Celebrate the Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival (CEBF) with us! Our theme in 2021 is “Sing, Fly, Soar—Like a Bird!” Have fun learning about a new endemic bird every day. We have colouring pages, puzzles, activities, and more. Download for free and enjoy nature with your family at home.
Endemic Bird of the Day: Puerto Rican Screech-Owl
The Puerto Rican Screech-Owl (Megascops nudipes) is a small owl endemic to Puerto Rico. It is dark brown above and white below with brown streaks on the breast, and prominent white eyebrows. It is about 23- 25cm in length and weighs only 140g, as much as a cup of flour or an adult hamster. There are two color morphs (forms): brown and rufous (reddish-brown). There is also a rare grey morph that can only be found in dry forested areas. It’s scientific name nudipes refers to this owl’s unfeathered legs and feet, which is rare for most owls. Males and females look alike, but females are a bit heavier than males.
The Puerto Rican Screech Owl can be hard to see because it is completely nocturnal and spends the day resting—camouflaged in thick vegetation. Listen out for its call—low-pitched, tremulous trills and a descending whinny. It also gives jumbled hoots and cackles that sound monkey-like. Locally it is known as the “Cuckoo Bird” because of the loud coo-coo sounds it makes. When alarmed, it will elongate its body and raise feathers to form small “ear” tufts.
This owl is common in forests and thickets in montane and coastal zones throughout the whole island of Puerto Rico. It nests inside natural tree cavities from April to June, usually laying one or two eggs. It hunts rodents and small prey, like lizards, coqui frogs, and insects; cockroaches, crickets, grasshoppers, mantis, beetles, weevils, moths and caterpillars, and scorpions. Like other owls, the Puerto Rican Screech-Owl uses its acute hearing and sharp night vision to locate and catch its food. The Spanish name of the species “Múcaro” is also the Taíno word for owl.
The Puerto Rican Screech-Owl previously inhabited the nearby islands of Vieques and Culebra, as well as the US Virgin Islands, but searches for a number of years have failed to find it. It probably went extinct on these islands due to extensive destruction of native forest habitats for agriculture in the early 20th century. Egg predation by the Pearly-eyed Thrasher may have also played a role.
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 Puerto Rican Screech-Owl
The calls of the Puerto Rican Screech-Owl are variable- including a tremulous, low-pitched trill, chatters, and whoops.
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 Screech-Owls’ legs are completely bare, which is not common among most owls. They also have small “ear” tufts (not seen here), which they raise when alarmed. (Photo by Andre Nunez)Puerto Rican Screech-Owl . This small owl has two common morphs (colourations); brown and rufous (pictured here) and a rare grey morph. The grey morph can only be found in dry forested areas. (Photo by Alfredo Irizarry)
Activity of the Day
FOR KIDS: Can you find the words in our Puerto Rican Screech Owl word search? Remind yourself of some of the interesting facts about this endemic bird as you look for all 15 hidden words! Need some help? Or want to check your answers? You can see where all the words were here.
FOR KIDS AND ADULTS: Puerto Rican Screech-owls are nocturnal, so they might not always be that easy to spot. Don’t worry you can enjoy these videos of Puerto Rican Screech-owls in the wild! In the first video you will see and hear this small owl calling at night. You’ll notice that this individual is the brown, rusty coloured morph of the species. The second video shows two fluffy owl chicks in the nest!
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: Arrowhead Warbler
The endemic Arrowhead Warbler is locally known as Ants Picker. This bird has never been in doubt of its identity even though scientists recently changed the species name from Arrow-headed Warbler (Dendroica pharetra) to Arrowhead Warbler (Setophaga pharetra). The Arrowhead Warbler is Jamaica’s only endemic warbler. It is a small active bird with heavy black-and-white streaking and two white wing bars. It might be confused with the migrant Black-and-White Warbler, however, the blackish arrowhead shapes from throat to abdomen, pointing towards the bill, make it readily distinguishable from this winter visitor. In addition, the Arrowhead Warbler does not forage on tree trunks like the Black-and-White Warbler. Female Arrowhead Warblers are similar to males but with dark gray streaking. First year birds have a dull olive-green head, brownish-olive upperparts, yellowish-buff underparts, with no arrowhead streaking and indistinct wing bars. They can sometimes be confused with immature Jamaican Vireos. To tell them apart, look very carefully at the beak—it’s small, fine, and dark grey on the Arrowhead Warbler; chunky and pinkish on the Jamaican Vireo.Arrowhead Warblers are locally common. They occur in a variety of woodland and forest habitats from near sea level into the more humid forests and elevations of Cockpit Country and the Blue Mountains. They are usually seen as an individual or in a small family group, within 3 meters or so of the ground, among thick leaves or tangled undergrowth cover. On many occasions, it is the high-pitched, almost metallic, squeaky sww-sw—swee, sww-sw—swee, sww-sw—swee, swee, swee that first draws your attention. Look carefully and you will spot this special warbler, flicking its tail as it moves around, probing for insects on branches, leaves, and vines.The nest is well concealed in a bush, vine, bromeliad, or tree. It is a compact cup of densely woven, fine roots, lined with moss or lichen. Clutch size is 2-4 eggs. The nesting season is mainly from March to June, but nesting can also occur in November following heavy rains in October. Learn more about this species, including its range, photos, and calls here.
Colour in the Arrowhead 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 Arrowhead Warbler
The song of the Arrowhead Warbler is a high-pitched, squeaky sww-sw—swee, sww-sw—swee, sww-sw—swee, swee, swee.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!
Endemic to Jamaica, the Arrowhead Warbler is locally known as Ants Picker. You might hear its squeaky sww-sw—swee, sww-sw—swee, sww-sw—swee, song as it forages for insects in dense vegetation. (Photo by Wendy Lee)The Arrowhead Warbler is a small bird with heavy black-and-white streaking, getting its name from the blackish arrowhead shapes from throat to abdomen, pointing towards the bill. (Photo by Eric Hynes).
Activity of the Day
FOR KIDS: Can you remember the difference between the Arrowhead Warbler and the other similar small birds you might meet on Jamaica? Make sure to read our fascinating facts in this post and then test your memory skills in our Arrowhead Warbler matching game ! FOR KIDS AND ADULTS: There are many different warblers you might encounter in the Caribbean! Some of them are endemics, like the Arrowhead Warbler and live in the Caribbean all year round, others are migratory and only visit during fall or over the winter. Some of these birds can look similar to each other and it can be confusing trying to identify them. Take a look at this helpful guide, from wildlife artist Christine Elder, for identifying warblers. Add colors of the bird you see, look at its behavior and add some notes to help you identify and remember it. You can also take a look at this article all about Identifying Warblers in the Caribbean with detailed tips and tricks to help you. Enjoy this video of an Arrowhead Warbler in the wild! This little bird was filmed in the Blue Mountains of Jamaica. You can see it hopping around amongst the vegetation, searching for insects to glean from the leaves. https://www.birdscaribbean.org/2016/06/identifying-warblers-in-the-caribbean/
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: St. Lucia Parrot
The St. Lucia Parrot is the national bird of St. Lucia. Affectionately known locally as “Jacquot,” it is the best known St. Lucian endemic bird species. At 18 inches, it is also one of the largest birds in St. Lucia. Its plumage is mostly iridescent green, with patches of bright red, black, white, yellow, and blue. The vivid cobalt blue to purple on the head and scarlet breast are striking characteristics of the Jacquot. The St Lucia Parrot is one of the most colourful of the entire genus of Amazona parrots, hence the species name versicolor.
Many years ago the St. Lucia Parrot was in grave danger of becoming extinct. Its population was estimated at only ~150 birds in 1976 due to years of hunting, habitat destruction, and the illegal bird trade. Now, there are about 2,000 parrots flying, feeding, roosting, and nesting in various forested areas in St. Lucia.
There are several reasons why the parrot population rebounded so successfully. In 1978, in partnership with Paul Butler of Rare, the Forestry Dept launched a campaign to save the species from extinction. In 1979, the parrot was made the National Bird of St. Lucia. In 1980, wildlife legislation was revised, making the parrot and other forms of wildlife absolutely protected year-round. Anyone found hunting, keeping, or trying to trade in these birds is liable to a fine of $5,000 or one year in jail. In addition, Forestry laws were also revised to protect watersheds as well as wildlife habitats. Illegal clearing of forest is punishable by fines of $2,000.
Finally a Pride Campaign—an island-wide education program about the unique value and beauty of the bird— was carried out. Schoolchildren and the public learned about the parrot through a parrot mascot “Jacquot,” songs on the radio, billboards, bumper stickers, stamps, hats, t-shirts, posters, and more. Gradually, St. Lucians embraced the parrot as a national treasure. This landmark campaign and other actions reduced the incidence of deforestation, hunting, and other illicit activities in the forest reserves to near zero, thus helping to ensure the long-term survival of this amazing endemic bird.
The parrot’s habitat is primarily moist forest in the interior mountain range; it can also occur in secondary forest and cultivated areas. Despite their large size and bright plumage they can be difficult to see in the dense forest canopy as they clamber about in search of fruits, nuts, seeds, and berries from a wide variety of trees including Gommier, Chatagnier, Bois Pain Maron and Aralie. They may travel considerable distances to feed on their favorite fruit trees, which includes awali, mangoes, and wild passion fruits.
St. Lucia Parrots nest in cavities in tall Gommiere, Chataniere, and other trees, where they lay two and occasionally three white eggs. Breeding occurs mainly from February to May, sometimes in June and July.
Did you know that parrots usually mate for life? If one of the pair dies or is killed it may be years before the survivor finds another mate. Parrots do not sing. They fly to their feeding grounds early in the morning and return home late in the afternoon. As they fly, their loud screeching calls echo through the forest, making them easy to identify. Learn more about this species, including its range, photos, and calls here.
Colour in the St. Lucia Parrot
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 St. Lucia Parrot
The calls of the St. Lucia Parrot are a loud, squawking “ka-chuck and plaintive “ay-uh.”
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!
St Lucia Parrot (Photo by Horst Vogel)St Lucia Parrot (Photo by Kip Loades)St Lucia Parrot (Photo by Horst Vogel)
Activity of the Day
FOR KIDS AND ADULTS: St. Lucia Parrots love to eat fruits and seeds! Why not try making this passion fruit cup feeder? You can can fill it with seeds or pieces of fruit, and hang in your garden to keep the parrots well fed. Not in St. Lucia – the home of these beautiful endemic parrots? No problem, any parrots that live near you 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.
Even if you don’t get any parrot visitors to you feeder you can enjoy this video of St. Lucia Parrots in the wild! The video shows a pair or parrots feeding on some palm fruits.
Find out more about the St. Lucia Parrot in this fun and creative St. Lucia Parrot zine! If you enjoy reading this zine and feel inspired, why not enter our Caribbean endemic bird zine competition? Just like the example here, a zine is a self-published booklet. Zines tend to be a collage of different images, text, and messages put together by writing, drawing, and/or cutting and gluing content into a booklet. You will find detailed guidelines and judging criteria in these docs: Bird Zine Contest Guidelines and What is a Zine and Bird Zine Contest Instructions. Be sure to read both documents carefully. There are prizes for each age category and two awesome GRAND PRIZES of a pair of waterproof Vortex Optics Binoculars! The new deadline for entries is Sunday May 30th!
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: Zapata Wren
The spectacularly beautiful song of the Zapata Wren welcomes many visitors to the Zapata Swamp National Park. When you hear it, there is no doubt that you have reached the only place in the world where this melodious species lives. The Zapata Wren is one of three endemics named for this important Caribbean wetland in the late 1920s by Spanish soldier and naturalist, Fermín Cervera, who is commemorated in the scientific name of the species (Ferminia cerverai).
There are several distinctive features of these beautiful birds. Their upperparts are rich brown with heavy dark barring (stripes) on the back and tail. The underparts are whitish to light gray-brown with barring on the flanks and undertail feathers. The long tail is often held straight up when the bird is perched, however, the tail is down when the bird is singing. The bill is long and slightly down-curved, dark brown above and paler yellow-brown below. The sexes look alike. Juveniles are similar to adults, but with fine blackish speckles on the throat and less distinct barring on the flanks.
To see the Zapata Wren, you have to visit its characteristic habitat, very early in the morning, on non-windy days, and listen for its song. It is challenging to observe due to its cryptic coloration, highly secretive nature, and because it quickly disappears into the vegetation in the face of any alarm. Although their precise range is not known, they are restricted to savanna-type swamp in western Zapata Swamp where sawgrass (Cladium jamaicense) and cattail (Typha domingensis), with scattered bushes, predominate.
The Zapata Wren forages in low vegetation and on the ground. It eats insects, caterpillars, spiders, mollusks, small fruits, and even lizards. Its typical song is high, strong and very musical, “Tseuu-we-we-we-tu-tu-tu-tu-tu-tu-tu-tu-tu,” usually repeated 3 times. Nesting takes place between January and July. Pairs build a ball-shaped nest of sawgrass leaves lined with feathers, with a side entrance. Nests are low to the ground, in sawgrass. They are similar to nests of other seed-eating birds, and almost impossible to find. They lay 2 eggs white, on alternate days. Only the female incubates; both parents feed the young. The first nest was discovered in 1986 and only 5 have been found so far!
The Zapata Wren is the only member of its family that lives in the Greater Antilles year-round (2 other species are considered accidental). It is Endangered, due to its small population (recent estimates suggest between 120 and 140 pairs) and very small range. The main threats to its survival are periodic fires and possible predation by introduced mongoose, rats, and catfish (Claria sp). Conservation of this species is a high priority in the National Park Management Plans. Learn more about this species, including its range, photos, and calls here.
Colour in the Zapata Wren
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 Zapata Wren
The Zapata Wren is most often found by listening out for it’s “Tseuu-we-we-we-tu-tu-tu-tu-tu-tu-tu-tu-tu” song, usually repeated 3 times. It also has sharp, buzzy chips and harsh notes of various tones.
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 Zapata Wren is named after the important Cuban wetland where it lives. They get their food, in low vegetation and the soil, eating insects, caterpillars, spiders, mollusks, small fruits and even lizards (Photo by Christoph Moning).You might not manage to spot the Zapata Wren,due to their cryptic coloration and habit of hiding in the vegetation; but you can’t mistake their loud and beautiful song! (Photo by Alvaro Jaramillo)
Activity of the Day
FOR KIDS: Say hello to someone in your family or a special friend AND celebrate endemic birds with a fun Greeting Card for you to download and colour! With a cute bird-themed picture for you to customise, our card also features a beautiful drawing of today’s endemic bird – the Zapata Wren- along with some wren facts!
Please download and print our card template (letter size will work best but A4 will be ok too). It’s best to use card stock, but regular printer paper will do just fine. Once printed, fold in half horizontally (so the short sides touch) and write your own special message on the inside! Don’t forget to colour in the pictures on the front and on the back. Or if you are feeling really creative be inspired by one our featured birds and draw your own greeting card!
FOR KIDS AND ADULTS: Did you know that the melodious song of the Zapata Wren has inspired musicians? Last year 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 endemic from the region, there was a track incorporating the sweet song the the Zapata Wren! You can still listen to 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 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: Whistling Warbler
A few soft, almost inaudible notes, followed several seconds later by a crescendo into a resounding whistle, are often the first (and sometimes only) sign that the elusive and rare Whistling Warbler is present. If you listen closely, you can also hear a much quieter single-noted call as the bird forages in the undergrowth. Though dark in appearance against the rainforest canopy, a closer look reveals a bird with a blackish hood and upperparts, with a broad black band on the upper breast, white throat and belly, and a striking white eye-ring. The immature Whistling Warbler appears brownish-grey and paler with the same white eye-ring. Its behavior – frequently cocking its tail and fluttering its wings – is another key to identification.
The Whistling Warbler lives in the thick undergrowth in St. Vincent’s rainforest, generally from 300-1,100m in elevation. They can also be found in palm brake forest (33-60% palm trees) and elfin forest (short, thick forest, no greater than 5m in height). The best locations to see them are in Colonarie, Perseverance Valley, Buccament Valley, and Richmond Peak.
Whistling Warblers are known to eat various types of insects and larvae, though they may occasionally take fruit as well. They actively forage in the understory canopy and dense undergrowth, working their way through vine tangles, sometimes pursuing flying insects.
The Whistling Warbler is endemic to the island of Saint Vincent in the Lesser Antilles and its status is Endangered. Its habitat is in decline due to deforestation (primarily for logging and agriculture) and volcanic eruptions of Soufrière. On April 9th, 2021 La Soufrière volcano began erupting – continued eruptions have caused extensive damage to its habitat. Although there is no targeted management in place, this species benefits from habitat protection within the 10,870 acre Saint Vincent Parrot Reserve. Research and education of the local population about threats to the Whistling Warbler would benefit this species, which is so often overshadowed by the country’s national bird and other endemic: the Saint Vincent Parrot. Learn more about this species, including its range, photos, and calls here.
Colour in the Whistling 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 Whistling Warbler
The song of the Whistling Warbler consists of an ascending trill of loudly 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!
Whistling Warblers are small, striking black and white birds, endemic to St. Vincent. They are locally known as “Whistling Bird.” (Photo by St. Vincent Ministry of Tourism)The elusive and rare Whistling Warbler is often heard before it is seen. It has a beautiful whistling song. (Photo by Frantz Delcroix)
Activity of the Day
FOR KIDS: Get creative and try singing (or playing a musical instrument) like a bird! Be inspired by the Whistling Warbler, 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: Learn more about the birds of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, including the Whistling Warbler, and get tips on some top birding hotspots in this Caribbean BirdWatch article in ZiNG magazine, LIAT Airlines in-flight magazine.
Birds on St. Vincent Need your help
The recent eruptions of the La Soufrière Volcano threaten the iconic St. Vincent Parrot and the other amazing birds on St. Vincent. The normally lush green landscape of this beautiful country is now blanketed in gray ash. It’s possible that the eruptions, ash fall and damaging pyroclastic flows could go on for weeks; devastating an island already suffering from the health and economic impacts of the pandemic. Humanitarian efforts are well underway, but the wildlife also needs our help!
We are very concerned about the impacts to many regional and endemic birds on St. Vincent, particularly the threatened St. Vincent Parrot (Amazona guildingii), listed as Vulnerable, and the Whistling Warbler, listed as Endangered.
Other restricted-range endemic species (12) include the Grenada Flycatcher, Rufous-throated Solitaire, Purple-throated Carib, Brown Trembler, Lesser Antillean Tanager, Antillean Euphonia, and others.
Help is already on it’s way, with the first shipment of equipment having been sent! This includes a range of field equipment, including binoculars, respirators, backpacks, machetes, GPS units, walkie-talkies, cameras, and head-lamp flashlights as well as nectar feeders for hummingbirds (many flowering plants have been badly damaged), seed feeders for other birds, and camping supplies to allow Forestry to spend the night in the field during parrot survey watches.
In these uncertain times, our caring local partners will continue to need our support. They are working hard in very challenging, often dangerous conditions to ensure that some of our most vulnerable Caribbean birds are assured of a safe and secure future. Later on, there will be a great deal of restoration work to do. At the moment, the volcano remains “in a state of unrest,” according to the UWI.
Thank you to all of the incredibly generous donors to our fundraising campaign for your support. This has been critical to allow us to purchase and ship relief supplies as well as send funds to our local partners in St. Vincent. A huge thank you also to our international partners who are supporting this relief effort, including Rare Species Conservatory Foundation, Caribaea Initiative, Fauna & Flora International, and the Farallon Islands Foundation. We thank our amazing local partners SCIENCE Initiative, the St. Vincent & the Grenadines Environment Fund, and the Forestry Dept for your support and hard work.
Celebrate the Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival (CEBF) with us! Our theme in 2021 is “Sing, Fly, Soar—Like a Bird!” Have fun learning about a new endemic bird every day. We have colouring pages, puzzles, activities, and more. Download for free and enjoy nature with your family at home.
Endemic Bird of the Day: Puerto Rican Lizard-Cuckoo
With its long, lanky tail and slightly decurved bill, the Puerto Rican Lizard-Cuckoo is unique among Puerto Rican birds. It can be distinguished from other cuckoos found on the island by its gray throat and breast, chestnut underbelly and scarlet eye-rings. It has a very long and broad dark tail with prominent white spots underneath. This tail, 38 to 40.5 cm long, makes up more than half of this bird’s total body length! Males and females are similar in appearance. Juvenile lizard-cuckoos are similar to the adult but with a cinnamon coloured breast, shorter brown bill, and less extensive orange-red eye-ring.
Puerto Rican Lizard Cuckoos are solitary birds and are more often seen than heard. They have a loud distinctive call consisting of a series of crescendoing “ka-ka-ka-ka” notes. This has earned it the local name of pájaro bobo mayor (“big ape bird”) since it resembles the calls of a monkey. Another local name is pájaro de lluvia or pájaro de agua (“rain bird”), because its call is believed to forecast the rain.
Puerto Rican Lizard-Cuckoos are found across the island, inhabiting woodlands, coffee plantations; thick, brush-covered limestone hills; and montane, dry coastal, and swampy forests. In the understory and canopy it climbs up trees and branches looking for its prey. True to its name, it feeds mostly on tree lizards (Anolis spp), but it also eats lizard eggs, large spiders, stick insects, caterpillars, centipedes, beetles, and small frogs. It moves slowly and quietly while feeding, using stealth to hunt. Once its next meal is spotted it keeps its body still while it twists its neck at an angle to strike.
Nests are a loose construction of plants and leaves in trees or thick vegetation. Clutch size is usually two to three white eggs. Both male and female incubate the eggs and feed the chicks.
The population of the Puerto Rican Lizard-Cuckoo appears to be stable and the species is listed as Least Concern. However, we know very little about its breeding behaviour and nesting success. Research on this species is needed. Learn more about this species, including its range, photos, and calls here.
Colour in the Puerto Rican Lizard-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 Puerto Rican Lizard-Cuckoo
The call of the Puerto Rican Lizard-Cuckoo is rapid “Ka-ka-ka-ka-ka-ka. . .” that speeds up and gets louder.
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!
An adult Puerto Rican Lizard-Cuckoo. Males and females look similar and juvenile lizard-cuckoos are similar to the adults, but with a cinnamon coloured breast, shorter brown bill and less extensive orange-red eye-ring (Photo by Alcides Morales)Puerto Rican Lizard-Cuckoo, with its lizard prey. These birds also eat large spiders, stick insects, caterpillars, centipedes, beetles, and small frogs (Photo by Roger Wasley)
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 Puerto Rican Lizard-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: Enjoy these amazing videos of Puerto Rican Lizard-Cuckoos with food! In the first you can see a Lizard-Cuckoo living up to its name, holding a lizard it has caught- you can also hear this bird calling. Watch the second and maybe get some tips for playing our game! It shows an adult Puerto Rican Lizard-Cuckoo feeding a hungry chick at the nest.
Celebrate the Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival (CEBF) with us! Our theme in 2021 is “Sing, Fly, Soar—Like a Bird!” Have fun learning about a new endemic bird every day. We have colouring pages, puzzles, activities, and more. Download for free and enjoy nature with your family at home.
Endemic Bird of the Day: Jamaican Euphonia
The Jamaica Euphonia (Euphonia Jamaica), locally known as Short-mouth Bluequit, Blue Quit, and Cho-Cho Quit, is endemic to Jamaica. A common resident throughout the island, it is a small, stocky bird about the size (11.5 cm) of a finch, with a short, stubby, gray bill. The male is a lovely bluish-grey all over with some bright yellow on the mid-belly. Females and juveniles have an olive-green upper body, with a paler gray head and underparts than the male.
The Jamaican Euphonia has the most amazing song—a melodious, rapid-fire jumble of whistles, trills, squeaks, and buzzes. They also have a distinct “chur-chur-chur-chur-chur” call that sounds like a car that has run out of gas trying to start.
The Jamaican Euphonia’s habitats include forest, woodlands, fields with large trees, and gardens, from sea level to the mountains. It is a frugivorous bird, feeding on berries, fruits, buds, and flowers. Favorite fruits in the forest or garden include figs (Ficus), Jamaican mistletoe berries, Cecropia, soursop, Otaheite apple, papaya, guava, and fruit of cho-cho vines (Sechium). They are important dispersers of mistletoe seeds.
Jamaican Euphonias nest from March to May. They use plant materials such as bromeliads and mosses to construct a spherical nest with a side entrance, often concealed in Spanish moss. They are not globally threatened and their population is regarded as stable. However, at the micro-level, habitat loss due to large clearings will impact the species. It is important to monitor this species to ensure that the status of this island endemic does not change under climate change, habitat loss, and other threats. Learn more about this species, including its range, photos, and calls here.
Colour in the Jamaican Euphonia
Download our West Indies Endemic Bird colouring page. Use the photos below as your guide, or you can look up pictures of the bird online or in a bird field guide if you have one. Share your coloured-in page with us by posting it online and tagging us @BirdsCaribbean #CEBFfromthenest
Listen to the song of the Jamaican Euphonia
The song of the Jamaican Euphonia is a melodious, rapid-fire jumble of whistles, trills, squeaks, and buzzes. They also have a distinct “chur-chur-chur-chur-chur” call that sounds like a car that has run out of gas trying to start.
Puzzle of the Day
Click on the image below to do the puzzle. You can make the puzzle as easy or as hard as you like – for example, 6, 8, or 12 pieces for young children, all the way up to 1,024 pieces for those that are up for a challenge!
Female Jamaican Euphonia. Both females and immature birds are blueish-grey, head and chest with the underparts, wings and back being yellowish-green. (Photo by Sadik Kassam)A Male Jamaican Euphonia, also known as ‘ Blue Quit’ from the plumage colour or ‘Cho-Cho Quit’ from it’s distinctive “chu chu chu chu” call. (Photo by Eladio Fernandez)
Activity of the Day
FOR KIDS: Use the information above and the clues on the sheet to untangle our our word scramble – all about the Jamaican Euphonia, what is looks like, what it likes to eat, how it behaves and where is lives. When you’ve finished you can check all the answers to the clues here.
FOR KIDS AND ADULTS: Enjoy this video of Jamaican Vireos in the wild! This video was recorded in Jamaica’s Blue Mountains; it show two male Jamaican Vireos (all blue-grey with yellowish lower belly) on a branch. One male seems to be calling at the other with the chu-chu-chu-chu-chu call – perhaps he is a rival and the calling bird is telling him to go away?
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 Crossbill
The high-elevation pine forests on the island of Hispaniola are peaceful, unhurried, and tranquil, far removed from the hustle and bustle of the cities and towns. The air is cool and pure there, and although it is mostly undisturbed by human activity, that doesn’t mean that it’s quiet: when the wind blows briskly, as it often does, the whooshing sound can be as loud as a train going by. And if you listen carefully, you just might hear another sound up in the pines, a staccato, metallic sound, reminiscent of those old electric typewriters: tink-tink-tink-tink. That would be the Hispaniolan Crossbill.
The crossbill is a specialized finch, about 15 cm in length, the males sporting a mottled rich red body and black wings with two strong white wingbars. The females have yellowish and streaky bodies. But the crossbill’s most distinctive feature is reflected in its name: it has an obviously crossed bill. It is very surprising when you first see it: the top mandible curves to the right at the tip and crosses over the lower mandible, which curves to the left. What? Why does it do that? Is it deformed?
It is not a deformation, it is an adaptation for the crossbill’s main food: pine seeds, that it extracts from the pine cones by positioning the tips of its open bill on opposing pine scales and then opening its bill, forcing the scales apart. It then extracts the seed with its tongue. Pretty clever, right?
Crossbills flock together, and you rarely see (or hear) just one. In fact, this bird is often heard before it is seen. It is often quite vocal. And they are nomadic, traveling throughout the pine forests in search of mature cones. It is considered Endangered due to reduced habitat and forest fires. Thankfully, the pine forests in the Dominican Republic are legally protected, but in Haiti, they are very much at risk.
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 Hispaniolan Crossbill
The calls of the Hispaniolan Crossbill are a high-pitchet repeated “chu-chu-chu-chu”
Puzzle of the Day
Click on the image below to do the puzzle. You can make the puzzle as easy or as hard as you like – for example, 6, 8, or 12 pieces for young children, all the way up to 1,024 pieces for those that are up for a challenge!
Male Hispaniolan Crossbill – They have a mottled rich red body and black wings with two strong white wingbars.(Photo by Dax Roman)Female Hispaniolan Crossbills have a yellowish wash and streaky breast. (Photo by Alberto Rojas)Juvenile Hispaniolan Crossbill (Photo by Carlos Objio Sarraff)
Activity of the Day
FOR KIDS: How much do you know now about the Hispaniolan Crossbill? Test your knowledge with our crossbill crossword puzzle! All about this bird, where is lives, what it eats, and its behaviour. Try to remember as much as you can, but if you are not sure of an answer you can check back to the text above or take a look at the Hispaniolan Crossbill page on ebird! And you can find the answers here.
FOR KIDS AND ADULTS: Enjoy these videos of Hispaniolan Crossbills- keep an eye out for their amazing crossed-over beaks! In the first you can see the colourful red male taking a bath in a puddle. The second shows some yellowish and streaky females and juvenile birds having a drink.
Celebrate the Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival (CEBF) with us! Our theme in 2021 is “Sing, Fly, Soar—Like a Bird!” Have fun learning about a new endemic bird every day. We have colouring pages, puzzles, activities, and more. Download for free and enjoy nature with your family at home.
Endemic Bird of the Day: Cuban Crow
The Cuban Crow is a large stocky bird with jet-black lustrous plumage. It belongs to the corvid family that includes familiar birds all over the world like ravens, jays, and magpies. It is a noisy bird often located by its incredible call— strange liquid bubbling notes and guttural phrases, similar to parrots or a turkey gobbling.
The Cuban Crow is endemic to Cuba and the Turks and Caicos Islands. It inhabits forests and woodlands with wide, open areas, edges of swamps, farms, villages, pine groves, and especially royal palm (Roystonea regia) groves. The nesting season is from March to July. It builds a well-hidden, large, rustic nest, made of twigs, dry grass, and even feathers. There, it lays from three to four brown-spotted greenish eggs.
Crows are very social birds and, although they can be seen in large flocks often composed of related individuals, they are monogamous, which means they mate for life. Both parents feed their hatchlings, and fathers assure that other relatives also contribute in the defence and raising of the hatchlings.
Cuban Crows are omnivorous and opportunistic feeders – they eat almost any edible thing they find. Their usual diet includes fruits, seeds, insects, frogs, lizards, snakes, small birds, and even some unfortunate baby birds. Due to their intelligence and adaptability, they are successful birds and have adapted to human activities. They will scavenge on small animals killed by vehicles on the road, and will also feed on grain or other seeds that have been left unprotected.
Crows are amazing, inquisitive, smart, crafty, and emotional animals, able to form complex social relationships with other crows and a wide variety of other animals, including humans. They are considered to be one of the smartest bird families, able to use fashion tools and complete a series of steps to solve a problem, equivalent to the abilities of a 7-year old child! Learn more about this species, including its range, photos, and calls here.
Colour in the Cuban Crow
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 Crow
Listen to the amazing calls of the Cuban Crow. They include turkey-like gobbling and guttural phrases similar to parrots. They also have a harsh high-pitched “craaao.”
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 Crows are large and very noisy birds, with jet-black lustrous plumage. As with other crows they are inquisitive, smart and very social. (Photo by Neil Hilton)Cuban Crows are omnivorous, and will feed on almost anything edible! They usually eat fruits, seeds, insects, frogs, lizards, snakes and small birds (Photo by Roberto Jovel)
Activity of the Day
FOR KIDS: Can you work out what the Cuban Crow saying? Test your skills to decode our Cuban Crow cryptograms! Younger children can try our cryptogram for ‘beginners’ and older children can take on our more challenging puzzle! You can find the solutions to the beginners puzzle here and the challenging puzzle here. Once you have completed the cryptograms why not use the key to make your own cryptic crow messages and challenge your friends and family to decode them!
Go on a virtual birding trip to Cuba with BirdsCaribbean! Read all about the exciting places to visit and beautiful birds that can be seen in Cuba. Join us on one of our trips in October 2021 or Jan or March of 2022! (email Lisa.Sorenson@BirdsCaribbean.org for more info).
Take a look at these videos of Cuban Crows in the wild! In the first you will hear the strange calls that Cuban Crows make. The second video shows a pair of Cuban Crows feasting on palm fruits, and the final video show Cuban Crows in an urban setting, with a mixture of behaviours including feeding and some more calling.
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 Oriole
The Bahama Oriole is an endemic species found only on the island of Andros. Historically, Bahamians called it the “Coconut bird” because of its fondness for coconut palms. This striking bird is mostly black with glowing yellow wing coverts, rump, lower breast, and belly. Both adult male and female orioles look similar. Juvenile birds are mostly duller yellow with grayish-brown upper-parts and black on the face and throat.
Bahama Orioles feed on insects and fruit and can be found in residential areas, the pine forest, and coppice forests of Andros. It breeds from March to August and nests in pine trees and various species of palm trees. It builds a basket-like nest out of plant fibers, and the nest is usually seen hanging under thatch palm and pine tree branches. Usually, three eggs are laid.
The Bahama Oriole was formerly listed as Critically Endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), as its population was believed to be less than 300 individuals. It was previously thought to be strongly dependent on coconut palms as a nesting site. New research has shown, however, that the pine forest is a critical habitat for them, and they frequent the pinelands more often than previously thought. In addition, recent surveys show the Bahama Orioles’ population size is much larger than previously thought—between 1,300 and 2,800 birds. With this exciting new knowledge, in 2021 scientists downgraded the oriole from Critically Endangered to Endangered and are also planning conservation strategies.
Threats to the Bahama Warbler include hurricanes, feral and invasive animals like cats and wild hogs, habitat loss, and nest parasitism by the Shiny cowbird in residential areas. The species is especially vulnerable to some threats because it is a single-island endemic and could potentially be wiped out due to natural disasters or disease. As a safeguard against extinction, conservationists are considering re-introducing the species to Abaco where it previously occurred but was extirpated in the 1990s. The new studies also highlight the importance of ensuring the long-term protection of this species’ pine forest habitat. Learn more about this species, including its range, photos, and calls here.
Colour in the Bahama 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 Bahama Oriole
The song of the Bahama Oriole consists of repeated lilting whistles.
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!
Adult male and female Bahama Orioles look similar with a black head, throat, and tail and a yellow rump and belly. (Photo by Dan Stonko)The Bahama Oriole is currently listed as Critically Endangered, threats to the Bahama Oriole include hurricanes, feral and invasive animals like cats and wild hogs, habitat loss, and nest parasitism by the Shiny cowbird in residential areas (Photo by D. Belasco)Bahama Orioles feed on insects and fruit. They build their pouch-like nests in pine trees and various species of palm. (Photo by Rick Staney)
Activity of the Day
FOR KIDS: Test your knowledge of where Caribbean endemic birds live with our ‘Fly away home’ Map Matching Activity! Draw lines from the picture of each Caribbean endemic bird to match each one with its home. And here is the Answer Key – don’t look until you have completed the activity!!! You can find out more about Caribbean endemic birds by reading our posts each day and in case you missed it last year find out all about our Endemic Birds of the West Indies Colouring Book with even more birds to colour in!
FOR KIDS AND ADULTS: Enjoy the video below of Bahama Orioles in the wild! You can see an adult Bahama Oriole feeding on a caterpillar, notice its striking black and yellow plumage. This is in contrast to the young bird you can also in the video, calling from a branch, which has yellow-green plumage.
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 Bullfinch
The Lesser Antillean Bullfinch (Loxigilla noctis) is a resident and frequently spotted bird species of the Lesser Antilles (with the exception of the Grenadines). They are common in a wide variety of habitats at different elevations, however, they are no strangers to farm gardens, bird feeders, and populated towns. Bullfinches are omnivorous and eat a variety of foods, including fruits, seeds, nectar, flowers, and even arthropods. They generally forage high in the canopy, but occasionally come to the ground to feed. The species is also famous for stealing nuts and sugar from outdoor restaurants.
Bullfinches are sexually dimorphic, meaning that you can tell males and females apart. The adult male sports a sleek, all-black coat, red throat, and small red patch above the eyes, while the female is brownish-olive above and grey below with rust-tipped wings. There are 8 different subspecies among the Lesser Antilles Islands—some have red undertail coverts. When out of sight the birds can be identified by their distinct song which includes three to seven ‘wheet’ notes. Their characteristic call includes the thin, wiry ‘tseet’ and harsh ‘chuk.’
Lesser Antillean Bullfinches are known to breed throughout the year with a peak from February to August. During the breeding season, males perform courtship displays that highlight their red throat patches. Upon securing a mate, the male becomes territorial to guard the nest, a domed structure constructed with a side entrance. The female lay 2-4 bluish-white eggs with fine reddish spots at the wide end. The nesting period is relatively short, lasting for approximately two weeks.
Lesser Antillean Bullfinches seem to be thriving throughout the Lesser Antilles. Their populations are said to be stable and currently the birds are not faced with any particularly severe threats. However, because climate change is impacting our ecosystems (e.g., more severe droughts and storms) and loss of our natural habitats continues, this species should be continually monitored to ensure that its status remains as it is. Learn more about this species, including its range, photos, and calls here.
Colour in the Lesser Antillean 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 Lesser Antillean Bullfinch
The song of the Lesser Antillean Bullfinch is a thin, high-pitched, repeated “wheet-wheet-wheet“.
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 adult male sports a sleek, all-black coat, red throat, and small red patch above the eyes. Plumage varies among the 8 different subspecies in the Lesser Antilles. (Photo by Warren Lynn)Female Lesser Antillean Bullfinch are brownish-olive above and grey below with rust-tipped wings. (Photo by Mark Yokoyama)
Activity of the Day
FOR KIDS: Use your observation skills and go on a Nature Scavenger Hunt! Print the cards on sturdy paper and use a clipboard or piece of cardboard as a writing surface outside. Younger children can do our ‘beginner’ hunt and older children can take on our more challenging hunt!
Talk about this with your kids and then go outside to investigate your habitat using the Habitat Scavenger Hunt cards. Instead of collecting the items on the list, this is an observation scavenger hunt. You can check off the items (with a pencil or pen), as they are located. When everyone has had a chance to look for the items listed, come back together to chat about where they were located. Were any difficult or impossible to find? Why do you think that was? For example, it might be impossible to find animal tracks when it is very dry, or perhaps birds are not nesting just now.
FOR KIDS AND ADULTS: Take a look at these videos of Lesser Antillean Bullfinches! The first shows a male bird singing. In the second you can see the brown female in feeding in the rain. The final video shows a young male Bullfinch perched in vegetation, before it flits away.
Celebrate the Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival (CEBF) with us! Our theme in 2021 is “Sing, Fly, Soar—Like a Bird!” Have fun learning about a new endemic bird every day. We have colouring pages, puzzles, activities, and more. Download for free and enjoy nature with your family at home.
Endemic Bird of the Day: Jamaican Vireo
As its Latin name Vireo modestus suggests, the Jamaican Vireo is indeed rather modest in appearance. It is a small, rather rounded, grey-green and olive bird, whose main distinguishing features are its white iris, two white wing bars, pale yellow underparts, and bluish-grey legs. It is one of the least colourful of Jamaican endemic species. Its behaviour is unexceptional too. It can be a little hard to see because it tends to be skittish and stays hidden in dense vegetation, where it feeds on insects and small fruits. Its nest is a cup of finely woven fibers decorated with lichen. It is common and widespread, found on forest edges and roadsides at all elevations. Nothing special, you may think. But when it comes to song, this bird is unsurpassed in its variety and skill.
On almost any wooded trail in Jamaica, you may be sure to hear it. First, try to ignore the persistent, loud, and monotonous calls of its noisy cousin, the Black-whiskered Vireo Vireo altiloquus, whose insistent calls of “John Chew-it, sweet John” haunt the woodlands from March to September. Then, listen out for something very different—loud, sweet variations on the theme of “Witchy-witchy-woo.” How many variations? There are so many that experienced birdwatchers in Jamaica will tell you that if they hear a bird song they cannot recognize, it is almost certainly a Jamaican Vireo.
When you think you hear one, listen again; you might be hearing two. The Jamaican Vireo often engages in counter-singing, a common practice among male birds that are defending their territories. When the dominant individual sings, any rival nearby responds with the same song. The two will repeat this performance for several rounds, until one of them changes the song pattern, upon which the other will respond with the new song. This behaviour is called song type matching. It can go on for hours!
Song type matching is correlated with aggressiveness and willingness to get into a confrontation. Some species of birds are so aggressive that they respond before their rival has finished and their songs overlap. Not the Jamaican Vireo. He bides his time and only responds after a few seconds. This reminds us that no matter how important it is to make our voices heard, it is important to listen to what others have to say. Perhaps this is a small token of modesty. Learn more about this species, including its range, photos, and calls here.
Colour in the Jamaican Vireo
Download our West Indies Endemic Bird colouring page. Use the photos below as your guide, or you can look up pictures of the bird online or in a bird field guide if you have one. Share your coloured-in page with us by posting it online and tagging us @BirdsCaribbean #CEBFfromthenest
Listen to the song of the Jamaican Vireo
The song of the Jamaican Vireo is high-pitched with varied repeated phrases including “chi-wuh, chi-wuh, chi-wuh, zha” and “chi-wee“.
Puzzle of the Day
Click on the image below to do the puzzle. You can make the puzzle as easy or as hard as you like – for example, 6, 8, or 12 pieces for young children, all the way up to 1,024 pieces for those that are up for a challenge!
The Jamaican Vireo’s dull grey-green colouring makes it one of the least colourful of Jamaican endemic species. It is often found in dense vegetation searching for insects to eat. (Photo by Eric Hynes).Jamaican Vireos have a loud, sweet and very varied song. When you think you hear one, listen again; you might be hearing two. (Photo by Rafy Rodriguez)
Activity of the Day
FOR KIDS: Use the information above and the clues on the sheet to untangle our our word scramble – all about the Jamaican Vireo, how it behaves and where is lives. You can find all the answers to the clues here.
FOR KIDS AND ADULTS: Enjoy the video below of a Jamaican Vireo in the wild! Can you spot it flitting about in the vegetation? Jamaican Vireos can be tricky to spot, not just because their drab grey-green colouring helps them blend into the background; but also because of their habit of hiding in dense vegetation. With their loud and varied “Witchy-witchy-witchy-woo” refrain you are more likely to hear this bird than see it!
Celebrate the Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival (CEBF) with us! Our theme in 2021 is “Sing, Fly, Soar—Like a Bird!” Have fun learning about a new endemic bird every day. We have colouring pages, puzzles, activities, and more. Download for free and enjoy nature with your family at home.
Endemic Bird of the Day: Puerto Rican Tody
The Puerto Rican Tody or San Pedrito is a small chunky bird with bright green upperparts, red throat patch, white breast, and yellow sides. The bill is long and flat. It is endemic to Puerto Rico and is one of five species of Tody that are unique to the Greater Antilles islands. They have adapted to all elevations and ecosystems on Puerto Rico—from the driest to the wettest. It is easy to identify it in the forest especially when it vocalizes. Its call is similar to that of a cricket, and when it calls it bobs up and down as if doing push-ups!
To feed, the Puerto Rican Tody perches on a branch and remains still, scanning the vegetation for insects. With a short quick flight it catches insects on or under leaves with a sweeping movement of its flat bill. Sometimes it catches insects on the fly. Todies mainly eat insects, but they also hunt for lizards and frogs, and they occasionally eat small fruits (berries). During the breeding season in spring, the male usually hunts insects to give to his mate.
Puerto Rican Tody pairs build their nests in earthy banks along a slope or ravine. They dig a curved tunnel ~30cm long and ~2cm in diameter that ends in a nest chamber ~5cm x ~7cm. This excavation takes about two months. Both sexes share incubation and chick-rearing duties. The task of feeding 2-3 hungry chicks is exhausting – the parents spend the whole day coming and going with insects of all kinds to feed their fast-growing young! When it is time for the chicks to leave the nest, the adults, with food in their beaks, give calls to encourage them to come out.
Puerto Rican Todies are considered common. However, their conservation status needs review. There is evidence that terrestrial arthropods, a main food source of the tody, are declining. In addition, tody populations are threatened by invasive introduced predators like the Indian mongoose and also habitat destruction. We all need to do our part to educate about these special birds and the importance of conserving their habitats. Learn more about this species, including its range, photos, and calls here.
Colour in the Puerto Rican Tody
Download our West Indies Endemic Bird colouring page. Use the photos below as your guide, or you can look up pictures of the bird online or in a bird field guide if you have one. Share your coloured-in page with us by posting it online and tagging us @BirdsCaribbean #CEBFfromthenest
Listen to the call of the Puerto Rican Tody
The calls of the Puerto Rican Tody are a loud, slightly rasping “beep” or “be-beep”.
Puzzle of the Day
Click on the image below to do the puzzle. You can make the puzzle as easy or as hard as you like – for example, 6, 8, or 12 pieces for young children, all the way up to 1,024 pieces for those that are up for a challenge!
A female Puerto Rican Tody, one way to distinguish the male from the female is by eye color. The female’s iris is bluish white and the male’s is dark gray (Photo by Guillermo Plaza)The Puerto Rican Tody perches on a branch and remains still scanning the leaves for insects. With a quick movement and a short flight it catches insects on or under the leaves. (Photo by Alberto Estefania)
Activity of the Day
FOR KIDS: Can you find the words in our Puerto Rican Tody word search? All 15 hidden words are about this colourful little bird! You can see where all the words were here.
Watch these three wonderful videos of Puerto Rican Tody behaviour in the wild! In the first you can see the adult birds excavating their nest tunnel, this will be around 30cm long and ends in a nest chamber. This excavation will take them about two months. In the second you can see adult birds feeding, how many different types of prey items can you spot? In the final video you can see a fledgling Puerto Rican Tody sitting on a branch being fed by an adult.
Celebrate the Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival (CEBF) with us! Our theme in 2021 is “Sing, Fly, Soar—Like a Bird!” Have fun learning about a new endemic bird every day. We have colouring pages, puzzles, activities, and more. Download for free and enjoy nature with your family at home.
Endemic Bird of the Day: Hispaniolan Pewee
A quick, flitting movement in the lower canopy catches your eye. And then it’s gone. No it’s not! There’s a small drab, but cute, bird sitting motionless on a low branch. It’s a Hispaniolan Pewee!
This little flycatcher is not very well known, despite being fairly widespread on the island of Hispaniola where it is endemic. It is found in lowlands, foothills and mountains, but is restricted mostly to undisturbed habitats and remote areas. It’s mostly brown and gray coloration allows it to remain unnoticed, unless it sallies out to catch an insect. Then, you have to watch closely where it goes to see if you can spot it perched. It often returns to the same perch, or one close by.
This pewee has few distinguishing field marks. It is olive-gray above, with a slightly darker head. Its underparts are pale gray with a yellow, olive, or brown wash. Its wing bars are inconspicuous (pale buff) or absent. One of only five flycatcher species on the island, it is the plainest overall in appearance, and at 16cm in length, is smaller than the others except the Greater Antillean Elaenia which is 15cm. They are similar in appearance, except that the elaenia is paler gray, has stronger wingbars, and has a much smaller bill. The other similar species, the Stolid Flycatcher, is quite a bit larger and much more strongly marked and brighter colored, especially the yellow belly.
It is not a very vocal bird either. Pewees are named for their whistling “Pee-WEEE” call, but this species makes a faint “peet-peet-peet”, and that’s about it.
In lowlands, it is found mostly along the coast in scrub forest and mangroves, and in the mountains, in forested areas, often along the edges of trails, roads and fields. Not abundant anywhere, seeing one or two on a walk may be all you’re going to get! But if you have a sharp eye for that quick fly catching bird, you will be rewarded. Learn more about this species, including its range, photos, and calls here.
Colour in the Hispaniolan Pewee
Download our West Indies Endemic Bird colouring page. Use the photos below as your guide, or you can look up pictures of the bird online or in a bird field guide if you have one. Share your coloured-in page with us by posting it online and tagging us @BirdsCaribbean #CEBFfromthenest
Listen to the call of the Hispaniolan Pewee
The calls of the Hispaniolan Pewee are a repeated “peet-peet-peet.”
Puzzle of the Day
Click on the image below to do the puzzle. You can make the puzzle as easy or as hard as you like – for example, 6, 8, or 12 pieces for young children, all the way up to 1,024 pieces for those that are up for a challenge!
The Hispaniolan Pewee is found mostly along the coast in scrub forest and mangroves, and in the mountains, in forested areas, often along the edges of trails, roads and fields. (Photo by Dax Roman)The Hispaniolan Pewee is a small, drab, but cute bird. It’s mostly brown and gray coloration allows it to remain unnoticed, unless it sallies out to catch an insect. (Photo by Jose Miguel Pantaleon)
Activity of the Day
FOR KIDS: The Hispaniolan Pewee is a type of flycatcher, but that doesn’t mean that they only catch and eat flies! Their diet will included many different types of flying insects. Moths make a delicious meal for a Hispaniolan Pewee, can you find your way through our maze and help this Pewee find some moths? You can find the correct route here.
FOR KIDS AND ADULTS: Don’t forget about our endemic Bird Zine Contest! This is a fantastic opportunity for children and adults to revisit and creatively express their understanding of birds. You will find detailed guidelines and judging criteria in these docs: Bird Zine Contest Guidelines and What is a Zine and Bird Zine Contest Instructions. Be sure to read both documents carefully. There are prizes for each age category and two awesome GRAND PRIZES of a pair of waterproof Vortex Optics Binoculars!
Celebrate the Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival (CEBF) with us! Our theme in 2021 is “Sing, Fly, Soar—Like a Bird!” Have fun learning about a new endemic bird every day. We have colouring pages, puzzles, activities, and more. Download for free and enjoy nature with your family at home.
Endemic Bird of the Day: Cuban Solitaire
What’s that magical sound? Is there a flutist nearby? No, it’s the Cuban Solitaire! This bird, endemic to Cuba, is a member of the thrush family. It is medium size and wears inconspicuous colors. Its upper parts and tail are olive-brown in color and the lower parts are pale gray. On the wings there is a diffuse patch of reddish-brown color. It has a white eye ring, small bill, and a fine dark mustache stripe.The most remarkable thing about this bird is its beautiful, haunting, flute-like song. It is melodious and varied—some say it resembles the sound produced when a wet finger is rubbed against the rim of a wine glass! This excellent songster is considered relatively common but very local. Its distribution is limited to mountainous forest areas on the eastern and western ends of the island. The Cuban Solitaire lives in humid and shady forests: semi-deciduous woodlands and pine forests, preferably close to cliffs of limestone rock. It is difficult to detect unless it sings because it remains very still while perching high up in the trees. Sometimes it flies down to bushes close to the ground in search of food. Its diet consists of fruits and small insects that it catches on the fly, sallying out from a perch like a flycatcher. Nesting occurs between the months of May and July. The solitaire builds a cup-shaped nest, composed of fine fibers of plant material, rootlets, and animal hair, usually covered with lichens and mosses. Nests are located at heights greater than 5 meters, in crevices of rocky cliffs and tree cavities. Females lay 2-3 whitish or light green eggs stained brown or gray.The solitaire previously inhabited Isle of Youth (formerly the Isle of Pines), a Cuban island located south of Pinar del Rio province and Havana. It was extirpated from that island in the 1930s.The Cuban Solitaire is very sensitive to changes in its habitat. Its current status is Near Threatened, however, local experts suggest it should be classified as Vulnerable, mainly due to its restricted distribution, deforestation of its habitat, and the fact that it is persecuted as a cage bird due to its beautiful song. Learn more about this species, including its range, photos, and calls here.
Colour in the Cuban Solitaire
Download our West Indies Endemic Bird colouring page. Use the photos below as your guide, or you can look up pictures of the bird online or in a bird field guide if you have one. Share your coloured-in page with us by posting it online and tagging us @BirdsCaribbean #CEBFfromthenest
Listen to the song of the Cuban Solitaire
The Cuban Solitaire has a remarkable song, with a combination of loud trills and flutelike notes on different pitches.
Puzzle of the Day
Click on the image below to do the puzzle. You can make the puzzle as easy or as hard as you like – for example, 6, 8, or 12 pieces for young children, all the way up to 1,024 pieces for those that are up for a challenge!
The Cuban Solitaire lives in humid and shady forests: semi-deciduous woodlands and pine forests. It can be difficult to see unless it sings because it remains very still while perching high up in the trees (Photo by Max Schwenne)The Cuban Solitaire is very sensitive to changes in its habitat and is listed as is Near Threatened, mainly due to its restricted distribution, deforestation of its habitat, and the fact that it is persecuted as a cage bird due to its beautiful song (Photo by Bill Hebner)
Activity of the Day
FOR KIDS: Do you know what the different parts of a bird are called? Knowing them can help you to learn how to describe and identify birds, as well as colour them in. Learn the names for the parts of a bird by checking out the diagram in this page. Then test your knowledge by filling in the parts on this sheet. You can colour in the drawings on these pages too! FOR KIDS AND ADULTS: Enjoy the videos below of the Cuban Solitaire in its natural habitat. Although these are not the most colourful birds, they have an amazing high-pitched melodic and varied song. You can hear the birds calling and singing in both videos – what does the sound of their song remind you of?
Celebrate the Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival (CEBF) with us! Our theme in 2021 is “Sing, Fly, Soar—Like a Bird!” Have fun learning about a new endemic bird every day. We have colouring pages, puzzles, activities, and more. Download for free and enjoy nature with your family at home.
Endemic Bird of the Day: West Indian Woodpecker
Rowdy and feisty, but resourceful and a master carpenter – that’s the West Indian Woodpecker (Melanerpes superciliaris). It is a resident bird in Cuba, Grand Cayman, and The Bahamas. Like many other birds across the Caribbean, it has many local names, for example in English the Bahaman Woodpecker, Cayman Woodpecker, and often simply Red-head.
At 26-30 cm long this is quite a large, impressive woodpecker, with a big black bill, crimson eye, and boldly marked with black-and-white barring and chevrons on the back, wings, and tail. Both sexes have bright red on the head, males with a complete red cap, females only at the nape. In flight its white wing patches are especially striking. There are regional differences: Cuban birds (subspecies superciliaris) have a big black eye-mask, which those on Grand Cayman (caymanensis) lack. In The Bahamas, 3 subspecies occur – on Abaco (blakei), San Salvador (nyeaus) and Grand Bahama (bahamensis). The Abaco and Grand Bahama population have more black behind the eye than the San Salvador population. Bahamas birds are also smaller than the nominate subspecies.
West Indian Woodpeckers are frequently heard before they are seen, constantly chattering loudly, some might say they are noisy! When breeding they also communicate with each other by knocking out drumming rolls on branches and snags. All in all, West Indian Woodpeckers are hard to miss.
Typically found in open, dry or damp, scrubby woodlands, they have moved into man-made environments like palm groves, plantations, parks, and even gardens. Thankfully, this is one woodpecker that is generally doing well, being widespread in Cuba and Grand Cayman. The Grand Bahama subspecies is in trouble, however. It was thought to be extirpated after hurricanes devastated woodland habitats in 2004-2005, but then individuals were heard calling on the eastern part of the island in 2019. We don’t know yet if the population survived after Hurricane Dorian in 2019.
West Indian Woodpeckers will hack into trees to find insects, but like some other Caribbean woodpeckers they are omnivorous and opportunistic, eating lizards, frogs, berries, and fruit, and feeding these to their young. These resourceful birds forage at all levels, from tree-tops to the ground. Finally, and fascinatingly, West Indian Woodpeckers have shown how intelligent they are by using so-called ‘anvils’—cracks in trees where they wedge and work on large or hard items of food. This is regarded as a form of tool-use. Learn more about this species, including its range, photos, and calls here.
Contributed by Gerard Gorman. Gerard is author of Woodpeckers of the World (Helm/Bloomsbury 2014) which includes all the woodpecker species found in the Caribbean.
Colour in the West Indian Woodpecker!
Download our West Indies Endemic Bird colouring page. Use the photos below as your guide, or you can look up pictures of the bird online or in a bird field guide if you have one. Share your coloured-in page with us by posting it online and tagging us @BirdsCaribbean #CEBFfromthenest
Listen to the call of the West Indian Woodpecker
The distinctive calls of the West Indian Woodpecker are a high-pitched harsh, often repeating trilling “Krrruuuuu-krrruuuu-kruu….”
Puzzle of the Day
Click on the image below to do the puzzle. You can make the puzzle as easy or as hard as you like – for example, 6, 8, or 12 pieces for young children, all the way up to 1,024 pieces for those that are up for a challenge!
West Indian Woodpecker- These are impressive birds, with a big black bill, crimson eye, and boldly marked with black-and-white barring and chevrons on the back, wings, and tail. (Photo by Gabriel Lugo)West Indian Woodpeckers will dig into trees and under the bark to find insects, but but they also eat lizards, frogs and berries . (Photo by Lisa Sorenson)
Activity of the Day
FOR KIDS: Remind yourself of some our interesting endemic bird facts by searching out all the clues in our West Indian Woodpecker word search. Can you find all the words? You can find the answers here.
FOR KIDS AND ADULTS: With lots more Caribbean endemic birds to enjoy and colour in during the coming weeks take a look at our colouring-in guide. This will give you some hints and tips on how to make your endemic birds look even more beautiful! Share your coloured-in page with us by posting it online and tagging us @BirdsCaribbean #CEBFfromthenest
Enjoy the videos below of West Indian Woodpeckers in the Wild! The first shows a male excavating a nest hole in Cuba. In the second you can see a female in Cuba, search for termites to eat. The final clip, also from Cuba, show a juvenile female preening on top of a tree stump.
BirdsCaribbean Seabird Working Group Newsletter – click on the image to view and download a PDF, OR read on your device as a full-screen flipbook (click below). For Spanish and French versions, click on the images below.
EXTRA! EXTRA! Read all about it! We’re excited to announce that the BirdsCaribbean Seabird Working Group (WG) has launched a Seabird Newsletter! Available in English, Spanish, and French, it gives a picture of seabird-related activity across the Caribbean Basin. Anyone who works on or is interested in seabirds should take a look to catch up on the latest research, conservation, restoration, and education projects happening in the islands.
The newsletter starts with an inspiring Foreword by BirdsCaribbean’s new president, Dr. Adrianne, Tossas. You can also meet the Seabird Working Group’s new co-chairs, who are working hard to ramp up activities and communications by the WG. Find out the many ways that you can connect with the Seabird WG and its members, including a new Facebook group!
Do you remember the survey about seabird work that we sent around last year? The newsletter summarizes the responses from 78 participants and provides insights into mutual needs and possible collaborations. One collaboration that stands out is the possibility of a region-wide seabird survey effort in 2023 ….. interested?
The newsletter includes a list of recent publications, covering Roseate Terns, Lesser Black-backed Gulls and Red-billed Tropicbirds, among others. It also has island-by-island updates—find out what has been happening on your own island or explore further afield. There is also a “seabirder spotlight” feature—our first issue features Hannah Madden, who is studying tropicbirds in St. Eustatius. Finally, check out the discussion on the seabird regional census and BirdsCaribbean’s plans for a centralized bird banding network.
Of course, it’s possible we’ve left something out; if you have seabird news to share, please take advantage of the many avenues for communication described in the newsletter. And let us know if you would like your work to be featured in the next edition!
P.S. Don’t forget to visit the Seabird Working Group webpages and our Seabirds Resources page. If you would like to order copies of our beautiful Save Our Seabirds Posters (available in English and Spanish), and “Inventory of the Breeding Seabirds of the Caribbean” book, we would be glad to get these resources into your hands!
P.P.S. We are keen to hear from you if you enjoyed our newsletter, and to know how often you would like to receive these updates going forward (quarterly, biannually, yearly)? Please also let us know if you have any recommendations on how to improve future editions. We would love to hear from you if you would like your work to be featured in the next edition!
BirdsCaribbean Seabird Working Group Newsletter in Spanish – click on the image to view and download the PDF.BirdsCaribbean Seabird Working Group Newsletter in French – click on the image to view and download the PDF.
We are pleased to share with you the new edition of the Annotated Checklist of the Birds of Cuba, number 4, 2021, by Nils Navarro Pacheco.
The Annotated Checklist of the Birds of Cuba is an annual publication that constitutes the most complete and updated official list of Cuban avifauna. It is the result of a deep and thorough bibliographic review and updating from the field. It serves as a basis for generating regional and global listings and is standardized for use with eBird.
In this new issue Nils urges us to pay special attention to the final comments he always include, with the aim of clarifying important information, taxonomic status, as well as other information of interest.
This year the cover is rich with a beautiful photo of the Cuban Tody, aka Cartacuba, taken by Karlos Ross. The beautiful cover design by Scott Schiller. From 2021 on, each edition will be published in both Spanish and English, and available in PDF for free download from the BirdsCaribbean website (see below). The printed version is available on Amazon at a good price.
The 2021 edition includes details of the status of 398 recognized species on the main list, and for the first time, a list of the late Quaternary extinct birds of Cuba. It is not intended to be a field identification guide. It is a checklist, updated in accordance with the 60th supplement of AOS. Nils and the publisher, Ediciones Nuevos Mundos, hope this publication fulfills its role and is useful to all persons interested in Cuban birds and ornithology. Nils welcomes questions or suggestions about the checklist (Nils Navarro)
If you are looking for a Field Guide to the Birds of Cuba, you can purchase it here or on Amazon.Read about the first checklist published in 2017 here:
With this year’s Caribbean Waterbird Census (CWC) in full swing BirdsCaribbean recently held some webinars to help out those who want to get involved. One attendee, Emma Lewis, shares her thoughts with us on why counting birds matters so much, and the trials and tribulations (sometimes humorous) of learning to identify shorebirds and waterbirds.
The devil is in the details, they say, and as birders across the region gird themselves up and go out to muddy, sandy, wet places to spot birds, figuring out what is what is no joke. The birds are – what’s the word, indefinable? – at times.
As I may have mentioned before, it’s always important to find birds, but it’s also very important to count them. This helps scientists figure out populations – what, when, where, and how many – and to map them to see how these populations are moving around the planet. What has become apparent in recent years is that waterbirds, especially shorebirds, have been declining in numbers around the world for decades now. In the UK, for example, waterbird numbers have declined by 25 per cent in just the past ten years, according to one survey. There are many reasons for the global decline (some 40 per cent since the 1970s in our hemisphere), with climate change and coastal development high on the list in the Caribbean.
Population trends of different species groups since 1970. Shorebirds have declined by 40%. (Screen shot from BirdsCaribbean Shorebird ID webinar).
Bearing in mind that we need to understand more about our waterbirds, by observing and recording them, in order to conserve them, BirdsCaribbean has organized the Caribbean Waterbirds Census (CWC), now in its twelfth year (January 14 to February 3; including World Wetlands Day on February 2). This year, three webinars were organized to help confused birders identify those delightful birds, of all shapes and sizes, that potter around on our beaches, salt flats, marshes, mangroves, mudflats,and riversides at this time of year.
In descending order… Big, little and…smaller still, like the Least Sandpiper. Last, but not least. Full guide and other resources available here (Screenshot from BirdsCaribbean shorebird ID webinar)
Ducks a-dabbling. These are Blue-winged Teals, which are the most common migratory duck to visit us in the Caribbean. The male has a distinctive white crescent on his face & both sexes have a large blue-wing patch. (Photo by Sharon Cardin)
The thing is, you see, there are ~185 species of waterbirds around the Caribbean. These include dabbling ducks and diving ducks, tall stately herons and small crouching herons, egrets with various colored legs and bills, and a baffling (and disconcertingly large) group of sandpipers and plovers – breeding, non-breeding, and in between (sometimes they are molting in or out of their breeding plumage). Males, females, and immature ones. Most of them actually are super-migrants, breeding way up in the Arctic and making their way all the way down to the Caribbean in winter to just hang out, rest, feed, and prepare to migrate back again.
I took this photo in Portland Bight, Clarendon, in 2019. Could it be…? Is it…a Lesser Yellowlegs? **see end of post
I had some little chuckles to myself during the webinars. It was harder than the most difficult New York Times crossword at times – the Sunday one. We had regular quizzes throughout to “test our knowledge,” during which I felt increasingly desperate and took wild guesses. Is A or B a Semipalmated Sandpiper? Or could it be a Spotted Sandpiper? Is it “front heavy” (it could be a Western Sandpiper)? Is its back the color of wet sand, or dry sand? What is the difference between a Greater Yellowlegs and a Lesser Yellowlegs (if you saw just one of them)?
Look for clues, our presenters urged. Sometimes the differences can be “very subtle.” Indeed.
So, next weekend, all being well, I will be taking the “Waterbird Challenge.” Why don’t you try it too? If you need some inspiration, go to BirdsCaribbean’s YouTube page (see links below). The webinars were all streamed live on Facebook, so you can find them there, too. I would also recommend downloading the free Merlin bird ID app from the Cornell Lab on your phone! And of course, don’t forget to enter your birding checklists on eBird Caribbean (be sure to choose one of the Caribbean Waterbird Census protocols – see instructions here) – your data are invaluable to science and conservation.
Ultimately, as for so many things in life, the best advice is “practice makes perfect.” In other words, the more you get out there and tackle those waterbirds, the better. Spend hours with them!
And, as Jeff Gerbracht from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, who gave us those finer points, reminded us: “Waterbirds need the Caribbean.”
We learned the finer points of waterbird and shorebird ID – many valuable tips were provided. Now I just need to study! (image from Waterbirds ID Webinar Part II: Shorebirds; photo by Ray Robles)
If you would like to become a member of BirdsCaribbean, you do not have to be an expert at all! What unites us is our love of birds. For students and Caribbean nationals, the membership is only US$25 annually. If you are a Caribbean institution, the membership is US$60. Your membership helps BirdsCaribbean’s efforts to raise awareness, train and mentor conservation professionals, support research and monitoring, advocate for birds and their habitats, and engage people in citizen science and conservation actions. One big plus is that as a member you get free access to Birds of the World, a fabulous online resource which costs more than your membership fee to subscribe to!
**This shorebird does have yellow legs but it is in fact a Spotted Sandpiper. It has shorter legs than a Lesser Yellowlegs and a heavier bill. Note the white “smudge” or wedge at the shoulder, another good field mark. It also shows the typical ’tilted forward’ posture of a Spotted Sandpiper and lacks the speckled plumage on the back, you would expect on a Lesser Yellowlegs.
Many thanks to Emma Lewis for this inspiring and fun article. Emma is a blogger, social and environmental activist, and avid birder based in Jamaica. She also recently joined the board of BirdsCaribbean. Thank you to the US Fish and Wildlife Service, US Forest Service, Canadian Wildlife Service, and our members and donors for supporting our Caribbean Waterbird Census and Waterbird-Shorebird Education, Monitoring and Conservation Projects!
Size of Award: Several grants up to $1,000 each Application Deadline: February 19th, 2021 at 5 p.m. EST. Address Questions and Send Application to: Will Mackin, BirdsCaribbean, willmackin@gmail.com with copy to info@birdscaribbean.orgAnnouncement of Awards: March 15th, 2021 Donations to the Fund: Tax-deductible (U.S.) at this link. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Dave Lee holding a White-tailed Tropicbird in the Bahamas. (photo by Mary Kay Clark)
David S. Lee (1943-2014) was a pioneering naturalist and conservation biologist who helped get BirdsCaribbean started nearly 30 years ago. He inspired many naturalists with his work and his writing. He was a man of many interests, and with respect to the Caribbean, published numerous papers and articles in the popular press on seabirds, Bahamian fish, turtles, snakes, bats, and orchids.
Donations from Dave’s wife, Mary Kay Clark and his mother, June Bash, allowed the establishment of the David S. Lee Fund for the Conservation of Caribbean Birds that will award money to conservation projects in his honor. The money is being held in a trust and will be used to award annual grants for innovative projects that protect Caribbean birds and their habitats.
Goal of the Fund: The David S. Lee Fund for Conservation seeks to continue David’s passion for protecting wildlife. The fund will support direct, innovative conservation work in the Caribbean Region for birds and their habitats. The fund will be managed by BirdsCaribbean and used for annual small grants. Applicants should demonstrate how their project will work with conservation groups and local communities in the Caribbean.
Eligibility: Scientists/naturalists working in the Caribbean, in conservation organizations or academic programs, may apply. Applicants should be students or early career ornithologists, conservationists, or wildlife professionals (i.e., not established faculty or senior staff of a conservation organization, less than 10 years post-graduation). A student must be enrolled in accredited Masters or PhD program in ecology, biology, conservation, or related field to be eligible. Applicants must be paid or sponsored members of BirdsCaribbean at the time of application.
Use of Funds: The funds can cover travel to field sites, living expenses in the field, or costs for equipment and supplies to conduct conservation projects. Examples of equipment and supplies include traps, cameras, automated recording units, nest boxes, etc. Ineligible costs include salary or other wages, overhead fees, etc. Projects that foster collaboration between scientists/naturalists in different island groups of the Caribbean, such as joint projects to test conservation techniques for similar species, will be favored. Application Guidelines:
Proposals may be submitted in English, French, or Spanish. All should have an English version of the abstract.
Applications should be emailed as a Microsoft Word document.
The application should include a cover page, proposal (download guidelines below), and a curriculum vitae for the applicant.
Separately, by email, three individuals who can attest to your effectiveness in previous work should submit letters of recommendation. For students, this would include your academic advisor.
Evaluation:
A committee appointed by BirdsCaribbean will review the proposals and award the grants.
The awardee will be required to submit a report one year from the day of the award explaining how the award money was spent and the results of the project to that point. The awardee is also asked to write an article for BirdsCaribbean’s blog about their work (informal article for a lay audience).
Eligible applicants can download the application here. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Help support the Dave Lee Fund by being a sponsor!
Reddish Egrets (dark morph). (photo by Tania Thomson, Shutterstock)
This fund will be for the conservation of any bird in the Caribbean as a reflection of Dave’s diverse interests. He was an important part of many projects, ranging from those of the Black-capped Petrel and Seabird Working Group to the scholarly debate leading to the elevation of the Bahama Yellow-throated Warbler to a full species. At the moment the fund contains $12,000. Our initial goal is to raise $25,000 so that we can award $1,000 every year to a worthy student or early career ornithologist, conservationist or wildlife professional. Not only will this fund encourage creative field work for projects that make a difference, but it will also help build the knowledge and skills of young conservationists that are urgently needed to make sure that the Caribbean birds and habitats that Dave treasured are still around for future generations to enjoy.
Cuban Parrot surveying his domain. (photo by Elliotte Rusty-Harold, Shutterstock)
At the 2015 BirdsCaribbean meeting in Kingston, Jamaica, a round of beers was purchased in Dave’s honor, since he always seemed to have a cooler full when people wanted one (and even when they didn’t). Think of this fund like a cooler full of refreshing beverages that Dave would have around if he were here. We owe it to Dave to stock that cooler—to vitalize naturalists and empower them in their work to help wildlife. Please give a tax deductible donation to the David S. Lee Fund. Give generously. The more we put into the fund, the more we can give out each year. Thanks to all those that have contributed to the fund!
If you prefer to donate with a check, please make the check out to “BirdsCaribbean” and in the memo section, note that it is for the David S. Lee Fund. If you have questions or to make other arrangements for donating, please feel free to contact Jennifer Wheeler, BirdsCaribbean Financial Officer (jennifer.wheeler@birdscaribbean.org) Checks can be mailed to: BirdsCaribbean, 841 Worcester St. #130, Natick, MA 01760-2076
Thank you for your participation and support!
Reports from Projects Supported with Dave Lee Fund Scholarships:
Despite the challenges of the year 2020, JCO’s Volume 33 includes 16 publications, 3 book reviews, and a review of the recent ornithological literature from the Caribbean. The volume includes articles on a diversity of topics and taxa from 11 island territories and one Caribbean basin continental site. The content is a credit to all of the authors, reviewers, and JCO staff who overcame the pandemic challenges to contribute to the publication effort in a timely fashion. We thank all involved in this effort for their contributions, which have advanced our knowledge of Caribbean birds in 2020.
Please take some time to enjoy all of Volume 33. We should all take pride in this work and make the time to congratulate each other on all of these accomplishments, especially during this challenging year. If you enjoyed reading a publication, please send the authors a quick email letting them know. That is what makes Caribbean ornithology special—a sense of community and comradery unlike anywhere else.
— Joseph M. Wunderle, Jr., JCO Editor-in-Chief, and Justin Proctor, JCO Managing Editor
P.S. More good news: we have a lot of great manuscripts at various stages in the pipeline right now, which means that V34 is already off to a strong start!
Map depicting research locations of the studies published in Volume 33.
Cristina Sainz-Borgo, Jhonathan Miranda, and Miguel Lentino
In Henri Pittier National Park, Venezuela, the low-lying Portachuelo Pass provides essential habitat for both resident and migratory bird species. Despite this, information about the composition of the bird community is scarce. In this study, Sainz-Borgo et al. survey and describe the species inhabiting Portachuelo Pass, highlighting key characteristics of the avifauna in this important ecosystem.
On 13 October, 2016, Hurricane Nicole made landfall over Bermuda. Mejias and Meijas acted quickly, utilizing the hurricane as an opportunity to document a species fallout event. Here, they present the results of their post-hurricane songbird surveys, documenting a significant fallout of Blackpoll Warblers and underscoring the importance of remote oceanic island refuges for fallout migrants.
While historically, Bermuda was home to lush, native, evergreen forests, human colonization in 1612 led to progressive habitat fragmentation and introduction of exotic trees. In this study, Mejías and Nol explore the impact of woodland size and vegetation features on species richness and bird abundance, specifically emphasizing the effects on White-eyed Vireos. Critically, they show that larger, less-fragmented woodlands are essential for supporting abundant and diverse bird communities.
Early accounts from the Bermuda Islands suggest the presence of myriad nesting tern species on the islands; however, only the Common Tern survived into the 20th century. Here, Wingate and Nisbet review both the historic and recent records of terns on Bermuda, shedding light on the prospect of restoration and species recolonization using modern conservation techniques.
Louise M. Soanes, Judy Pierce, Daniel Nellis, Susan Zaluski, and Lewis G. Halsey
Due to a severe decline in the North Atlantic Roseate Tern populations in the 1900s, countries worldwide initiated conservation plans. However, few studies have focused on the Caribbean population of Roseate Terns. Using three decades of survey data, Soanes et al. detail the abundance and distribution of Roseate Terns in the Virgin Islands, identifying key breeding sites, reporting a gradual population decline, and calling for further conservation and research efforts.
Though the Antillean Nighthawk is a relatively common species in the Caribbean, its migration routes and non-breeding location remain a mystery. In an effort to identify these locations, Perlut and Levesque attach a geolocator to a female Antillean Nighthawk, tracking and documenting her movements throughout a one-year period.
Antonio García-Quintas, Laritza González Leiva, and Ariandy González González
The second breeding record of Audubon’s Shearwater (Puffinus lherminieri) and the fourth breeding record of Common Tern (Sterna hirundo), were detected in the Felipe de Sotavento and Barlovento cays of northern Ciego de Ávila, Cuba. These seabirds are uncommon in the country; so, new records of nests with eggs and chicks indicate the need for increased sampling in northern cays of the country. The studied cays are among the most important nesting sites for seabird colonies in Cuba in terms of number of species and breeding pairs.
An error was found in the García-Quintas et al. manuscript published earlier in this volume, in which the photographs of an egg and chick in Figure 2 represent Roseate Tern (Sterna dougallii), not Common Tern (S. hirundo).
Adrianne G. Tossas, Osvaldo Rullán, Robert J. Mayer, and Jean P. González
Throughout the 20th century, Finca Nolla, a wetland on the northwestern coast of Puerto Rico, was severely disturbed by agricultural and industrial practices. However, in 2011, the Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources purchased the land, designated it as a protected area, and began restoration activities. By thoroughly documenting the avifauna within Finca Nolla, Tossas et al. establish a baseline for future avian assessments and propose an upgrade of the conservation status to nature reserve.
Wayne A. Smart, Natalia Collier, and Virginie Rolland
Historically, overexploitation has contributed significantly to seabird population declines. Though protective laws have since been enacted, the extent of continued, illegal seabird harvest is unclear. Through their survey of the fishers and recreationists at the Fisheries Division office in Sauters, Grenada, Smart et al. shine a light on the persistence of seabird harvest in Grenada, highlight the sociodemographic factors that are associated with seabird harvest, and propose a possible community-based monitoring program. Photo
Fernando Simal, Adriana Vallarino, Elsmarie Beukenboom, Rutsel Paula, Henry Beaumont, George Zaragoza, Esther Wolfs, Patrick Holian, and Elisabeth Albers
After anecdotal reports suggested that the seabirds roosting on the northwestern coast of Bonaire had been reduced to less than 60 individuals, Simal et al. began to investigate. From 2008–2010, they conducted roost counts at seven sites in Washington-Slagbaai National Park. Here, they document substantially higher seabird counts than previously suggested, with a maximum of 240 Brown Boobies in July 2009.
Juliana Coffey, Natalia Collier, Vaughn Thomas, and Romould Compton
Though historically considered very rare in the West Indies, Lesser Black-backed Gulls have become fairly common non-breeding visitors to many Carribean islands, including most of the larger Lesser Antilles. Continuing this trend, here, Coffey et al. document the first records of Lesser Black-backed Gulls on both Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Grenada.
Despite the rarity of Burrowing Owls on Abaco, The Bahamas, today, many Pleistocene Burrowing Owl fossils have been recovered from the island. Using skeletal measurements, Patel and Steadman compare these fossils to modern specimens from western North America, South America, and Florida. Their results shed light on possible morphological adaptations of the Abaco owls to the island’s biogeography.
Briana M. Yancy, Janine M. Antalffy, Michael G. Rowley, Cierra N. McKoy, Daniel C. Stonko, Lebron E. Rolle, Jennifer L. Christhilf, Scott B. Johnson, Shelley Cant-Woodside, and Kevin E. Omland
Building on the first documentation of Bahama Orioles nesting in pine forests on Abaco, The Bahamas, in this study, Yancy et al. further characterize these nest sites. By identifying specific habitat characteristics that are important for pine forest nests, this work not only enhances our understanding of Bahama Oriole nesting ecology, but also helps inform critical conservation efforts.
Ruby Bagwyn, Kylen Bao, Zuzana Burivalova, and David S. Wilcove
The widespread use of the citizen-science database eBird offers a unique opportunity to analyze trends in bird populations. Here, Bagwyn et al. use eight years of eBird sightings toidentify Bahamian bird populations that have recently gone unrecorded. Through this, they find 43 populations, representing 25 species, that are potentially declining or extinct, suggesting areas that should be of key conservation concern.
Qwahn D. Kent, Maia Edwards, Tim Wu, and André A. Dhondt
While other communal-nesting species show clear nest tree preferences, little is known about whether Palmchats prefer to nest in certain palm species over others. To investigate this gap, Kent et al. characterized Palmchat nest trees in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. Overall, Palmchats nested more frequently in royal palms and Hispaniolan silver thatch palms compared with cana and coconut palms and in taller, thicker trees, regardless of tree species.
The author sets out to bring attention to an ongoing misidentification problem between Roseate Terns (Sterna dougallii) and Common Terns (S. hirundo) on their breeding grounds in the West Indies and Bahamas. Observers should pay special attention to: adult bill color and breeding plumage, clutch size, and characteristics of nestling down feathers as well as leg color.
Article by (1) Simon Campo – Editor for the Journal of Caribbean Ornithology and a Graduate Student at the University of California, Berkeley; Connect with Simon via LinkedIn or email; (2) Justin Proctor – Managing Editor for the Journal of Caribbean Ornithology; and (3) Joe Wunderle –Editor-in-Chief for the Journal of Caribbean Ornithology.
Journal of Caribbean Ornithology relies on donations to keep all of our publications free and open-access. If you’re interested in supporting our mission and the broader goal of giving a voice to Caribbean ornithologists and their work, please consider becoming a supporter of JCO. Thank you in advance!
The 12th annual Caribbean Waterbird Census (CWC) starts on Thursday January 14th and we need your help surveying all types of waterbirds on your island! Anyone can participate in the CWC. Grab your binoculars and your mask, head out to your nearest wetland or beach, and record the birds you see. Detailed information about how to conduct surveys can be found here.
Starting in 2010, dedicated bird enthusiasts have ventured into wetlands across the Caribbean to systematically survey all types of waterbirds (shorebirds, seabirds, wading birds, marshbirds, and waterfowl) each January 14th to February 3rd. The Caribbean is home to over 185 species of waterbirds, including a number of endemic and globally threatened species and many migrants. A structured, ongoing survey is essential for understanding how to best conserve this exceptional group of birds and manage their habitats.
Good luck, stay safe, and we look forward to hearing about your findings. If you have any exciting observations to report or photos to share, or need help with bird ID, please post to our Waterbird Group Listserve (everyone is welcome to join) and/or on our BirdsCaribbean Facebook page. For sharing on social media, use hashtags: #CaribbeanWaterbirdCensus and #WaterbirdsCount AND please tag us: @BirdsCaribbean
Count Birds & Stay Healthy
In these extraordinary times, many of our friends and partners are still trying to navigate their new normal and safely participate in outdoor activities. However, in many countries, we understand it is still not possible to do so. Participants of the Caribbean Waterbird Census should check their national guidelines to make sure their activities are in compliance with local health recommendations. Please take all the necessary precautions and stay safe, wherever you are!
The CWC Provides Critical Information about Wetlands & the Birds that Rely on Them
Wetlands are unique ecosystems that provide critical habitat to many specialist species. They are also one of the most threatened habitats in the world. Since 1900, 64% of the world’s wetlands have disappeared, and the Caribbean region is no exception to this crisis. In order to properly manage habitat for waterbirds in the Caribbean, we need to understand waterbird population trends. In addition, monitoring the health of waterbird populations and their habitats is beneficial to both birds and people, since we rely on the same habitats for our health and well-being.
Survey Team for North and Middle Caicos, Sarah Neima, Caleb Spiegel, Junel Blaise, B Naqqi Manco, Elise Elliott-Smith, Dodley Prosper, Craig Watson (Photo by Jen Rock)
Recent survey work in Turks and Caicos has revealed important sites for many shorebird species, including birds of conservation concern such as the Piping Plover and rufa Red Knot. In fact, teams surveying there recently documented record-breaking numbers of wintering Piping Plover in some areas and recording new Piping Plover sites altogether. This information is so important for conservation as just a few decades ago it was not well-understood where these endangered birds spent the winter. Now, we know the Caribbean plays a major role for the species and we are learning more with every survey effort.
Survey data can also be used as a tool to designate habitats that are essential for birds. For example, The Cargill Salt Ponds in Bonaire were designated a Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network (WHSRN) site of Regional Importance as a direct result of survey efforts. With the survey data we collected, our team was able to provide evidence that the site met the criteria for listing. Now, Cargill is dedicated to managing habitat for shorebirds on their property. It’s amazing what birding can achieve!
The CWC is also important for monitoring how hurricanes effect bird abundance and distribution. In 2017, Hurricanes Irma and Maria wreaked havoc in the Caribbean, damaging fragile wetland ecosystems. Results from the CWC in 2018 several months later were concerning, with our counters reporting dramatic declines in common bird species. The CWC in 2019 revealed encouraging numbers, especially for shorebird populations. It is important to continue monitoring the response of birds to hurricanes in the years that follow and we look forward to what the 2021 CWC will reveal.
Banded Birds
Be sure to be on the lookout for banded birds! Especially Piping Plovers, Red Knots, Semipalmated Sandpipers, Ruddy Turnstones, and Sanderlings. You may report your sightings to BandedBirds.org and the USGS Bird Banding Lab which oversee all banding in the United States.
Need Help?
Find a tricky shorebird in winter plumage that you can’t identify? Need help setting up an eBird account? Want to participate in the CWC but you’re not sure how to get started? Please contact BirdsCaribbean’s Executive Director Lisa Sorenson at lisa.sorenson@birdscaribbean.org.
Shorebird ID Resources
You can find all our free, downloadable shorebird resources by clicking “Resources” –> “Shorebird Resources” at the top of the page. You can download the pdf of our Quick ID Guide to Common Shorebirds of the Caribbeanhere. For use in the field, print on cardstock and laminate.
Also, check out our Common Shorebirds of the Caribbean poster, which is available in English, Spanish, and French. Download them from this page.
We also have available a two-page Common Shorebirds of the Caribbean ID Guide – you can download it here. All these ID resources work well in the entire Atlantic Flyway, not just the Caribbean islands.
Entering CWC Data in eBird
CWC data is stored on eBird Caribbean. If you participate in the CWC, it’s very important that you enter your data through this website using the correct CWC protocol, because this is where we collate all the data used for analyses. We don’t want to miss a single bird or site! Simply making an eBird list during these dates is not enough- the protocol is required for it to be CWC data.
If you are using the mobile eBird app to enter your data:
First, make sure the portal is set to eBird Caribbean (“Settings” –> “Portal”)
After you are done birding and press stop “Stop Track”
On the next page under the Date/Location and above Observers, click on “Incidental”
Select the appropriate CWC protocol under Observation Type
If you are using a desktopcomputer to enter your data:
Sign into your account on ebird.org/Caribbean
Enter location information
Select the appropriate CWC protocol under Observation Type
If you recorded your CWC data using the mobile eBird app and didn’t use the eBird Caribbean portal/input the correct CWC protocol :
After you have submitted your checklist on your smartphone:
Log into eBird on a desktop computer
Click on “My eBird” at the top of the screen
Click on “Manage My Checklists” on the right menu
For your CWC checklist, click on “View or Edit”
Click on “Edit Date and Effort”
For Observation Type, select “Other” and then choose the appropriate CWC protocol
Celebrate World Migratory Bird Day (WMBD) with us in our virtual “Birds Connect Our World” edition! Have fun learning about a new migratory bird every day. We have colouring pages, puzzles, activities, and more. Download for free and enjoy nature with your family at home.
Migratory Bird of the Day: Black-and-white Warbler
Our final ‘migratory bird of the day’ is the distinctive Black-and-white Warbler. These active little birds are easily recognised by the bold black-and-white stripes over their entire body and head. Look closely and you’ll see that some birds have black ear patches while others have gray. The ones with black are adult males. Females and immature birds are also paler and have a white throat.
Black-and-white Warblers creep up and down the trunks and branches of trees, probing in the bark with their slightly down-curved bill for insects and spiders. They can even hang upside down as they feed—an extra-long hind claw helps them hold onto and move around on bark. Their local name in Jamaica is ‘Ants Bird’ or ‘Ants Picker,’ reflecting their fondness for picking ants off of tree bark.
Black-and-white Warblers breed in forests across eastern parts of the US and Canada. Starting in late August, this long distance migrant heads south to winter in Florida, Mexico, Central America, northern South America, and the Caribbean. During winter these warblers can be found across the Caribbean, although they are more common in the Bahamas, Greater Antilles, Cayman Islands, and Virgin Islands. This species clearly enjoys the Caribbean, as June is the only month of the year when it has not been recorded in the region!
Black-and-white Warblers can be found in a wide range of habitats. As well as forests and woodlands, they can be seen in gardens, shade-coffee plantations, wetlands, and mangroves. These warblers are very territorial, even during winter! They will chase away any other Black-and-white Warblers who come into their ‘patch,’ even if they are feeding with a group of other species. Learn more about this species, including its range, photos, and calls here.
Colour in the Black-and-white Warbler!
Download the page from Migratory Birds of the West Indies Colouring Book. 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 #WMBD2020Carib
Listen to the calls of the Black-and-white Warbler
The calls of the Black-and-white Warbler are a sharp “chit” or “pit.”
Puzzle of the Day
Click on the images below to do the puzzles. You can make the puzzle as easy or as hard as you like – for example, 6, 8, or 12 pieces for young children, all the way up to 1,024 pieces for those that are up for a challenge!
Male Black-and-white Warbler on Tree. Like nuthatches, Black-and-white Warblers creep up and down the trunks and branches of trees, probing in the bark with their slightly down-curved bill for insects and spiders (Photo by Hemant Kishan)Female Black-and-white Warbler Foraging on Tree. She has gray ear-patches rather than black, and a paler chest. In winter they can be found in forests and woodlands, gardens, shade-coffee plantations, wetlands, and mangroves (Photo by Hemant Kishan)
Activity of the Day
FOR KIDS: We have met many migratory birds during this series. You can see all of them here in this colourful graphic! Use this as a reminder and test your memory with our Migratory Bird Memory Game . Can you match up all the pictures of the different migratory birds to their names? Each correct match will reveal an interesting fact.
FOR KIDS AND ADULTS:
Take a walk and see if you can spot any migratory warblers, look up in the trees to look for any Black-and-white Warblers creeping along the trunk or branches. Use a bird field guide or the FREE Merlin bird ID app to help you identify the birds you are seeing.
Enjoy the videos below of Black-and-White Warblers in the wild! The first shows a bird feeding on a tree – do you think it’s a male or a female? You can see the typical ‘creeping’ behaviour of this Warbler, as it moves across the bark looking for food. The second video shows a male perched up in a tree, you can hear him singing. They mainly sing only during the breeding season, in winter you might hear their “chit” calls.
Visit MigratoryBirdDay.org for many more free activities and resources to learn about migratory birds, their threats and conservation actions you can take.
Celebrate World Migratory Bird Day (WMBD) with us in our virtual “Birds Connect Our World” edition! Have fun learning about a new migratory bird every day. We have colouring pages, puzzles, activities, and more. Download for free and enjoy nature with your family at home.
Migratory Bird of the Day: Ovenbird
Ovenbirds are olive-brown above and have bold dark streaks on a white breast. Their coloration might make you think you’re looking at a small thrush, but these birds are actually warblers! They also have an orange crown stripe bordered by black on both sides and a white eyering. Ovenbirds also behave like thrushes. They are often seen on the ground, with their tail up in the air, searching through leaf litter for food. If you look carefully you’ll notice they walk, rather than hop like a thrush.
You might wonder how this bird got its curious name. Ovenbirds are named after the shape of the nest. These are made on the ground and have a woven dome above them, which looks like an outdoor bread-oven. Ovenbirds breed in forests across the northeastern US and Canada. Although they are not the most colourful birds they do make their presence known during the breeding season with their very loud tea-cher, tea-cher, tea-cher calls.
Ovenbirds are long distance migrants and head south in fall to spend the winter in Mexico, Central America, Florida and the Caribbean. They are most commonly seen in the Bahamas and Greater Antilles, from August through to May. They also winter in the Virgin and Cayman Islands, and can sometimes be seen in the Lesser Antilles. Our winter visitors will be birds that nested on the Eastern Side of the Appalachian mountains.
During winter Ovenbirds can be found in a wide variety of habitats, including forests, woodlands, scrub, mangroves, and shade coffee plantations, often near streams or pools. Ovenbirds search for ants, beetles, and other insects on the forest floor. They bob their heads and flick their tails when walking, but their dull colours make them difficult to see. Ovenbirds often migrate with storm fronts, which affect the route they take. If these fronts pass by cities large numbers of Ovenbirds can be victims of collisions with tall buildings. Learn more about this species, including its range, photos, and calls here.
Colour in the Ovenbird!
Download the page from Migratory Birds of the West Indies Colouring Book. 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 #WMBD2020Carib
Listen to the calls of the Ovenbird
During the winter Ovenbirds do not tend to sing, but do make a sharp “tsuk” call which they repeat.
Puzzle of the Day
Click on the images below to do the puzzles. You can make the puzzle as easy or as hard as you like – for example, 6, 8, or 12 pieces for young children, all the way up to 1,024 pieces for those that are up for a challenge!
Ovenbird Singing . Ovenbirds breed in forests across the northeastern US and Canada they have a loud their very loud tea-cher, tea-cher, tea-cher song during the breeding season. (Photo by BN Singh)Ovenbird on ground. Ovenbirds search for ants, beetles, and other insects on the forest floor. They bob their heads and flick their tails when walking, but their dull colours make them difficult to see. (Photo by Hemant Kishan)
Activity of the Day
FOR KIDS: We have met many migratory birds during this series. Download this poster showing some of them! On the poster you can see some routes of the amazing migratory journeys that these birds make- twice every year! The poster is also available to download here in French. There are also version in Spanish for CubaPuerto Rico and the Dominican Republic.
FOR KIDS AND ADULTS:
Take a walk and see if you can spot any migratory warblers, look up in the trees to look for any American Redstarts flitting about amongst the leaves. Use a bird field guide or the FREE Merlin bird ID app to help you identify the birds you are seeing.
Enjoy the videos below of Ovenbirds in the Wild! The first shows a bird on the ground, searching for food. This is typical behaviour for Ovenbirds, notice it walks rather than hops! The second video shows a bird perched up in a tree and singing during the breeding season. You will hear the distinctive and loud “Tea-cher, Tea-cher Tea-chear” refrain.
Visit MigratoryBirdDay.org for many more free activities and resources to learn about migratory birds, their threats and conservation actions you can take.
Celebrate World Migratory Bird Day (WMBD) with us in our virtual “Birds Connect Our World” edition! Have fun learning about a new migratory bird every day. We have colouring pages, puzzles, activities, and more. Download for free and enjoy nature with your family at home.
Migratory Bird of the Day: Black-throated Blue Warbler
A striking, bold colored Warbler that you will be able to recognize and identify even as a beginning birder! Just looking at the male’s colors will give you his name: predominantly slate-blue head and back, black throat, face and sides, and snow-white underparts – and here is your Black-throated Blue Warbler! Now it becomes difficult as he and his mate have almost nothing in common. As a matter of fact, this pair looks so different from each other that they were originally described as two separate species! She is greenish-gray above, light tan below, sports a white stripe above the eye, and a white arc below. The only fieldmark they share is a white little “handkerchief” tucked into their wings!
Black-throated Blue Warblers do not spend much time in the treetops so you will not get a case of “warbler neck” observing this bird! They prefer foraging for insects, small berries, and even sips of nectar from blossoms in the understory of the forest.
Black-throated Blue Warblers raise their families in the boreal forest of the Eastern Canadian Provinces, around the Great Lakes and the northeastern US down to the Carolinas and Tennessee. In September their migratory journey takes them south to the Bahamas, Cuba, Hispaniola, Cayman Islands, Jamaica, and Puerto Rico. There they remain until family responsibilities awaken within them and they begin their return trip north in April. Unlike other warblers that molt into “confusing” fall plumage, male Black-throated Blue Warblers keep their distinctive plumage year around.
Listen for their call during their visit to our region – a distinct “tick, tick, tick” coming from the thick understory. And don’t forget to get your bird bath or the soft spray of an upside down hose nozzle ready if you want to attract this little warbler jewel to your backyard!
Download the page from Migratory Birds of the West Indies Colouring Book. 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 #WMBD2020Carib
Listen to the calls of the Black-throated Blue Warbler
The calls of the Black-throated Blue Warbler are a sharp repeated ‘tick’
Puzzle of the Day
Click on the images below to do the puzzles. You can make the puzzle as easy or as hard as you like – for example, 6, 8, or 12 pieces for young children, all the way up to 1,024 pieces for those that are up for a challenge!
Male Black-throated Blue Warbler with his striking easily recognised colours. Unlike other warblers that molt into “confusing” fall plumage, male Black-throated Blue Warblers keep their distinctive plumage year around (Photo by Paul Chung)Female Black-throated Blue Warbler . She looks so different from the male that they were originally described as two separate species! Look out for the small white patch on her wing to help identify her (Photo by Linda Petersen).
Activity of the Day
FOR KIDS: During migration we see many different warblers arriving in the Caribbean. They can be tricky to identify! For some warblers, if you look carefully at their colours, it can really help you to narrow down which species you are seeing. Help to hone your knowledge of warbler colour with our colour matching game. Look carefully at the pictures of each species and match to the correct colour palette. You can find the answers here.
FOR KIDS AND ADULTS:
Take a walk and see if you can spot any migratory warblers, you might see a Black-throated Blue Warbler. Use a bird field guide or the FREE Merlin bird ID app to help you identify the birds you are seeing.
Enjoy the videos below of Black-throated Blue Warblers spending the winter in Cuba! The first shows a male perched on the ground, you can see his beautiful blue plumage and black throat, which give this warbler its name. In the second you can see a female, she is not a colourful as the male but she has the small white patch in her wing, which gives away which species she is!
Visit MigratoryBirdDay.org for many more free activities and resources to learn about migratory birds, their threats and conservation actions you can take.
Celebrate World Migratory Bird Day (WMBD) with us in our virtual “Birds Connect Our World” edition! Have fun learning about a new migratory bird every day. We have colouring pages, puzzles, activities, and more. Download for free and enjoy nature with your family at home.
Migratory Bird of the Day: American Redstart
These small, active warblers flit around in trees and bushes giving flashes of their colourful plumage. Males are a striking mix of glossy-black upperparts, head and breast, with large, bright orange patches on the wings, tail and sides. Females and immature males have gray heads, olive-green backs, and yellow patches instead of orange. These lively birds frequently fan and flick their long, colourful tails and wings as they hop about in the foliage.
American Redstarts breed across northern parts of the US and Canada. They are long distance migrants, flying south to winter in Mexico, Central America, northern South America, and throughout the Caribbean. The birds that winter here are most likely to have come from breeding areas in eastern North American. They start arriving in late August and stay until early May.
American Redstarts eat insects, which they glean from leaves, or sally out to catch mid-air. The bright flashes of colour seen as these birds flick and droop their wings and fan their tail flushes insects out into the open, making them easier to catch. The flicking and fanning behavior is also used for communication between individuals.
During the winter American Redstarts can be found in all habitat types—swamps, gardens, mangroves, shade coffee plantations, scrub, woodland, and forests. In coffee plantations, they are known to feast on the borer beetle, the world’s most serious coffee pest, just when the beetles are attempting to invade maturing coffee berries. Research has shown that by helping to control this pest, redstarts increase the profits of coffee farmers in Jamaica by about 12%. American Redstarts are mainly migratory visitors in the Caribbean, but there are a few records of pairs breeding in Cuba! Learn more about this species, including its range, photos, and calls here.
Colour in the American Redstart!
Download the page from Migratory Birds of the West Indies Colouring Book. 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 #WMBD2020Carib
Listen to the calls of the American Redstart
American Redstart calls are an emphatic sharp ‘chip’ which they often repeat.
Puzzle of the Day
Click on the images below to do the puzzles. You can make the puzzle as easy or as hard as you like – for example, 6, 8, or 12 pieces for young children, all the way up to 1,024 pieces for those that are up for a challenge!
Male American Redstart, with his striking mix of orange and black plumage. The bright flashes of colour seen as these birds flick and droop their wings and fan their tail flushes insects out into the open, making them easier to catch (Photo by Hank Halsey)Female American Redstart, fanning her tail, showing the large yellow patches. The flicking and tail-fanning behavior is also used for communication between individuals. (Photo by Linda Petersen)
American Redstart pair at their nest. American Redstarts breed across northern parts of the US and Canada. They are long distance migrants, flying south to winter in Mexico, Central America, northern South America, and throughout the Caribbean. (Photo by BN Singh)
Activity of the Day
FOR KIDS: So far we have met quite a few different types of warblers. How much can you remember about each one? Test your knowledge with our crossword puzzle all about warblers and their migration. If you are not sure of an answer you can check back to previous posts to find the warbler facts . And you can find the answers here.
FOR KIDS AND ADULTS:
Take a walk and see if you can spot any migratory warblers, look up in the trees to look for any American Redstarts flitting about amongst the leaves. Use a bird field guide or the FREE Merlin bird ID app to help you identify the birds you are seeing.
Enjoy the videos below of American Redstarts in the Wild! The first shows the male in his striking orange and black plumage. This video features his sweet song that he sings in spring and during the breeding season. In the second you can see a female American Redstart hopping through a mangrove in search of food. Finally the last video shows a Male flicking is tail as he feeds on small insects.
Visit MigratoryBirdDay.org for many more free activities and resources to learn about migratory birds, their threats and conservation actions you can take.
Celebrate World Migratory Bird Day (WMBD) with us in our virtual “Birds Connect Our World” edition! Have fun learning about a new migratory bird every day. We have colouring pages, puzzles, activities, and more. Download for free and enjoy nature with your family at home.
Migratory Bird of the Day: Belted Kingfisher
The Belted Kingfisher is easy to spot, sitting on a branch or wire overlooking water. It has a big head with a shaggy crest, stout pointed bill, and short legs. Both males and female birds have a slate-blue head and back, white collar and underparts with a blue breast band. Unlike many birds the female is more colorful than the male! They have an orange-brown lower band and sides. Juveniles are similar to adults, but with a browner chest band.
Belted Kingfisher breed across North America, from the southern US all the way up to Canada and Alaska. They nest in burrows in earth banks close to water. During the fall and winter some Belted Kingfishers will stay put, as long as there is plenty of unfrozen water for them to continue to feed in. Many others head south and spend the winter in Mexico, Central America, northern South America, and the Caribbean, where they can be seen from September to April. In most islands they are the only Kingfisher species present. But be careful not to confuse the Belted Kingfisher with the resident Ringed Kingfisher in Dominica, Martinique and Guadeloupe. This species is larger, has a heavier bill and more extensive reddish-brown underparts.
Belted Kingfishers live up to their name by catching and eating fish. They also eat crayfish, other crustaceans and insects. This diet means you are most likely to spot them close to water. They watch for fish perched on branches over water and telephone wires, then dive head-first to grab prey with their hefty bills. They also sometimes hover over water when fishing. Learn more about this species, including its range, photos, and calls here.
Colour in the Belted Kingfisher!
Download the page from Migratory Birds of the West Indies Colouring Book. 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 #WMBD2020Carib
Listen to the calls of the Belted Kingfisher
Belted Kingfishers make distinctive loud ‘rattling’ calls – you might hear one before seeing it!
Puzzle of the Day
Click on the images below to do the puzzles. You can make the puzzle as easy or as hard as you like – for example, 6, 8, or 12 pieces for young children, all the way up to 1,024 pieces for those that are up for a challenge!
Male Belted Kingfisher, with a fish. These birds will plunge into the water head-first, from a perch to catch fish; or sometimes they can be seen hovering above the water as they search for fish. (Photo by Chuck Hantis)Juvenile Male Belted Kingfisher. During the fall and winter some Belted Kingfishers will stay put, as long as there is plenty of unfrozen water for them to continue to feed in. Many others head south and spend the winter in Mexico, Central America, northern South America, and the Caribbean (Photo by Daniel W Glenn)
Activity of the Day
FOR KIDS: Find out more about Belted Kingfishers with this colourful Information sheet. With more facts about their natural history, Including their breeding behaviour and what they eat. Also find out how they can be affected by plastic pollution.
FOR KIDS AND ADULTS:
Take a walk and see if you can spot any migratory birds. Use a bird field guide or the FREE Merlin bird ID app to help you identify the birds you are seeing.
Enjoy the videos below of Belted Kingfishers at the waters edge! The first is an amazing ‘perch eye’ view of a female hunting for, catching, and eating a fish! In the second you can see a male Belted Kingfisher calling from his perch.
Visit MigratoryBirdDay.org for many more free activities and resources to learn about migratory birds, their threats and conservation actions you can take.
Celebrate World Migratory Bird Day (WMBD) with us in our virtual “Birds Connect Our World” edition! Have fun learning about a new migratory bird every day. We have colouring pages, puzzles, activities, and more. Download for free and enjoy nature with your family at home.
Migratory Bird of the Day: Antillean Nighthawk
Querebebé! Querebebé! That is the Spanish name for the Antillean Nighthawk, and it is the sound you’ll hear at dusk when these birds take to the sky. (Local names in English-speaking countries are pid-i-mi-dix or gimme-me-bit). Look up and enjoy the show, because there’s nothing that isn’t awesome about Antillean Nighthawks.
Take for example their flight. You might at first think you’re seeing some sort of falcon because of their long, dark, pointed wings and their fast, agile flight. But an obvious white patch on the underside of the outer wing feathers will be the give-away that you’re seeing a nighthawk. And the somewhat erratic flight behavior you observe is the result of this large bird being in constant pursuit of airborne insects—from ballooning spiders to mayflies to mosquitos. To help them catch their aerial prey, Antillean Nighthawks have evolved wide mouths with a specialized jaw that can open both vertically and horizontally, creating a bigger “net.” They also have large and specially modified eyes that allow them to see acutely and in low-light conditions.
Antillean Nighthawks can be found throughout the northern Caribbean islands during their summer breeding season. Outside of that time, however, their whereabouts have remained mysterious. A few years ago in Guadeloupe, however, researchers caught a female Antillean Nighthawk on her summer nest, and tagged her with a solar-powered geolocator. A year later, she returned, and they were able to recapture her. When they downloaded the data of where she’d been during the rest of the year, they discovered that she had headed to South America, where she spent much of the time in the heart of the Brazilian rainforest! Read more about this incredible journey here.
During the day Antillean Nighthawks rest on limbs or on the ground where their mottled brown and gray plumage make them very difficult to see. Your best chance to see them is by taking a walk at dusk, listening for their characteristic call, “Querebebé!”. Learn more about this species, including its range, photos, and calls here.
Colour in the Antillean Nighthawk!
Download the page from Migratory Birds of the West Indies Colouring Book. 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 #WMBD2020Carib
Listen to the calls of the Antillean Nighthawk
The calls of the Antillean Nighthawk are a distinctive “pid-i-mi-dix” or “querebebé”, often repeated.
Puzzle of the Day
Click on the images below to do the puzzles. You can make the puzzle as easy or as hard as you like – for example, 6, 8, or 12 pieces for young children, all the way up to 1,024 pieces for those that are up for a challenge!
Antillean Nighthawk, the coloration of these birds can make them perfectly camouflaged in their environment. This makes them hard to see- so listen out for their characteristic ‘Querebebé!’ calls (Photo by Dax Roman).Antillean Nighthawk takes flight. When you see them fly you might at first think you’re seeing some sort of falcon because of their long, dark, pointed wings and their fast, agile flight. But an obvious white patch on the underside of the outer wing feathers will be the give-away that you’re seeing a nighthawk. (Photo by Dax Roman)Antillean Nighthawk Chicks. Antillean Nighthawks breed in the Northern Islands of the Caribbean. They migrate south outside the breeding season. Until recently their destination was a mystery, but recent tracking has shown at least one bird headed to Brazilian rainforest! (Photo by Dax Roman)
Activity of the Day
FOR KIDS: The colours of the Antillean Nighthawk can make them blend in with their surroundings. Especially when they are sitting on the ground! This make then very hard to see. Can you spot all 7 hiding Antillean Nighthawks? Find the answers here.
FOR KIDS AND ADULTS:
Take a walk and see if you can spot any migratory birds. Use a bird field guide or the FREE Merlin bird ID app to help you identify the birds you are seeing.
Enjoy the videos below of the Antillean Nighthawks in the Caribbean! The first shows a bird perched on the branch of a tree, keeping perfectly still, to maintain its camouflage. In the second you can see an Antillean Nighthawk calling from the ground. In the final video you can see what Antillean Nighthawks look like when they are flying.
Visit MigratoryBirdDay.org for many more free activities and resources to learn about migratory birds, their threats and conservation actions you can take.
Celebrate World Migratory Bird Day (WMBD) with us in our virtual “Birds Connect Our World” edition! Have fun learning about a new migratory bird every day. We have colouring pages, puzzles, activities, and more. Download for free and enjoy nature with your family at home.
Migratory Bird of the Day: Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
As their name suggests, Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers are woodpeckers that eat sap from trees. They feed by drilling rows of small holes into tree bark with their stout, sharply pointed bills. This creates sap ‘wells’ from which to drink or ‘suck’ the oozing sap. They maintain these holes to keep the sap flowing and even defend them from other birds.
Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers have a bright red crown, black-and-white striped face and back, and a large white wing patch. Their underparts are buffy or yellowish and they have a broad black breast band. Adult males have a red throat and females have a white throat. Juveniles are brownish-gray all over.
Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers breed in eastern North America and Canada, mainly in boreal forest. It is the only woodpecker in eastern North America that is completely migratory. Some individuals travel only a short distance. Others travel as far south as Mexico, Central America and the West Indies. From October to April Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers can be found in the northern Caribbean. They are most common in the Bahamas and Cuba, but also occur in Jamaica, Hispaniola, Turks and Caicos Islands, the Cayman Islands, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
Females tend to migrate further south than males. In Central America three females for each male have been counted! If you see a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, look at its throat color to check if it is male or female. Do you see more females than males here in the Caribbean?
In addition to eating sap from trees Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers also eat fruit, seeds, and insects, including those attracted by the sticky sweet sap. During the winter they can be found in many places, as long as there are trees. Including forests, gardens, woodlands, and coastal areas. Learn more about this species, including its range, photos, and calls here.
Colour in the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker!
Download the page from Migratory Birds of the West Indies Colouring Book. 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 #WMBD2020Carib
Listen to the calls of the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
In winter, you might hear this soft mew call which they often repeat. But you are more likely to find them by their drumming, which they use to communicate with each other as well as feed.
Puzzle of the Day
Click on the images below to do the puzzles. You can make the puzzle as easy or as hard as you like – for example, 6, 8, or 12 pieces for young children, all the way up to 1,024 pieces for those that are up for a challenge!
Male Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, these woodpeckers make ‘wells’ in tree bark and drink sap. They also eat insects that are attracted to the sweet sap. They will return to the same trees many times. (Photo by Stephen Buckingham)Male Yellow-bellied Sapsucker , you can tell the difference between males and females from the color of their throats. Males have red throats, in females throats are white (Photo by C Hantis)Female Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, these birds arrive in the Caribbean in Fall. Some individuals only travel a short distances within North American on migration. However, others travel as far south as Mexico, Central America and the West Indies (Photo by Scott Hecker)
Activity of the Day
FOR KIDS: Hone your observation skills and go on a Nature Scavenger Hunt! Print the cards on sturdy paper and use a clipboard or piece of cardboard as a writing surface outside. Younger children can do side 1 of the card, older children side 2. English, Spanish and French versions are available for free download here!
FOR KIDS AND ADULTS:
Take a walk and see if you can spot any migratory birds, listen out for any drumming woodpeckers. Use a bird field guide or the FREE Merlin bird ID app to help you identify the birds you are seeing.
Enjoy the videos below of Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers in the wild! The first show a male (notice his red throat) drinking saps from ‘well’s he has made in a tree. The second shows a female (with a white throat), on her wintering grounds in Cuba.
Visit MigratoryBirdDay.org for many more free activities and resources to learn about migratory birds, their threats and conservation actions you can take.
Celebrate World Migratory Bird Day (WMBD) with us in our virtual “Birds Connect Our World” edition! Have fun learning about a new migratory bird every day. We have colouring pages, puzzles, activities, and more. Download for free and enjoy nature with your family at home.
Migratory Bird of the Day: Northern Waterthrush
Although its name and plumage suggest this bird is a thrush, the Northern Waterthrush is in fact a warbler. This large, long-legged, long-tailed warbler spends much of its time on the ground. It has dark olive-brown upperparts, and buffy or yellowish underparts. The underparts are marked with dark brown streaks that become finer on the throat. It has a prominent, buffy stripe above the eye, usually narrowing towards the nape. The sexes are identical.
The Northern Waterthrush is sparsely distributed across a vast breeding range from Alaska eastward across Canada, with some birds breeding in the northern US. They are long-distance migrants and travel to the Caribbean, Central America, and northern South America in fall. In winter, Northern Waterthrushes can be found throughout the Caribbean. Some birds will stay for the whole winter, but many more will pass through the islands for wintering grounds further south.
As their name suggests, Northern Waterthrushes occur in wet habitats. On the breeding grounds, these include wooded swamps, bogs, or other wetlands bordered by shrubs or thickets. On the wintering grounds, Northern Waterthrush are most often found in or near mangroves or other wetlands.
In the Caribbean, Northern Waterthrushes are solitary and hold territories. They frequently advertise their presence with loud, metallic, chink calls. If you hear one, look for it walking along the water’s edge. It bobs and teeters, jumps over obstacles, and rhythmically pumps its tail. Northern Waterthrushes feed mainly on aquatic insects, but they may also take snails, small clams, and crabs. The Northern Waterthrush is not currently threatened, but the loss of mangroves through development and climate change may be impacting this species. Learn more about this species, including its range, photos, and calls here.
Colour in the Northern Waterthrush!
Download the page from Migratory Birds of the West Indies Colouring Book. 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 #WMBD2020Carib
Listen to the calls of the Northern Waterthrush
The calls of the Northern Waterthrush are a loud sharp “tchip”
Puzzle of the Day
Click on the images below to do the puzzles. You can make the puzzle as easy or as hard as you like – for example, 6, 8, or 12 pieces for young children, all the way up to 1,024 pieces for those that are up for a challenge!
Northern Waterthrush, although its name and coloration suggest that this bird is a thrush, it is actually a warbler. These birds migrate from Canada and the Norther US to spend the winter in the Caribbean, Central America, and northern South America (Photo by David S Hall)Northern Waterthrush. Often seen close to water, listen for their loud repeated ‘chinking’ calls and look from them as the walk along the water’s edge bobbing their tails. (Photo by Jesse Gordon)
Activity of the Day
FOR KIDS: Some warblers give you a big clue to the group of birds they belong to in their names, like ‘Hooded Warbler’ or ‘Yellow-rumped Warbler’. But some other warblers do not! Do you remember which of our migratory birds are warblers? Test your knowledge in our “Warbler or Not a Warbler” game. You can find the answers by looking at previous blog posts. You can find the answers here.
FOR KIDS AND ADULTS:
Take a walk and see if you can spot any migratory warblers. Use a bird field guide or the FREE Merlin bird ID app to help you identify the birds you are seeing.
Enjoy the videos below of Northern Waterthrushes in the wild! The first show a bird foraging on the ground in a mangrove, bobbing its tail up and down. The second shows a bird repeatedly giving its loud distinctive call, hearing this call is often a first clue that a Northern Waterthrush is around.
Visit MigratoryBirdDay.org for many more free activities and resources to learn about migratory birds, their threats and conservation actions you can take.
