Celebrate the Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival (CEBF) with us! Our theme in 2024 is “Protect Insects, Protect Birds”—highlighting the importance of protecting insects for birds and our environment. Have fun learning about a new endemic bird every day. We have colouring pages, puzzles, activities, and more. Download for free and enjoy learning about and celebrating nature!
Endemic Bird of the Day: White-fronted Quail-Dove
If you listen extra carefully while walking along remote, dense, humid forests on the central and southwest mountains of the Dominican Republic, you will hear a very hushed, low frequency “coo-o-o” call coming from the thick vegetation of the forest floor. So soft is this call that it can be quite hard to pinpoint where it’s coming from. But we can tell you who’s making that gentle sound—it’s the White-fronted Quail-Dove! This beautiful, plump, but also terribly shy bird, spends most of its time out of sight. Spotting this bird always presents a challenge to birdwatchers and nature photographers in the Dominican Republic where it is locally known as ‘azulona’! The White-fronted Quail-Dove belongs to the Columbidae family, which comprises doves and pigeons—including the bold ones you see around your homes and schools.
White-fronted Quail doves are medium-sized birds that measure 27-28 cm. The crown, nape, and sides of the head are slate gray; sides of the neck suffused with beautiful reddish purple or violet, sometimes extending onto the breast. Underparts are mostly gray, becoming rufous on the lower belly and under the tail. Its contrasting white forehead gives this dove its name and is a great field mark for identification. Its eyes are red and it has a reddish bill that is paler towards the tip. The legs are pink. Males and females look alike. Young birds are browner and lack the metallic sheen on the back and neck. This is the only quail-dove that lacks facial stripes.
The White-fronted Quail-Dove is endemic to Hispaniola, restricted to the isolated, dense, moist montane forests on Sierra de Bahoruco and the Central Mountains of the Dominican Republic. It likely can no longer be found in Haiti due to high levels of deforestation. It’s found at elevations from 745 to 1,685 m. This quail-dove has also been reported in shade grown coffee plantations. Little is known about its breeding ecology however, except that it lays 1-2 beige eggs on a nest of twigs and leaves placed low in the undergrowth.
This bird spends most of the time on the ground where it looks for seeds and small invertebrates to eat. The easiest way to try to observe this stunning quail-dove is when it ventures out of the dense forest to forage in a semi-open clearing or along a forest trail. While it is usually very shy and hard to spot, if you are in the right habitat, and are very patient, it can show itself very well.
The White-fronted Quail-Dove is classified as Endangered by the IUCN because it has a single, very small population of fewer than 2,500 individuals, which has suffered a continuing decline due to on-going fragmentation, loss of habitat, hunting pressure, and the effects of introduced predators like the mongoose and feral cats. Cats are prolific predators—even if you don’t see your cuddly, well-fed cat catching wildlife, they may still be hunting. Keeping your cats indoors can protect birds and other wildlife from being killed. Keeping cats indoors isn’t just great for wildlife, it’s good for the cats—it keeps them safe from being attacked, getting lost, or being poisoned.
Thanks to Arnaldo Toledo for the illustration and Ivan Mota for the text!
Colour in the White-fronted Quail-Dove
Download our West Indies Endemic Bird colouring page. Use the photos below as your guide, or you can look up pictures of the bird online or in a bird field guide if you have one. Share your coloured-in page with us by posting it online and tagging us @BirdsCaribbean #CEBFfromthenest
Listen to the song of the White-fronted Quail-Dove
The song of White-fronted Quail-Dove is a repeated “oop-oop…”
Puzzle of the Day
Click on the image below to do the puzzle. You can make the puzzle as easy or as hard as you like – for example, 6, 8, or 12 pieces for young children, all the way up to 1,024 pieces for those that are up for a challenge!
The White-fronted Quail-Dove is a shy bird that spends most of its time out of sight. This beautiful dove is one of the hardest species of birds to see in the Dominican Republic! It presents quite a challenge to bird watchers and photographers. (Photo by Doug Whitman, Macaulay Library-ML613246991)White-fronted Quail-Doves are endemic to the island of Hispaniola, restricted to remote dense humid montane forests on Sierra de Bahoruco and the Central Mountains of the Dominican Republic. It’s likely that this bird is no longer found in Haiti. (Photo by Bobby Wilcox. Macaulay Library-ML615097922)
Activity of the Day
FOR KIDS : UPDATE 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. You can find out more about Caribbean endemic birds by reading our posts each day or you can go back and find all the endemic birds that we have featured in previous years here. You can also find out all about our Endemic Birds of the West Indies Colouring Book with even more birds to colour in!
Here is the Answer Key – don’t look until you have completed the activity!!!
FOR KIDS AND ADULTS : Enjoy this video of a White-fronted Quail-Dove in the wild!
For Global Big Day 2024, we will be raising funds to help Caribbean delegates attend our conference in the Dominican Republic. (Hispaniolan Woodpecker pictured in graphic, photo by Jose M Pantaleon)
Every year, on Global Big Day (GBD), bird enthusiasts and nature lovers head to the great outdoors to observe and record the incredible diversity of birds in their corners of the world. The observations help scientists and researchers monitor bird populations, track migration patterns, and identify habitats that require conservation attention. This event, organized by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and eBird, encourages participation by individuals of all ages and skill levels.
We are thrilled to be hosting our exciting and popular teams competition this year on Saturday 11th May 2024. This year we are raising funds to provide support to Caribbean students and wildlife professionals to attend our 24th International Conference in the Dominican Republic. Having the opportunity to attend our conference can be a life-changing experience!
Rep your flag!
There will be national (individual islands) and multinational teams for birders of all backgrounds to join. We would love to have a national team for each Caribbean island so if you don’t see your island listed here, this is your opportunity to take up the mantle, create a team (we are here to help if needed), and showcase your island’s amazing birding community, ecosystems, and birdlife! You and your team have the power to make a significant impact on our understanding of Caribbean birds and their habitats!
Last year we had 17 teams compete with members spanning across 35 countries and raised over $20,000US for our Caribbean Bird Banding program. This year let’s go bigger—more islands, more vibes, more data—and show the world how passionate and serious we are about bird conservation!
24 joyous hours of watching birds, exploring new habitats, and making friends
During peak migration time in the spring, birders around the world head out to their favorite birding spots, or venture into new areas, to see, hear, and record as many bird species as they can in a 24-hr timeframe. Global Big Day runs from midnight to midnight in your local time zone. The data is entered into eBird (or eBird Caribbean specifically if you’re birding in the Caribbean).
No matter where you are—at home, a botanical garden, beach, river, or nature reserve—you can contribute important data, via eBird checklists, about the birds around you. You don’t need to be an expert birder or spend the entire day looking for birds. Just 10 minutes of birding in your backyard or from your balcony will count too.
A wetland in Puerto Rico. (Photo by Eric Torres Rivera)
For some of us, birding is more enjoyable when done with a friend or a group. Pairs or groups can carpool, help out with tricky bird IDs, share equipment like spotting scopes …and possibly snacks!
St Vincent crew at the end of Global Big Day, tired but happy! Mike and Lisa Sorenson, Glenroy, Joanne and Maeson Gaymes, and Jeff Gerbracht.
Youth spotting birds for Global Big Day, Puerto Rico.
Flock of flamingoes at Margarita Island, Venezuela. (Photo by Josmar Marquez)
Birding along L’Anse Aux Epines road, Grenada. (Photo by Gaea Conservation Network)
We are calling on our community to bird together in virtual teams during Global Big Day and engage in friendly competition to see which team can:
1) collectively see the most species of birds, and
2) raise the most funds.
Funds raised by BirdsCaribbean GBD participating teams will be used to fund travel scholarships for Caribbean students and wildlife professionals to attend our conference this July!
Prizes/ bragging rights will be awarded to
Bee Hummingbird (Photo by Aslam Ibrahim)
the team with the most creative name!
the “country/island team” that sees the highest proportion of their birds on Global Big Day (to control for differences in the number of species on each island!)
the team with the best “find” of the day (unusual, rare, plumage aberration, etc.)
the team with the best bird photo of the day (must be posted on eBird along with your list)
Last year the Bee Hummers Dream Team from Cuba and the multinational Flying Pintails swept the competition. Will your team be the one to dethrone these champs?
Preparing for a memorable Global Big Day is easy!
Participating in our teams competition on Global Big Day involves a few simple steps we’re here to help you so you can make the most of this exciting day!
First things first, if you don’t already have one, download the eBird app and set up your account. You will need it to submit your checklist/s. It’s FREE and you can sign up here! Assemble your birdwatching gear: binoculars, field guide, pencil and notebook, camera, comfortable shoes, and a hat. Decide on the birding hotspots you want to visit during the day. Local parks, nature reserves, and wetlands are excellent locations to find a diverse range of bird species.
Click the ‘JOIN A TEAM’ button on the campaign page. You can choose to join an existing team OR create your own team.
If you choose to create a team, personalize it with a fun name, photo, and your own lingo. NOTE: if you need assistance creating your own team, email Lisa.Sorenson@BirdsCaribbean.org and/or Christel.Mohammed@BirdsCaribbean.org and they’ll will get you set up pronto!
Once set up, you should then invite family, friends, colleagues, and members of your birding community to join your team and/or donate to your team. It helps to set your own personal fundraising goal to help your team reach its overall goal!
By inviting people to your team, you are:
(1) raising awareness for BirdsCaribbean and the critical bird research and conservation work we do in the region,
(2) helping to raise funds for travel scholarships, and
(3) promoting Global Big Day, citizen science, and the importance of conserving birds and their habitats.
and/or . . .
2. Make a donation to one of the birding and fundraising teams.
By doing so, you will have helped Caribbean students and conservationists access mentorship, knowledge building fora, and networking opportunities that nurture and advance the future of Caribbean conservation; and encouraged that team to give it their all on Global Big Day.
and/or . . .
3. Commit to spending some time (or the entire day!) birding on Global Big Day (May 11), being sure to keep track of what you see and enter that information into eBird. We hope everyone will do this, whether or not they join a team or fundraise.
This will be a fun event to fundraise for and get excited about birds! Be ready to visit lots of birding hotspots, or set yourself up in a familiar spot and bird for as much of the day as possible, knowing that all of your teammates, friends, and BirdsCaribbean community members are doing the same!
If birding from the Caribbean, you should plan to submit your observations to eBird Caribbean. Then we’ll tally them up and see how we all did! We will send out more information about this as the event draws closer.
Why we need your support
The insular Caribbean is a critical region for birds. There are 180 species that occur here and nowhere else in the world! In addition, the islands provide a winter home for numerous migrants—many stay 6 months or longer—while others rely on the islands as stopover sites to rest and refuel during their long journeys north and south.
The Jamaican Blackbird lives in the forests of Cockpit Country and the Blue and John Crow Mountains. Its feeding style is similar to woodpeckers. It is threatened by destruction of its habitat (bauxite mining, illegal cultivation, etc.). (Photo by Judd Patterson)
Lesser Yellowlegs are a common migratory shorebird in the Caribbean; they are also one of the most hunted shorebirds in the Atlantic Flyway. (Photo by Hemant Kishan)
The elusive Endangered Whistling Warbler, an endemic bird to Saint Vincent. (Photo by Judd Patterson)
The development of a strong regional conservation community, through capacity-building training and career development opportunities at the island level for local people, is critical to ensure the preservation of island birds and their habitats.
How your gift will be Used
This Global Big Day fundraiser will fund travel scholarships for Caribbean students and wildlife professionals to attend our upcoming International Conference, 18th – 22nd July, 2024, in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. These are dedicated persons who are on the ground, doing the working everyday to secure a future for birds and their habitats. Attending the conference is an invaluable opportunity for them to 1) build upon or gain new skills to address threats to bird conservation on their respective islands, and 2) network with the wider conservation community, share their work, and learn from others. For Caribbean students, this experience will help to kickstart their introduction into the ornithological and conservation community and they will benefit from mentorship opportunities.
Puerto Rican conservationist, Laura Fidalgo, presenting on her research on the post hurricane habitat structure of the Elfin Woods Warbler, at the BirdsCaribbean Conference in Guadeloupe.
Workshop Facilitator, Elijah Sands, from the Bahamas National Trust, uses videos from his portfolio to explain key concepts to the group. (Photo by Tahira Carter)
Participants in the Landbird Monitoring Workshop engage in classroom sessions before going out into the field. (Photo by Holly Garrod)
Gabriel Diaz speaks about her work to protect the Critically Endangered Ridgway’s Hawk in the Dominican Republic.
Participants in the Raptors of the Caribbean Workshop show off their bird of prey, a Secretary Bird, made from recycled materials. (Photo by Tahira Carter)
One group plans the activity they will teach to the rest of the workshop participants. (Photo by Gabriela Diaz)
BirdSleuth Caribbean Workshop group photo.
Participants sketch birds at the BirdSleuth workshop. (Photo by Lisa Sorenson)
Bahamian conservationist, Dr Ancilleno Davis, explains how he converted eBird data into a dubstep track using analytical computer programmes R and Python, at the BirdsCaribbean Conference in Guadeloupe.
Our plan is to raise funds to help cover travel costs that will allow deserving participants to attend—including covering registration, airfare and/or hotel costs as necessary.
As with everything in the Caribbean, we will be successful when our whole community pitches in, so let’s do it together! We need your help to do this!
