Do you study seabirds as a student, scientist, or independent researcher? Do you manage nesting islands or work in a seabird colony? Do you teach environmental education about seabirds or lead birdwatching groups? Are you a project director, a volunteer, a retiree active in seabird conservation? If so, we want to hear from you!

You can help BirdsCaribbean’s Seabirds Working Group (SWG) by letting us know who you are, what you do, where your activities take place, and/or how the SWG can help you. Just fill out our survey here! (Spanish and French versions are available below.)

Note: We recognize that most seabird work will likely be affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, and we understand that your activities this year will be very different from any other year: when filling out the survey, just let us know what you would have done in a ‘normal’ year. Most importantly, we hope that everyone is safe.

Why seabirds?

Seabirds are among the most threatened groups of birds globally. The twenty-three species of seabirds that breed in the Caribbean and Bermuda are all under threat, with some having experienced dramatic declines in recent years. Many of these species have meta-populations, thus understanding their regional population trends and ecology is especially important. To conserve Caribbean seabirds efficiently, we must work together on multiple fronts to understand, promote, manage and protect this important group.

Why a Seabirds Working Group?

Since 1999, the BirdsCaribbean Seabirds Working Group (SWG) has been working to bring people who are studying and/or conserving seabirds together to promote seabird research and conservation. Its purpose is to:

• Bring together those working on, and interested in, seabirds within the Caribbean
• Provide a forum within which to share information amongst the community on (past, present and future) research, monitoring, and management activities in the Caribbean relevant to seabird conservation
• Seek new avenues to extend seabird conservation activities within the Caribbean and support those already working towards achieving this goal!

During the last 20 years, we have seen a great increase in appreciation for the plight of Caribbean seabirds, and launched several research and conservation efforts. However, much remains to be done. Now more than ever, we need to keep working together for seabirds.

What’s happening with the Seabirds WG?

After many years as co-chair of the group, Will Mackin took a step back and, in 2020, Yvan Satgé and Rhiannon Austin joined Ann Sutton as co-chairs of the group. Their interest and enthusiasm promise to revitalize the group.

How can the Seabirds WG serve you better?

In order to strengthen our joint seabird efforts, we must first bring the group more closely together. Therefore, we are reaching out to seabird professionals who are working in the Caribbean, to find out who you are, where you work, and how the SWG can help. Please fill in our online questionnaire. This will help us to help you in your work. Also, please feel free to share the questionnaire with your colleagues and encourage them to fill it out.

Here are the links to the online questionnaires

• English version: https://forms.gle/J11E84mqm8KVYqL6A
• Spanish version: https://forms.gle/96M2DJUUL245jtdy6
• French version: https://forms.gle/S4QBc8qQbSrUz1JW8

Working together we can do more to save our seabirds!

We look forward to hearing from you,

Ann Haynes-Sutton, Rhiannon Austin and Yvan Satgé (Co-chairs, BirdsCaribbean Seabirds Working Group).