We have heard the painful stories of the 2017 hurricanes, which had devastating effects on humans and birds on some islands. How did our shorebirds weather the storm—especially those we are most concerned about from a conservation viewpoint? Elise Elliott-Smith shares her story of post-hurricane surveys in the Turks and Caicos Islands in February 2018. …
Midwinter in the Caribbean is not as chilly as it sounds – and it is a good time of year to count the region’s waterbirds, as most of them are not on the move somewhere else at this time. There is also the opportunity to do an annual health check of the wetlands that support …
Your help is needed to protect beach-nesting birds, nests, and young. Conservian is planning for Year 3 of their shorebird and habitat conservation program in the Bahamas. Come join them for the adventure of a lifetime! BirdsCaribbean, the Bahamas National Trust and Conservian are seeking a weekly crew of 8 to 10 enthusiastic volunteers for our Bahamas shorebird …
Invasive mammals are known to be a problem on many islands. Holly Garrod shows first-hand how some of these pesky species are causing nest failure for one of the Caribbean’s most well known and best loved birds—the tody. It was a muggy afternoon, typical for the summers in Jarabacoa, the central region of the Dominican …
Martha (Mandy) Walsh McGehee recalls her experiences with several devastating hurricanes in the Caribbean during the 1980s and 1990s, and the heartening interactions between people and birds in their aftermath. I have had hurricane nightmares. Once, they were about boy-named hurricanes. Now they are about the girls. My first “bad dream” was in St. Croix in 1989, when …
Follow Spencer Schubert on his adventures into remote corners of the Dominican Republic and learn how birds (and their poop!) naturally restore forests. And they do this for free! Bird enthusiasts have long struggled with the challenge of attracting birds to their backyards, often employing the use of feeders, bird baths, or populating their gardens with …
2017-2018 Awards Now Open! Size of Award: Several grants up to $1,000 each Application Deadline: January 7th, 2018 at 5 p.m. EST. Address Questions and Send Application to: Will Mackin, Co-Chair Seabird Working Group, BirdsCaribbean, wicbirds@yahoo.com; copy to info@birdscaribbean.org Announcement of Awards: February 3rd, 2018 Donations to the Fund: Tax-deductible (U.S.) at this link. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________ David S. …
Cuba has one of the highest rates of endemism in the Caribbean with 26 endemic birds that attract thousands of bird enthusiasts each year. Engaging them to understand the secret lives of these birds is a special skill. From October 9 to 13, the Caribbean Birding Trail Interpretive Guide Training course taught 26 persons how to …
All of us at BirdsCaribbean followed the passing of Hurricane Irma with terror, for the people of Barbuda, and also for its birds. Such is the strength of our community that BirdsCaribbean members from nearby Guadeloupe – Anthony Levesque, Frantz Delcroix, and Eric Delcroix – all members of the organization AMAZONA, offered their help in …
Many comic book characters we know and love today can be identified by their signature symbols. In the blink of an eye we can recognize the S of Superman’s shield or the beaming light of the Batman logo when Gotham City needs the Dark Knight to fight its villains. Likewise, when many Trinidadians see a …
Update—our January and March 2018 tours are completed, however, BirdsCaribbean is partnering with Holbrook Travel to offer a similar tour in November 2018. We invite you to join us – click here for all the details. We are offering similar tours as those described below in January and March of 2019. Click here for details. Join …
It has been an exhausting few weeks for many of BirdsCaribbean’s partners across the region. The hurricane season is not over for another two months, but Caribbean conservationists are hoping for a break. BirdsCaribbean and its wonderful supporters across the region are doing their best to keep up with a variety of urgent needs, from …
Take care of yourselves and, once you and your loved ones are safe, remember our birds and consider their plight. There is no doubt that the landscape on some islands has already changed, perhaps irreversibly so, after the passage of the strongest hurricane on record in the Caribbean. The Codrington Lagoon on Barbuda, for example …
Standing on the balcony of the Kurhotel in Topes de Collantes, Cuba, it is impossible to ignore the Cuban Martins darting about, the excited chattering of the Cuban Parrots, and the soft tocoro-tocoro of the Cuban Trogon coming from the forest. This location, high in the Escambray Mountains, was the perfect venue for the BirdsCaribbean …
Soaring above the tree tops of Los Haitises National Park is the mighty Ridgway’s Hawk. Conflicts with humans and changes in its forest habitat have made it hard for this species to survive. Marta Curti tells us about the work of The Peregrine Fund to save this critically endangered raptor. The Ridgway’s Hawk is endemic to …
At the recently concluded BirdsCaribbean 21st Conference Meeting in Cuba, Dr. David Wingate was honoured with a Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of his “exceptional knowledge and contributions to avian knowledge and conservation in Bermuda and the Caribbean”. David Wingate was born in 1935 in Bermuda, he studied Zoology at Cornell University and went on …
In the pursuit of wildlife research, I’ve climbed cliffs, dodged black bears, ridden in tiny planes through turbulent mountain air, jumped into surging ocean waters, and hiked alone through remote wilderness. None of these activities have scared me as much as handling my first Roseate Tern chick, a delicate ball of fluff just hours from …
Maya Wilson is a graduate student at Virginia Tech researching the ecology and life history of the Bahama Swallow, an endangered species endemic to the Bahamas. She is one of the dedicated young scholars who was awarded the BirdsCaribbean David S. Lee Fund Grant and her work is critical to understanding the Bahama Swallow and informing conservation …
In the Caribbean and around the world, teachers and other educators are looking for new ways to engage students with the natural environment, inspire an interest in science and math and help youth learn to work together as a team. Some environmental educators believe birds may be the perfect focal point for accomplishing these goals, …
It’s that time of year again! The Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival (CEBF) begins on Earth Day, April 22nd. This regional celebration highlights the birds that are endemic—the ones that live only in the Caribbean. A wide variety of events will take place across the region through May 22nd, International Biodiversity Day. This annual celebration is …
Anne Goulden, from Sarnia, Ontario, spotted and photographed a Kirtland’s Warbler (Setophaga kirtlandii) on a recent birding trip to Cuba, making this the first “official” sighting of the bird on Cuba. Anne Goulden has been an avid birder for ten years. “Birding has been a hobby—make that an obsession—since 2007,” she says. Anne had just …
Scott Johnson, Science Officer with the Bahamas National Trust, shares the work that he and his fellow conservationists are doing to help raise awareness about the issue of wildlife smuggling. As a Caribbean native, I can wholeheartedly understand people’s obsession with our region. The lush green vegetation, white sandy beaches, turquoise waters, delicious food, and …
BirdsCaribbean is excited to announce the first award recipients of the David S. Lee Fund for the Conservation of Caribbean Birds. We are extremely pleased to support these dedicated young scholars as they pursue important research that will increase our knowledge of and inform conservation management decisions for Caribbean birds. The award recipients are: Wayne …
Joseph Prosper shares with us his experiences birding in Barbuda and the choices this pristine little island faces. He discusses the importance of conservation and provides wonderful insights into the birds found here. Barbuda is definitely torn between two lovers and probably feeling like a fool. This island holds two tomorrows in its hands. One is …
Your help is needed to protect beach-nesting birds, nests, and young. Conservian is planning for Year 2 of their shorebird and habitat conservation program in the Bahamas. Come join them for the adventure of a lifetime! Conservian is seeking a weekly crew of 8 to 12 enthusiastic volunteers for our Bahamas shorebird habitat conservation project in May 2017 aboard …
Dear Members and Friends of BirdsCaribbean, What a start to the year! I am excited and honored to be serving you as President of BirdsCaribbean as 2017 gets under way. It is a wonderful opportunity to work with so many passionate and experienced conservationists in the region and beyond. I hope you will support our …
Can Caribbean bird populations survive hurricanes? Or perhaps we should ask, how do they manage to live through the storms’ fierce onslaught as well as survive the aftermath when there is little food and shelter? In Part 1 we looked at the terrible damage caused by Hurricane Matthew to the human life, infrastructure, wildlife and …
The Bahama Oriole (Icterus northropi) is the most endangered bird in the Bahamas. It is now restricted just to the Andros Island complex. There may be as few as several hundred individuals left, making it also one of the most endangered endemic birds in the entire Caribbean. Of greatest concern is that the oriole was …
As the holiday season gets underway, we’d like to bring your attention to the most recent batch of articles published in the Journal of Caribbean Ornithology. All three studies stem from islands within the Greater Antilles, and all are valuable contributions to our growing knowledge of Caribbean birds. As all of the JCO’s publications are …
As migratory birds arrived to settle in the Caribbean for the winter, a series of festivals celebrating these birds swept through the region’s islands as well. In Cuba, a group of local and international students learned about how birds are captured and banded for research, as well as identified a plethora of migrant warblers in …
