Celebrate the Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival (CEBF) with us! Our theme in 2022 is “Loving Birds is Human Nature”. Have fun learning about a new endemic bird every day. We have colouring pages, puzzles, activities, and more. Download for free and enjoy nature with your family at home.
Endemic Bird of the Day: Cuban Black Hawk
If you’re lucky enough to visit the beautifully preserved wetlands of the Cuban archipelago, you may be surprised by the call of a large, dark bird of prey that seems to say “Ba-tis-ta.” This call explains why the Cuban Black Hawk is known locally as “Gavilán Batista,” although for English speakers it seems to say “uiit-uiit-uiu.” Although the Cuban Black Hawks is a bird of prey, it is possibly the tamest wild bird in Cuba. If you wait for it to perch, you can approach and observe it – sometimes as close as five meters away – an opportunity rarely offered by birds of prey, which are generally very elusive.
The Cuban Black Hawk ranges between ~43 to 52 cm in length (17-20.4 inches) and weighs ~650 g (22.5 oz). It has broad wings with white patches below and a short and wide tail with a very visible white band. Bill, legs, and feet are orange-yellow to yellow. Juveniles are mostly brown above and pale streaked below. This raptor, endemic to Cuba, prefers to live in wetlands such as mangroves, coastal lagoons, beaches, estuaries and swamps.
It breeds from January to July and both sexes build a cup-shaped nest with sticks and leaves, usually from mangroves, at a height of ~3 to 8m. It lays one to two grayish-white eggs with a bluish-green tint and some dark or reddish-brown blotches. It feeds on crabs, centipedes, lizards, rats, and is even known to hunt some birds.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature considers it Near Threatened. However, in Cuba the bird is considered Threatened due to a 75% reduction in its original distribution range and, above all, because its habitats are threatened by tourism development and the rise in sea level caused by climate change.Learn more about this species, including its range, photos, and calls here.
Colour in the Cuban Black Hawk
Download our West Indies Endemic Bird colouring page. Use the photos below as your guide, or you can look up pictures of the bird online or in a bird field guide if you have one. Share your coloured-in page with us by posting it online and tagging us @BirdsCaribbean #CEBFfromthenest
Listen to the calls of the Cuban Black Hawk
The calls of the Cuban Black Hawk are a loud, high-pitched, thin “weet-WEET-whew”
Puzzle of the Day
Click on the image below to do the puzzle. You can make the puzzle as easy or as hard as you like – for example, 6, 8, or 12 pieces for young children, all the way up to 1,024 pieces for those that are up for a challenge!
A Cuban Black Hawk calling- listen out for the squeaky “weet-WEET-whew” or the harsh scream they sometimes make. (Photo by David Ascanio).
An adult Cuban Black Hawk in flight. You can see the white patches below on the wing and the clear white band on it’s short, wide tail . (Photo by Rafy Rodrigues)
Activity of the Day
FOR KIDS: The Cuban Black Hawk is in a group of birds often known as birds of prey or “raptors”. They feed by catching other animals, often using their strong and powerful feet which have sharp talons. In fact, the word “raptor” means “to seize” or “grasp” in Latin! Can you Match the Feet to the correct Raptor in our fun activity? Look at the size and shape of the talons and think about what types of things each bird eats to help you pick the right answers
Once you think you have matched them up you can check your answers here. When you’ve checked your answers you can also learn a bit more about who each bird pictured in this activity is and what their favourite foods are.
FOR KIDS AND ADULTS: Enjoy this video of a Cuban Black Hawk in the wild!
Celebrate the Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival (CEBF) with us! Our theme in 2022 is “Loving Birds is Human Nature”. Have fun learning about a new endemic bird every day. We have colouring pages, puzzles, activities, and more. Download for free and enjoy nature with your family at home.
Endemic Bird of the Day: Thick-billed Vireo
The raspy, hoarse call “zzhhe” of the Thick-billed Vireo (Vireo crassirostris) can be heard echoing throughout the coppice and pine forests of the Greater Antilles. The song is also unmistakable—a bubbly, scratchy, jumbled “chick, didderwid-weee-zhee, chip” repeated over and over.
The distribution of the Thick-billed Vireo is limited to specific islands in the Caribbean basin: The Bahamian Archipelago (where they can be found on all islands); Turks and Caicos Islands (found only on the Caicos islands); the Cayman Islands (Grand Cayman and Cayman Brac); Tortuga Island (Haiti); Cuba; and can be a vagrant/accidental to Florida.
The Thick-billed Vireo can be identified by two white wing bars, yellow spectacles, grayish bill, and underparts varying from dull olive to yellow. This species can be distinguished from the similar migratory White-eyed Vireo (Vireo griseus) as the White-eyed Vireo’s throat and breast color are dull gray, flanks are yellowish, and the silvery-white iris that the Thick-billed Vireo lacks.
These energetic birds are typically found in dense scrubby habitats, as well as mixed pine forests with second-growth understory. They mainly eat insects, gleaning them from leaves and branches. They also eat some fruits such as Gum Elemi (Bursera simaruba).
Thick-billed Vireo nests are primarily made of leaves and grass, although small twigs and spider webs can also be utilized. Nests are typically cup-shaped and positioned in the forks or crooks of trees and bushes. Females usually lay 2-3 eggs and incubation is shared between both the male and female.
Download our West Indies Endemic Bird colouring page. Use the photos below as your guide, or you can look up pictures of the bird online or in a bird field guide if you have one. Share your coloured-in page with us by posting it online and tagging us @BirdsCaribbean #CEBFfromthenest
Listen to the song of the Thick-billed Vireo
The song of the Thick-billed Vireo consists scratchy jumbled variations of “chick, didderwid-weee-zhee, chip”
Puzzle of the Day
Click on the image below to do the puzzle. You can make the puzzle as easy or as hard as you like – for example, 6, 8, or 12 pieces for young children, all the way up to 1,024 pieces for those that are up for a challenge!
Thick-billed Vireos can be found in scrubland, thickets, and brushy forest edges where they will look for food within dense cover. (Photo by Chris Johnson)
Thick-billed Vireo, on the Bahamas. (Photo by Spencer Jablonski-Macaulay Library-ML100342241)
Activity of the Day
FOR KIDS: Thick-billed Vireo, and many other birds, enjoy munching on insects. Encourage more insects into your backyard or garden by making our Butterfly Feeder! As well as providing food for birds, some insects can help reduce pests like aphids and caterpillars. They also help to pollinate your plants!
Print out out the template and follow our easy instructions. To make this feeder you will need an adult to help you find and use the following:
An old postcard or any other sturdy material that is easy to draw on and cut (cereal box, shoebox)
A Pencil, Coloring pencils, markers
Screw bottle cap
Straw or craft stick
Glue
Scissors
Sponge or cotton balls
Flower template (optional)
Sugar
Water
FOR KIDS AND ADULTS: Enjoy this video of a Thick-billed Vireo in the wild!
Celebrate the Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival (CEBF) with us! Our theme in 2022 is “Loving Birds is Human Nature”. Have fun learning about a new endemic bird every day. We have colouring pages, puzzles, activities, and more. Download for free and enjoy nature with your family at home.
Endemic Bird of the Day: Puerto Rican Nightjar
Just look at that mouth!
This is how the Puerto Rican Nightjar got its generic name, Antrostomus – combining the Ancient Greek word “antron,” meaning “cavern” with ‘stoma,” meaning “mouth.” In the late evening, early morning, or at night, this endemic bird feeds on moths and other large insects. It snares them out of the air with that gaping mouth, which has modified feathers called bristles, used to detect insects in flight.
The Puerto Rican Nightjar is cryptically colored; it camouflages itself, resembling leaves and bark, with mottled gray, brown, and black plumage and some reddish tones. Males have a black throat bordered by a white band, and white outer tail feathers. Females have buff-colored throats and outer tail feathers. They are ~22-23 cm in length and weigh ~ 40-41 grams.
Where will you find this rather mysterious bird? If you look closely enough, you will find Puerto Rican Nightjars mainly in dry coastal and lower montane forests with open understory and abundant leaf litter. During the day, they roost on the ground or on tree limbs, perching along the branch rather than across it, blending in perfectly with their surroundings. Heard more often than seen, their song is a repeated “whip, whip, whip, whip…”
This species nests between the months of February to July. Puerto Rican Nightjars do not build a nest; the female lays eggs directly on the ground on a layer of leaf litter. She lays 1 to 2 buffy brown eggs covered with brownish-purplish spots. Both parents incubate the eggs and care for the chicks, taking turns brooding and feeding them. When a predator approaches, the parents try to distract it, flapping their wings and tail as if wounded, to draw the predator’s attention away from the chicks. Juvenile nightjars remain in their parents’ territory for some time after fledging.Learn more about this species, including its range, photos, and calls here.
Colour in the Puerto Rican Nightjar
Download our West Indies Endemic Bird colouring page. Use the photos below as your guide, or you can look up pictures of the bird online or in a bird field guide if you have one. Share your coloured-in page with us by posting it online and tagging us @BirdsCaribbean #CEBFfromthenest
Listen to the song of the Puerto Rican Nightjar
The calls of the Puerto Rican Nightjar are an emphatic, high-pitched and repeated “whip, whip, whip“
Puzzle of the Day
Click on the image below to do the puzzle. You can make the puzzle as easy or as hard as you like – for example, 6, 8, or 12 pieces for young children, all the way up to 1,024 pieces for those that are up for a challenge!
Puerto Rican Nightjar. Their mottled grey and brown plumage can make them extremely difficult to see as they rest on the ground during the day. (Photo by Guillermo Plaza)Puerto Rican Nightjar perched in a tree. If you see one of these birds in flight look at the outer tail feathers, in male birds these are white, but females only have buff tips of outer tail feathers (Photo by Mike Morel).
Activity of the Day
FOR KIDS: Can you find the words in our Puerto Rican Nightjar word search? Circle the words as you find them and remind yourself of some of the interesting facts about todays endemic bird. There are 15 hidden worlds for you to look for! Remember the words can appear forwards and backwards, and can be horizontal, vertical and diagonal! Need some help? Or want to check your answers? You can see where all the words were here.
FOR KIDS AND ADULTS: Enjoy this video of a Puerto Rican Nightjar in the wild!
Puerto Rican Nightjars blend in beautifully with their environment, they are active mainly at night. This means that they can be very hard to spot as they sleep and nest amongst the leaf litter on the ground. Luckily, we have shared this video with you so you do not have to find this difficult to see bird. This Puerto Rican Nightjar is on a nest – keep an eye out for the tiny nightjar chicks!
Celebrate the Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival (CEBF) with us! Our theme in 2022 is “Loving Birds is Human Nature”. Have fun learning about a new endemic bird every day. We have colouring pages, puzzles, activities, and more. Download for free and enjoy nature with your family at home.
Endemic Bird of the Day: Grenada Flycatcher
Connecting the islands from Grenada all the way north to St. Vincent is one special little endemic: the Grenada Flycatcher. This subtly beautiful bird is more closely related to the South American Brown-crested Flycatcher than other Antillean species, forming a bubble of endemism in the southern Lesser Antilles.
The Grenada Flycatcher has the white chest, light wing bars, and upright posture of other tyrant flycatchers in its range. However, a brown back and often vibrant yellow belly set it apart from the Gray Kingbird, Caribbean Elaenia, and Yellow-bellied Elaenia. It is also larger than the elaenias, averaging 20 cm long. Its colloquial nickname (in Grenada) “Johnny Muff” or “Johnny Head” is an ode to its hairstyle – a sleek mohawk of brown feathers that hardly ever appears ruffled. This bird is often heard before seen, with a high-pitched single-note “quip” (think sneakers squeaking on tiles). Once spotted though, it kindly gives you the chance to take in its beauty, staying perched for long periods.
Found in numerous habitats, from high-elevation forests to coastal mangroves, the Grenada Flycatcher is a true generalist. As the name suggests, it is primarily an insectivore, using a technique called “sallying” where it darts from a perch to catch insects midair. It has also been observed eating small lizards and berries to supplement its insect-rich diet.
Grenada Flycatchers nest between March and October, but can be seen collecting nest material as early as February. They nest in cavities, including hollowed-out mangrove snags. Their lifespan is at least 3 years, as revealed by sightings of previously color-banded birds on Grenada. However, more research is needed to shed light on the biology and life history of this unique tyrant. The species is not currently threatened (considered “Least Concern” by the IUCN) but as an endemic and range-restricted species, it is vulnerable to habitat loss from unsustainable development and climate change.Learn more about this species, including its range, photos, and calls here.
Colour in the Grenada Flycatcher
Download our West Indies Endemic Bird colouring page. Use the photos below as your guide, or you can look up pictures of the bird online or in a bird field guide if you have one. Share your coloured-in page with us by posting it online and tagging us @BirdsCaribbean #CEBFfromthenest
Listen to the calls of the Grenada Flycatcher
The calls of the Grenada Flycatcher includes a loud, repeated “quip” or harsh queuk.
Puzzle of the Day
Click on the image below to do the puzzle. You can make the puzzle as easy or as hard as you like – for example, 6, 8, or 12 pieces for young children, all the way up to 1,024 pieces for those that are up for a challenge!
Grenada Flycatcher. You can find this large flycatcher in St Vincent, the Grenadines and of course in Grenada! (Photo by Knut Hansen)
Grenada Flycatcher. Look out for this bird in open woodlands and scrub including towns, and especially in areas near palms. (Photo by Pete Rogers)
Activity of the Day
FOR KIDS: The Grenada Flycatcher catches and insects to eat. Sometimes this bird will flit between plants searching for its next meal. At other times it will perch perfectly still on a twig or branch and wait to strike its prey – perhaps catching a moth, fly or spider! Imagine you are a Grenada Flycatcher and find out what bugs there are in your backyard in our fun bug hunt! Follow our instructions and see how many different types of bugs you can find! Perhaps you will spot a butterfly or a bee flitting past? Remember just to look at the bugs and not to touch or collect them. You can check the ones you see off on our list and perhaps take some photos of them?
FOR KIDS AND ADULTS: Enjoy this video of a Grenada Flycatcher in the wild! Listen carefully and you will also hear it calling quip …quip …quip…quip...quip.
Celebrate the Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival (CEBF) with us! Our theme in 2022 is “Loving Birds is Human Nature”. Have fun learning about a new endemic bird every day. We have colouring pages, puzzles, activities, and more. Download for free and enjoy nature with your family at home.
Endemic Bird of the Day: St. Lucia Warbler
This eye-catching little bird is endemic to the island of St. Lucia and locally known as “Sucrier babad.” The St. Lucia Warbler (Setophaga delicata) is a common bird on the island, it is found in most forest types but more so in middle and upper level forests. It can be identified by its bluish-gray upperparts, two white wingbars, bright yellow throat and underparts, broad yellow eyebrow stripe and cheek patch. It has a black crescent below the eye and a narrow black stripe on the edge of the crown. The tail is gray with white outer feathers. Females differ from males by having less white in the tail, and less pronounced black edging to crown stripe.
The only other species occurring in St. Lucia with yellow underparts are the Yellow Warbler (Setophaga petchia) and the Bananaquit (Coereba flaveola). The Yellow Warbler has yellow upper parts and under tail coverts, more plain yellow face, and no white wing bars. It is more commonly found in drier scrub & mangrove forests. The Bananaquit has a yellow rump patch, white eyebrow stripe, down-curved bill, and a small square patch on its wing. It is found in most forest types.
The St. Lucia Warbler is an active bird and can thus be difficult to spot, as it flits from branch to branch, searching for insects and spiders. It is a small warbler measuring between 12–12.5 cm. When in the forest, listen out for its song—a loud trill, variable in pitch and speed, which often ends in “which-you.” The call is a single loud sweet chip.
St. Lucia Warblers typically breed from March to June, but the seasons can vary based on nest success, the weather, and other variables. They commonly build their nests in the fork of a shrub or tree, in a thickly vegetated location. Nest heights range from 0.2m-6m. Nests are small, cup-shaped, made with fine grasses, and lined with feathers. They normally lay between 2-4 eggs, which are flecked with reddish-brown spots at the broad end.
Major threats to the success of St. Lucia Warbler nests are the Shiny Cowbird which may parasitize their nests, the Carib Grackle, who rob nests and eat the eggs, and drought. Although currently listed as a species of Least Concern, the long-term survival of this single-island endemic and most of our wildlife, is threatened by loss of forest habitats to development and climate change, which will likely increase droughts. Learn more about this species, including its range, photos, and calls here.
Colour in the St. Lucia Warbler
Download our West Indies Endemic Bird colouring page. Use the photos below as your guide, or you can look up pictures of the bird online or in a bird field guide if you have one. Share your coloured-in page with us by posting it online and tagging us @BirdsCaribbean #CEBFfromthenest
Listen to the song of the St. Lucia Warbler
The song of the St. Lucia Warbler is highly varied, with rich, liquid notes in a trill often ascending or descending at the end.
Puzzle of the Day
Click on the image below to do the puzzle. You can make the puzzle as easy or as hard as you like – for example, 6, 8, or 12 pieces for young children, all the way up to 1,024 pieces for those that are up for a challenge!
The St. Lucia Warbler or sucrier babad, is one of the most common birds on the island of St. Lucia. (Photo by Frantz Delcroix- Macaulay Library- ML20078251)St. Lucia Warbler. Although this bird not currently of conservation concern, one of the main threats to populations of St. Lucia Warblers is the loss of forest habitats to tourist developments. (Photo by Judd Patterson)
Activity of the Day
FOR KIDS: There are many different warblers in the the Caribbean, as well as other small bird they might be confused with! Some warblers migrate and are only in the Caribbean for part of the year whilst others, like the St. Lucia Warbler are endemic! How much can you remember about warblers? Test your knowledge and see if you can pick our today’s bird in our Warbler Memory Matching Game!
FOR KIDS AND ADULTS: Enjoy this video of a St. Lucia Warbler in the wild!
Celebrate the Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival (CEBF) with us! Our theme in 2022 is “Loving Birds is Human Nature”. Have fun learning about a new endemic bird every day. We have colouring pages, puzzles, activities, and more. Download for free and enjoy nature with your family at home.
Endemic Bird of the Day: Jamaican Owl
The Jamaican Owl Pseudoscops grammicus and the Barn Owl Tyto alba, locally known as Patoos are probably the most misunderstood birds in Jamaica. Many people are afraid of them and will kill them on sight. These fears have their roots in local mythology. Some people think they are omens of death. Others think that at night the owls leave their skins, and turn into witches that fly around committing evil deeds. Therefore, they believe that if you find an owl, you should kill it, skin it, and put salt in the skin to prevent it from coming back.
In reality, the small and irresistibly cute little brown fluffy Jamaica Owls are uniquely Jamaican and ecologically important. Not only are they endemic to Jamaica, but there are no other species in the genus Pseudoscops anywhere else in the world! Their reddish brown plumage, with large jet-black eyes and distinctive ear tufts, make them unmistakable. The downy chicks are white and fluffy with huge eyes, like a baby Yoda.
During the day you might be lucky to spot an adult or a pair in a wetland, dry forest, montane forest, wooded pasture, or a garden. They may be perched on a branch or twig, in the center or edge of a large tree, such as an old West Indian Cedar Cedrella odorata, which is covered with bromeliads – anywhere where there are trees that are large enough to support their nests. Nests can be in cavities in trees, or under a bromeliad. Jamaican Owls lay two eggs but usually only rear one chick, which will hang around and be fed by its parents for almost a year.
At dusk falls, the adults prepare for the evening’s hunt by preening, stretching, and calling. The calls are deep and rasping – something between a silky “wow” and a bark. If you listen carefully you may hear them calling to each other. Unlike people, the male makes the higher pitched call. The juvenile’s begging calls are high-pitched and very loud. The parents respond by flying out of the roost trees to capture insects, lizards, tree frogs, mice, small birds, and even an occasional bat.
Although they are harassed in many places, Jamaican Owls are common in suitable habitats, especially mid-level wooded pastures, where every karst hilltop may support a pair or a family group of two adults and a juvenile. Owls play an important role in maintaining the ecological balance of the forests, and enrich the experience of visiting forests. They deserve to be better understood. This means more environmental education, better protection of habitats, and increased enforcement of the laws that protect the species.Learn more about this species, including its range, photos, and calls here.
Colour in the Jamaican Owl
Download our West Indies Endemic Bird colouring page. Use the photos below as your guide, or you can look up pictures of the bird online or in a bird field guide if you have one. Share your coloured-in page with us by posting it online and tagging us @BirdsCaribbean #CEBFfromthenest
Listen to the calls of the Jamaican Owl
The calls of the Jamaican Owl include a low hoot, as well as a “wa-waaa-o” growling sound (see amazing video below).
Puzzle of the Day
Click on the image below to do the puzzle. You can make the puzzle as easy or as hard as you like – for example, 6, 8, or 12 pieces for young children, all the way up to 1,024 pieces for those that are up for a challenge!
Jamaican Owl. This unmistakable bird, with black eyes, and a rufous overall coloration can be found in open woodland, forest edge, open parkland, and even gardens. (Photo by Matt Grube)
Jamaican Owl are generalist predators, the will eat insects, spiders, rodents, lizards and tree frogs. (Photo by Matt Grube)
Activity of the Day
FOR KIDS: Time to get active and play our fun “Hide and Squeak” Jamaican Owl game! For this game you will need four people to play – one ‘Owl’ and at least three people to be ‘hunted’ as different types of animals that the Owl would eat. You will also need:
Something to act as a blindfold for the ‘owl’ (if you don’t have a blindfold you could us a scarf of cloth etc.)
A marker pen
Some name tags
How good are you at finding ‘prey’ only using your ears? You can play more than once, taking it in terns to be the ‘owl’!
FOR KIDS AND ADULTS: Enjoy this video of a Jamaican Owl in the wild! You will hear the ‘growling’ noise that these birds sometimes make.
Take a virtual camping trip in Jamaica and discover more about the Jamaican Owl in this colourful and fun ‘Zine’ made by Sarita Emmanuel for the Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival in 2021.
Celebrate the Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival (CEBF) with us! Our theme in 2022 is “Loving Birds is Human Nature”. Have fun learning about a new endemic bird every day. We have colouring pages, puzzles, activities, and more. Download for free and enjoy nature with your family at home.
Endemic Bird of the Day: Bay-breasted Cuckoo
Imagine a half-meter long, dusky gray bird with reddish-brown breast, throat, and wing patch, peach-colored pantaloons and belly, and thick decurved bill. Got that? Now, add a glossy black tail comprising nearly two thirds the bird’s total length, each feather tipped with a bold white spot. Mother Nature is showing off with the Bay-breasted Cuckoo!
This bird has a loud, distinctive voice: Cu-aa! (its most common local name in the Dominican Republic), sometimes followed by a guttural accelerating u-ak-u-ak-ak-ak-ak-ak-ak-ak-ak. Residents of Gonaïves, Haiti call it Tako Kabrit (“Goat Cuckoo”) because of its goat-like bawl “Greeee!”
Despite all this noise, the Bay-breasted Cuckoo is one of the hardest birds to spot on Hispaniola. It is uncommon, shy and secretive. If you’re lucky, you’ll catch a glimpse of it, agilely hopping and gliding along branches,, hunting for insects, lizards, frogs, small mammals, even bird eggs and nestlings.
The Cúa has a Caribbean cousin, which it closely resembles in morphology and plumage: the Chestnut-bellied Cuckoo, endemic to Jamaica, which is much more common. Both species have a thick, down-curved bill. These large cuckoo species feed on similar prey, with similar foraging behaviors. Once, a Cúa was seen sallying at a lower branch, trying to capture a large, well-camouflaged lizard – which turned out to be a previously undiscovered chameleon-like species of Anolis!
The Cúa is the second most threatened Hispaniolan endemic bird. Its IUCN status is Endangered. Only two main nesting populations persist in the DR’s Sierra de Bahoruco and North slope of Cordillera Central. In the last 12 years, it has been seen in other areas; but these are likely a few survivors, now at risk of extinction due to the continued destruction of mature broadleaf and semi-deciduous middle elevation forests, their preferred habitat. Intensive farming, including avocado plantations, poses a serious threat to this species’ survival. Hunting is another factor putting pressure on the birds; some local people mistakenly believe that eating the bird will cure arthritis and other ailments.
Finally, in a tropical country where commercial ads (paint products, tours) sometimes display non-native birds like macaws and toucans, perhaps unaware that we have our own majestic and colorful birds like the Bay-breasted Cuckoo, it is great to see branding inspired by this spectacular species: Cúa Conservation Agency (audiovisual producers) and La Cúa Birding Tours (from colleague birding guide Iván Mota).Learn more about this species, including its range, photos, and calls here.
Colour in the Bay-breasted Cuckoo
Download our West Indies Endemic Bird colouring page. Use the photos below as your guide, or you can look up pictures of the bird online or in a bird field guide if you have one. Share your coloured-in page with us by posting it online and tagging us @BirdsCaribbean #CEBFfromthenest
Listen to the calls of the Bay-breasted Cuckoo
The calls of the Bay-breasted Cuckoo are a guttural accelerating, “u-ak-u-ak-ak-ak-ak-ak-ak-ak-ak.” They also make a bleating sound a bit like a lamb or goat.
Puzzle of the Day
Click on the image below to do the puzzle. You can make the puzzle as easy or as hard as you like – for example, 6, 8, or 12 pieces for young children, all the way up to 1,024 pieces for those that are up for a challenge!
Bay-breasted Cuckoo are shy and often remain hidden in cover. They are listed and endangered with historical population declines and a restricted range. (Photo by Carlos Pedro, Macaulay Library- ML393609811)
Bay-breasted Cuckoo are striking looking birds, but hard to spot. Listen out for their distinctive calls- a forceful Cu-aa!, often followed by accelerating u-ak-u-ak-ak-ak-ak-ak-ak ak-ak. (Photo by Dax Roman)
Activity of the Day
FOR KIDS: Get active with your family and friends with our fun chick feeding game! We want you to imagine you are a busy Bay-breasted Cuckoo with a hungry brood of chicks to feed! It will take some speed and dexterity to help provide food for your baby birds. Download the instructions here.
We would love to see photos and/or videos of you and your family playing the game. You may email them to Aliya.Hosein@birdscaribbean.org
Please note that by submitting your photos and/or video you give BirdsCaribbean consent to use your photos and/or videos on our website and social media accounts.
FOR KIDS AND ADULTS: Did you know that in 2020 Shika Shika released their album “A Guide to the Birdsong of Mexico, Central America, & the Caribbean” ? The project was a unique fusion of music and birdsong , the ten-track electronic music album, incorporated the songs and calls of endangered birds. Amongst the calls and songs of endemics from the region you can listen out for the sweet songs of our Caribbean birds ! You can still hear the tracks on Shika-Shika’s Bandcamp website. Read all about how Shika Shika managed to raise an amazing $30,000 USD for bird conservation in to our blog post.
Celebrate the Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival (CEBF) with us! Our theme in 2022 is “Loving Birds is Human Nature”. Have fun learning about a new endemic bird every day. We have colouring pages, puzzles, activities, and more. Download for free and enjoy nature with your family at home.
Endemic Bird of the Day: Cuban Green Woodpecker
Under the canopy of the forest, the Cuban Green Woodpecker (Xiphidiopicus percussus) is busy creating homes in the trunks and branches of trees – one peck at a time. Its olive-green upperparts are unique among Caribbean woodpeckers and, paired with yellow-greenish underparts streaked with black, it makes for the perfect camouflage! The disguise is given away by a head with white sides, a black line behind the eye, a red throat, and a flashy bright red crown that rises like a crest. The front half of this crown is black on females. Still, they may be really difficult to spot if it weren’t for their active and noisy behavior – constantly raising their red crest, calling, and inspecting tree branches for food. They feed mostly on insects and larvae but also eat small frogs, lizards, fruits, and have been seen preying on eggs and even feeding on nectar. It is common to see them foraging in pairs, or even in families teaching their young.
Cuban Green Woodpeckers are specially adapted to forest life. Their smaller size brings them agility, even thin branches will support them. With feet and tail specially designed to climb and move all along trees they can inspect horizontal branches even from below, turning and hopping around effortlessly. Their short and sharp beak is the perfect tool to build and maneuver in tight spaces. This, along with their small size allows them to make a nest cavity in smaller tree trunks and even in branches using both live and dead wood. By doing this, they avoid competition for nesting sites with other bigger woodpecker species on the island. This also enables them to occupy almost all types of forest habitat, from mountains to mangroves.
Cuban Green Woodpeckers breed between February and August. The male bores a nest cavity in a tree, the home for three to four white eggs. The couple takes turns incubating the eggs and feeding the chicks. They may be small but they fiercely defend their nest and territory against any intruder, especially other woodpeckers. Their voice is a strong “ta-há ta-há” or “nrwac-nrwac” repeated a couple of times. They also produce a distinctive sound with a short burst of three or four beak strikes on wood, which is very useful to communicate over long distances.
Endemic to Cuba, this bird can be observed across the whole territory. As it is the most common woodpecker in all Cuban forests, it is of great importance, allowing other endemic birds such as the Cuban Trogon or Cuban Pygmy Owl to also thrive and reproduce in these habitats using its abandoned nesting cavities.Learn more about this species, including its range, photos, and calls here.
Colour in the Cuban Green Woodpecker
Download our West Indies Endemic Bird colouring page. Use the photos below as your guide, or you can look up pictures of the bird online or in a bird field guide if you have one. Share your coloured-in page with us by posting it online and tagging us @BirdsCaribbean #CEBFfromthenest
Listen to the calls of the Cuban Green Woodpecker
The calls of the Cuban Green Woodpecker include a strong “ta-há ta-há” repeated a couple of times and a rasping “gruhh.”
Puzzle of the Day
Click on the image below to do the puzzle. You can make the puzzle as easy or as hard as you like – for example, 6, 8, or 12 pieces for young children, all the way up to 1,024 pieces for those that are up for a challenge!
Female Cuban Green Woodpecker, they are typically found in pairs. The female has red on the back of her head, with the male showing a more extensive red crown. (Photo by Michael J Good)
Male Cuban Green Woodpecker. They are one of two woodpecker species that are endemic to Cuba, the other is the endangered Fernandina’s Flicker. (Photo by Bill Hebner)
Activity of the Day
FOR KIDS: Cuban Green Woodpeckers have feet and tails specially designed to climb and move all along trees; they can inspect branches, for insects to peck with their pointy beaks, while moving up and down. In our fun woodpecker craft activity you can make your own feeding Cuban Green Woodpecker and then explore their ‘pecking whist climbing’ behaviour. For this activity you will need:
Celebrate the Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival (CEBF) with us! Our theme in 2022 is “Loving Birds is Human Nature”. Have fun learning about a new endemic bird every day. We have colouring pages, puzzles, activities, and more. Download for free and enjoy nature with your family at home.
Endemic Bird of the Day: Bahama Swallow
On the most northern islands of The Bahamas, this acrobatic bird can be seen flying low over the roads, fields, and other open habitats. Its ability to twist and turn at the last second is truly impressive – the fighter jets of the bird world. Is it just showing off? No, the Bahama Swallow (Tachycineta cyaneoviridis) is hunting, grabbing unlucky flying insects directly out of the air.
But if a Bahama Swallow will sit still long enough, the stunning beauty of this Bahamian endemic will blow you away. The deep metallic green on its crown and upper back fades into dark blue, and then into grayish-brown on its long wings and forked tail. These gorgeous colors contrast sharply with the purest of whites on the throat and belly, which continues under part of the wing. The white under the wing, along with a more deeply forked tail, can help distinguish it from its close relative, the Tree Swallow.
During the breeding season (March – July), this special bird can only be found on three islands in the Northern Bahamas – Grand Bahama, Andros, and Abaco. Along with New Providence, these islands are the only ones in the Bahamian archipelago that contain large areas of Caribbean pine. During the non-breeding season, a few birds may wander south to other islands in the Bahamas, to northern Cuba, and the Florida Keys. More study on the species’ movements are needed!
The swallow has a strong connection with this unique and magical pine forest habitat. The species is a secondary cavity-nester, meaning that it will only build a nest in a cavity (i.e., a hole of some kind), but it cannot create this cavity for itself. Luckily for the swallow, two woodpecker species — the Hairy Woodpecker and the West Indian Woodpecker — are very good at making nesting cavities in dead trees. After the woodpeckers are done with them, the swallow can jump in! But it is generally safer for swallows to use the cavities in the pine forest, usually made by the Hairy Woodpecker, where they are less exposed to competition and predation.
The Bahama Swallow is an Endangered species, and its survival depends on healthy pine forest and woodpeckers to continue to make nesting cavities. The largest threat to the swallow is habitat loss from development and natural disasters like hurricanes. For example, in 2019, Hurricane Dorian destroyed huge sections of pine forest habitat on Grand Bahama and northern Abaco, where swallow populations were already small. So protecting the pine forest on Abaco and Andros is more important than ever to conserve this special bird!Learn more about this species, including its range, photos, and calls here.
Colour in the Bahama Swallow
Download our West Indies Endemic Bird colouring page. Use the photos below as your guide, or you can look up pictures of the bird online or in a bird field guide if you have one. Share your coloured-in page with us by posting it online and tagging us @BirdsCaribbean #CEBFfromthenest
Listen to the song of the Bahama Swallow
The song of the Bahama Swallow is a jumble of liquid notes, they also have a “chet-chet” call which can be heard in this recording.
Puzzle of the Day
Click on the image below to do the puzzle. You can make the puzzle as easy or as hard as you like – for example, 6, 8, or 12 pieces for young children, all the way up to 1,024 pieces for those that are up for a challenge!
Bahama Swallow swoops low to the ground, they hunt on the wing feeding on small flying insects such as flies and beetles. (Photo by Brendan Fogarty)
A flock of Bahama Swallows take a rest in a pine tree. Bahama Swallows will make their nests in cavities in trees, using the needles of the Caribbean pine as nesting material. (Photo by Walker Golder)
Activity of the Day
FOR KIDS: Bahama Swallows feed on insects, swooping through the air to catch them on the wing! Can you help this hungry Bahama Swallow find its way through our maze to to grab some tasty insect food? You can find the correct route here.
FOR KIDS AND ADULTS: Want to find out more about the Bahama Swallow and what it is like to study these beautiful little birds? Read all about the work of ecologist and ornithologist Maya Wilson. Maya’s graduate research was focused on understanding more about the status and breeding biology of this endangered island endemic. In her blog post below you can share a day in the field with Maya as well as learning more about the fascinating research she carried out in the Bahamas.
Celebrate the Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival (CEBF) with us! Our theme in 2022 is “Loving Birds is Human Nature”. Have fun learning about a new endemic bird every day. We have colouring pages, puzzles, activities, and more. Download for free and enjoy nature with your family at home.
Endemic Bird of the Day: Puerto Rican Spindalis
If you need a source of inspiration to start your day with a smile, then look no further than the Puerto Rican Spindalis (Spindalis portoricensis)—Reina Mora in Spanish. At dawn, males sing a simple, yet sweet, song from the treetops. When spotted, the striking and colorful plumage of the males is enough to stop you in your tracks. He has a black head with two bold white stripes, contrasting with a fiery-orange neck collar and throat that turns bright yellow down the chest and belly. The back is green and the wings and tail are grayish-black. Females are mostly olive-green, with faint streaking on the chest and drab whitish stripes on the head. The lack of bright colors on the female’s plumage is actually an advantage during the nesting season, providing camouflage during incubation in the nest.
The Puerto Rican Spindalis builds a cup-shaped nest, somewhat similar to a dove’s nest, on a fork at the tip of a high branch, usually hidden by leaves, making it difficult to find. Females lay 2 to 4 light blue eggs with brownish speckling on the wide end. Chicks fledge about a month after egg-laying and remain with the parents for a few weeks.
Their diet consists of fruits and small arthropods (e.g.., insects, spiders, worms, etc.). Small fruits are eaten whole, digesting the pulp but not the seeds. The seeds are then dispersed throughout their forest and urban habitats, making the species an important seed disperser. Larger fruits are no match for its short, yet strong, beak that it uses to rip the skin and expose the nutritious pulp. Many other species of animals benefit from this to get a free meal.
The Puerto Rican Spindalis is a single-island endemic, restricted to the largest island of the Puerto Rican archipelago, where it is widely distributed from coastal forests to the highest peaks, at 1,338 meters. Normally, they forage in pairs in their fiercely defended territories, but sometimes may be seen in small flocks, likely consisting of the parents and their recently fledged young.
The Puerto Rican Spindalis is a member of the family Spindalidae, a group formed by four Caribbean endemic species: 1. Western Spindalis (S. zena) of The Bahamas, Cuba, Cayman Islands, Turks and Caicos Islands, and Cozumel Island (off Mexico); 2. Jamaican Spindalis (S. nigricephala) restricted to Jamaica; 3. Hispaniolan Spindalis (S. dominicensis) of Hispaniola; and 4. Puerto Rican Spindalis.
Although the population size of this species has not been quantified, the population trend is believed to be stable and the Puerto Rican Spindalis is listed as “Least Concern” by the IUCN.
When you visit Puerto Rico, be sure to head out early in the morning to a forest or urban woodland park and, most likely, you’ll be rewarded with the wonderful sounds and stunning beauty of this ecologically important Puerto Rican endemic bird. Learn more about this species, including its range, photos, and calls here.
Colour in the Puerto Rican Spindalis
Download our West Indies Endemic Bird colouring page. Use the photos below as your guide, or you can look up pictures of the bird online or in a bird field guide if you have one. Share your coloured-in page with us by posting it online and tagging us @BirdsCaribbean #CEBFfromthenest
Listen to the song of the Puerto Rican Spindalis
The high-pitched song of the Puerto Rican Spindalis is a repeated series of three notes, “seet-see-seee, seet-see seee, seet-see-seee”
Puzzle of the Day
Click on the images below to do the puzzle. You can make the puzzle as easy or as hard as you like – for example, 6, 8, or 12 pieces for young children, all the way up to 1,024 pieces for those that are up for a challenge!
Male Puerto Rican Spindalis. (Photo by Lucas Limota)
Female Puerto Rican Spindalis. (Photo by Simon Best)
Activity of the Day
FOR KIDS: What facts can you remember about todays endemic bird – the Puerto Rican Spindalis? Test your knowledge by filling in the missing words in each of our Puerto Rican Spindalis facts! We have given you the correct words but can you put them into the right fact? You can re-read the information all about this bird above, or search on the BirdsCaribbean webpages for lots more information about the Puerto Rican Spindalis! Then, when you have completed all the sentences, you can check your answers here.
FOR KIDS AND ADULTS: Enjoy this video of a male Puerto Rican Spindalis in the wild! This colourful Caribbean endemic can be found in urban areas and university campuses, as well as the more traditional woodland and forested habitats!
Don’t forget that our joint conference with the American Ornithological Society is happening soon! We’ve teamed up with local hosts Para La Naturaleza and Sociedad Ornitológica Puertorriqueña to bring you an exciting conference you won’t want to miss. This is all taking place in San Juan from June 27 – July 2, so get ready to wing your way over to beautiful Puerto Rico! The conference will bring together ornithologists, wildlife professionals, educators, students, and others to share information and learn about the latest research and innovative initiatives to conserve birds and their habitats. Read more about it by following the link below.
Celebrate the Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival (CEBF) with us! Our theme in 2022 is “Loving Birds is Human Nature”. Have fun learning about a new endemic bird every day. We have colouring pages, puzzles, activities, and more. Download for free and enjoy nature with your family at home.
Endemic Bird of the Day: Orangequit
This energetic, busybody darting around the canopy is hard to identify at first. Is it another little brown bird? It stops at a flower and the sunlight hits it just right, showing a shimmering blue bird. It’s an Orangequit (Euneornis campestris)! This bird is endemic to the island of Jamaica and is the only member of the genus Euneornis.
When you hear the name Orangequit, the image the mind produces is a small orange bird. Although it is in fact a small finch-like bird, measuring only 14 cm, its only orange coloration is a brick orange throat in males. The males are striking and distinctive from the females. They are almost entirely a shimmering slaty-glossy gray-blue. This coloration shifts along a spectrum from slate-gray to vivid blue, depending on the lighting, and can appear black in poor lighting.
The females have medium-brown back, wings, and tail, blue-gray crown, and gray underparts that become more brownish or yellowish toward the belly. Immatures resemble females but are browner where the female is gray. Immature males resemble adult females but often have small patches of colorful feathers – most commonly on the coverts, chest, or throat. Males take two years to develop their characteristic plumage.
Another key indicator is its distinctive bill which is fairly long but thick, sharp-tipped, and slightly decurved. This precision instrument is used to access nectar, blooms, seeds, and fruits as they are typically seen contorting on vegetation in order to achieve the best angle to feed. Those lucky enough to live in or adjacent to Orangequit habitat can attract them with cut fruit – they particularly enjoy slices of orange. They’re found in montane forests, tropical or subtropical moist lowland forests and heavily degraded forests. Their call is a high, thin “tsit-tsit,” with the second note louder and higher in pitch, plus a thin, descending whistled “swee.”
Orangequits breed from April to June. Their nest is a very well concealed, deep, and roughly built cup – usually 6m above the ground, sometimes in bunches of seeds or in a large leaf. The females lay between two and four eggs that are white with reddish-brown and gray-brown markings.
Download our West Indies Endemic Bird colouring page. Use the photos below as your guide, or you can look up pictures of the bird online or in a bird field guide if you have one. Share your coloured-in page with us by posting it online and tagging us @BirdsCaribbean #CEBFfromthenest
Listen to the song of the Orangequit
The song of Orangequit is a series of thin high-pitched “tsit-tsit” notes.
Puzzle of the Day
Click on the images below to do the puzzle. You can make the puzzle as easy or as hard as you like – for example, 6, 8, or 12 pieces for young children, all the way up to 1,024 pieces for those that are up for a challenge!
Female Orangequit. The female of another Jamaican bird, the Jamaican Euphonia, is superficially similar. But she will have a stubbier bill and a greenish back (Photo by Dave Curtis).
Male Orangequits are a shimmering slaty-blue with a distinctive brick-orange throat, but they can appear to be completely black in poor lighting. (Photo by Eric Hynes)Juvenile (female) Orangequit at Rockland’s Bird Sanctuary Jamaica. (Photo by Piet Grasmaijer, Macaulay Library ML116254561)
Activity of the Day
FOR KIDS: Orangequits love to eat nectar but they also enjoy juicy fruits! Why not try making this orange cup bird feeder? You can can fill it with pieces of fruit and perhaps a few seeds for your other backyard birds. Hang in your garden to keep your feathered friends well fed. Not in Jamaica – the home of these colourful little endemic birds? No problem, other fruit lovers that that live near you, such as orioles and many other types of wild birds, will love this feeder! Hang it out, fill it with food and see who comes to visit for lunch. Remember that this activity involves using scissors and knife, you will need an adult to help with making this.
FOR KIDS AND ADULTS: If you don’t have Orangequits that visit your garden you can still enjoy this video of a male Orangequit in the wild!
At the start of the pandemic backyards became the birding hotspots. Around the world people set up feeders and bird baths. The Caribbean was no exception to this trend. In Jamaica when Stuart Reeves learned that he had to be quarantined at home for 14 days, he was struck with the same question so many were asking themselves, “What to do?” Read about how he used that time to get to know and photograph the birds that visited his backyard get some inspiration and insider tips on how to attract, observe, and photograph your backyard birds! You can make your own bird bath following these instructions from our Cuban Oriole post
Celebrate the Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival (CEBF) with us! Our theme in 2022 is “Loving Birds is Human Nature”. Have fun learning about a new endemic bird every day. We have colouring pages, puzzles, activities, and more. Download for free and enjoy nature with your family at home.
Endemic Bird of the Day: Eastern Chat-Tanager
If you find yourself birding on the high elevation mountain forests of Cordillera Central, Sierra de Neiba, and Bahoruco Oriental, on the island of Hispaniola, keep an eye out for the elusive Eastern Chat-Tanager! It is a shy, ground-dwelling bird that can be hard to see, but easily heard singing at dawn.
The Eastern Chat-Tanager is a medium size bird, a bit smaller than a Mockingbird, with a long tail and strong long legs and feet. It is dark olive-brown above, with a white throat and grayish underparts, yellow eyering, and a spot of yellow at the bend of the wings, which is hardly seen. It often sings from a low perch within dense vegetation – an emphatic, clear whistling “chip-chip-swep-swep-swep” or “chirri-chirri-chirri-chip-chip-chip,” repeated many times.
Eastern Chat-Tanagers are usually seen in pairs, foraging on or near the ground, searching through the leaf litter. They feed primarily on insects and small invertebrates, and a small amount of fruit. This species is often observed flying short distances, close to the ground, across a narrow path or trail, from one patch of vegetation to an adjacent one.
Endemic to the island of Hispaniola, the Eastern Chat-Tanager is quite a unique bird. It belongs to the Caribbean endemic bird family, Calyptophilidae, from the Greek word Calyptophilus (“loving to hide”). There are three (3) recognized subspecies. Information on the Eastern Chat-Tanager is limited, due to its secretive nature and hard to navigate habitat. To date, only one nest has been described and published.
The Eastern Chat-Tanager is uncommon on Hispaniola with a limited distribution. Its conservation status is considered to be Near Threatened by the IUCN, due to habitat fragmentation and destruction—mostly from uncontrolled logging and the clearing of forests for agriculture.Learn more about this species, including its range, photos, and calls here.
Colour in the Eastern Chat-Tanager
Download our West Indies Endemic Bird colouring page. Use the photos below as your guide, or you can look up pictures of the bird online or in a bird field guide if you have one. Share your coloured-in page with us by posting it online and tagging us @BirdsCaribbean #CEBFfromthenest
Listen to the song of the Eastern Chat-Tanager
The song of the Eastern Chat-Tanager is a whistled and sometimes variable “weet-weet-werp chip-cheep-sweet…” which can end with a short trill.
Puzzle of the Day
Click on the image below to do the puzzle. You can make the puzzle as easy or as hard as you like – for example, 6, 8, or 12 pieces for young children, all the way up to 1,024 pieces for those that are up for a challenge!
Difficult to spot and endemic to the island of Hispaniola, the Eastern Chat-Tanager belongs to an endemic bird family of the Caribbean, Calyptophilidae, from the Greek work Calyptophilus (“Loving to hide”). These birds are shy ground-dwellers. (Photo by Lev Frid- Macaulay Library- ML396347981)
Eastern Chat-Tanager perched low in the forest vegetation. The main threats to this species are likely to be loss of forest habitats through logging and the clearing of wooded areas for agriculture. (Photo by Dax Roman)
Activity of the Day
FOR KIDS: Eastern Chat-Tanagers are shy and secretive birds. They spend a lot of their time looking for yummy worms and other tasty insects on the ground, amongst the dense forest vegetation. Their colours also make them blend in with their surroundings. All of this means that these birds are really hard to find in the forest! Can you spot all 15 hiding Eastern Chat-Tanagers? When you think you have found them all, check the answers here.
FOR KIDS AND ADULTS: These birds are hard to spot but you can enjoy this short video below and get a glimpse of an Eastern Chat-Tanager in the wild!
The Eastern Chat-Tanager was one of several Caribbean endemic birds spotted by participants during our recent landbird monitoring workshop, held in the Dominican Republic! In February 2022 we brought in 26 participants and 8 workshop leaders representing a total of 16 countries to immerse themselves in landbird monitoring methods! We chose the scenic valley of Jarabacoa known for its stunning landscapes and birds. From the classroom to the forest, the workshop provided participants with the knowledge and confidence to train a monitoring team and institute a sustainable, local landbird monitoring program in their home countries using the Programa de América Latina para las Aves Silvestres (PROALAS) Manual and bird survey protocols. Find out more about this fantastic and exciting workshop, and our landbird monitoring program below.
Celebrate the Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival (CEBF) with us! Our theme in 2022 is “Loving Birds is Human Nature”. Have fun learning about a new endemic bird every day. We have colouring pages, puzzles, activities, and more. Download for free and enjoy nature with your family at home.
Endemic Bird of the Day: Cuban Oriole
The Cuban Oriole (Icterus melanopsis) can only be found and admired in the Cuban territory, including the main island, the Isle of Youth, and most of the adjacent cays. It was considered a subspecies of the Greater Antillean Oriole, but recently earned its distinction as a unique jewel of Caribbean avifauna. Both males and females are mostly black, with a bright yellow rump, thighs, shoulder patches, and undertail coverts. Juveniles are yellowish-green with a blackish throat.
The Cuban Oriole is commonly found in pairs and lives in a variety of habitats—from natural and secondary forest, to shrub vegetation, and rural and farm areas. Scientists believe that, like its cousin the Puerto Rican Oriole, both males and females sing complex and diverse musical notes. You can enjoy this melodious song in the form of long and short whistles early in the mornings. Fruits, insects, flowers, and nectar comprise its regular diet—this bird is not picky!
During the breeding season, from February to July, Cuban Orioles show off their engineering skills. Both parents build a most-elaborate nest in the form of a globular basket, with a side entrance, woven with fibers of palm fronds. It is suspended from the underside of branches and big leaves of trees. This provides a secure home for the chicks which will hatch from three greenish white eggs, speckled with lilac gray and olive markings.
Even though it is considered a common resident in Cuba, in some places, it is becoming hard to find and populations may be declining. More study is needed, but scientists believe the cause of this apparent decline is nest parasitism by the Shiny Cowbird (Molothrus bonariensis). Additionally, its beautiful song makes it susceptible to being trapped and kept as a pet, an ongoing challenge for bird conservation in Cuba. We can all help to conserve this charismatic endemic, and many others, through education and advocacy for the protection of birds and their habitats. Learn more about this species, including its range, photos, and calls here.
Colour in the Cuban Oriole
Download our West Indies Endemic Bird colouring page. Use the photos below as your guide, or you can look up pictures of the bird online or in a bird field guide if you have one. Share your coloured-in page with us by posting it online and tagging us @BirdsCaribbean #CEBFfromthenest
Listen to the song of the Cuban Oriole
The song of the Cuban Oriole is series of clear upslurred and down-slurred whistled notes.
Puzzle of the Day
Click on the image below to do the puzzle. You can make the puzzle as easy or as hard as you like – for example, 6, 8, or 12 pieces for young children, all the way up to 1,024 pieces for those that are up for a challenge!
Until recently considered Cuban Oriole was considered as a subspecies of Greater Antillean Oriole. But this is now treated as four species – with one each on the Bahamas, Cuba, Hispaniola, and Puerto Rico (Photo by Neil Hilton)Male and female Cuban orioles look very similar, but juveniles, as in this photo, are largely yellow-green. (Photo by Greg Lavaty)
Activity of the Day
FOR KIDS AND ADULTS: You can’t have a bird-friendly garden without a spot for the birds to drink from, bathe in or just cool themselves down on a hot day. Like humans, all birds need a reliable source of clean water. Follow our instructions and you can make your own bird bath using materials from around your house and yard. You will need, an old garbage bin lid, flower pot drip tray or serving tray; rocks or pebbles; any size and color tomato cage and wire cutters. As this activity involves using wire cutters you will need to ask an adult to help you.
Once you have made your bird bath make sure that you follow our “Keeping your bird bath safe for the birds & you” tips. By frequently changing the water and keeping your bird bath clean you should be able to provide a place for the bird in your garden to enjoy and for you to enjoy the birds!
Enjoy the video below of Cuban Oriole enjoying a tasty meal of some flowers!
Find out how BirdsCaribbean has been increasing bird tourism capacity in Cuba through the Caribbean Birding Trail Guide training program. Cuba has 26 endemic birds, engaging with visitors to the Island to help them to understand the secret lives of these birds is a special skill. In October 2017 the Caribbean Birding Trail Interpretive Guide Training course taught 26 persons how to connect visitors with the cultural and natural resources of the island. Read more about it in this account from course participant, Mariana Pedraza.
Celebrate the Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival (CEBF) with us! Our theme in 2022 is “Loving Birds is Human Nature” Have fun learning about a new endemic bird every day. We have colouring pages, puzzles, activities, and more. Download for free and enjoy nature with your family at home.
Endemic Bird of the Day: Olive-capped Warbler
Hopping from pine tree to pine tree and crowned with…well, an olive-yellow colored cap, the Olive-capped Warbler is a lively little Caribbean endemic bird.This warbler is found only in pine woodlands where it feeds on insects and other tasty morsels of arthropods. It is restricted to two countries in the Caribbean: Cuba and The Bahamas. In the Bahamas it can be found on the islands of Abaco and Grand Bahama while in Cuba it is restricted to the western and eastern parts of the island.
The Olive-capped Warbler has a yellow throat and breast, olive-yellow crown, slate-gray upper body, and two white wing bars. Also distinctive are the Olive-capped’s blotchy, black streaks on its sides and a plain face. It may sometimes be mistaken for either the Bahama Warbler or Yellow-throated Warbler because it is often difficult to spot its most distinctive feature – the olive-yellow crown – when it is perched high above in pine trees.
An interesting observation of this species is the relationship it has with its cousin, the Bahama Warbler. On Abaco, both species live in the same habitat and when the Bahama Warbler sings, its song excites the Olive-capped – sometimes leading to a chorus of responses to the Bahama Warbler’s song. It seems to be a big fan of the Bahama Warbler! Its song consists of a series of shrill whistled notes, descending in pitch and delivered fairly slowly, “wisi-wisi-wisi-wiseu-wiseu.” Call note is, “tsip-tsip-tsip,” repeated frequently.
The breeding season of the Olive-capped Warbler lasts from March to June. During this time, a cup-shaped nest is built and lined with soft feathers. Nests are usually located 2 to 15 meters above the ground in pine trees. Clutch size is two whitish, variably brown-spotted eggs.
Although listed as ‘Least Concern’ by the IUCN, the population status of the Olive-capped Warbler is currently questionable. The pine forests of Abaco and Grand Bahama, where this bird lives, were severely damaged by Hurricane Dorian, a Category 5 hurricane in 2019. Bird surveys done on both islands after the storm show that this species has not been seen on Grand Bahama since Dorian. However, when members of BirdsCaribbean visited Grand Bahama in February 2022 they reported that the pine forests are recovering nicely – many young pine trees are growing as well as the understory shrubs. It is hoped that over time, the forests will once again support a rich bird community, including the Olive-capped Warbler. Learn more about this species, including its range, photos, and calls here.
Colour in the Olive-capped Warbler
Download our West Indies Endemic Bird colouring page. Use the photos below as your guide, or you can look up pictures of the bird online or in a bird field guide if you have one. Share your coloured-in page with us by posting it online and tagging us @BirdsCaribbean #CEBFfromthenest
Listen to the song of the Olive-capped Warbler
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The song Olive-capped Warbler is a shrill, descending “wisi-wisi-wisi-wiseu-wiseu”.
Puzzle of the Day
Click on the image below to do the puzzle. You can make the puzzle as easy or as hard as you like – for example, 6, 8, or 12 pieces for young children, all the way up to 1,024 pieces for those that are up for a challenge!
Olive-capped Warblers are found only in pine forests. They like to remain high up in the trees, meaning the olive cap, this species’ most distinctive feature, can be difficult to see! (Photo by Eladio Fernandez)Olive-capped Warbler seen in Cuba where it is found in both Western and Eastern areas of the island. This Caribbean endemic can be also be found on in the northern Bahamas (Grand Bahama, Great Abaco and Little Abaco), however, it has not been seen on Grand Bahama since Hurricane Dorian devastated the pine forest and killed all the trees in 2019. (Photo Allan Hopkins)
Activity of the Day
FOR KIDS: Use the information above and the clues on the sheet to untangle our our word scramble – all about the Olive-capped Warbler, you’ll need to know about where is lives, what it eats and how it behaves. You can find all the answers to the clues here.
FOR KIDS AND ADULTS: As well as living in the northern Bahamas this colourful gray and yellow Caribbean endemic can be found in parts of Cuba. Cuba is an fantastic location for seeing beautiful birds and hosts an amazing 28 cuban endemics. Find out all about our BirdsCaribbean bird tour to Cuba in 2016. Read about what birds did our group saw and which amazing places they managed to visit.
Celebrate the Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival (CEBF) with us! Our theme in 2022 is “Loving Birds is Human Nature” Have fun learning about a new endemic bird every day. We have colouring pages, puzzles, activities, and more. Download for free and enjoy nature with your family at home.
Endemic Bird of the Day: Lesser Antillean Saltator
The Lesser Antillean Saltator, as its name indicates, is endemic to the Lesser Antilles region. It lives on only four islands in the World: Guadeloupe, Dominica, Martinique, and Saint Lucia.
This bird is not well-known because it has a dull olive-green plumage that makes it difficult to observe in the forested habitat where it lives. Its head has a whitish eyebrow stripe, underparts are whitish streaked with olive-green, and it has a large blackish bill with a yellow tip and gape. It shows a heavy black mustache stripe. Males and females look alike. Juveniles have duller facial markings and breast streaks. This Saltator is the terror of bird banders because of its powerful beak—it can be very painful if not handled properly.
Lesser Antillean Saltators can be found in mangroves, dry forests, swamp forests, and in urban areas. But they prefer to forage in trees rather than on the ground for fruits, buds, flowers, and sometimes insects. If you’re lucky, you may catch a glimpse as it occasionally darts into gardens to feed on a bit of fruit – like papaya, guava, or mango.
One sure way to know if a Lesser Antillean Saltator is near is to listen for its distinct song—a series of harsh, loud notes that rise and fall and can be heard from very far away. Call notes include faint “tsi” and sharp “chink.”
The main breeding season is from April to July, similar to many other species in the Caribbean. The nest is built in the form of a cup using twigs and leaves. Clutch size; 2-3 light greenish-blue eggs with black lines concentrated at the blunt end of the egg. Both parents feed the chicks and remain with them for some time after they have fledged the nest.
The Lesser Antillean Saltator is listed as ‘Least Concern’ by the IUCN and is considered fairly common on the islands where it occurs. However, it prefers to live in dry forests and lower elevation shrubs which are being cleared for agriculture and, on some islands, fuelwood.Learn more about this species, including its range, photos, and calls here.
Colour in the Lesser Antillean Saltator
Download our West Indies Endemic Bird colouring page. Use the photos below as your guide, or you can look up pictures of the bird online or in a bird field guide if you have one. Share your coloured-in page with us by posting it online and tagging us @BirdsCaribbean #CEBFfromthenest
Listen to the song of the Lesser Antillean Saltator
The song of the Lesser Antillean Saltator is a series of loud musical notes that rise and fall.
Puzzle of the Day
Click on the image below to do the puzzle. You can make the puzzle as easy or as hard as you like – for example, 6, 8, or 12 pieces for young children, all the way up to 1,024 pieces for those that are up for a challenge!
Lesser Antillean Saltator feeds on a coconut in St Lucia. (Photo by Steve Buckingham)
Lesser Antillean Saltator in Guadeloupe. (Photo by Frantz Delcroix)
Activity of the Day
FOR KIDS: Breeding season for the Lesser Antillean Saltator is between February and August. This Caribbean endemic builds its nest as a deep cup made from twigs and leaves and will have two or three hungry chicks to feed once its egg hatch! These nestlings love to eat fruits as well as parts of flowers and plants. Can you help these Lesser Antillean Saltators find their way through our maze to fetch the delicious papaya to feed their chicks? You can find the correct route here.
FOR KIDS AND ADULTS: Enjoy the video below of a Lesser Antillean Saltator feeding! You can see this bird using its heavy black-and-yellow bill to pluck berries from this tree. Lesser Antillean Saltators feed mainly on plants matter, including fruits, buds, and some flowers and petals; they also sometimes eat insects.
Celebrate the Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival (CEBF) with us! Our theme in 2022 is “Loving Birds is Human Nature”. Have fun learning about a new endemic bird every day. We have colouring pages, puzzles, activities, and more. Download for free and enjoy nature with your family at home.
Endemic Bird of the Day: Green Mango
Today, we’re in search of a Green Mango – and we don’t mean the well-known tropical fruit! The Green Mango (Anthracothorax viridis) is one of two endemic hummingbird species that inhabit Puerto Rico – the other being the Puerto Rican Emerald (Chlorostilbon maugaeus). A total of five hummingbird species can be found on the island, but they are segregated by geographical areas, elevations, habitats and preferences for flower resources. The Green Mango is a forest specialist, look for it in montane habitats, forest edges, and shade coffee plantations of the central and western parts of the island.
The Green Mango is a large dark-green hummer (11-12 cm, 6-7 g) with a black, down-curved bill, and rounded tail. Its upperparts are glossy emerald-green, underparts metallic blue-green, and tail metallic blue-black. The sexes look alike; the only difference is the presence of a tiny white eye spot in adult females.
The Green Mango might be confused with the similar-sized Antillean Mango which also has a curved, black bill. However, they are easy to tell apart. The Antillean Mango is lighter green above. The male has black underparts, iridescent green throat, and dark purple tail. The female is whitish-gray below with whitish tail tips. Although both species overlap in habitats at mid-elevation, the Antillean Mango is mainly found in the coastal scrub, open habitats and gardens at lowlands.
Green Mangos feed on insects, spiders, and nectar; and are particularly fond of Heliconia flowers. They are “trapliners,” which means that they forage on widely dispersed flowers that last only one day. Thus, they rely on extended blooming periods of individual plants. This species is the primary pollinator of flowers with long-tube corollas, like those of native bromeliads and Heliconias. They aggressively defend territories of flowering plants with high sugar content in the nectar (often red and tubular-shaped flowers). Males are known to defend their feeding area, often an entire flowering tree!
The female builds a cup-shaped nest with woven plant fibers lined with lichen. She lays two white eggs and incubates and feeds the chicks with regurgitated food, mostly insects. The chicks leave the nest when they are about 20 days old.
The Green Mango is listed as Least Concern by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). It is a restricted range species, however, and thus vulnerable to impacts from severe storms and hurricanes, which may damage its habitats and food sources.Learn more about this species, including its range, photos, and calls here.
Colour in the Green Mango
Download our West Indies Endemic Bird colouring page. Use the photos below as your guide, or you can look up pictures of the bird online or in a bird field guide if you have one. Share your coloured-in page with us by posting it online and tagging us @BirdsCaribbean #CEBFfromthenest
Listen to the calls of the Green Mango
The calls of the Green Mango include a high-pitched twitter and can also include rattling or chattering notes.
Puzzle of the Day
Click on the image below to do the puzzle. You can make the puzzle as easy or as hard as you like – for example, 6, 8, or 12 pieces for young children, all the way up to 1,024 pieces for those that are up for a challenge!
Green Mango in flight. As well as eating nectar from flowers, Green Mangos eat insects, often caught in the air, above tree tops. (Photo by Ricardo Sanchez)
Green Mango. Males and females of this species look very similar to each other. Males will defend a territory around flowering trees, sometimes defending an entire tree! (Photo by Jose Santiago- from the Macaulay Library- ML98678841)
Activity of the Day
FOR KIDS AND ADULTS: Green Mangos love to feed on nectar! Why not try making this hummingbird feeder? You can can fill it with home-made nectar, and hang in your garden to keep the hummingbirds well fed. Be sure to follow our nectar recipe carefully so that your hummingbirds get the correct levels of sugar in their food! Not in Puerto Rico – the home of these beautiful endemic hummingbirds? No problem, hummingbirds that live near you will love this feeder! Hang it out, fill it with nectar and see who comes to visit for lunch. Remember that this activity involves using scissors and an electric drill, so you will need an adult to help with making this.
Once you have made your hummingbird feeder make sure that you follow the “Hummingbirds Feeder Tips” given in the instructions, so that your feeder is hung in the right place for the birds and is kept safe and clean for them to feed from.
Even if you aren’t able to make this feeder or don’t live in a place where there are hummingbirds you can still enjoy this video of a Green Mango in the wild!
Celebrate the Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival (CEBF) with us! Our theme in 2022 is “Loving Birds is Human Nature” . Have fun learning about a new endemic bird every day. We have colouring pages, puzzles, activities, and more. Download for free and enjoy nature with your family at home.
Endemic Bird of the Day: Ring-tailed Pigeon
If you are hiking or camping in the Blue and John Crow Mountains National Park, you will likely see the Ring-tailed Pigeon flying gracefully across the valleys, awakening the forest with its resonating calls. The National Park, as well as Cockpit Country, are Protected Areas – providing a safe haven for this beautiful bird. One of Jamaica’s 29 endemic bird species, it is also the largest pigeon native to the Caribbean, measuring up to 48cm (approx. 19 inches) in length.
Living up to its name, the Ring-tail has a dark band or ring around the upper parts of its light gray tail. This is most visible in flight as it likes to flare its tail, especially as it approaches to land. The dark tail-band can sometimes be hard to spot when the bird is perched; but its large size and pinkish head and underparts, contrasting with the dark gray wings, are easy to identify. Look for its bright red eyes and short dark bill. The back of its neck reflects metallic bluish-green colors. You may hear it calling softly: “oooOOO-hooo,” or a throaty “croo-croo-croooo.”
The Ring-tail’s main habitat is the interior wet broadleaf forests along Jamaica’s spinal ridge. The wet limestone forest of the Cockpit Country and Blue and John Crow Mountains are where it is most at home, nesting in mid-canopy in tall trees between March and September. Ring-tails often descend to lower elevations in cooler months and move higher into the mountains during the summer.
The Ring-tail feeds exclusively on small fruits. Some of its favorite feeding trees include Jamaica’s native trumpet tree and hogberry. Some introduced berries, such as cheeseberry, wild raspberry and billberry may also be on its menu. Surprisingly, in 2021 it was seen going to ground and feeding on vegetables in farmers’ fields.
Illegal hunting is a concern for this species because of its large size, its flocking tendency and seemingly nonchalant demeanor. This, along with habitat loss from agriculture and mining are the main reasons the Ring-tailed Pigeon is considered vulnerable by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List. Learn more about this species, including its range, photos, and calls here.
Colour in the Ring-tailed Pigeon
Download our West Indies Endemic Bird colouring page. Use the photos below as your guide, or you can look up pictures of the bird online or in a bird field guide if you have one. Share your coloured-in page with us by posting it online and tagging us @BirdsCaribbean #CEBFfromthenest
Listen to the calls of the Ring-tailed Pigeon
The calls of the Ring-tailed Pigeon are a soft repeated, “oooOOO-hooo, oooOOO-hooo.”
Puzzle of the Day
Click on the image below to do the puzzle. You can make the puzzle as easy or as hard as you like – for example, 6, 8, or 12 pieces for young children, all the way up to 1,024 pieces for those that are up for a challenge!
Ring-tailed Pigeons feeds on small fruits. Some of its favorite feeding trees include Jamaica’s native Trumpet Tree and Hogberry. (Photo by Frantz Delcroix)
A small group of Ring-tailed Pigeons perched in a pine tree. Look for the banded tail, this feature is unique among pigeons in its range (Photo by Paul Jones)
Activity of the Day
FOR KIDS: Ring-tailed Pigeons love to make their homes in the humid broadleaf forests of Jamaica’s mountains. Sadly, numbers of Ring-tailed Pigeons are decreasing and this bird is considered to be a vulnerable. Read the text above, all about Ring-tailed Pigeons, carefully and find out what the threats to this beautiful bird are. Then take a look at this image and circle all the things you can see in it that would a danger to Ring-tailed Pigeons. Think about where these birds live and what they eat. Once you think you have found them all you can check your answers here.
FOR KIDS AND ADULTS: Enjoy the video below of Ring-tailed Pigeons in the wild!
Celebrate the Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival (CEBF) with us! Our theme in 2022 is “Loving Birds is Human Nature” Have fun learning about a new endemic bird every day. We have colouring pages, puzzles, activities, and more. Download for free and enjoy nature with your family at home.
Endemic Bird of the Day: Broad-billed Tody
Who’s that beep-beeping in your Dominican yard?? It’s the Broad-billed Tody!
The Broad-billed Tody looks similar to the other todies of the Caribbean, with a bright green back and ruby red throat. However, Hispaniola is the only island with two todies to tease apart instead of one. Where to start? First look at the breast, the Broad-billed Tody has a gray-yellowish wash on the breast whereas the Narrow-billed Tody has a stark white breast. Next check the iris, the Broad-billed Tody has a dark iris contrasting the pale blue of the other species. Finally, look at the namesake bill, the Broad-billed Tody of course has a broader bill that is pale orange underneath whereas the Narrow-billed Tody has a narrower bill with a dusky underside.
If you’re still stumped, take a listen. The Broad-billed Tody gives a monotonous whistled terp-terp-terp-terp call, similar to that of a peeping chick, as well as a chatter call reminiscent of their Kingfisher cousins. The Narrow-billed Tody sounds drastically different, making a succinct staccato call and an insect-like chi-cui sound.
The Broad-billed Tody is the only one of the two species to do a wing flick display, which sounds like running your fingers through a comb. But if you get them really mad they’ll do a threatening fluff display where they’ll take their cotton candy pink flank feathers and fluff them over their wings. The angriest colorful cotton ball you’ve ever seen!
Broad-billed Todies are found throughout Hispaniola at lower elevations in humid tropical forest, dry forest, mangroves, and fragmented landscapes. As their Dominican name implies, the Barrancolí can be found creating nest burrows in dirt banks. And they’re not picky! They’ll take a pile of dirt behind your house or the slope from a recently made trail. They usually nest from April – July, laying 3-4 eggs. They are avid insectivores, constantly sallying from small perches to catch anything flying from mosquitos to butterflies. Interestingly, todies change their diet during the breeding season to include more local fruits and have been found foraging on as many as 27 different kinds!
Their adaptability has allowed them to thrive with increasing urbanization, but they’re still losing habitat to deforestation and face nest predation from invasive mammals like rats and mongoose. Although currently considered by the IUCN as Least Concern, we definitely want to keep an eye on these adorable fluffs. Learn more about this species, including its range, photos, and calls here.
Colour in the Broad-billed Tody
Download our West Indies Endemic Bird colouring page. Use the photos below as your guide, or you can look up pictures of the bird online or in a bird field guide if you have one. Share your coloured-in page with us by posting it online and tagging us @BirdsCaribbean #CEBFfromthenest
Listen to the calls of the Broad-billed Tody
The Broad-billed Tody makes repeated and persistent “terp, terp, terp….” calls.
Puzzle of the Day
Click on the image below to do the puzzle. You can make the puzzle as easy or as hard as you like – for example, 6, 8, or 12 pieces for young children, all the way up to 1,024 pieces for those that are up for a challenge!
Broad-billed Todies are insectivores and you might see one sallying out from its perch to snatch its insect prey out of the air. (Photo by Dax Roman)
Broad-billed Tody. Hispaniola is the only island with two todies the Narrow and Broad-billed. Don’t just look for the broader bill you can also tell the two apart by looking for the distinctive dark iris of the Broad-billed Tody and gray-yellowish color of the breast (not white like the Narrow-billed). (Photo by Tony Pe)
Activity of the Day
FOR KIDS: Can you find the words in our Broad-billed Tody word search? Remind yourself of some of the interesting facts about this endemic bird as you look for all 15 hidden words! Remember the words appear forwards and backwards, as are horizontal, vertical and diagonal! Need some help? Or want to check your answers? You can see where all the words were here.
FOR KIDS AND ADULTS: Read all about the problems that invasive mammals can cause to breeding Broad-billed and Narrow-billed Todies in the Dominican Republic. Holly Garrod explains from her first-hand experience, how species such as rats and mongooses could cause decreases in the populations of Todies by predating their nests. Find out more about Holly’s research on Todies in our blog post (link below).
Enjoy the video below of a Broad-billed Tody in the wild! List out for the persistent and slightly disgruntled sounding calls that are typical of these colourful little birds.
Celebrate the Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival (CEBF) with us! Our theme in 2022 is “Loving Birds is Human Nature”. Have fun learning about a new endemic bird every day. We have colouring pages, puzzles, activities, and more. Download for free and enjoy nature with your family at home.
Endemic Bird of the Day: Cuban Bullfinch
You’re walking through a scrubby forest and suddenly you see a blur of black zip by and land in a thick shrub. You hear it calling, a series of short, repeated tsee notes. What could it be? Finally, it pops out – a small, chubby, black bird with a short, thick, curved bill and bright white band on the wing edge. It’s a Cuban Bullfinch!
Despite its name, the Cuban Bullfinch is not found only in Cuba, it is also found on Grand Cayman. The male of the Cuban subspecies, called Negrito, is shiny black while the female and juvenile are duller black with a smaller white wing patch. The Cayman subspecies, called Black Sparrow, has a slightly larger bill and the female is a paler slate-gray-black tinged with olive.
The Cuban Bullfinch is found all across Cuba, the Isle of Youth, and surrounding coastal cays, from sea level up to mid-elevations in different kinds of forests. It is usually absent from open areas and cultivated fields. On Grand Cayman, it lives in woodland, dry shrubland, buttonwood and mangrove edge, rough pasture and inland gardens.
It feeds on a great diversity of fruits, seeds, flower buds, and nectar. In fact, 72 plant species have been recorded in its diet! Small insects are also a tasty meal. During the breeding season, from March to August, Cuban Bullfinches are usually found in pairs. Leaves, grass, twigs, vines, roots, hair, and feathers are used to build a large globular nest with a side entrance. Females lay three to five greenish-white eggs with reddish-brown spots. Both parents feed the chicks.
The Cuban Bullfinch is among the greatest singers of the forest. Its song is a soft and melodious trill that descends and then ascends in pitch, ‘ti, ti, ti, ti, si-sssiiittt-sssiii.’ Although not studied, its song repertoire is said to vary in different parts of Cuba. Males sing most frequently in the breeding season, especially when determining territory boundaries, during flying displays, and nest construction. Although it is considered by IUCN as a “Least Concern” species, Cuban ornithologists have categorized the Cuban Bullfinch as “Near Threatened” in the “Red Book of Cuban Vertebrates” due to growing demand for wild caught birds in the live song and caged bird trade.Learn more about this species, including its range, photos, and calls here.
Colour in the Cuban Bullfinch
Download our West Indies Endemic Bird colouring page. Use the photos below as your guide, or you can look up pictures of the bird online or in a bird field guide if you have one. Share your coloured-in page with us by posting it online and tagging us @BirdsCaribbean #CEBFfromthenest
Listen to the song of the Cuban Bullfinch
The Cuban Bullfinch has a trilling and melodious ‘buzzy’ song that descends and then ascends in pitch at the end, ‘ti, ti, ti, ti, si-sssiiittt-sssiii.’
Puzzle of the Day
Click on the image below to do the puzzle. You can make the puzzle as easy or as hard as you like – for example, 6, 8, or 12 pieces for young children, all the way up to 1,024 pieces for those that are up for a challenge!
Cuban Bullfinch male in Cuba. Note the glossy black plumage and white wing border, usually showing prominently in males but not so much in this photo. (Photo by Greg Lavaty)Cuban Bullfinch female in Cuba. Females and juveniles are duller black and have a less prominent white wing patch. (Photo by Mario Olteanu)Cuban Bullfinch male on Grand-Cayman. He is black with a greenish gloss and has a prominent white wing border. Note that the Cayman subspecies has a slightly larger and heavier bill than the Cuban subspecies. (Photo by Ray Robles)Cuban Bullfinch female on Grand-Cayman. Her color is dull slate-black tinged with olive. (Photo by Ray Robles)
Activity of the Day
FOR KIDS: Get creative and try singing (or playing a musical instrument) like a bird! Be inspired by the lovely song of today’s bird the Cuban Bullfinch, or one of our other featured endemic birds or get outside and listen out for the sounds the birds are making and create your own birdsong! You can download our instructions here to help you make some melodious bird-inspired tunes.
Please note that by submitting your video you give BirdsCaribbean consent to use your photos and/or videos on our website and social media accounts.
FOR KIDS AND ADULTS: Enjoy the video below of a Cuban Bullfinch! Filmed in Cuba, this striking black-and-white bird is taking a break from singing and is busy feeding on seeds.
Sadly, the song of the Cuban Bullfinch makes it, and other song birds in Cuba, vulnerable to the increasing threat from capture and illegal bird trafficking. Catching and keeping wild birds in cages is a common and widespread tradition in Cuba that dates back to the colonial days of Spanish rule. The birds, including migrants, residents, and endemics, were kept as pets in families and communities. In recent years, however, the trapping of wild birds has increased dramatically. BirdsCaribbean and its partners are deeply concerned by the number individual and range of species being trapped and have called on the Cuban Government to do much more to protect their resident and migratory wildlife. You can read more in our blog post below, which is also available in Spanish.
Celebrate the Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival (CEBF) with us! Our theme in 2022 is “Loving Birds is Human Nature” Have fun learning about a new endemic bird every day. We have colouring pages, puzzles, activities, and more. Download for free and enjoy nature with your family at home.
Endemic Bird of the Day: Pearly-eyed Thrasher
Meet the “supertramp” of species—the Pearly-eyed Thrasher! This belligerent and highly intelligent bird is found throughout many islands in the Caribbean basin, including The Bahamas, Turks and Caicos Islands, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, Dominican Republic, many Lesser Antilles Islands, Bonaire and Curacao. They occupy a variety of forest and scrub habitats from seashore to mountain tops. They also live in urban areas, farms, and orchards where they take advantage of crops, fruit trees, and man-made structures for nesting. Like a popular Caribbean phrase, the Pearly-eyed Thrasher is a ‘sometime-ish’ bird—sometimes bold and vocal and other times shy and secretive.
Pearly-eyed Thrashers measure ~11-12 inches in length. They are medium to dark brown on top, and white with brown streaking below. They might be mistaken for a close cousin, the Scaly-breasted Thrasher, but can be distinguished by their large pale bill and conspicuous pearly-white iris, as well as subtle differences in streaking (the Scaly-breasted Thrasher is barred, not streaked, below). Males and females are similar in appearance, though females tend to be slightly larger. Juveniles resemble adults.
Pearly-eyed Thrashers are a classic example of an avian “supertramp” – a highly successful generalist species that is able to colonize and exploit all available habitats, sometimes to the detriment of other resident birds. They feed on fruits, insects, small vertebrates, and even carrion. This famously aggressive bird also preys on eggs and chicks of other birds. Although they prefer to nest in cavities in trees, rock crevices and man-made structures, they may also build open-cup stick nests in trees, palms and other vegetation. In Puerto Rico, Pearly-eyed Thrashers compete for nesting cavities with the Critically Endangered Puerto Rican Parrot.
Local names for these birds include Thrushie, Zorzal Pardo, Chucho, Truche, Grosse Give, Paw-Paw Bird, Sour-sop Bird and Mango Bird, the latter names for their deep love of these fruits.
Pearly-eyed Thrashers sing one to three-note whistled phrases all day and into the night in the breeding season. They also utter several rough, guttural calls, “craw-craw” and a harsh “chook-chook.”
According to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Pearly-eyed Thrashers’ conservation status is listed as Least Concern. Their population sizes can fluctuate a lot, however, and they face predation by invasive species and habitat loss. Thus, they should be monitored, especially on small islands. Learn more about this species, including its range, photos, and calls here.
Colour in the Pearly-eyed Thrasher
Download our West Indies Endemic Bird colouring page. Use the photos below as your guide, or you can look up pictures of the bird online or in a bird field guide if you have one. Share your coloured-in page with us by posting it online and tagging us @BirdsCaribbean #CEBFfromthenest
Listen to the song of the Pearly-eyed Thrasher
The song of the Pearly-eyed Thrasher is made up of slow whistled notes with one to three phrases.
Puzzle of the Day
Click on the image below to do the puzzle. You can make the puzzle as easy or as hard as you like – for example, 6, 8, or 12 pieces for young children, all the way up to 1,024 pieces for those that are up for a challenge!
A Pearly-eyed Thrasher in the Dominican Republic. Across the Caribbean, this bird is known by more than 40 different local names in English, Spanish, Dutch, and French, including Creole and Patois! (Photo by Tony Pe)
A Pearly-eyed Thrasher seen perching in a Seagrape tree. It is similar to the Scaly-breasted Thrasher, but is larger with a longer yellowish to horn-colored (not black) bill, and has the distinctive white iris. (Photo by Francisco Alba)
Activity of the Day
FOR KIDS AND ADULTS: With lots more Caribbean endemic birds to enjoy and colour in during the coming weeks take a look at our colouring-in guide. This will give you some hints and tips on how to make your endemic birds look even more beautiful! Share your coloured-in page with us by posting it online and tagging us @BirdsCaribbean #CEBFfromthenest
Enjoy the video below of a Pearly-eyed Thrasher in the wild!
Male Hispaniolan Crossbill, one of our featured endemic birds during CEBF 2021. (Photo by Dax Roman)
Over 45 days, the Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival (CEBF) 2021 explored the theme of Sing, Fly, Soar – Like A Bird! The festival celebrates the birds found only in the region, highlights the threats to their survival and demonstrates how we can protect them for generations to come. We extend a massive “thank you” to our donors, supporters, and partners for helping us put on another successful Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival!
With many of the 171 endemic birds living only on a single island and being elusive, the events celebrating these one-of-a-kind birds are also unique. In spite of COVID-19 restrictions continuing across parts of the region, our partners and supporters found different ways to carry on with the festivities on their respective islands.
“Birding Bundles” on your doorstep, and learning with a past president!
We recognize and applaud the CEBF organizers on each island, who adapted their events to make them educational, safe, and enjoyable for children and adults. The Environmental Awareness Group on Antigua supplied their participants with ‘The Birding Bundle’– a kit with all the essentials for birdwatching in their backyards. The Natural History Museum of Jamaica created videos of the island’s endemic birds and hosted a bird-themed ‘An Afternoon With a Scientist’ session for students with past BirdsCaribbean president Dr. Leo Douglas. In Venezuela, Ave Zona hosted an art contest focused on birds of the Venezuelan Caribbean (view the gallery here).
Hover over each image to see the caption; click on each photo to see it larger and to view images as a gallery
The EAG Birding Bundle
Screen shot from the “Afternoon with a Scientist” webinar
Art by Estefani Romero from the Ave Zona art event
Students in Cuba kept busy with birds
The CEBF event organizers in Cuba held workshops at schools to teach students about Cuba’s endemic birds through art and poetry competitions, games, and bird identification activities. Similar to The Birding Bundle, games and infographics were also delivered to homes for parents and children to learn about Cuban birds. Some participants also gathered for a beach clean-up titled “Cleaning for the Birds.” They expanded their outreach through the use of traditional media, specifically radio, to introduce the book “Endemic Birds of Cuba” and the annotated checklist of Cuban birds. Online activity was non-stop as well. Each day an infographic of a selected Cuban bird was shared and discussions with local researchers were held using the Telegram app.
CEBF games in Cuba, prepared by La Empresa Flora y Fauna Santiago.
Some even burst into song!
Grupo Acción Ecológica celebrating the start of CEBF
In the Dominican Republic, Grupo Jaragua asked members to record themselves singing like a bird, with sometimes hilarious results! The videos were then compiled and shared on Facebook. On the same island, Grupo Acción Ecológica started with a tree planting event. Afterwards, they took small groups of participants on short birdwatching trips to both urban and forested areas, and followed up with conversations on bird biology and habitat protection.
Endemic birds went virtual…
The St. Lucia Parrot, one of the “Endemic Birds of the Day” during CEBF 2021. A beautiful illustration by Josmar Marquez.
Because many islands were still restricted in terms of gatherings and movements, the CEBF team at BirdsCaribbean worked with well-known birders, researchers, photographers, writers, and artists from the region to present a diverse virtual festival program.
Each day we featured an endemic bird on our website and across the BirdsCaribbean socials. The list of endemic birds was carefully curated to include popular species like the St Lucia Parrot and Green-throated Carib, those with amazing bill adaptations like the Hispaniolan Crossbill and Lesser Antillean Flycatcher, revered species like the Gundlach’s Hawk, and clever birds like the Cuban Crow. You can find the complete list of birds here.
Each endemic bird profile was accompanied by a beautifully drawn image by Josmar Marquez of Ave Zona, stunning high quality photos and videos, online puzzles tailored for different levels (between six and 1,024 pieces), and bird calls. Fun and engaging activities were also provided for both kids and adults, including trivia quizzes (How Well Do You Know Caribbean Birds Pt. 1 and Pt. 2); outdoor games for the entire family; scavenger hunts, bug hunt and Operation Food Drop; crafts (Hummingbird Button Art and Jamaica Rainforest Collage); and cryptograms.
…and weekly webinars were a hit
The CEBF 2021 also boasted a fascinating series of weekly webinars on a range of topics with presenters from The Bahamas National Trust, Rainforest Connection, The Puerto Rican Parrot Recovery Project, the University of the West Indies, Science and Perspective, and the University of Maryland. Every Thursday promptly at 4pm, BirdsCaribbean donors, members, and supporters from around the globe listened as our guest presenters shared enlightening information on birds, including recent advances in bird acoustic monitoring technology and its applications to bird conservation; the importance of community engagement in conservation; and how a Critically Endangered raptor in the Dominican Republic transformed the lives of the local team.
Scroll through to see some of the CEFB 2021 webinar topics
Ann Maddock offered a photographic narrative, encompassing behaviors and molting sequences of hummingbirds with a focus on species in the Bahamas, and explaining how to turn your yard into a hummingbird haven, using plant species that are easy to source and care for. The most anticipated was a webinar on bird flight – still the most admired “superpower” of birds. World-renowned author David Sibley used illustrations and information from his latest book “What It’s Like to be a Bird” to explain how nearly every aspect of a bird’s anatomy, physiology, and behavior has been shaped in some way by the requirements of flight. If you missed any of the webinars or just want to re-watch, be sure to head on over to our Youtube channel or check out our Facebook Page.
Zines, videos, social media…Oh my!
We received 33 amazing entries during the CEBF 2021 Bird Zine competition. All are now available for viewing in our BirdsCaribbean Zine Library.
This year we introduced a new activity, a Bird Zine Contest. We received zines from children, teenagers, artists, educators, tour guides, photographers, bloggers and biological illustrators from the Caribbean. The winning zines and all others are now stored in the virtual Caribbean Bird Zine Library. It is the first zine library in the region! We invite you to visit our Caribbean Bird Zine Library to explore and enjoy the amazing bird zines we received. We would love to see this collection of bird zines grow! Please contact info@birdscaribbean.org and Aliya.Hosein@birdscaribbean.org if you would like to contribute a zine – or two – to our library.
We also invited everyone to answer the question “’What does Sing, Fly, Soar – Like a Bird!’ mean to you?” We are still in the process of reviewing and editing the lovely video submissions, but we assure you they are truly inspirational, reflecting the diversity of language and culture in the region. These videos will be shared across our social media platforms. Stay tuned!
We may ask for your help…
This year’s CEBF is over – but don’t worry. We still have plenty of bird content for you to enjoy! Make sure you are following us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn, and have joined the BirdsCaribbean mailing list, to ensure you are kept up to date with our latest news via our monthly newsletter.
The Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival will return next April 2022 – but we need help coming up with a theme. We would love to hear your ideas for next year’s theme, which should allow us to highlight a critical problem that affects birds throughout the region. Please email your theme and a brief explanation (1-3 sentences) of why it should be the 2022 CEBF theme to CEBF@birdscaribbean.org, info@birdscaribbean.org and Aliya.Hosein@birdscaribbean.org
Thank you to all of our partners and friends across the region for participating so enthusiastically and making this another memorable CEBF. Enjoy the gallery below!
Hover over each image to see the caption; click on each photo to see it larger and to view images as a gallery
Webinar about endemic birds of Puerto Rico. (Photo by DRNA Puerto Rico)
Tropical Screech Owl artwork from Victor Moreno. (Photo by Ave-Zona)
Students participate in CEBF activities in Puerto Rico.
Puerto Rican Lizard Cuckoo Food Drop Game, one of our BirdsCaribbean activities for CEBF.
Observing a parakeet nest on a birding walk for CEBF in the Dominica Republic. (Photo by Grupo Accion Ecologia)
Screen shot from Leo Douglas’ BirdLife Jamaica webinar.
Screen shot from Leo Douglas’ BirdLife Jamaica webinar
Screen shot from Leo Douglas’ BirdLife Jamaica webinar.
Hummingbird art by Izza Huerta. (Photo by Ave Zona)
Male Hispaniolan Crossbill, on of our featured birds during CEBF2021. (Photo by Dax Roman)
Green-throated Carib tweet from Martin Lambdon.
Facebook post about the Purple-throated Carib by Natalya Lawrence.
Facebook post celebrating endemic birds by DRNA Puerto Rico.
The cover of Dayami Rovelo’s Grand Prize winning Zine, in the under 16s category.
Beautiful illustration by Josmar Marquez, featuring one of our ‘Endemic Birds of the Day’
Cuban Grassquit Infographic by CEBF organizers in CUBA
Children speaking about the Hispaniolan Parakeet during CEBF in the Dominican Republic. (Photo by Grupo Accion Ecologia)
Children playing a bird ID game in Cuba (Photo by Zaimiurys Hernandez)
Children and parents play games prepared by La Empresa Flora y Fauna Santiago, Cuba.
Children flying their bird kites in Cuba (Photo by Kenia Mestril Cosme)
Children making bird kites in Cuba (Photo by Kenia Mestril Cosme)
Best nest contest rub by EAG. (Photo by Ms Derrick).
Cover of Arnaldo Toledo’s amazing Grand Prize winning bird Zine
We rounded off the BirdsCarbbean daily online activities with a two part endemic bird quiz
Celebrate the Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival (CEBF) with us! Our theme in 2021 is “Sing, Fly, Soar—Like a Bird!” Have fun learning about a new endemic bird every day. We have colouring pages, puzzles, activities, and more. Download for free and enjoy nature with your family at home.
Endemic Bird of the Day: Hispaniolan Oriole
One of its Dominican names is “Platano Maduro.” In Haiti, people call it the “Bananann mí.” These local names for the Hispaniolan Oriole mean “Ripe Plantain” because of its black and yellow colors, as well as the mottled appearance of juveniles – and because it is quite long and slender, just like a plantain (20 to 22 cm). In the DR it is also called “Cigua Canaria.”
Indeed, this handsome, conspicuous jet-black bird with bright yellow shoulders, rump and lower belly is a real find! It is not a common bird, restricted to more remote areas. But when you see it, it really stands out, whether it is feeding on orange maguey (agave) flowers, flying across open fields, or perched on trees in open woodlands or treelines
The Hispaniolan Oriole mostly feeds on nectar, fruit, and other flowers, but it can also be found searching for insects under palm fronds. These fronds are also where it attaches its nest, a shallow basket woven of palm fibers. The oriole’s song is an jumble of squeaky and metallic notes and whistles. Its calls include a sharp “check” and scratchy sounding “jrrrt.”
The Hispaniolan Oriole is found in a variety of habitats island-wide: in highland forests of the Central Mountain range in the Dominican Republic, in shade coffee and fruit plantations in the foothills of San José de Ocoa, and also at sea level where there are palms including Las Dunas de Baní, the beaches of Miches and Punta Cana, Los Haitises National Park, and on offshore islands like Saona. It is regularly seen in the Puerto Escondido Valley on the north slope of the Sierra de Bahoruco, where abundant ficus trees and maguey provide food.
Although listed as “Least Concern” by the IUCN, the population may be declining due to loss of habitat caused by increased agricultural activities in its favored habitat. Another threat is the increasing numbers of the invasive Shiny Cowbirds, brood parasites who lay their eggs in the oriole’s nests, displacing the oriole’s eggs. Learn more about this species, including its range, photos, and calls here.
Colour in the Hispaniolan Oriole
Download our West Indies Endemic Bird colouring page. Use the photos below as your guide, or you can look up pictures of the bird online or in a bird field guide if you have one. Share your coloured-in page with us by posting it online and tagging us @BirdsCaribbean #CEBFfromthenest
Listen to the song of the Hispaniolan Oriole
The song of the Hispaniolan Oriole is a jumble of squeaky and metallic notes and whistles. Calls include a scratchy sounding “jrrrt” and metallic “zhwee.”
Puzzle of the Day
Click on the image below to do the puzzle. You can make the puzzle as easy or as hard as you like – for example, 6, 8, or 12 pieces for young children, all the way up to 1,024 pieces for those that are up for a challenge!
The Hispaniolan Oriole is scarce but found in a wide variety of habitats, from highland forests to coffee and fruit plantations to gardens, as well at beaches and on offshore islands. (Photo by Dax Roman)Hispaniolan Orioles are decreasing due to its preferred habitats being lost through increased agricultural activities and by increased numbers of Shiny Cowbirds who lay their eggs in the oriole’s nests, displacing the oriole’s eggs. (Photo by Jay McGowan)Hispaniolan Orioles mainly feed on nectar, fruit, and flowers, but also can be found searching for insects under palm fronds (Photo by Alberto Rojas)
Activity of the Day
FOR KIDS AND ADULTS: How much can you remember about the birds we have featured during the Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival 2021? Test your memory of your newly gained knowledge of these wonderful birds with our 2021 Caribbean Endemic Bird Quiz! Today we have Part Two of a two-part bird trivia quiz. Try to answer all the questions without checking back to our posts or looking up the answers online or in your bird guides! But just in case you do get stuck you or if you want to do some studying before you try the quiz you can read about all our featured endemic birds here or take a browse on ebird. Did you miss Part One of our quiz? You can find it here.
There are two different ways for you to try tackling our bird-themed questions. You can download a fun and interactive version of the quiz as a PowerPoint file here. If you don’t have PowerPoint you can also open the quiz in google slides here. Read the instructions (given before the questions start) carefully and remember to view the quiz in presentation / slide show mode to play interactively! OR if want to, you can download a pdf version of the quiz here, as printable question sheets. An answer sheet to go with this is available here, but don’t look till you’ve tired to answer all the questions! This is a great activity to try by yourself or with a group of friends and family, either in person or online! If you play in a group remember to designate one person as the ‘host’ who will read the questions, keep score and give the correct answers (if you play with the printable version). Have fun!
Who remembered the most? Which team got highest score over the two parts of the quiz? Who can claim the title of Caribbean endemic bird expert 2021? !
Celebrate the Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival (CEBF) with us! Our theme in 2021 is “Sing, Fly, Soar—Like a Bird!” Have fun learning about a new endemic bird every day. We have colouring pages, puzzles, activities, and more. Download for free and enjoy nature with your family at home.
Endemic Bird of the Day: Green-throated Carib
A flash of emerald zips through the forest — could it be a Green-throated Carib (Eulampis holosericeus)? This is a large bird by hummingbird standards (10.5-12 cm, 4.9-7.8 g), characterized by its slightly down-curved bill, and bright green, iridescent head, back, and throat. As with other birds with iridescent feathers, its black belly and brilliant violet-blue breast band can be hard to see in poor light, and its dark blue tail may sometimes look black in color. Look for the “fan” created by its wide tail feathers. Males and females are similar, but the female’s bill is a little longer and more down-curved, and she is slightly less colorful.
The Green-throated Carib can be found in highlands and lowlands, in gardens, parks, and forests. Its entire range is in eastern Puerto Rico (primarily in coastal areas), the Virgin Islands, and the Lesser Antilles. Like other hummingbird species, it loves to feed on nectar, as well as small invertebrates like flies, small wasps, and beetles. Like the Purple-throated Carib, males and females of the Green-throated Carib may feed on different flowers, judging from the differences in their bill lengths. You may hear a sharp chewp and a short tsip, which it repeats rapidly when upset – and whirring wings!
This species nests from March to July, and both sexes aggressively defend their feeding territories. Hummingbirds are good home-builders, and the Green-throated Carib’s nest is cozy. The female – who does all of the work during breeding season – builds a cup-shaped nest lined with soft plant fibers, and camouflages it with tree bark and lichens to hide it from predators. She lays 2-3 tiny white eggs, which she incubates for 17-19 days. After feeding the nestlings for 20-22 days, they will follow her around for several weeks after fledging. A mother’s work is never done!
The Green-throated Carib is common through most of its range, and is considered “Least Concern” by the IUCN. It seems to adapt well to humans’ presence. However, we need to find out how its movements are affected by habitat fragmentation created by development. We still have a lot to learn about this bird in order to ensure it continues to thrive. Learn more about this species, including its range, photos, and calls here.
Colour in the Green-throated Carib
Download our West Indies Endemic Bird colouring page. Use the photos below as your guide, or you can look up pictures of the bird online or in a bird field guide if you have one. Share your coloured-in page with us by posting it online and tagging us @BirdsCaribbean #CEBFfromthenest
Listen to the call of the Green-throated Carib
The calls of the Green-throated Carib include a mix of twittering noises and a “chewp” call.
Puzzle of the Day
Click on the image below to do the puzzle. You can make the puzzle as easy or as hard as you like – for example, 6, 8, or 12 pieces for young children, all the way up to 1,024 pieces for those that are up for a challenge!
The Green-throated Carib is characterized by its slightly down-curved bill, and bright green, iridescent head, back, and throat. Males and females may specialize in feeding on different flowers, due to the differences in their bill lengths (Photo by Dave Wendelken)Green-throated Carib. Like other hummingbird species, it loves to feed on nectar, as well as small invertebrates like flies, small wasps, and beetles. (Photo by Frantz Delcroix)Both male and female Green-throated Caribs will aggressively defend their feeding territories. But during the breeding season the female does all of the work, including building the lichen-covered cup-shaped nest in which she lays 2-3 tiny white eggs (Photo by Guillermo Plaza)
Activity of the Day
FOR KIDS AND ADULTS: How much can you remember about the birds we have featured during the Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival 2021? Test your memory of your newly gained knowledge of these wonderful birds with our 2021 Caribbean Endemic Bird Quiz! Today we have Part One of a two-part bird trivia quiz. Try to answer all the questions without checking back to our posts or looking up the answers online or in your bird guides! But just in case you do get stuck you or if you want to do some studying before you try the quiz you can read about all our featured endemic birds here or take a browse on ebird.
There are two different ways for you to try tackling our bird-themed questions. You can download a fun and interactive version of the quiz as a PowerPoint file here. If you don’t have PowerPoint you can also open the quiz in google slides here. Read the instructions (given before the questions start) carefully and remember to view the quiz in presentation / slide show mode to play interactively! OR if want to, you can download a pdf version of the quiz here, as printable question sheets. An answer sheet to go with this is available here, but don’t look till you’ve tired to answer all the questions! This is a great activity to try by yourself or with a group of friends and family, either in person or online! If you play in a group remember to designate one person as the ‘host’ who will read the questions, keep score and give the correct answers (if you play with the printable version).
See how many you can get right and remember to have fun!
Celebrate the Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival (CEBF) with us! Our theme in 2021 is “Sing, Fly, Soar—Like a Bird!” Have fun learning about a new endemic bird every day. We have colouring pages, puzzles, activities, and more. Download for free and enjoy nature with your family at home.
Endemic Bird of the Day: Greater Antillean Grackle
This noisy bird is quite an extrovert. Not at all shy, the Greater Antillean Grackle is a clever bird, quickly adapting and modifying its behavior based on the circumstances. It is quite comfortable in heavily disturbed habitats or areas with high human activity – such as outdoor restaurants – where it can become quite a nuisance, trying to steal humans’ food!
Did you know that there are seven sub-species of the Greater Antillean Grackle? Endemic to the Greater Antilles, this is a common bird found on Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, the Cayman Islands, and adjacent offshore islands.
Ranging in size from 10-12 inches long, this raucous bird has glossy, metallic-blue to violet-black plumage over its entire body, a yellow iris, and an unusual keel-shaped tail which is often held fanned open in flight. Locally referred to as Chango, Cling-cling or variations of this name, it makes its presence known with a distinct 4-syllable song “cling cling clii-ing” that sounds like a rusty hinge. It also gives musical notes, a sharp “cluck,” and wheezy gasps. It has no difficulty expressing itself, in its vocalisations and flamboyant behavior.
The slightly smaller females lay 3-5 eggs, which are incubated for about two weeks. Juveniles fledge after 23-25 days and resemble the adult, except they have shorter tails and lack iridescent coloring. Nesting and roosting occurs in a colony in mangroves, trees, or reeds and often near a water source. For some reason, this bird also likes to roost on power plants. It truly loves water, and can often be seen splashing around in bird baths in the rain!
Using its strong pointed bill, it forages mostly on the ground, eating pretty much anything that they can fit into their beaks. This includes fruits, plants, small vertebrates, invertebrates, and human food scraps.
The Greater Antillean Grackle is classified as Least Concern. Common threats to this species would include deforestation of its nesting and roosting habitats due to the clearing of land for development. Designating specific areas as wildlife reserves would help to combat this issue .Learn more about this species, including its range, photos, and calls here.
Colour in the Greater Antillean Grackle
Download our West Indies Endemic Bird colouring page. Use the photos below as your guide, or you can look up pictures of the bird online or in a bird field guide if you have one. Share your coloured-in page with us by posting it online and tagging us @BirdsCaribbean #CEBFfromthenest
Listen to the song of the Greater Antillean Grackle
The song of the Greater Antillean Grackle a metallic 4-syllable song “cling cling clii-ing” that sounds like a rusty hinge. It also gives musical notes, a sharp “cluck,” and wheezy gasps.
Puzzle of the Day
Click on the image below to do the puzzle. You can make the puzzle as easy or as hard as you like – for example, 6, 8, or 12 pieces for young children, all the way up to 1,024 pieces for those that are up for a challenge!
Greater Antillean Grackle (Photo by Hartmut Walter)Greater Antillean Grackle (Photo by Alberto Estafanía)
Activity of the Day
FOR KIDS: Get out your colouring pencils, pens, or paints and get ready to be creative with our “My Caribbean Bird” art activity! Choose your favourite endemic Caribbean bird and draw or paint its portrait. You can download our colourful feather frame and get started. Not sure which bird you want to draw? Or want to check where your bird lives or what its call is? Check back to all our featured Caribbean endemic birds here. OR let you imagination run wild and create your very own imaginary endemic bird using other endemic Caribbean birds as your inspiration! Have fun making up a name for your ‘new’ Caribbean endemic bird! Where do you think your imaginary bird might live? And what sound does it make?
FOR KIDS AND ADULTS: What does the Greater Antillean Grackle have to do with James Bond? Find out here in this blog post by Jim Wright – all about Bond, Fleming and Kling-klings! (the local name for Greater Antillean in Jamaica).
Enjoy these videos of Greater Antillean Grackles! The first video shows a handsome glossy blue-black adult bird, perched on a branch. In the second you can see another adult, filmed in a tree in the Dominican Republic. You can also hear this bird’s distinctive call in this video.
Celebrate the Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival (CEBF) with us! Our theme in 2021 is “Sing, Fly, Soar—Like a Bird!” Have fun learning about a new endemic bird every day. We have colouring pages, puzzles, activities, and more. Download for free and enjoy nature with your family at home.
Endemic Bird of the Day: Bahama Warbler
Wandering through the pinelands of the northern Bahamas (specifically, the islands of Grand Bahama and Abaco), you might be lucky enough to come upon the charming Bahama Warbler (Setophaga flavescens). The male has a bright yellow throat, breast, and underparts with black stripes on his sides. His black face mask is broken up by a yellow lore (that’s the area between the eye and the upper base of his beak) and white stripes surround his eye. He also sports the longest bill of any wood-warbler species, which he uses to find tasty insects in the bark of pine trees. The grey on his crown and back are accented by two white wingbars. The female looks similar, but is not as bright.
How do you tell the Bahama Warbler apart from a Yellow-throated Warbler – which visits the Caribbean in winter? Well, it’s confusing. They are close relatives and look very much alike; however, the Yellow-throated Warbler’s breast and sides are white, and the forehead is blackish-grey.
These species also have different songs. From a perch in the canopy, the male Bahama Warbler sings sweetly: short, loud, and clear whistled notes that increase in pitch. The Yellow-throated Warbler, on the other hand, has a descending song.
This bright little warbler loves pine trees. Grand Bahama and Abaco include large areas of Caribbean pine forest – just perfect for the Bahama Warbler, which is often seen creeping up and down the tree trunks, feeding on insects. It also breeds in these forests in spring and summer, but its breeding behavior remains a mystery.
However, there is a sad story. The Bahama Warbler is now listed as Endangered. In 2019, Hurricane Dorian slammed into Abaco and Grand Bahama, causing massive destruction. Grand Bahama lost most of its pine forest habitat due to heavy winds, rain, and storm surges. No Bahama Warblers have been found there since then, despite intensive searches by researchers from the Bahamas National Trust and the American Bird Conservancy.
The island of Abaco is now perhaps the last refuge for this Bahamian endemic, and conservation is critical. Already hit by Hurricane Dorian, this lovely bird faces other threats, including habitat loss, predation by introduced feral cats and raccoons, and frequent fires. Let us hope this beautiful endemic survives these dangers, and thrives once again! Learn more about this species, including its range, photos, and calls here.
Colour in the Bahama Warbler
Download our West Indies Endemic Bird colouring page. Use the photos below as your guide, or you can look up pictures of the bird online or in a bird field guide if you have one. Share your coloured-in page with us by posting it online and tagging us @BirdsCaribbean #CEBFfromthenest
Listen to the song of the Bahama Warbler
The song of the Bahama Warbler is an ascending “chutty, chutty, chutty, swee, swee, tsoo, tsoo”
Puzzle of the Day
Click on the image below to do the puzzle. You can make the puzzle as easy or as hard as you like – for example, 6, 8, or 12 pieces for young children, all the way up to 1,024 pieces for those that are up for a challenge!
The Bahama Warbler has recently be listed as Endangered by the IUCN. In 2019, Hurricane Dorian caused massive destruction to this species’ pineland habitat. Sadly, Grand Bahama lost most of its pine forest and the Bahama Warbler has not be found since on Grand Bahama despite intense searches. (Photo by Larry Therrien)The Bahama Warbler is a habitat specialist, being found only in the pinelands. It is often seen creeping up and down the trunks of Caribbean pine trees, where it feeds on insects. (Photo by Beth Hamel)
Activity of the Day
FOR KIDS: What facts can you remember about todays endemic bird – the Bahama Warbler? Test your knowledge by filling in the missing words in each of our Bahama Warbler facts! We have given you the correct words but can you put them into the right fact? You can re-read the information all about this bird above, or search on the BirdsCaribbean webpages for lots more information about the Bahama Warbler! Then, when you have completed all the sentences, you can check your answers here.
FOR KIDS AND ADULTS: There are 37 warbler species recorded on the island of Abaco in the Bahamas. You can find about more about them here, especially the five species that are resident in Abaco (live there all year round), including today’s endemic bird, the Bahama Warbler!
Enjoy the video below of a Bahama Warbler in the wild! This bird was filmed on Grand Bahama (before Hurricane Dorian); you can see it creeping up the trunk of a Caribbean pine tree, probably searching for food.
Learn how to draw and colour a Yellow-throated Warbler! Draw along with artist Josmar Esteban Marquez- who created all the pictures for the birds featured in our 2021 Endemic Bird Festival! The Yellow-throated Warbler is also found on the Bahamas and looks at lot like a Bahama Warbler. But the Bahama warbler has a yellow throat and belly, and shorter wings. The adult male Bahama Warbler also has a less black forehead than the Yellow-throated Warbler and its wingbars are shorter and thinner.
Celebrate the Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival (CEBF) with us! Our theme in 2021 is “Sing, Fly, Soar—Like a Bird!” Have fun learning about a new endemic bird every day. We have colouring pages, puzzles, activities, and more. Download for free and enjoy nature with your family at home.
Endemic Bird of the Day: Lesser Antillean Flycatcher
This chill bird gives off that famous, laid-back Caribbean vibe — a true Caribbean endemic. As you wander through woodlands or dry scrubland, the Lesser Antillean Flycatcher (Myiarchus oberi) peers down, thoughtfully, curiously, watching you. This medium-sized flycatcher (8.5 inches) is inconspicuous, blending in nicely with the vegetation just below the canopy.
Feeling at ease with your presence, it might hazard its distinctive call: a loud, whistling, peeeeeee, or pheeuuu song, or shorter bursts of oo-ee, oo-ee or e-oo-ee. Or maybe it gives away its location going after that delectable flying insect — its favorite food.
Once you spot it, you might second guess yourself. Could it be a Flycatcher after all, or a similar-looking family member, an Elaenia maybe? You replay the call in your mind as you focus on the characteristics that set this species apart. It has a distinctive pale gray chest, a yellow belly, rufous edges to the wings, and rufous-toned tail. The bill is slightly heavy and black. If your eyes are good, or you’ve brought your binoculars, you’d even notice the tiny hook at the tip of its bill. Its dusty gray-brown upper body is capped with an elegantly round head. When excited, individuals may erect the feathers on the crown of their head.
The Lesser Antillean Flycatcher breeds from March to July. It builds its nest using strips of leaves and sticks, usually in a tree cavity. It lays 3–4 eggs that are cream-colored, with heavy purplish-brown and violet-grey markings.
Although its conservation status is Least Concern, the Lesser Antillean Flycatcher is found in only a handful of Caribbean islands. It is common in Antigua, Barbuda, St. Kitts, Nevis, Guadeloupe, Dominica, Martinique and Saint Lucia.
Download our West Indies Endemic Bird colouring page. Use the photos below as your guide, or you can look up pictures of the bird online or in a bird field guide if you have one. Share your coloured-in page with us by posting it online and tagging us @BirdsCaribbean #CEBFfromthenest
Listen to the song of the Lesser Antillean Flycatcher
The song of the Lesser Antillean Flycatcher is a plaintive, drawn out “pheee” or “phee-u-uu.”
Puzzle of the Day
Click on the image below to do the puzzle. You can make the puzzle as easy or as hard as you like – for example, 6, 8, or 12 pieces for young children, all the way up to 1,024 pieces for those that are up for a challenge!
The Lesser Antillean Flycatcher is similar to some other species of flycatchers but can be distinguished by the combination of pale grey chest, yellow belly, rufous edges to the wings, and rust-brown undertail. (Photo by Blake Matheson)Lesser Antillean Flycatcher typically perches below the canopy of the tree, keeping completely still before flying out in pursuit of prey. (Photo by Frantz Delcroix)
Activity of the Day
FOR KIDS: The Lesser Antillean Flycatcher catches and insects to eat. It sometimes this bird will flit between plants searching for its next meal. At other times it will perch perfectly still on a twig or branch and wait to strike its prey- perhaps catching a moth, fly or spider! Imagine you are a Lesser Antillean Flycatcher and find out what bugs there are in your backyard in our fun bug hunt! Follow out instructions and see how many different types of bugs you can find! Perhaps you will spot a butterfly of a bee flitting past? Remember just to look at the bugs and not to touch or collect them. You can check the ones you see off on our list and perhaps take some photos of them?
FOR KIDS AND ADULTS: Enjoy the videos below of Lesser Antillean Flycatchers in the wild! In the first you can see a Lesser Antillean Flycatcher perched in the branches of a tree, filmed on Barbuda. You can tell the bird is excited because his the feathers on the top of his head are raised. In the second video you can see another perched Lesser Antillean Flycatcher, you will hear its distinctive, loud “oo-ee” calls.
Celebrate the Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival (CEBF) with us! Our theme in 2021 is “Sing, Fly, Soar—Like a Bird!” Have fun learning about a new endemic bird every day. We have colouring pages, puzzles, activities, and more. Download for free and enjoy nature with your family at home.
Endemic Bird of the Day: Gundlach’s Hawk
The Caribbean has some handsome endemic hawks! One of them is Gundlach’s Hawk (Accipiter gundlachi) – an elegant, medium-sized forest hawk endemic to Cuba. Known locally as falcon or falconeta, this bird is easy to distinguish by its short, rounded wings and its long, narrow, banded tail, rounded at the tip. The steel-blue on its back becomes darker on the top of the head. Its grey throat fades to a reddish-brown breast and belly, with varying amounts of barring. Females are slightly larger than males, with a longer tail. Juveniles are dark brown above and streaked with brown below.
You are likely to hear its strong and strident kec-kec-kec-kec-kec-kec call in many forest types, wetlands, and on wooded coastlines in Cuba. This species is adapted to fly at high speed through the trees, although it can also be seen gliding across open spaces.
Gundlach’s Hawk perched. (photo by Michael J. Good)
The Gundlach’s Hawk breeds from January to June, building a platform nest with branches and twigs in a tall tree, and lays 2-4 eggs. It will aggressively defend its nest, even attacking humans who wander too close. Its fledglings will follow their parents around, constantly begging for food.
The Gundlach’s Hawk is a feared (and often hunted) predator that specializes in hunting birds. Medium-sized birds such as parrots, gallinules, pigeons, doves, crows, nighthawks, and thrushes are among its prey. Unfortunately, this highly efficient predator has gained a bad reputation: it is one of the few Cuban birds of prey known to hunt chickens. Hunting and the destruction of nests are major threats to the species. This species is one of the most sought after for use in falconry, which has become increasingly popular in recent years. It is often captured in the wild or taken from the nest.
Habitat loss remains the biggest threat to this Endangered species. The Gundlach’s Hawk was considered common in the 20th century, but its populations have declined considerably to an estimated 400 individuals. There is an urgent need to conserve this splendid hawk by protecting the places where it lives, feeds, and breeds. Raising public awareness about the extremely serious situation of this fascinating raptor would also help to discourage people from persecuting it. Let’s protect this superb Cuban endemic! Learn more about this species, including its range, photos, and calls here.
Colour in the Gundlach’s Hawk
Download our West Indies Endemic Bird colouring page. Use the photos below as your guide, or you can look up pictures of the bird online or in a bird field guide if you have one. Share your coloured-in page with us by posting it online and tagging us @BirdsCaribbean #CEBFfromthenest
Listen to the call of the Gundlach’s Hawk
The calls of the Gundlach’s Hawk are a loud repeated “eh-eh-eh-eh-eh…”
Puzzle of the Day
Click on the image below to do the puzzle. You can make the puzzle as easy or as hard as you like – for example, 6, 8, or 12 pieces for young children, all the way up to 1,024 pieces for those that are up for a challenge!
Juvenile Gundlach’s Hawk – they are dark brown above and streaked with brown below. (Photo by Maikel Cañizares)Adult Gundlach’s Hawk. Note the steel-blue on its back that becomes darker on the top of the head, and the long banded tail. (Photo by Michael J. Good)
Activity of the Day
FOR KIDS: Can you find the words in our Gundlach’s Hawk word search? Remind yourself of some of the interesting facts about this endemic bird as you look for all 15 hidden words! Remember the words appear forwards and backwards, as are horizontal, vertical and diagonal! Need some help? Or want to check your answers? You can see where all the words were here.
Find out more about birds of prey! Hawks, like todays birds the Gundlach Hawk, falcons, kestrels, eagles, owls and others birds including vultures are all different types of a group of birds know as ‘birds of prey’; birds in this group are also also known as ‘raptors’. Find out more about this group of birds by reading all about raptors here.
FOR KIDS AND ADULTS: Enjoy this video of a Gundlach’s Hawk in the Wild! The video shows a bird high up in the air in a soaring flight.
Celebrate the Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival (CEBF) with us! Our theme in 2021 is “Sing, Fly, Soar—Like a Bird!” Have fun learning about a new endemic bird every day. We have colouring pages, puzzles, activities, and more. Download for free and enjoy nature with your family at home.
Endemic Bird of the Day: Jamaican Spindalis
When you set eyes on a male Jamaican Spindalis (Spindalis nigricephala), you cannot help but admire this spectacular endemic. The vivid black-and-white stripes on his head give him one of his local names — “Mark Head.” He has a brilliant yellowish-orange breast that becomes yellow on the belly, and a white lower belly and undertail. His yellow-olive back fades into yellowish-orange on the rump. The black feathers on his wings and tail are edged with white.
What’s the difference between male and female? This species is “sexually dimorphic,” meaning that males and females look different from each other. As is often the case, the female is less colorful – she is the dull one! She has an olive back, a greenish-yellow breast and belly that fades to pale yellow, and a grayish-olive head and throat. Like the male, she has a white undertail and white-edged wing feathers, but she lacks those bright stripes on her face.
The thin, high-pitched call “tsee” of the Jamaican Spindalis is a common sound in Jamaican forests, and might be your first (or only) hint that one is nearby. It also gives a soft, weak “seep” in flight. While foraging in groups, individuals may give a fast, high “chi-chi-chi-chi-chi.” From an exposed perch, a male will sing a song that consists of a long-sustained phrase repeated several times — “chu wheet, chee see whee see, chu wheet.” These distinct sounds have inspired another popular local name, “Champa Beeza.”
The Jamaican Spindalis roams through forests, woodlands, and brushy areas in the hills and mountains, searching for fruiting trees. Some of their favorites include ficus, pimentos (allspice), palms, cecropia, and oranges. They will also consume nectar, blossoms, leaves, and the occasional insect. You might meet them in pairs and family groups, but you can also find them in flocks with different species.
This agile bird is often seen hanging from twigs and leaves to take berries, or even using its bills to swing effortlessly between plants. Despite these impressive moves, it can only perform short-distance flights, which limits its habitat to forest and forest edges. To protect the Jamaican Spindalis, it is important to conserve and connect habitat, including the preservation of large canopy trees in an ever-changing urban landscape. Learn more about this species, including its range, photos, and calls here.
Colour in the Jamaican Spindalis
Download our West Indies Endemic Bird colouring page. Use the photos below as your guide, or you can look up pictures of the bird online or in a bird field guide if you have one. Share your coloured-in page with us by posting it online and tagging us @BirdsCaribbean #CEBFfromthenest
Listen to the call of the Jamaican Spindalis
The call of the Jamaican Spindalis is a high-pitched “tsee,” sometimes alone sometime repeated in quick succession.
Puzzle of the Day
Click on the image below to do the puzzle. You can make the puzzle as easy or as hard as you like – for example, 6, 8, or 12 pieces for young children, all the way up to 1,024 pieces for those that are up for a challenge!
The male Jamaican Spindalis is a stunning bird. Note the black head with two bold white facial stripes which give him one of his local names — “Mark Head.” He also has a brilliant yellowish-orange breast that becomes yellow on the belly, and black wing and tail feathers edged with white.(Photo by Matt Grube)The female Jamaican Spindalis has a greenish-yellow breast, olive upperparts, and a greyish head. (Photo by Linda Bushman)
Activity of the Day
FOR KIDS: The Jamaican Spindalis, along with many other Caribbean endemic birds found on Jamaica, like the Yellow-shouldered Grassquit, Vervain Hummingbird, Arrowhead Warbler, Jamaican Euphonia and Jamaican Vireo love to live in and around the forests of Jamaica’s hills and mountains. In fact birds across the Caribbean rely on forests as places to nest, feed, rest and shelter. Forests in the Caribbean contain many different types of plants such as, ferns, orchids, other flowering plants and canopy trees. Forests also provide homes for many other types of wildlife as well as birds and plants! Using a variety of textures and colours of paper create your own forest collage with some of Jamaica’s endemic birds! Download our instructions here including some helpful silhouettes and shapes to get you started. You can get an adult to help you with any cutting out.
FOR KIDS AND ADULTS: Read all about how Goat Island, one of the homes of today’s featured bird, the Jamaican Spindalis, and many other Jamaican and Caribbean endemic birds was saved from what would have been a catastrophic development. Then read about the plans to make the same area a Wildlife Sanctuary!
Enjoy these videos below of Jamaican Spindalis in the wild! In the first video you can see a female Spindalis, filmed in the Blue Mountains of Jamaica. The second video shows the more strikingly coloured male, feeding on some flowers.
Celebrate the Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival (CEBF) with us! Our theme in 2021 is “Sing, Fly, Soar—Like a Bird!” Have fun learning about a new endemic bird every day. We have colouring pages, puzzles, activities, and more. Download for free and enjoy nature with your family at home.
Endemic Bird of the Day: Loggerhead Kingbird
What is that noisy bird? The boisterous, chattering call of the Loggerhead Kingbird (Tyrannus caudifasciatus) can be heard echoing throughout dense coppice forests, pine forests, gardens, settled areas, mangroves, and swamp edges in the Caribbean.
This chunky flycatcher (9.5 -10 inches) has a blackish head with a yellow-orange patch on the crown that only shows when it is excited. It has a dark gray back and wings, accented by whitish edges. The throat, breast, and belly are whitish, with varying amounts of yellow wash. Its square tail is also dark grey with a whitish tip. Juveniles have brownish edges on the wings and no crown patch.
You will always know when the Loggerhead Kingbird is around. It is often seen on exposed perches such as posts, tree branches, and telephone wires. From there, it forages by “sallying” forth – flying out to capture prey, and returning to the same or nearby perch. Its diet mostly consists of insects, berries, small lizards, and amphibians. It builds a cup-shaped, woven nest in the fork of horizontal branches of trees. It will lay 2-4 whitish or salmon-colored eggs, with markings that vary in color in different parts of its range.
The Loggerhead Kingbird is a year-round resident. Endemic to the West Indies, its range extends throughout the northern Bahamas, Cuba, Cayman Islands, Jamaica, Hispaniola, and Puerto Rico. There are seven recognized subspecies, characterized by the amount of yellow wash and the tail pattern. Two subspecies — Tyrannus caudifasciatus taylori of Puerto Rico and Tyrannus caudifasciatus gabbii of Hispaniola — are under consideration to be classified as new species!
At first glance, you might confuse a Loggerhead Kingbird with another Kingbird species. The Eastern Kingbird (Tyrannus tyrannus), a winter migrant to the region, has a bolder white tail band and smaller bill. The Gray Kingbird (Tyrannus dominicensis), a summer migrant to The Bahamas, Cuba, Jamaica, and Cayman Islands, is much paler overall, with a dark face mask and a larger bill. Gray Kingbirds are also much more territorial and aggressive than the Loggerhead Kingbird. The Giant Kingbird (Tyrannus cubensis), which only occurs in Cuba, is a bigger bird with a massive bill and notched tail. Learn more about this species, including its range, photos, and calls here.
Colour in the Loggerhead Kingbird
Download our West Indies Endemic Bird colouring page. Use the photos below as your guide, or you can look up pictures of the bird online or in a bird field guide if you have one. Share your coloured-in page with us by posting it online and tagging us @BirdsCaribbean #CEBFfromthenest
Listen to the song of the Loggerhead Kingbird
The song of the Loggerhead Kingbird is a loud, emphatic trilling, “pit-pit-pit-pit-pit-tirrr-ri-ri-reeee.”
Puzzle of the Day
Click on the image below to do the puzzle. You can make the puzzle as easy or as hard as you like – for example, 6, 8, or 12 pieces for young children, all the way up to 1,024 pieces for those that are up for a challenge!
Loggerhead Kingbird (Photo by Matt Grube)Loggerhead Kingbird (Photo by Sergey Uryadnikov)Loggerhead Kingbird (Photo by Dave Curtis)
Activity of the Day
FOR KIDS: Can you tell the difference between todays bird, the Loggerhead Kingbird and the other, very similar, types of kingbirds you might meet when out bird watching? Make sure to read our fascinating facts in this post and then test your memory skills in our kingbird matching game ! Be sure to look carefully at the colours, bill sizes, and also the tails of these birds to tell them apart!
FOR KIDS AND ADULTS: Enjoy these videos below showing Loggerhead Kingbirds in their natural habitat! In the first you will see a bird giving the bubbling, chattering calls typical of this species, and you should spot the rarely seen orange-yellow patch on the crown of this bird. The second video shows a Loggerhead Kingbird from the Puerto Rico race, you can see that the tail lacks the white trailing edge seen on this species elsewhere.
Celebrate the Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival (CEBF) with us! Our theme in 2021 is “Sing, Fly, Soar—Like a Bird!” Have fun learning about a new endemic bird every day. We have colouring pages, puzzles, activities, and more. Download for free and enjoy nature with your family at home.
Endemic Bird of the Day: Key West Quail-Dove
Key West? Well, despite its name, you are very unlikely to see this bird in Key West. Although it was first discovered in the Florida Keys, it is now just an occasional vagrant there. It is a truly Caribbean island bird, endemic to The Bahamas, Turks and Caicos Islands, Cuba, Hispaniola, and Puerto Rico.
This is a great loss for Florida, because the Key West Quail-Dove, a chunky, round bird (170 g, 28-30 cm), is strikingly beautiful. The iridescent bluish-green and bronze head and neck of the adult male is accented by a broad white facial stripe. The purple and bronze iridescence on his back and wings contrast with his pale pinkish-grey breast that fades into whitish on the belly. The female looks similar, but her colors are generally more subtle and less iridescent. The plumage of a juvenile is duller, with whitish margins on the wing coverts.
This elegant bird is can be found in both arid and moist habitats: coastal thickets, swamp forest, semi-arid woodland, wet montane forest, semi-deciduous and evergreen woods. It favors the understory up to at least 500 m in elevation, but is found up to at least 1,000 m in Dominican Republic.
The Key West Quail-Dove is a secretive bird, difficult to detect on the forest floor. Listen for a rustling of leaves and you may be lucky to spot it as it quietly rummages around looking for fruit, seeds, insects, and small snails to eat. From the dense vegetation you might also hear its deep, mournful call, consisting of a single, repeated hoooooo. The call usually lasts about 1.4 seconds, increasing in volume and then fading and sliding slightly downward in pitch at the end.
This bird generally breeds from February to August. It builds a nest near the ground or low in trees, laying two buff-colored eggs. It is solitary outside the breeding season.
The Key West Quail-Dove is considered a common resident throughout most of its range, but is declining in some islands. Sadly, it is threatened by habitat fragmentation and hunting. You can help this beautiful bird and others to survive by supporting conservation of habitat on your island. Learn more about this species, including its range, photos, and calls here.
Colour in the Key West Quail-Dove
Download our West Indies Endemic Bird colouring page. Use the photos below as your guide, or you can look up pictures of the bird online or in a bird field guide if you have one. Share your coloured-in page with us by posting it online and tagging us @BirdsCaribbean #CEBFfromthenest
Listen to the song of the Key West Quail-Dove
The song of the Key West Quail-Dove is a soft, low-pitched, mournful “hooooooo.”
Puzzle of the Day
Click on the image below to do the puzzle. You can make the puzzle as easy or as hard as you like – for example, 6, 8, or 12 pieces for young children, all the way up to 1,024 pieces for those that are up for a challenge!
The Key West Quail-Dove feeds on fruit, seeds, small snails. It will usually forage on ground but can also be seen perching on trees low to mid-level. (Photo by Doug Greenberg)Key West Quail-Dove. This species is declining in some islands, these declines are mainly cause by habitat fragmentation and hunting. (Photo by Alvaro Jaramillo)
Activity of the Day
FOR KIDS: Breeding season for the Key West Quail-Dove is between September and July. This Caribbean endemic dove builds its nests on the ground or sometime low-down in a tree. This makes their eggs vulnerable to predators, including the Indian Mongoose, which has been introduced to the Caribbean from Asia. Can you help the Key West Quail-Dove find her way through our maze and save here eggs from a hungry mongoose? You can find the correct route here.
FOR KIDS AND ADULTS: Enjoy this video of a Key West Quail-Dove in the wild! This bird was seen in Ciego de Ávila, Cuba. The video shows a Quail-Dove on the ground foraging. You can see the beautiful iridescent plumage on the birds head and neck.