted 174 during an expanded search in January 2017. During this search, we also tallied about 20 other shorebird species, many of which are declining in numbers, or are focal species of the Atlantic Flyway Shorebird Initiative. These species included the Red Knot (Calidris canutus), which is also listed as threatened/special concern in the U.S. and Canada.

The Onslaught of Hurricanes Irma and Maria

Destroyed House on South Caicos (Photo by Elise Elliott-Smith)

On September 7, 2017, Hurricane Irma hit the Turks and Caicos Islands as a Category 5 storm with sustained winds of 175 miles per hour. Two weeks later, Hurricane Maria arrived, packing 125 mph winds and torrential rain. My thoughts were with my colleagues and friends in the Turks and Caicos Islands as the storms passed. Despite extensive damage, and a heavy blow to the islands’ infrastructure, everyone was safe; miraculously, there were no deaths in the Turks and Caicos Islands. And after hearing this, I started wondering about the birds.

Far from the storm, I saw images on my computer screen of the destruction to human property and then the video of injured and dead flamingos in Cuba. I reasoned that given the small size of the Piping Plover, they could likely hunker down in strong winds. Perhaps some were still on their southerly migration and had not yet arrived. But a Piping Plover is not large, nor is it pink. The plovers’ small sand-colored carcasses would surely wash away unnoticed. The truth was, I really did not know how the storms had affected shorebirds or their habitat. But we had collected comprehensive survey data on all shorebird species for two prior winters at many remote sites in the Turks and Caicos Islands. I was eager get back there and see what had changed.

Post-hurricane Surveys Show Drop in Piping Plover Populations

Planning and preparing for these excursions is always exciting and a bit stressful. Our colleagues at the Turks and Caicos Department of the Environment and Coastal Resources (DECR) wanted to conduct surveys but they needed assistance. Partners at the USFWS and Canadian Wildlife Service – Environment and Climate Change Canada (CWS-ECCC) were also interested in helping but there were a lot of details to work out and questions to answer. Would we get funding? Would we get government permissions? Would we have enough cash to pay for the boats? Would the weather cooperate during the surveys? And would the birds themselves cooperate? This year, however, there was one very big question constantly looming in my mind as I was trying to secure funding for surveys and plan for the trip. How had the hurricanes affected the birds and their habitat? Would they even be there this year?

Surveying Piping Plovers (Photo by Eric Salamanca)

Post-hurricane surveys finally became possible with the support of BirdsCaribbean, the Turks & Caicos Reef Fund, DECR, SWA Environmental, USFWS, CWS-ECCC and USGS. We had an excellent International team of surveyors, with the support needed for surveying remote cays. So I found myself flying into Providenciales, TCI on the evening of 30 January 2018. Under the cover of night, I did not get to see the turquoise waters or the tarped and patched roofs of houses damaged by the storms. But looking out the window the next morning I saw evidence of the hurricanes that reminded me the Turks and Caicos Islands are still recovering.

Over the next 10 days our teams conducted surveys on over 15 islands and cays in the Turks and Caicos Islands. We revisited every site where Piping Plover had been seen the prior year and surveyed a few new sites. In total, we saw just 62 Piping Plover. This was a far lower total than had been seen in 2017 or 2016. Counts of Piping Plovers were actually down at all of the sites surveyed in prior years, and they were completely absent from several sites.

Landscapes and Habitats Reshaped by the Storms

Mixed species flock including Red Knot, Short-billed Dowitchers, Black-bellied Plovers (Photo by Eric Salamanca)

The extent of damage to human structures varied from island to island. Similarly, some Piping Plover sites appeared largely unaffected by the storms, while other sites had been substantially altered. Little Ambergris Cay was one of the sites hardest hit by the storms. The habitat had changed drastically. Multiple sandbars were breached or washed away entirely, interior mudflats were flooded, beaches were over-washed, and the island was literally split in two. Piping Plover had been seen at multiple locations on this island in 2016 and 2017. Despite the habitat changes, there appeared to be quite a bit of suitable habitat remaining in 2018. However, when we conducted a very thorough survey, no Piping Plover were seen. Shorebird numbers in general were down.

Caleb Spiegel (USFWS) and Jen Rock (CWS-EEEC) wading out to survey the high tide roost at remote sandbars south of Middle Caicos (Photo by Elise Elliott-Smith)

Some of the most important sites seemed relatively unchanged. However, storm erosion can be insidious, leaving sites looking deceptively undamaged at first glance. One of the most important shorebird sites in the Turks and Caicos Islands consists of a handful of very remote, tidally exposed sand flats and a tiny island, south of Middle Caicos. At this site, there is only a single small rocky area exposed during high tides. Birds tend to roost in this spot until neighboring sand flats are exposed for feeding. In 2017 we had seen about 3,000 shorebirds of at least 12 species at this site, including about 400 Red Knot. It is hard to identify and count 3,000 shorebirds, especially when they are spread out and moving around, so we planned our surveys for high tide, when birds concentrate. The area appeared to be largely unchanged. However, there were only about 1,000 shorebirds, far fewer than the prior year. We stayed in the area for nearly an entire tide cycle, but much of the sandflats remained shallowly flooded, even at low tide, indicating sand was likely lost during the hurricanes.

The Fate of Missing Birds Largely Unknown

Casaurina uprooted by the storms at Dickish Cay (Photo by Elise Elliott-Smith)

Our early observations add to mounting evidence that there may be immediate negative effects of hurricanes on local wintering Piping Plover and other shorebird populations. However, questions remain. As in the Turks and Caicos Islands, Piping Plover numbers were greatly reduced in the Bahamas after Hurricane Matthew, particularly in areas hardest hit by the storm (Matt Jeffrey and Walker Golder (National Audubon), pers. comm). However, it is not known if shorebirds are dying in hurricanes or leaving in advance of the storm and wintering elsewhere. Spotting marked birds again may be the key to understanding this question of mortality. During our surveys in the Turks and Caicos Islands we observed Piping Plover that had been marked on their Atlantic Coast breeding grounds in the U.S. and Canada. Piping Plover tend to be faithful to their winter sites. However, some marked birds seen in the Turks and Caicos Islands in 2017 were “missing” on 2018 surveys. We will be looking for these individuals on migration and breeding grounds this summer. Re-sighting them would indicate they survived the storm. We also hope to return to the Turks and Caicos again in early 2019 to see if these missing birds have returned.

So what of the birds’ uncertain future? How resilient are Piping Plovers to hurricanes over the long term? And how resilient are the ecosystems on which they depend? Will sand be deposited again where it was lost? And how are the invertebrates (aka shorebird food) affected by hurricanes? These questions need further study, especially considering that with changing climates, storms may become more frequent and intense. In addition to searching for marked birds, the next step in answering these question is seeing shorebirds return to their favorite haunts in the Turks and Caicos Islands in higher numbers next winter. If birds survived the storm, we might expect to see a rebound in numbers next year.

Caribbean Waterbird Census – An Important Tool

Tagged Piping Plover (Photo by Eric Salamanca)

We were fortunate to have baseline data before the storm from our previous surveys to assess how well Piping Plovers had survived the 2017 devastating hurricane season. Our results highlight the importance of the Caribbean Waterbird Census (which we have contributed to during our surveys of the Turks and Caicos) and other surveys that provide critical information on bird species abundance and distribution. This helps us gauge avian response to hurricanes and our changing climate and suggests actions that we can take to help birds survive. We cannot prevent the hurricanes from coming. But there is a lot that can be done to protect the birds remote habitats from development and minimize human disturbance.

As I returned home, I felt relief that at least some birds survived the storm and very encouraged by the incredible international support for our work. As an international species of concern, the Piping Plover requires collaboration to conserve their habitats across the different phases of their life cycle. I am optimistic that with the help of many, we can come together again to answer remaining questions and take steps to protect this beautiful little bird.

You can help too! We are still learning about this species’ distribution throughout the Caribbean – so learn how to distinguish them from similar species (like Sanderling, Semipalmated Plover, Wilson’s Plover, and Snowy Plovers) and help conduct surveys. Be on the lookout on sandy beaches and tidal mudflats, look for bands and flags, take pictures of the birds you see, and report all your observations on eBird Caribbean (and any Piping Plovers to me as well please! Contact Elise Elliott-Smith).

Aerial view of some of the best Piping Plover habitat in the Turks and Caicos Islands including “Piping Plover Cay” (Photo by Elise Elliott-Smith)

Notes from the Field

Searching for Birds on Dickish Cay (Photo by Eric Salamanca)

Day 1: A very rainy adventure to cays between Providenciales and North Caicos with Caleb Spiegel (USFWS), Eric Salamanca and an intrepid boat crew from the Turks and Caicos Department of the Environment and Coastal Resources (DECR). Few birds are seen and no Piping Plover are seen on either of the cays where they were documented in 2016 and 2017. This could be due to tour boat disturbance seen at one of the sites, but it is easy to miss birds when it is windy and wet. Need to return for a re-survey in better conditions.

Day 2: After a morning flight to South Caicos, Caleb, Eric and I kayak to what had been the most important Piping Plover site during our surveys the prior two years, a small uninhabited unnamed cay that we’ve affectionately dubbed “Piping Plover Cay”. Looking out the window while the plane landed and driving to the end of the road to put our boats in the water, it appears that South Caicos was hit harder than Providenciales by Hurricane Irma, and lacks the resources of the more popular tourist destinations to make a speedy recovery. Many houses are still missing roofs, some are missing walls, and at least a couple have been leveled by the storm.

Power Line Damage on South Caicos (Photo by Elise Elliott-Smith)

More power lines are askew or knocked down than remain upright. And the salt ponds are too deeply flooded to support small shorebirds. Surprisingly, “Piping Plover Cay” looks good and largely unchanged. However, conditions are windy with some rain and although we see some shorebirds, there are no Piping Plovers in the flocks.

Day 3: Jen Rock and Beth MacDonald, our Canadian colleagues (ECCC), arrived last night. The weather has cleared, and we finally find some Piping Plover!! Seven birds are seen on Dickish Cay, a small uninhabited cay where we had seen them during both of the prior survey years. In 2016, we had accessed the site by swimming across a channel from the end of the road in Middle Caicos and had found 11 Piping Plover on interior mud flats. In 2017 we accessed the island by boat, surveying it twice, and the high count had been 24 Piping Plover, including two marked birds seen on the sandy beach. Piping Plover tend to be loyal to their winter sites, so we look for the marked birds seen in 2017. They are not in our small flock but we do see two newly marked Piping Plover: one marked as a chick in Newfoundland the prior summer and the other marked a few weeks before Hurricane Irma while on a migration stop-over in North Carolina. Although the number of birds is lower than prior years, if anything the hurricanes seems to have had a positive effect on the Piping Plover habitat. Invasive Casuarina has been uprooted and sand has been deposited on the east side of the island, widening the beach.

Caleb Spiegel and Elise Elliott-Smith scanning potential habitat in the windward channel between Middle and East Caicos (Photo by Eric Salamanca)

Day 4: Our team is joined by Kathleen Wood (SWA Environmental) and we head out in the DECR boat to survey Little Ambergris. We split into three teams of two and are dropped off at different locations on the islands so that we can efficiently cover all the habitat. Two sandbars on the south side of the island have been entirely washed away, creating inflows and flooding. We realize that the inflow on the southwest side has broken all the way through to the north side of the island, splitting the island into two. One beach was totally over-washed, widening it by leveling the short vegetation. Twenty-five Piping Plover were seen on this island in 2016 and 29 were seen in 2017. None are seen on this survey and overall shorebird numbers are lower than previous counts. There still appears to be a lot of reasonable shorebird habitat, but much of the habitat is greatly changed. On our way back we stop at Big Ambergris Cay. It is our first Piping Plover survey on this island; we did not survey it previously because the habitat on aerial images did not look ideal. Hurricane damage is very apparent here as well as erosion of beach habitat and cliffs backing the beach. Many structures are seriously damaged. We see no plovers and few shorebirds on the mostly exposed, windswept beaches.

Day 5: Jen, Beth and Kathleen return to “Piping Plover Cay”. The conditions are good and they see 45 Piping Plover – including two birds that Beth banded in Nova Scotia the previous summer! Caleb, Eric and I do not have as much luck. We return to Dickish Cay but do not see any Piping Plover (they also may use neighboring Joe Grant Cay or Wild Cow Run beach but we do not have time to check there). Our expert boat operator, Tim Hamilton, shows us some habitat in Lorrimer’s channels on Middle Caicos that we had not explored in prior years. It looks like good shorebird habitat but we see few birds.

Day 6: Sandbars south of Middle Caicos. This is the site where we saw about 3,000 shorebirds last year, including Red Knot. We arrive close to high tide and go to the roost spot. The area around the roost is very shallow so we need to get off the boat and wade in waist-deep water a few hundred meters to survey. Caleb and Jen start surveying while Beth, Eric and I stay in the boat to check the other sandbars, which are all inundated. We return to the roost spot and help count. There are only about 1,000 shorebirds this year and around 40 Red Knot. We discuss why we are seeing such reduced numbers and whether some birds could be roosting in an unknown location. We decide to wait for the tide to fall and see if more birds arrive. The sun is setting with the falling tide so we leave just before low tide. Although it is a pretty extreme low tide, the multiple finger-like sand flats all seem to still be inundated. The habitat looked unchanged when we first arrived at the site that morning but it is likely that some of the sand has eroded. As we return to South Caicos the sun is setting with a squall in the distance and a rainbow over the turquoise waters.

Piping Plovers roosting just north of South Caicos on “Piping Plover Cay”, including a bird banded as an adult in 2017 on breeding grounds in Nova Scotia (Photo by Jen Rock)

Days 7-10: Caleb, Jen and Eric return to Providenciales and then to North Caicos where they survey with Naqqi and Flash (DECR). No Piping Plover are seen at the Northwest Point National Marine Park, where one Piping Plover was seen in 2017. Later, they return to re-survey islands between Provo and North Caicos in better weather than day 1, but still do not see any Piping Plover, and few shorebirds. However, they have luck on East Bay Island, seeing 10 Piping Plover where 16 were seen in 2017, including four tagged birds: two that were marked on breeding grounds in Canada and two at breeding sites in the U.S.

Beth and I split off from the rest of the group and travel to Grand Turk where we explore habitat and survey with Katharine Hart (DECR). I had not been to Grand Turk previously and while we see many waterbirds on this island, the habitat is not ideal for Piping Plover. On our second day, we take a very rough and wet boat ride to explore two nearby uninhabited islands, Cotton and Gibb’s Cay. Gibb’s Cay has some good habitat but it is frequented by cruise ships and we only see a couple shorebirds. The next day we take a bigger boat to Big Sand Cay. Katharine has been to the island before for turtle work (it is a National Sanctuary and the most important hawksbill turtle nesting site in the islands) and reports that it has been affected by the hurricane. A tidal surge likely washed out vegetation so that now the east and west side of the island are connected by sand flats in a couple of spots. The habitat looks very good on this island. We do see turtle nests but we don’t see any Piping Plover.

Many thanks to Caleb Spiegel, Beth MacDonald, Naqqi Manco, Kathleen Wood, Emma Lewis, and Lisa Sorenson for input on this article. And special thanks to DECR, BirdsCaribbean, American Bird Conservancy, Turks & Caicos Reef Fund, SWA Environmental, USFWS, CWS-EEEC, USGS, and Big Blue Unlimited for providing financial and other support for this research.

East Bay Island Survey Crew: Cardinal Arthur (boat captain), Jen Rock (ECCC), Eric Salamanca (DECR), Junel “Flash” Blaise (DECR), and Brian Naqqi Manco (DECR). (Photo by Caleb Spiegel)

February 27, 2018

Loving our Wetlands a Little Bit More: A View from Antigua & Barbuda

Black-necked Stilts and White-cheeked Pintail forage in harmony in an Antiguan wetland. (photo by Colin Banks)

In Antigua, when we think of wetlands we think of swamps—smelly, waterlogged places riddled with wicked mosquitoes and starving sandflies. Why, oh why would we want to spend precious life moments at a swamp?! While some may find wetlands unappealing, in Antigua and across the Caribbean they perform vital ecological functions. In an area where tourism flourishes, they also have unexplored economic potential, if managed sensitively.

On February 2nd, 1971, understanding the importance of wetlands to human life and wellbeing, an international treaty was signed in Ramsar, Iran, called the Ramsar Convention or Convention on Wetlands. Annually on 2nd February, since 1997, we recognize the value of these watery spaces on World Wetlands Day. In the Caribbean, as we struggle to balance development and frugal use of our natural resources and as we begin to understand how these wetlands support our economy and health, this celebration is necessary. This year’s theme is “Wetlands for a Sustainable Urban Future.”

Christian Cove Wetland is a hotspot for many species of wetland birds. (photo by Shanna Challenger)

Why is the celebration of World Wetlands Day a vital date on the Caribbean calendar? Because, as important as our wetlands are, they face real threats, primarily from backfilling, urbanisation, development, and use as illegal dumping grounds. Sadly, the Fitches Creek Swamp, one example in Antigua, can be called Cooks Dump Part II. While swamps are naturally strong smelling, a properly-functioning swamp, not adversely manipulated by human hands does not bear these overpowering, nauseating odours.

Wetlands are areas where water covers the soil, permanently or seasonally. They vary from country to country and may be naturally occurring or artificially made. In Antigua and Barbuda, wetlands include mangrove swamps such as Christian Cove and Fitches Creek Swamp; dams such as Bethesda, and Potworks; ponds such as McKinnon’s; reservoirs such as Wallings Reservoir; Creeks such as Indian Creek, and lagoons such as our internationally known and Ramsar-designated site, the Barbuda Lagoon.

Binoculars and spotting scopes are perfect for counting birds; Sophie Steele and Andrea Otto participate in the 2018 Caribbean Waterbird Census (CWC). (photo by Shanna Challenger)

How are wetlands important to us? Wetlands reduce flooding. Think of them as a sponge. They soak up floodwater, releasing it gradually. They are also excellent filters. In built-up areas where concrete and asphalt have replaced water-absorbing soil, surface run-off is increased during rains. The plants in wetlands filter this run-off, which can include untreated sewage, pesticides and fertilizers. Some of these pollutants can also be trapped in the soil below the water in the areas. Water leaving wetlands is in considerably better “shape” than when it entered.

Wetlands in Antigua and elsewhere in the Caribbean act as an effective barrier against wind and wave action during storms. Think of them as a naturally occurring wall or breakwater. They are also important for our fisheries. Marine wetlands are nurseries for our sea life: fish, shrimp, lobster and the list goes on. Just think about the Barbuda Lagoon, and Antigua’s famous lobsters! No wetland, no baby fish, no big fish.

Now to the fun part! As a major tourist destination, Antigua & Barbuda can add to its product by promoting the use of wetlands. With interpretive signage and non-intrusive boardwalks and paths, wetlands can support eco-tourism (both locally and internationally). In Antigua & Barbuda’s wetlands you are surrounded by wildlife, including resident birds such as the sleek-looking Green Heron; migratory birds that travel jaw-dropping distances to flee the cold such as the tiny, unassuming Ruddy Turnstone, or the majestic Osprey that swoops in, perches and immediately demands your attention. Residents can take their exercise routine to the wetlands and have a refreshing walk on paths or boardwalks. Carefully managed non-motorised water sports in some wetlands can also be a boon for the economy.

In addition to nature, there is almost always a significant historical link to our country’s wetlands. There is the Pre-Columbian settlement at Indian Creek, or the wells dug close to wetlands in Bethesda and Parham, some dating back to the 1800s, still seen today.

Spotted Sandpiper searches the water’s edge for invertebrates. (photo by Nick Hollands)

Our wetlands support high fashion too! One Antiguan bird guide often relates his stories of taking internationally acclaimed designers to wetlands where they sit, observe, and ponder on colours for the new season.

Visiting Caribbean wetlands can be a pleasant, relaxing experience – a place also to learn and observe. Many of the wetlands in Antigua & Barbuda are quite accessible – so, if you are interested in wetland birds, you are welcome to contact the Environmental Action Group in Antigua at eagantigua@gmail.com. They will be happy to recommend sites to visit and hook you up with a local, knowledgeable birder. Also, don’t forget to take strong insect repellent; the mosquitoes and sand flies are no myths!

By Natalya Lawrence, Coordinator, Offshore Islands Conservation Programme, Environmental Awareness Group, St. John’s, Antigua & member of BirdsCaribbean’s Media Working Group.

The sun sets behind the Red Mangroves of birding hotspot – Fitches Creek Swamp. (photo by Shanna Challenger)

This cartoon says it all – destroy our mangroves and there will be consequences!

February 11, 2018

Join the Conservian Bahamas Live-aboard Schooner May 2018 Expedition

Wilson’s Plover adult and chicks. This is an excellent opportunity to gain multi-species shorebird and seabird ID and monitoring experience. (photo by R.J. Wiley)

Your help is needed to protect beach-nesting birds, nests, and young. Conservian is planning for Year 3 of their shorebird and habitat conservation program in the Bahamas. Come join them for the adventure of a lifetime!

BirdsCaribbean, the Bahamas National Trust and Conservian are seeking a weekly crew of 8 to 10 enthusiastic volunteers for our Bahamas shorebird and seabird habitat conservation project in May 2018 aboard our 75ft schooner research schooner. This is an excellent opportunity to gain field experience and shorebird ID skills. Trip cost for one week is $1,350 and includes your bunk, onboard meals, water, and ground transportation associated with project. Participants will fly to the Bahamas each week to designated airports for shuttle transport to schooner. A valid passport is required. Airfare and insurance are not included.

Project Summary

We need volunteers to help count birds and remove invasive plants from coastal habitats. This year we are visiting the Exuma Cays including two of the world’s largest Audubon’s Shearwater colonies and the world’s first and most beautiful Land and Sea Park. We are also going to the Joulter Cays and Andros for a week to some of the most important Piping Plover winter habitat. Both trips have ample opportunities to enjoy the beaches, islands, reefs, and marine life of the Bahamas while helping conserve the birds and other wildlife.

Our days will be filled with much adventure aboard the 75ft schooner “Avalon”. (photo by Margo Zdravkovic)

Our days will be filled with much adventure. The focus of the work is surveying for beach-nesting bird breeding pairs, nests and young, and working with local volunteers to implement protective measures in the field. Focal species include Wilson’s Plovers, American Oystercatchers, Least Terns, Audubon Shearwaters and other colonial nesting species. We will work in both populated and remote areas, sail blue Caribbean waters, visit white sandy beaches, boat to little islands, conduct ground surveys for beach and cay nesting birds, nests, and downy chicks, and meet new people. We will work with local volunteers to post and sign shorebird sites and control invasive Australian pine. Field crew will assistant with collecting data on breeding pairs, habitat assessment and human-created disturbance. Field crew will also assist with shipboard duties; sailing, cooking and cleaning. There will be time to fish, snorkel, enjoy the breath-taking beaches, and visit local island towns.

Project Activities:

Protect, post & sign shorebird & seabird sites
Collect new data on nesting shorebirds, seabirds & habitat
Locate and protect shorebird & seabird nests and downy young
Observe/assist with bird banding (conditions permitting)
Control invasive Australian pine on beach habitats
Work with local volunteers to accomplish the above goals
Snorkel reefs in gin clear waters
Learn saying crew skills
Fish for dinner-catch of the day!

Qualifications: Applicants must be responsible, adventurous, in good physical condition, enjoy working in teams and be capable of walking several miles during warm weather in the Caribbean. Applicants must be comfortable living communally onboard a schooner and riding in small boats to access survey sites.

May 2018 Expedition Schedule and Locations:

Aerial photo of the Joulter Cays, Bahamas (photo by Margo Zdravkovic)

Choose one week or more:

Week 1: Joulter Cays & North Andros – May 6-13 (Nassau Int. Airport) – shorebird focus

Week 2: Northern Exumas – May 13-20 (Nassau Int. Airport) – seabirds and shorebirds

Each week includes 7 nights aboard the schooner. If you have a special interest in seabirds, then participate in week 2.

The trip is being led by Margo Zdravkovic (Conservian) and Will Mackin (BirdsCaribbean Seabird Working Group co-chair) with assistance from Jennifer Wheeler, Lisa Sorenson, and The Bahamas National Trust. If you would like to join our conservation crew for a week or more, please contact Will Mackin, Margo Zdravkovic or fill out the short form here. The review of applicants is ongoing and will continue until positions are filled.

If you can’t go, we can accept donations of any amount to sponsor the trip. If you know of someone who would want to come, please send us their contact information.

See the short video about the expedition.

See the article on 2016 project from our supporters at LightHawk.

Read the story of our successful 2016 expedition.

Visit CoastalBird.org for more information about our 2018 expedition.

Visit Coastal Bird Conservation on Facebook for more information on Conservian’s coastal bird conservation work.

Download the expedition brochure.

Project partners include: BirdsCaribbean, Bahamas National Trust, International Conservation Fund of Canada, USFWS/NMBCA, LightHawk, Dow AgroSciences, Grand Bahama Nature Tours, Optics for the Tropics, Grand Bahama Port Authority, Bahamas Public Parks & Beaches Authority, Bahamas Environment, Science & Technology Commission, Rand Nature Center, Abaco Friends of the Environment, Treasure Cay Community Center, Royal Bahamas Police Force/Marine Support.

January 16, 2018

The Mystery of the Missing Todies: Understanding the Impacts of Invasive Mammals

Broad-billed Tody perched in a tree. They will typically perch on small branches with food before entering the nest. (Photo by Holly Garrod)

Invasive mammals are known to be a problem on many islands. Holly Garrod shows first-hand how some of these pesky species are causing nest failure for one of the Caribbean’s most well known and best loved birds—the tody.

It was a muggy afternoon, typical for the summers in Jarabacoa, the central region of the Dominican Republic. Rubber boots on and camera in hand I was making my way through the creek system of a local farm. The goal was to check Broad-billed Tody nests. I was in the first field season for my master’s research, studying the breeding biology and behavioral interactions of Hispaniola’s two tody species: the Broad-billed Tody (Todus subulatus) and the Narrow-billed Tody (Todus angustirostris). One aspect of my research included how non-native mammals were affecting their breeding success. I had dubbed the creek I walked through as “tody neighborhood” (or barrio de barrancolis in Spanish), due to the high volume of nests I had found, totaling up to 15 in that one creek alone. I anticipated it would be one of my most productive sites this year, little did I know I was to be wrong.

But before I get into the mystery at tody neighborhood, let me explain some basic tody facts. Todies, while appearing to look like our pollinating hummingbird friends, are actually more closely related to kingfishers. Interestingly enough, todies are one of only two families of birds that are endemic to the Caribbean (the other being Dominican Republic’s national bird – the Palmchat). Within their Family Todidae, there are 5 species distributed throughout the islands of the Greater Antilles, most of which are named for the island they’re found on, excepting the aforementioned Hispaniolan todies. This interesting phenomenon, where Hispaniola is the only island to have two tody species, is the baseline for my master’s research, and the reason I was walking through creeks searching and monitoring for tody nests.

Typical clutch of Broad-billed Todies at 12 days old. Clutch size is typically 1-4 chicks. (Photo by Holly Garrod)

Now when most people hear “bird nest,” they think of an assemblage of twigs and moss carefully placed among the branches. But todies are different. For their nests, the pair chooses a dirt bank, then takes turns digging a burrow using their beaks. Typically, the burrows end up being about 10-15 cm deep, with some of them curving and all of them having an enlarged chamber at the end. With their preference for dirt banks, the best place to look for these burrows ends up being creeks.

Which brings us back to tody neighborhood. Walking through the creeks, notebook in hand, I stopped at the first nest. It was still early in the season, late May, and from my last check I knew all the nests had eggs. Now it was just a matter of seeing when they would hatch. I used an endoscope camera to check the nests, a long bendable tube with a camera and light on one end, where the other end hooked up to a monitor, providing live-stream tody footage. I slid the camera into the first nest, seeing nothing. Knowing that this nest had a tricky curve, I tried for several more minutes until something appeared, a cricket. Oftentimes when the todies finish breeding, other animals will move into the unoccupied cavities; typically large cave crickets are the most common. For this reason, todies almost always construct a new burrow every year. Presence of the cricket meant the nest had failed.

I continued to the other nests, hoping to have better luck. I breathed a sigh of relief as I saw the next nest still had the three eggs noted from several days earlier. But that’s where my luck ended. The next 5 nests had failed. I was baffled, from all outward appearances the nests appeared fine: the holes were still the same size and there were no signs of forced entry or tracks around the banks. When I returned several days later, it was more bad news. More failed nests and still mostly no signs of the culprits. Several nests appeared as though they may have been enlarged, but most others maintained the same outward appearance. Who could be predating these tody nests?

This is a Broad-billed Tody chick at 13 days old. I banded chicks between 12-14 days because at that point they were most developed. Chicks typically fledged (left the nest) around 14 days after hatching. (Photo by Holly Garrod)

I started putting up camera traps (part of my funding from the David Lee Grant), hoping to get footage of what was happening at these nests. The idea being, the camera traps are motion activated and start recording with the presence of movement. I set one up at one of the few remaining active nests in tody neighborhood, scattering the others at nests in other creeks. One week later, I returned to glean the videos. Sitting back at the field house, going through the videos I was disappointed with the first two cameras. Most of the videos showed twigs moving or people walking by, the angle looking slightly off to catch the curprit.

Then I came to a night picture. I was about to pass by when I saw the outline of a cat walking by. Suspect number 1. Yet when I checked the records that nest had fledged successfully when I retrieved the camera. Plus a cat would have to have caused some external damage to the nest hole to access the tody. Ruled out as the common culprit, but still a potential predator.

The next set of videos I pulled up began with a night shot. I waited several seconds and then suspect number 2 appeared: a rat. I watched several videos of what I can only assume to be the same rat climbing on logs and scurrying around. Video after video I watched the rat run around, but appear oblivious to the nest entrance. Finally, watching the rat take its usual stroll around the log, I saw it. The flicker of interest in the nearby nest hole. I watched as the rat approached, holding my breath. There was no way the rat could fit, it would have to dig out the nest at least a little bit, leave some trace of evidence behind. But lo and behold, the mammal contracted in its side and squeezed into the hole, no damage and no evidence. Then out it came, baby tody in its mouth. I finally understood why the nests were failing!

Video: During the night, a rat enters the tody cavity and predates one of the two tody chicks inside. The other was presumably trampled based on appearance the next day. This rat was caught on camera for several nights before entering the cavity. (Video by Holly Garrod)

As I continued watching the videos for another nest that had failed, I saw a third culprit appear, one I was surprised I hadn’t seen earlier. Let me introduce you to culprit number three, the mongoose. I watched as the weasel-like mammal appeared and begin excitedly digging at the base of the hole until it managed to disappear inside, and return with a single tody chick in its mouth.

Video: A mongoose digs out the nest from below and enters from the bottom, leaving with a tody chick at the end of the video. No todies were present after checking, suggesting the mongoose likely returned for the second chick. (Video by Holly Garrod)

A Narrow-billed Tody displays in the forest. (Photo by Holly Garrod)

Mystery solved. Or is it? From the videos and what evidence I could find, it appears that rats are the most wanted, followed by mongoose, and leaving room for both feral cats and dogs. What is clear is that the majority of these predations are from introduced mammals. Even though these mammals have likely been present on the island for several hundred years, it may not have been enough time for the tody to adapt in some way. Throughout these videos I saw no evidence of nest defense behavior, or evidence the parents were even present. Additional behavioral experiments I conducted using a mammal decoy showed the same result—no interest or concern in the “mammal” present at the nest. Do we really know the impact these non-native mammals are having on bird populations? Out of 42 Broad-billed Tody nests I was monitoring, nearly half (20) of them failed, while 6 of 20 Narrow-billed Tody nests failed. All of them appeared to fail from non-native mammalian predators.

While these mammals may not be putting a huge dent on the tody populations, it’s clear they are having an impact. Continued predation could cause a decline in population sizes, especially since the todies show little to no defensive behavior and are therefore highly vulnerable. My research highlights the importance of understanding breeding ecology and the factors that influence nest success in Caribbean endemics like the tody. It’s important to monitor populations so that we can undertake management actions if needed to ensure long-term survival of these amazing birds.

By Holly Garrod. Holly is a MsC student in the Biology Dept at Villanova University, Villanova, Pennsylvania. One of the goals of her thesis research in the Dominican Republic is to better understand how Caribbean endemic birds respond to changing landscapes and invasive predators. Holly was a recipient of the 2016-2017 BirdsCaribbean David S. Lee Fund Grant.

December 12, 2017

New Nesting Habitat for the Bahama Oriole and New Opportunities for Young Researchers

The critically endangered Bahama Oriole is found only on Andros, Bahamas. (Photo by Steve Brezinski)

The sun was now enough above the horizon that a few rays made it down to the understory of the pine forest. We walked quickly to our next point then began another nine-minute sampling period. About one minute in, we heard the clear crisp song of a Bahama Oriole, about 100 meters to our south. My student Briana noted this information on the data sheet. While waiting, she also recorded details about the habitat and the surrounding vegetation within a 100-meter radius: number of pines – 100+, number of understory palms – 10-20, number of coconut palms – 0, overall habitat – 100% pine forest.

The oriole sang several more times before the point count ended. Just 18 months prior, when we began the Bahama Oriole Project in October 2015, we would have been extremely surprised if we found an oriole in the pine forest. Previous research suggested that the orioles were concentrated in the settlements, especially around coconut palms, which were thought to be their preferred nesting tree. But in 2016, our team had discovered three different pairs of orioles nesting in this very pine forest, several kilometers from the nearest houses, farms or coconut palms. Now we were conducting an exhaustive population estimate to determine whether the orioles were found in just a few areas in the pine forest, or whether they were utilizing many areas of the pine.

Briana Yancy measuring nest site characteristics. (Photo by Kevin Omland)

We continued to walk along the long-abandoned logging road to the next randomly selected point. As we gained just a few feet in altitude, the pine forest became drier, and the gorgeous understory Key Thatch Palms became shorter and more scattered. I honestly feel ecstatic to be able to work in these vast remote forests, and as we walked along, I asked Briana what she thought of the habitat. She quickly spoke glowingly of the same features that I love so much – the open canopy, the echo of a Bahama Mockingbird song, and the unfamiliar beauty of the understory thatch palms.

This was Briana’s first fieldwork in the tropics, and she was off to a great start. As we walked, I asked her what she wanted to do after she finished college at UMBC. She said that this was exactly the kind of work that she had dreamed about doing – working on a tropical island, studying a critically endangered species, and seeing all these new birds and habitats. She had just finished her sophomore year as a Geography and Environmental Sciences major. Briana is in UMBC’s prestigious Meyerhoff Scholars Program, which is nationally known for its success in increasing underrepresented minority participation in science and technology.

Breeding in the Pine Forest – “Briana’s Nest”

A Bahama Oriole takes off in the pine forest. (Photo by Dan Stonko)

We conducted eight more counts that morning, and we did not hear or see any other orioles during the counts. However, as we continued west toward our meeting point on one of the main logging roads, the land sloped down again and we entered a wet area with many more understory thatch palms (so named because of their local use in roof making). The common species here is the Key Thatch Palm (Leucothrinax morrisii). To me these palms are the most beautiful plants on Andros, and they have intrigued me since my first days on the island. As we walked, suddenly Briana and I both heard a distinctive short “see-you” whistle, which meant a Bahama Oriole was nearby. She pointed as an oriole flew from one low thatch palm to another. Then, a second bird flew in and swooped up to one of the tallest of these understory palms. I whispered excitedly to Briana that maybe there was a nest nearby.

“Briana’s Nest.” Nest is hidden in the hanging dead fronds (yellow arrow). (Photo by Kevin Omland)

The first bird then entered the same tall thatch palm. There had to be a nest in that tree, so we approached and started looking under each of the hanging dead fronds. There it was: a neat tan palm-fiber basket, hanging protected under one of the dried-up fronds. We christened it “Briana’s Nest” and stepped back to observe the parents – two stunning adult Bahama Orioles. Both the males and females in this species sport a striking jet-black and lemon-yellow plumage. Both sexes also sing, so it is impossible to tell the sexes apart in the field. We observed both parents bringing food to the nest – there were clearly nestlings, but with the nest over seven meters up, we do not yet have the equipment to further investigate their age or number.

The project has now documented seven nests in the pine forest – three in 2016 and four in 2017. But we know nothing about what happens to nests in the pine forest. In 2018, we will conduct two main projects to evaluate breeding in the pine forest. First, Brianna will lead a project quantifying the key characteristics of the nesting trees and surrounding forest. Can the orioles nest in any part of the pine forest, or are there certain types of habitat (perhaps with tall thatch palms for example) that are preferred nesting sites that need to be preserved? Second, one of the Bahamian students will lead the effort to quantify nesting success and determine the greatest threats to nests – rats, cowbirds or feral cats. So far, we have little evidence of cowbirds in the pine forest, but preliminary surveys with trail cameras suggest that feral cats are likely widespread across the island. And arboreal rats could be important nest predators. Which if any of these threats are significant causes of mortality that need to be managed?

A Big, Diverse Field Crew

Soon we were joined by the two other teams that had been doing point counts that morning. One was led by Rick Stanley, a Masters student at the Imperial College London. The other was headed by Scott Johnson, a Bahamas National Trust science officer – who has a wealth of knowledge about the flora and fauna of Andros. We showed everyone the nest we just found, then compared notes from the morning. Rick’s team had also heard one oriole during counts in the pine that morning, and Scott’s team had heard two. The orioles are never common, but they seem to be widespread on the island.

The 2017 Field Crew. Left to Right: Kevin Omland, Michael Rowley, Jennifer Christhilf, Ciera McKoy, Briana Yancy, Matt Kane (all UMBC), Rick Stanley (Imperial College London), Daniel Stonko (UMBC), Scott Johnson (Bahamas National Trust).

Before leaving we took time to take some shots of the whole 2017 field crew. I look back upon that photo with a great deal of pride and gratitude. Each one of those young researchers has already made important contributions to the project. It is such a privilege to do fieldwork with students every year. For many of the students, this is the first time that they have traveled outside the US – one had never even been on a plane before this trip! The opportunity to introduce these students to the joys (and challenges) of tropical fieldwork is one of the best parts of this project. I am especially excited when my students get to work with BNT’s Scott Johnson and interact with students from the Bahamas.

Our shot of the field crew differs from many group pictures of field biologists or birders because it includes people of many different backgrounds. By drawing on UMBC’s diverse student population, and by working closely with our Bahamian collaborators, we are trying to bring a broader range of backgrounds and perspectives to fieldwork and wildlife conservation. Work throughout the Caribbean demonstrates the kinds of multinational and multiethnic collaboration that will build capacity in our increasingly diverse US population as well as in the island nations that are the focus of BirdsCaribbean.

Dr. Kevin Omland is a faculty member in the Biology Department at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). In collaboration with Bahamas National Trust, he began the Bahama Oriole Project in 2015. Dr. Omland was recognized as the UMBC Presidential Research Professor for 2016-2019. He is co-chair of the Diversity and Inclusion Committee of the American Ornithological Society. The Bahama Oriole Project has received generous support from the American Bird Conservancy and an anonymous donor through BirdsCaribbean. Stay tuned for updates from our upcoming 2018 field season.

October 28, 2017

#BarbudaStrong—Guadeloupe Bird Survey Team Plays Good Neighbors following Hurricane Irma

October 26, 2017

Meet the Superspecies of Parrots: Yellow-crowned Amazon (Amazona ochrocephala)

The Yellow-crowned Amazon is part of a superspecies of similar, closely related Parrots. (Photo by Faraaz Abdool) — The Yellow-crowned Amazon belongs to a superspecies of similar, closely related parrots. (Photo by Faraaz Abdool)

Many comic book characters we know and love today can be identified by their signature symbols. In the blink of an eye we can recognize the S of Superman’s shield or the beaming light of the Batman logo when Gotham City needs the Dark Knight to fight its villains. Likewise, when many Trinidadians see a parrot with bright yellow on the head they immediately identify it using the local name, “Venez” Parrot. But few people know that this bird belongs to a superspecies group of Amazon Parrots (genus Amazona) comprising 11 subspecies. A superspecies is a species complex of closely related, very similar species that are often difficult to distinguish. The subspecies are categorized into three groups: 1) Yellow-crowned or ochrocephala 2) Yellow-naped or auropalliata and 3) Yellow-headed or oratrix.

Amazona ochrocephala ochrocephala, the Yellow-crowned Parrot, known locally as the Yellow-crowned Amazon (or Venez Parrot) found on Trinidad belongs to the – you guessed it – “Ochrocephala” group. It was possibly introduced from Venezuela or Guyana but its distribution extends into Colombia, Brazil, Suriname and French Guiana. This medium-sized Amazon weighs about 500 grams with primarily green plumage, a yellow forecrown and white eye-ring. Look carefully and you will see that the bend of the wing and base of the tail are both red. These traits are used to distinguish it from the ever present and ever noisy Orange-winged Parrots (Amazona amazonica). If you can’t get an up-close look at the parrot listen for its call which is a distinctive mellow, rolling bow-wow; this is in contrast to the shrill kik-kik…kik-kik calls of the Orange-winged Parrots.

Yellow-crowned:

Orange-winged:

Like most other parrots, Yellow-crowned Amazons are monogamous and prefer to nest in hollow trees or palms. While other Amazons choose their nesting cavities based on tree species, cavity height from the ground and cavity entrance size, Yellow-crowned Amazons tend not to have a preference for a specific tree species but do require trees in good condition. Because pairs maintain their nesting territories throughout the year, things can get really loud if a bird or pair tries to take over another pair’s nest or even if a neighbour oversteps his boundary. Yellow-crowned Amazons are very aggressive and coordinated in defending their nests. The nesting pair will vocalize while perched next to each other or physically attack an intruder by lunging with beak open and wings extended.

A human archnemesis

The Yellow-crowned Amazon is locally known in Trinidad as the Venez Parrot. (Photo by Lester James)

If Yellow-crowned Parrots and their superspecies are superheroes of the bird world, then poaching of juveniles can be considered the population’s kryptonite. Fledglings over 40 days old are commonly taken from the wild though some poachers remove nestlings from the cavity when they are as young as three days old. Removing young birds from the wild is as bad for the population as it is for the individual birds. The young parrots are taken before they have reached sexual maturity and therefore, the current breeding pool of adults is not being expanded or replaced.

One reason Yellow-crowned Amazons are so popular for the pet trade is their ability to mimic human speech quickly. Because they are so desirable, some poachers in Central America dye the forecrown feathers of Red-lored Amazons (A. autumnalis) and Brown-throated Parakeets (Aratinnga pertinax) yellow and sell them as Yellow-crowneds to unsuspecting customers. Currently, Yellow-crowned Parrots are considered Least Concern by IUCN due to their wide geographic distribution and estimated healthy population size. However, the combination of habitat loss, their low reproductive rate, and poaching for the pet trade remains a major concern.

Vocalizations: an unsung hero

A Yellow-crowned Amazon pair preening in Trinidad. (Photo by Richard Lakhan)

Even I would admit that hearing a parrot “talk” is very entertaining and amusing. However in the wild they use their own dialect with each other and their communication is not limited to repeating the calls of one or a few parrots. Yellow-crowned Amazons use syntax to arrange the structure of calls including those used in territorial disputes. It is plausible that by using syntax, communication among parrots is more flexible than we think. In addition, dialect through duets is used to woo potential mates and successfully reproduce. Males and females have sex-specific notes. These serve to tell the caller’s sex, availability to pair (i.e., spoken for or not) and to facilitate communication with multiple interested parrots . Yes, all is fair in love and war, even for parrots.

Other vocalizations, like contact calls, are used to maintain order within flocks to achieve common goals such as finding food or avoiding predators. Just imagine how little justice would get served if the members of the Justice League were unable to create a strategy to fight their enemies because they didn’t understand each other! Interestingly contact calls may also serve to ascertain a parrot’s regional identity. A survey of 16 Amazon roosting sites in North and South Costa Rica, 18 miles apart, revealed that each region had a distinct type of call. Researchers found that neighbouring roosts within a region shared a common call type and in each roost a single call type was recorded resulting in the mosaic pattern typical of vocal dialects in humans.

When Yellow-crowned Amazons are kept as pets and taught to repeat silly phrases, we undermine so much of their intelligence and even their identity. Out of the cage they speak their own language, one that takes years to develop and runs much deeper than “Hello” or “Who’s a pretty bird?” In order for this beautiful, complex superspecies to thrive in the wild, we all need to be local superheroes and take a stand against wildlife poaching.

How can you help parrots in the wild?

The Blue and Gold Project recently launched their fundraising campaign to protect the Blue and Gold Macaw in Trinidad. This large, charismatic bird was extirpated from the island in the 1960s. A reintroduction program began in 1999, and after several releases, there is a small, stable population with documented breeding success. The Blue and Gold Project is raising funds to host local capacity building workshops to educate community members about wild macaws and the pet trade, monitor the illegal trade of macaws, and conduct much-needed research on the wild reintroduced population. Please donate today!

Aliya Hosein is a 2017 CLiC (Conservation Leadership in the Caribbean) Fellow working on a Blue and Gold Macaw Conservation Project on her home island of Trinidad. She believes that parrots are so colourful and boisterous that without them forests, savannas and swamps would be dull.

September 18, 2017

Scarlet Ibis: A National Symbol Under Siege

August 5, 2017

Saving a Species in Peril—A Holistic Approach to Conserving the Ridgway’s Hawk in the Dominican Republic

Soaring above the tree tops of Los Haitises National Park is the mighty Ridgway’s Hawk. Conflicts with humans and changes in its forest habitat have made it hard for this species to survive. Marta Curti tells us about the work of The Peregrine Fund to save this critically endangered raptor.

Ridgway's Hawks are critically endangered, found only in Los Haitises National Park in the Dominican Republic. (Photo by the Peregrine Fund). — Ridgway’s Hawks are critically endangered and found only in Los Haitises National Park in the Dominican Republic. (Photo by The Peregrine Fund)

The Ridgway’s Hawk is endemic to the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, but is now considered to be extinct in Haiti. The last remaining population of this species is in a small national park, Los Haitises, in the Dominican Republic (DR). There are only an estimated 350-450 individuals left in the wild.

I have been working as a biologist for The Peregrine Fund for the past 17 years. I have been lucky enough to have been a part of several of their projects helping to conserve birds of prey in many countries around the world. In 2011, I joined the team working in DR to help to save the Ridgway’s Hawk from extinction.

The Peregrine Fund’s Ridgway’s Hawk conservation project has been running since 2002 and has many facets. When I was asked to share a short article about our project on the BirdsCaribbean blog, I spent a long time thinking what to write about. I could focus on the advances we have made to prevent botfly (Philornis pici) infestations in nestling Ridgway’s Hawks – an issue that, if left untreated, could cause over 70% mortality in young hawks.

Or I could discuss the successes of our Assisted Dispersal Program: bringing young hawks from Los Haitises National Park and releasing them in Ojos Indígenas Reserve in Punta Cana in an effort to create additional populations of the hawk in other protected areas on the island. Assisted Dispersal has resulted in the formation of 15 breeding pairs to date and 22 wild fledged young!

Nestling Ridgway's Hawks hatched in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, thanks to The Peregrine Fund's Assisted Dispersal Program. (Photo by The Peregrine Fund) — Ridgway’s Hawks hatched in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic thanks to The Peregrine Fund’s Assisted Dispersal Program. (Photo by The Peregrine Fund)

Another aspect of the project I could mention is our collaboration with Fundación Grupo PUNTACANA and the Disney Conservation Fund to retrofit dangerous power lines preventing electrocutions of not only Ridgway’s Hawks, but other species of birds as well. A whole other blog post could focus on our program to provide free chicken coops to individuals in small communities, an effort to help avoid conflicts between humans and hawks that sometimes prey on young poultry.

Instead, today I would like to tell you about our community development and our environmental education programs. One important aspect of The Peregrine Fund’s work, is to improve the lives of people in areas where we are conserving birds of prey, whether through training, educational activities, or employment opportunities.

In the communities surrounding LHNP we are working with 17 local technicians that we have trained and hired. Some are in their 40s and 50s and have been with the project since its inception. Others are in their early twenties and are just beginning their careers. In small towns around LHNP, there are limited job opportunities and our project is able to provide economic benefits, employment and valuable training in skills such as tree climbing, data collection, bird banding, nest searching, as well as computer data entry and leadership skills.

A completed painting of a Ridgway's Hawk, done by one of the local school children. (Photo by The Peregrine Fund) — A completed painting of a Ridgway’s Hawk, done by one of the local schoolchildren. (Photo by The Peregrine Fund)

We began our environmental education program in Punta Cana in 2013, after three of our released Ridgway’s Hawks were shot in a nearby community. Since then, we have expanded our efforts and now work with over 15 communities and have reached over 7,000 individuals in a wide radius around the release site through door-to-door visits, educational presentations, school activities and teacher training workshops. One of the most fun and successful activities that we do every year (as part of our Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival) is the celebration of Ridgway’s Hawk Day, May 25^th.

Thanks to a generous donation from BirdsCaribbean, this year we celebrated Ridgway’s Hawk Day with three separate activities around the country! The first, we held with two of our local partners: the National Zoo (ZOODOM) and Fundación Propagas. Schoolchildren from Santo Domingo were treated to a close-up view of a live Ridgway’s Hawk at the zoo, and also participated in an art project, receiving a raptor inspired mask at the end of their visit.

The second and third Ridgway’s Hawk Day activities took place in Punta Cana, where, with the help of Fundación Grupo PUNTACANA – another important local partner, we hosted two celebrations on June 1^st and 2^nd. Over 80 children visited our Ridgway’s Hawk release site in Punta Cana and saw young hawks up close, learning about the release process and the importance of protecting wildlife. Participants also learned how to use binoculars on a nature walk while practicing birding in forests and lagoons. The children also created beautiful art, painting and coloring on recycled wood – which focused on Ridgway’s Hawks, nature, and other wildlife observed during their visit. Select pieces will be displayed at an event in a local art museum early next year.

Participants are beginning to paint images of Ridgway's Hawks and other wildlife and nature scenes from the day. (Photo by The Peregrine Fund) — Participants are beginning to paint images of Ridgway’s Hawks and other wildlife and nature scenes from the day. (Photo by The Peregrine Fund)

To end the day, we headed down to a nearby beach where the kids played games in the sand, learning about the importance of a balanced ecosystem for creatures both on land and in the sea. After a picnic lunch under the shade of nearby trees, students clapped hands and swayed to the rhythm of drums during an interactive dance performance by one of our volunteers, in a full Ridgway’s Hawk costume!

We have already begun to see the positive effects of our education efforts in communities, especially in the attitudes of individual people. Most notably, in the community where our three Ridgway’s Hawks were killed a number of years ago, we now have a nesting pair of hawks who just fledged two perfectly healthy young! The entire community knows of the presence of the hawks and is now actively supporting their protection!

Though we still have a long way to go to ensure the conservation of the species, we continue to be encouraged by the changes we see taking place, making great strides each year and we look forward to the day that the Ridgway’s Hawk is no longer an endangered species.

A "Ridgway's Hawk" comes to visit. (photo by The Peregrine Fund) — A “Ridgway’s Hawk” comes to visit. (photo by The Peregrine Fund)

Marta Curti works as a biologist with The Peregrine Fund, a non-profit organization whose mission is to conserve birds of prey worldwide.

June 14, 2017

Caribbean’s Birds Featured in British Birds Journal

The journal British Birds is keen to highlight Important Bird Areas (IBAs) in the UK Overseas Territories (UKOT) and Crown Dependencies in the Caribbean. Developed by BirdLife International, the IBA program strives to identify, document and protect all places on earth of greatest significance for the conservation of birds. Our members may already know how important IBAs are in the Caribbean – especially for the protection of restricted-range species and endemics. It is fantastic to see these unique areas receiving wider exposure.

Four UKOTs in the Caribbean region have already been featured in the journal: Bermuda, Montserrat, The Cayman Islands, and Anguilla. Each one provides a thorough account of bird life in the territory with over 10,000 words, numerous photos and maps, making them an excellent addition to the region’s ornithological literature. Well done to all the authors. We have included the abstracts of the four reports here; to read the full articles you can subscribe to British Birds or you can buy an individual issue at their website.

A Bermuda Petrel, also known as a Cahow. (Photo by Andrew Dobson)

Important Bird Areas: Bermuda

Published on 08 March 2017
Andrew Dobson and Jeremy Madeiros

Bermuda is a UK Overseas Territory in the western North Atlantic and was uninhabited before being settled by the British over 400 years ago. It is one of the most isolated inhabited islands in the world. Despite its remoteness and its suburban landscape, it has a remarkable avian richness and history. The rediscovery of the breeding grounds of the Cahow, or Bermuda Petrel Pterodroma cahow, in 1951 made international news in an age without social media. The continuing success of the Cahow recovery programme provides hope for similar projects elsewhere. There is a globally significant population of White-tailed Tropicbirds Phaethon lepturus and there are proposals to confer endemic subspecies status on the locally breeding Common Tern Sterna hirundo. Current threats to Bermuda’s biodiversity include climate change, the increasing frequency and intensity of tropical storms, and invasive species.

Important Bird Areas: Montserrat

Published on 16 February 2015
Steffen Oppel, Gerard Gray, James Daley, Stephen Mendes, Calvin Fenton, Gemma Galbraith, Shawn Daniel and James Millett

The Montserrat Oriole is endemic to the island of Montserrat and is the national bird of this UKOT. (Photo by Andrew Dobson)

Montserrat is a small jewel of an island in the eastern Caribbean. After a major volcanic eruption in 1995, two-thirds of the island became uninhabitable, and today Montserrat is off the beaten track for most tourists. The island is easily accessible, however, and a range of habitats support a variety of interesting native biodiversity. Three hill ranges exist on the island, the southernmost being an active volcano and mostly devoid of vegetation. The Centre Hills, an area of semi-natural forest, is home to endemic species such as the Montserrat Oriole Icterus oberi, the Montserrat Galliwasp Diploglossus montisserrati (a skink), and the ‘Mountain Chicken’ Leptodactylus fallax (a frog). Besides the Centre Hills forest, there are dry scrublands in the northern hill range, coastal cliffs, and some unspoilt beaches with scenic reefs suitable for snorkelling and diving. The island’s habitats suffer from the effects of multiple non-native species such as feral pigs, goats, cattle, rats and cats. Efforts to control these are under way, and the Centre Hills forest is protected. Protecting the forest on Montserrat is the most critical target both for native biodiversity and for water supply on the island.

Important Bird Areas: The Cayman Islands

Published on 10 May 2016
Patricia Bradley

The Cayman Islands, in the western Caribbean, are a UK Overseas Territory. Three main islands support a wide range of birds, with 17 endemic races of breeding landbird. The Grand Cayman Thrush Turdus ravidus, currently treated as the only endemic bird species, was last seen in 1938. However, taxonomic research may mean that ‘Taylor’s Bullfinch’ Melanopyrrha (nigra) taylori, which occurs only on Grand Cayman, is treated as full species. There are many challenges of managing a conservation strategy on small islands such as these. The currently rapid human population growth (with a variety of associated development pressures), and the prospect of increased number and severity of tropical storms, are two of the most important threats to the biodiversity of these islands. Strategies to address these issues by the National Trust and National Conservation Council are discussed.

Important Bird Areas: Anguilla

Published on 04 August 2015
Steve Holliday, Karim Hodge, Farah Mukhida, Clarissa Lloyd, James Millett and Louise Soanes

Anguilla is an important breeding site for seabirds, including Brown Boobies. (Photo by Fiona Dobson)

Anguilla is a UK Overseas Territory, the northernmost of the island groups in the Lesser Antilles, in the eastern Caribbean. It has been long known for its seabirds; 16 species currently breed, with Red-billed Tropicbird Phaethon aethereus, Brown Booby Sula leucogaster and Sooty Tern Onychoprion fuscatus occurring in globally important numbers. There are 16 Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBAs), including five of the islands holding the main seabird colonies. The mainland IBAs are identified for populations of breeding seabirds, including Least Terns Sternula antillarum, and/or five restricted-range terrestrial species confined to the Lesser Antilles Endemic Bird Area (EBA). The Dog Island IBA is one of the most important seabird colonies in the Caribbean. Considerable economic growth in recent decades, especially from increased tourism, presents challenges to ensure that new development is sustainable, helping to maintain the rich biodiversity and natural resources upon which the growth is founded.

May 24, 2017

Bahama Swallows in the “Pine Islands”—Report from the Field

A male Bahama Swallow. (Photo by Melanie Rose Wells)

Maya Wilson is a graduate student at Virginia Tech researching the ecology and life history of the Bahama Swallow, an endangered species endemic to the Bahamas. She is one of the dedicated young scholars who was awarded the BirdsCaribbean David S. Lee Fund Grant and her work is critical to understanding the Bahama Swallow and informing conservation strategies. Here, she discusses her research and describes her exciting field experiences with this unique species.

As we exit the truck, I hear a series of aggressive clicks and feel a rush of air as a wing brushes only a couple inches from my head.

When the Bahama Swallows began breeding, we started watching this particular area intensely, suspecting that the large, still-standing dead pine tree (i.e. pine snag) only a few paces from the old logging road would be a choice spot for a pair of swallows to make their nest. Sure enough, a couple weeks ago we found three white eggs. We are now scheduled to come back to see if those three eggs have hatched, and the parents are obviously well aware of that.

Peeper camera used to study Bahama Swallow nests that are otherwise well out of normal reach. (Photo by Daniel Stonko)

The bird that dove at my head joins its mate on a small exposed branch in a nearby tree and they chatter to each other, seeming to make a plan, before taking off again to resume their “attack.” It is hard to resist the urge to duck as I watch the male turn toward me and dive again, this time straight at my face. However, just like every other time, he changes direction at the last possible second — a signature move of a swallow. In reality, these small (~15 g) birds can’t hurt us.

The three of us walk to the back of the truck and begin to assemble the “peeper” camera so that we can take a closer look. Using several specialized pieces of hardware, we attach the camera to a large extension pole. I hoist the apparatus onto my shoulder to keep it steady, carefully climb over the pile of loose limestone along the road, and circle around to the other side of the snag. The nest is inside a hole (i.e. cavity) about 31 feet (9.4 meters) up, making this one of the highest nests we have studied, and therefore one of the hardest to observe.

I turn the camera on, and Mel confirms that it is wirelessly sending images to the monitor she is holding. I begin hoisting the pole upward, locking each section into place. Finally, the camera is near the correct height, and Shannan, who is standing back so that she has a good vantage point, guides me until it slips into the nesting cavity.

The 2015 Bahama Swallow field team (left to right): Tivonia Potts (Bahamian), me – Maya Wilson, and Nicole Acosta (Ecuadorian)

“Two chicks!” Mel shouts, and then, “wait, the last egg is hatching!” There is a bustle of activity as we all try to look at the small screen to see what is happening in the nest. Sure enough, the last egg has a crack down the middle, and a nestling is trying to fight its way out to join its two siblings in the nest.

We record a short video and then I bring the camera down. We all head back to the truck, disassemble the camera, and pile back in while the adult swallows take turns making sure that their newly hatched nestlings are okay. We have to try our hardest to disturb the nest as little as possible, so we decide to leave this family alone for a few days.

Bahamian pine forest is prime nesting habitat for the Bahama Swallow. (Photo by Melanie Rose Wells)

The memory of watching a Bahama Swallow nestling hatch during the summer of 2016 will stick with me for the rest of my life. I am back on Great Abaco Island again in 2017, and for the third field season in a row our team will be made up of three women in their twenties. Dressed in worn-out field clothes and carrying our peeper camera and other equipment through the forest, we certainly get our fair share of confused stares. But we spend several months of the year in the northern Bahamas for a reason. Great Abaco, Grand Bahama, Andros and New Providence are the only islands within the more than 700 islands that make up the Bahama Archipelago that contain large areas of the native Caribbean pine (Pinus caribaea bahamensis). This is why these three islands have rightfully earned the nickname, “pine islands.”

These pine forests are home to many birds, including five of the six Bahamian endemic species. One of these endemic species is the endangered Bahama Swallow (Tachycineta cyaneoviridis), which has only ever been found to breed on the pine islands. This bird, along with many other Caribbean endemics, is severely understudied.

My graduate research focuses on three main areas, with the overarching goal of providing information that is relevant to the species’ conservation to my main collaborator, the Bahamas National Trust, as well as other local organizations.

(1) How many Bahama Swallows are left, how are they spread across the pine islands, and do birds on the different islands breed with each another?

There have only been a few official estimates of Bahama Swallow population levels over the past 30 years, and they indicate a rather dramatic decline. The IUCN Red List estimates a current population of 1500-4000 individuals. Using multiple survey techniques, I hope to provide a more precise estimate that will shed some light on overall species abundance and whether Bahama Swallows favor certain habitats or islands in general. Using genetic information, we can determine whether the species has become separated into smaller, isolated populations, which would have significant implications for the survival of the Bahama Swallow and subsequent conservation management plans.

(2) When and where do Bahama Swallows breed, and how successful are each of their nesting attempts?

Time series of Bahama Swallow nest monitoring. (Photo by Maya Wilson)

Bahama Swallows are obligate secondary cavity-nesters, meaning that they will only build nests inside a cavity; however, they do not have the ability to create that cavity themselves. Rather, they rely on natural processes or other excavating species to create cavities for them. In 1995, Allen (1996) conducted a study that revealed important information about Bahama Swallow breeding biology and behavior. The swallows breed between April and July, laying an average of three eggs in abandoned woodpecker cavities in pine snags and various other cavities. By locating swallow nests in all cavity types, and then monitoring those that we can safely access, we hope to provide additional information on the determinants and limitations to the breeding biology of the species.

(3) Is breeding habitat limited? How do Bahama Swallows interact with other cavity-nesting species in the same habitat?

Male Bahama Swallow in the hand. (Photo by Maya Wilson)

Almost all of the forest on the pine islands is secondary growth, the result of extensive logging that took place from 1905-1969. It still is not clear what effects the logging and subsequent disturbances (e.g., fire and hurricanes) have had on the structure of the pine forest or the surrounding habitats, and on the species that inhabit them. The Hairy Woodpecker (Leuconotopicus villosus) is present on all of the pine islands, and is closely associated with the pine forest, although it can be found in other habitats. In The Bahamas, the larger West Indian Woodpecker (Melanerpes superciliaris) is mostly limited to Great Abaco, where it is mostly associated with dry broadleaf “coppice” and human habitation. The swallows and other secondary cavity-nesters rely on these woodpeckers to create cavities for them. However, the availability of cavities and the competition for those cavities may vary between habitats (e.g., pine forest vs. towns). We can look at these interactions by assessing the availability of nesting resources and documenting nests of all cavity-nesting species.

My research has come a long way since it began in 2014, though there is still much to accomplish. My team and I continue to unravel the ecology and biology behind the pine islands and their Bahama Swallows, and are currently getting our 2017 field season underway. I look forward to keeping the BirdsCaribbean community updated as the project progresses and am excited to meet more of you at the Cuba Conference this July.

Maya is a PhD Candidate at Virginia Tech. To learn more about the Bahama Swallow research and team, please visit please this website. Maya’s research is funded by BirdsCaribbean David S. Lee Fund, The Rufford Foundation, IDEA WILD and Golondrinas de las Américas.

The 2016 Field Team, including (L to R): Melanie Wells (Australian), me, Maya Wilson, and Shannan Yates (Bahamian).

May 16, 2017

Finding Bahama Oriole Nests in the Pine Forest—Reflections from a Young Scientist (Part 2)

Roni keeping watch on the pine forest nest — Roni Rolle observing a Bahama Oriole nest on Andros Island (Bahamas). (Photo by Dan Stonko)

Dan Stonko joined Dr. Kevin Omland’s research group studying the Bahama Oriole as an undergraduate at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. With the research team, he traveled to Andros in the Bahamas to search for the nesting Bahama Oriole and gained invaluable field experience while making memories of a lifetime (check out his recent blog article). Here, Dan summarizes his perspective of science, education and mentoring as learned through his undergraduate experiences.

As an undergraduate, I have been incredibly lucky with the opportunities I’ve received. Taking on undergraduate students into your lab can be risky in itself for multiple reasons – we are usually inexperienced, require time and effort to train, and usually can’t contribute nearly as much as a higher-level student/employee. For these very reasons, I have come to be evermore grateful for getting the kinds of opportunities as amazing and impactful as I’ve shared in my previous blog post. Whenever anyone asks me about our lab’s work, I start off by discussing the science and research. Before long, I tend to catch myself getting into the unexpected and memorable lessons I’ve learned. So here are just a few of those lessons:

1. The most impactful learning can happen outside of the classroom

Okay, this might sound cliché. But when I started college, I felt certain that most of my time in college would be spent either in class or studying. I then reasoned that most of my learning would therefore happen in class or while studying.

I graduate in two months and can definitely confirm that this is how I spend most of my time. Yes, as a biochemistry major I have gained much of the central scientific knowledge through classes. However, the science I study has come to life through my research. I’ve applied my knowledge to real-world situations, designed experimental procedures, built relationships with mentors, collaborated with peers, and worked in the field. These lessons and experiences will be with me forever, and they’re the kinds of things you can’t get by simply sitting in class or reading a textbook.

Getting out of a messy situation while in the field in the Bahamas. Photo by Dan Stonko

2. Science is a verb

Whether doing field research in a pine forest, looking through a microscope or telescope, or mixing chemicals in a beaker – I have come to see science, in its purest form, as the pursuit of knowledge. Not a noun, but a verb. It is the act of careful observation, meticulous investigation, and ceaseless questioning of the things around us. If the pieces fit together just right, our curiosity can be rewarded with an expanded understanding of our world.

3. Modern discoveries in science are made possible by our predecessors

Isaac Newton once wrote that, “If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.” Before I got involved with research, that adage sometimes crossed my mind; often it would do so while reading or hearing about some unimaginably complex discovery that undoubtedly depended on contributions from many people. This thought always gave me a fundamental admiration for the explorers and scientists who came before us. As a researcher, I’ve gained a new and deeper understanding of Newton’s words.

Going into our first trip, most of what was known about the Bahama Oriole came from earlier research by Dr. Melissa Price. Her work provided the most recent population estimates and gave thorough information on the reproductive ecology of the species. Whether I was in the field collecting data or in lab drafting the manuscript to share our findings – I knew that her work (and that of countless others) influenced our work. It’s a humbling reminder for a scientist to keep in mind: with every day that we work and every discovery that we make, our progress is possible because we stand on the shoulders of the giants who mentor us and came before us to provide our foundation.

4. Observation is the true driver of science

Some areas of popularized science today seem to reinforce (what I believe to be) a subtle yet significant misconception, which presumes that questions are at the bedrock of any scientific endeavor. However, I have found observations are the truest foundation. Countless scientific advances throughout history didn’t arise by seeking answers to specific questions. Even when questions have led to advances, initial observations were always there to lead to those questions in the first place. In other words, we first make observations about our world, which then allow us ask questions such as: What? Why? When? How? It all may seem like semantics, but I believe that grasping this subtle distinction instills a sense of deserved respect for observation as the most critical scientific tool for discovery.

Some of our research on this first trip was oriented towards specific questions or goals, such as the distance sampling surveys that we used to estimate population size. The majority of our efforts, however, occurred without particular goals and depended simply on observation (e.g. catching and banding orioles, recording observations on bird behavior, and finding nests). At first, this idea of working without a particular goal in mind may seem counterintuitive. Nevertheless, the work proved invaluable as it led to us finding orioles nesting in the pine forests. This trip serves as reminder that simply listening, watching, and being present to make observations can lead to unexpected discovery.

April 23, 2017

Environmental Educators Become BirdSleuths in the Bahamas

Young "bird sleuths" in Jamaica play the Bird Detective Game (Lesson 8) in BirdSleuth Caribbean curriculum. (photo courtesy of Jamaica Environment Trust). — Young “bird sleuths” in Jamaica play the Bird Detective Game (Lesson 8) in BirdSleuth Caribbean curriculum. (photo courtesy of Jamaica Environment Trust).

In the Caribbean and around the world, teachers and other educators are looking for new ways to engage students with the natural environment, inspire an interest in science and math and help youth learn to work together as a team. Some environmental educators believe birds may be the perfect focal point for accomplishing these goals, and the BirdSleuth Caribbean program was developed. During an intensive three-day training session in the Bahamas, Caribbean educators learned the program and are now poised to spread the program throughout the region.

The Retreat is a small national park nestled amongst the hustle and bustle of Nassau, Bahamas. Inside The Retreat, two dozen educators and conservationists from different islands throughout the Caribbean gathered October 15 to 17, 2014 to learn the BirdSleuth Caribbean curriculum. After their training, they returned to their islands ready to share this program with teachers and students.

Workshop participants and faciliators enjoying a birding walk at The Retreat, Bahamas National Trust, Nassau, Bahamas.

BirdSleuth Caribbean is a program designed to teach youth how to study, appreciate and conserve Caribbean birds. It is part of a larger BirdSleuth program developed by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. The original, US-based BirdSleuth program was adapted specifically for the Caribbean and its birds. At this workshop, each attendee was trained in the program and return with a full kit of supplies to implement the program. Over the coming months and years, workshops will be held throughout the Caribbean to train local teachers this program so they can share these activities with their classes.

The BirdSleuth curriculum includes many fun, hands-on activities, like creating a bird journal, learning to use binoculars and doing bird counts that can be entered into the citizen science website eBird Caribbean and used in actual scientific research. One benefit of the program is the opportunity to get kids out into nature where they can be active and forge a connection with the animals around them. The citizen science component, learning to identify birds and enter them into eBird, also teaches kids that their observations can help scientists learn more about topics like bird migration.

Birding at Adelaide — Workshop participants Portia Sweeting (Bahamas National Trust), Sabrina Compton (Grenada Fund for Conservation and ECO), and Scott Johnson (Bahamas National Trust) spot and ID birds on one of the field trips. (Photo by Lisa Sorenson)

Of course, many teachers and students may feel they don’t have enough experience with birds to teach this curriculum. One key component of the program is training the teachers and students to observe and identify birds. They learn to do this by observing physical characteristics, but also by looking at behavior, habitat and what birds are found in the area. The program also shows that we often know more about birds that we think. Almost everyone can already distinguish a duck from a seagull or an egret.

“The BirdSleuth training workshop was hands down the best training experience I’ve had to date,” commented Falon Cartwright, Preserve Manager for the Bahamas National Trust Leon Levy Native Plant Preserve in Eleuthera, Bahamas. “The curriculum is well designed, thorough, and super engaging and the level of organization and expertise demonstrated by our facilitators made the three days an absolute pleasure. I am so excited to use the BirdSleuth curriculum to encourage young people in Eleuthera to learn about and value our local birds.”

Israel Guzman (Sociedad Ornitológica Puertorriqueña Inc., Puerto Rico) had this to say: “Birds Caribbean, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the Bahamas National Trust teamed up to bring us one of the best workshops ever. Learning by doing and sharing experiences made us all get the most from this workshop based on the BirdSleuth Curriculum. The whole experience will be replicated to provide students with the right tools to reconnect them to nature, and lead them to love and care about birds and conservation.”

Educators navigate hazards during the Migration Obstacles Game (Lesson 6). (Photo by Lisa Sorenson)

Birds are a powerful tool to help kids and people of all ages connect with nature and develop a conservation mentality. Birds are fantastic ambassadors for nature because they are found everywhere, easy to see and identify and endlessly fascinating. Studying birds is a great tool for encouraging interest in both science and in the outdoors. Collaborative activities like many of the ones in the BirdSleuth program also help kids learn teamwork and cooperation skills.

We thank the Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Act Fund of the US Fish and Wildlife Service, International Programs of the US Forest Service, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, Optics for the Tropics, Franklin Dodd Communications, Tropical Shipping, and Vortex Optics for funding and support of the BirdSleuth Caribbean Project. The Wildlife Without Borders program of the US Fish and Wildlife Service provided funding for the pilot project to develop the BIrdSleuth Caribbean curriculum. We also thank the Bahamas National Trust for hosting our International Training Workshop and our many partners and educators for participating in the project and doing an amazing job training teachers and educating youth in their home countries.

28 participants from 20 different countries/islands participated in the BIrdSleuth Caribbean International Training Workshop, November 2014, Nassau, Bahamas. — 28 participants from 23 different countries/islands participated in the BIrdSleuth Caribbean International Training Workshop, November 2014, Nassau, Bahamas.

April 20, 2017

Finding Bahama Oriole Nests in the Pine Forest—A Victory over Rocks and Poisonwood (Part 1)

March 5, 2017

Working to Save and Protect what’s Ours— That’s our CAWS

Scott Johnson, Science Officer with the Bahamas National Trust, shares the work that he and his fellow conservationists are doing to help raise awareness about the issue of wildlife smuggling.

CAWS (Caribbean Against Wildlife Smuggling) logo created by Team Traffic to help raise the profile of the threats to our native wildlife from wildlife smuggling and what everyone can do to help.

As a Caribbean native, I can wholeheartedly understand people’s obsession with our region. The lush green vegetation, white sandy beaches, turquoise waters, delicious food, and warm tropical climate are all hallmarks of the Caribbean experience. Every year many people, aka “snowbirds” flock to this region by the millions for a welcome respite from the frozen north.

In addition to “sun, sea and sand,” visitors also enjoy the Caribbean’s abundant wildlife, including the chance to spot spectacular native birds like parrots, trogons and todies, swim with sharks and rays, snorkel on a tropical reef, interact with rock iguanas, and even watch sea turtles laying their eggs in a nest they dig right on the beach. Unfortunately, some people want to do more than just observe the wildlife—they want to take a souvenir home, purchasing wildlife products for fashion, pets, and novel foods. This is causing a serious threat to the long-term survival of many native species.

Hispaniolan Parrot in the Dominican Republic, a species targeted by smugglers. Parrots are captured in the wild as adults and chicks and illegally kept as pets or sold for the pet trade. Nesting trees are usually damaged by poachers so that they cannot be used by parrots in the future—a hole is slashed or the tree is chopped down, and the eggs or chicks are stolen. This is tragic because good nesting trees are in short supply. (Photo by Dax Roman)

The Caribbean is a virtual treasure trove of biological diversity. In fact, it is one of the most important biological hotspots in the world, home to thousands of endemic plants and animals. For example, 172 species of birds are Caribbean endemics, found no place else on earth. Many of these species are found on only one or two islands in the entire region. The novelty of these species unfortunately makes them key targets for smugglers.

Wildlife smuggling is one of the largest illegal activities in the world, a multi-billion dollar industry worldwide. Every year, tens of thousands of animals and animal products are smuggled to places like Asia, the US and other countries to satisfy people’s insatiable appetites for the new and exotic. In Trinidad and Tobago, birds like the Chestnut-bellied Seed Finch and Blue-and-Yellow Macaw are key species targeted by smugglers. In 2011, 74 eggs from both Black-billed Parrots and Yellow-billed Parrots were smuggled out of Jamaica into Austria in rum cake boxes by tourists visiting Jamaica. On the island of Hispaniola, Hispaniolan Parrots have been captured and sold in the wildlife trade and are illegally kept as pets, while a single St. Vincent Parrot is said to be worth $100,000 on the black market.

St. Vincent Parrots, endemic to St. Vincent and the Grenadines, in flight. (Photo courtesy of the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Tourism Authority)

What’s being done to help curb this threat in the Caribbean?

Kareena Anderson and Laura Baboolal CLiC “Team Traffic” members giving a presentation to enforcement personnel of the Wildlife Section, Trinidad and Tobago. (Photo by Praimchand Anderson)

Law enforcement is an extremely important tool in the battle against wildlife smuggling. Sadly, protection of native wildlife from illegal capture and smuggling has not been a major priority for many Caribbean countries. In addition, many enforcers do not have a well-rounded knowledge about their native species. This is where wildlife sensitization comes in.

For the past two years, the Conservation Leadership in the Caribbean (CLiC) Program of the US Fish and Wildlife Service has been training emerging young conservation professionals from around the Caribbean to tackle wildlife conservation problems in the region. Several of the participants formed a group called Team Traffic, and took on the challenging issue of wildlife smuggling in their home countries, the Bahamas and Trinidad and Tobago. Over the past year they have been assisting in the training of enforcers in each country, giving them the knowledge they need to properly identify animals in their country and put more emphasis on the protection of native wildlife.

Sharleen Khan holding a Blue-and-Yellow Macaw at the Emperor Valley Zoo in Trinidad. This macaw is the zoo’s Animal Ambassador and is part of the zoo’s education program where the macaw is used to raise awareness of wildlife conservation, specifically conservation of this species in the wild. (Photo courtesy of Emperor Valley Zoo)

Team Traffic has also created a Facebook page called CAWS-Caribbean Against Wildlife Smuggling, to help with outreach and education. International transportation companies such as JetBlue are helping to raise awareness through a public education campaign that advises travellers not to carry any wildlife products from countries visited.

In July 2016, The Bahamas hosted the Regional Wildlife Enforcement Workshop which brought together heads of enforcement agencies from across the Caribbean and International organizations such as CITES and the US Fish and Wildlife Service. The successful meeting led to the recommendation of the establishment of a Caribbean Wildlife Enforcement Network aimed at improving wildlife enforcement cooperation in the region.

Scott Johnson, CLiC “Team Traffic” member and BNT Science Officer speaks to Bahamian and Turks and Caicos Islands enforcers on wildlife smuggling during a workshop. (Photo courtesy of Scott Johnson)

CLiC’s Team Traffic group will continue to work with partners both locally and internationally to educate enforcers on the threats of wildlife smuggling in the region. With all of us working together, we will be a strong force against the ever-present threat of smuggling. Please support our CAWS!

What you can do to help

Don’t purchase items such as coral, products made from turtle shells, feathers, or any exotic animal product, as you may be helping to fuel the illegal wildlife trade market.
Never buy wild-caught birds.
Report the capture and sale of wild birds to the authorities.
Plant native trees and shrubs in your yard and support forest reforestation efforts.
Enjoy the beauty of the animals in their natural habitat to ensure them for future generations. If everyone puts in a concerted effort to learn about wildlife and wildlife smuggling, our region will be one step closer towards eradicating this illegal activity once and for all.

Trafficked Species Identification Guide developed by Team Traffic in the CLiC program (Conservation Leadership in the Caribbean).

Many thanks to Scott Johnson, Kareena Anderson, Laura Baboolal and Sharleen Khan, participants in the Conservation Leadership in the Caribbean (CLiC) Program, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service supported program. Please follow CAWS on their Facebook page! The issue of wildlife smuggling and how are laws and protected areas help conserve our birds was the theme of our 2016 celebrations of the Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival (CEBF) and International Migratory Bird Day (IMBD). Click here for more information.

February 25, 2017

JCO Roundup: Volume 29 Covers Research Across the Caribbean and Highlights the Adelaide’s Warbler

The Journal of Caribbean Ornithology (JCO) is a free, peer-reviewed journal produced by BirdsCaribbean.

With nine research articles, two book reviews, and an ornithological literature review, we are excited to announce the completion of Journal of Caribbean Ornithology’s Volume 29. Collectively the publications highlight valuable work spanning the entire arc of the Caribbean island chain, from Cuba to northern South America. The quality, quantity, and distribution of research represented in Volume 29 is testament to the JCO’s continued mission to build and grow a community of ornithologists around the advancement of scientific knowledge of all the unique avifauna of these island habitats.

These accomplishments would of course not be possible without the commendable teamwork that happens between researchers, reviewers, editors, and volunteers in all corners. Thank you so much for bringing your passion to the table and helping produce such a valuable resource to the field of ornithology.

Volume 29 wraps up with two complementary articles on the Adelaide’s Warblers:

Adelaide’s Warbler on St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. (photo by Sean Rune)

1. “First observations of Adelaide’s Warblers (Setophaga adelaidae) outside of Puerto Rico, in the U.S.Virgin Islands” is an article by Sean M. Rune and LeAnn M. Conlon that documents the first sightings of this species of warbler outside its endemic range of Puerto Rico (and its island-munici palities of Vieques and Culebra). From one to four individuals were recorded during each of ten observation periods spanning from 24 March to 17 December 2012 on the island of St. Thomas. One observation of one individual on 6 January2013 occurred on the island of St. John. Seeing as Adelaide’s Warblers are known to breed during the late spring and early summer months, these observations may indicate the initiation of range expansion by the species from Puerto Rico to the U.S. Virgin Islands to the east.

Adelaide's Warbler with white lower eye crescent - a possible female - on St. John. (photo by E. Dluhos in Veit et al. 2016) — Adelaide’s Warbler with white lower eye crescent – a possible female – on St. John. (photo by E. Dluhos in Veit et al. 2016)

2. Further evidence of range expansion by Adelaide’s Warblers follows in the article “Vagrancy and colonization of St. Thomas and St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands, by Adelaide’s Warblers (Setophaga adelaidae)” by Richard R. Veit, Lucinda C. Zawadzki, Lisa L. Manne, Pearl Cales, Danielle Fibikar, Shannon Curley, Elizabeth Dluhos, and Robert L. Norton. The authors observed five Adelaide’s Warblers on St. John during January of 2015 and eight individuals in the same area one year later. Given that these vagrants arrived against prevailing easterly trade winds and were observed in the same area from 2012-2016, Veit et al. hypothesize that in current time we are witnessing the eastward colonization of new islands by Adelaide’s Warblers.

A thorough overview of Adelaide’s Warblers highlighting these newly published articles has been written by Jason A. Crotty and can be found in a recent article of the magazine BirdWatching.

Map of the Caribbean; the two final publications in Volume 29 of the JCO focus on the hypothesized range expansion of Adelaide’s Warblers from Puerto Rico eastwards to the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The Archives Have Grown – We’re excited to announce that we’ve been able to put some serious time into uploading and making available older volumes of the journal. The JCO Archives are now completely catalogued back to the year 2005. Our goal is to continue working our way back in time, ultimately providing easy (and free!) online access to every article of every publication back to the journal’s beginning – Volume 1 in 1988. We encourage you to take some time looking around the archives to remember and discover all the great work that has been contributed over the years. We will continue to make announcements as more volumes are made available.

What’s Coming Up – The 21st International Meeting of BirdsCaribbean set to take place in Cuba this July promises to be an unforgettable event. Detailed information about the meeting can be found here, the meeting website will have a lot of updates in the coming weeks. Regular attendees of BirdsCaribbean conferences and seasoned Caribbean ornithologists should take advantage of this attractive venue to consider reaching out to young, burgeoning researchers across the islands that could greatly benefit from attending. BirdsCaribbean is making an active push to integrate new members into our community, and the best way to do so is by word of mouth from all of our members. Everyone planning on attending the conference should come ready to have an excellent time, and don’t forget to budget some extra time in Cuba if your schedule allows! Volume 30 of the JCO is already underway with a lot of great manuscripts in the pipeline. We’re also looking forward to the release of a Special Issue on Caribbean Forest Endemics that promises to be around a dozen articles in length. Rumor has it that we’ll be seeing some great articles on everything from Elfin-woods Warblers to Golden Swallows to Giant Kingbirds. Stay tuned!

By Justin Proctor, Caribbean Ornithologist; Freelance Writer; Loving Husband. Justin is part of our JCO Editorial and Production team and a frequent contributor to our blog.