For as long as we have been here, human activity has fundamentally altered our environment. In this blog, forensic scientist and ornithologist, Dr Jessica Oswald, and archaeologist and curator, Dr Michelle LeFebvre, discuss their latest research into changes in parrot diversity after human arrival to the Caribbean. Their study analyzed ancient DNA from fossils and archaeological specimens to show how even cultures and peoples that are largely lost, have shaped the diversity and distributions of species, and changed ecosystems.
Dr LeFebvre elaborates, “As we enter what many are calling the “Age of Humans” (or the Anthropocene), it is more and more apparent that conservation must consider how species can survive in a human-dominated world. In the Caribbean, parrot conservation is exemplary of this need! This study provides a long-term blueprint, or baseline, of past human impacts on parrots from which to think about the future of extant parrot species distribution, vulnerability to loss, and hopefully persistence across Caribbean landscapes increasingly impacted by people.” Dr Oswald adds, “Only through deep time perspectives of diversity with paleontological (pre-human), archaeological (human associated) and modern samples from museum specimens, can we begin to reveal the complexity of our role in shaping our natural world.”
Co-authors Michelle LeFebvre (left) and Jessica Oswald (middle), pictured with graduate student Cristina Oliveira (right), combined DNA from modern museum specimens with ancient DNA from fossils and archaeological specimens to find out how humans altered the distribution of parrots. (Photo by Kristen Grace/Florida Museum)
Understanding the long-term impact of humans on biodiversity is critical for sound conservation. Parrots are one of the most enigmatic and beloved animals worldwide. For thousands of years, they have been valued as pets, for their feathers, and as a source of food. They are also among some of the most endangered birds today as they face extinction due to habitat loss and the pet trade. Parrot conservation efforts include reintroduction to places previously occupied by parrots and breeding programs. However, knowing the natural (pre- human) distributions of parrots is nearly impossible with modern day distributions because of thousands of years of trade and habitat loss. The conservation of parrot species thus greatly benefits from knowledge about past parrot diversity and distributions prior to encountering people for the first time. We can obtain this information through fossils and bones from paleontological (pre-human) and archaeological (human associated) sites.
Humans have been altering the natural world for longer than we thought
The Caribbean is a well-known biodiversity hotspot. Yet, the region has lost more than half of its native parrot diversity since the arrival of humans around 6,000 years ago, including macaws, parakeets, and even a tiny sparrow-sized parrot called a parrotlet that once inhabited the islands. Today, there are only 12 remaining parrots native to the Caribbean, which compete for space and resources with 12 non-native parrot species that have been recently introduced to the islands. Fossil and archaeological records and historical documents, all suggest that the remaining species were once far more abundant than they are today. For example, while exploring The Bahamas over 500 years ago, Columbus wrote that flocks of parrots were so abundant that they “obscure[d] the sun.”
All species of Amazona parrots are in decline and their pre-human, native distributions are not well understood. Through our work recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, we aimed to understand how diversity and distribution of Amazona parrots changed before and after humans arrived in the Caribbean. Our primary focus was on the Cuban Parrot (A. leucocephala) and the Hispaniolan Parrot (A. ventralis), which have excellent archaeological and paleontological records. These records allowed us to reconstruct historical distributions and diversity over ~10,000 years—a period called the Holocene—through the ancient DNA found in these remains. Through this effort we also investigated the genetic relationships of living or recently lost (in the 20th century) Cuban Parrot populations and the relationships of all Amazona species using modern specimens curated in natural history museum collections. We combined this molecular data with carbon dating and evolutionary analysis to produce a comprehensive baseline of Caribbean parrot diversity through time.
DNA from Hispaniolan Parrot Amazona ventralis (top) and Cuban Parrot A. leucocephala (middle) specimens, and their bones (bottom) were sampled for this project. The left two (humeri) bones are from fossil sites while the rightmost is from a modern specimen. (Photo by Kristen Grace/Florida Museum)
The endemic Hispaniolan Parrot was once native . . . to The Bahamas!
In our study, we found that Caribbean parrots were much more diverse earlier in the Holocene and prior to human arrival to the region. Parrot extinctions started upon the arrival of Indigenous peoples ~6,000 years ago, accelerated through colonization by European settlers at the end of the 15th century, and they continue today. Within Amazona parrots, we found evidence that a population of Cuban Parrots in the Turks and Caicos was genetically distinct and is now extinct. The Hispaniolan Parrot, now endemic to Hispaniola, was once also native to The Bahamas prior to human settlement. Our results also suggest that the Hispaniolan Parrot was transported to islands beyond their native ranges, including Montserrat in the Lesser Antilles. From the perspective of Caribbean parrot conservation, our results suggest that many species have been lost due to human impacts and there is evidence of long-term human introductions of species beyond their native ranges.
Hispaniolan Parrot eating. (Photo by Dax Roman)
The findings from our study provide the most detailed view of Caribbean parrot diversity and distribution across the Holocene and show that the shifts in parrot diversity and distributions were strongly influenced by people across millennia. The results clarify that notions about whether a species is native or restricted to a region or island requires data across long time scales, rather than relying purely on the lens of the present. Deep-time historical sciences and perspectives are key to conservation as we navigate biodiversity loss and conservation in the present and future.
Pair of Cuban Parrots. (Photo by Ger Bosma)
Jessica A. Oswald is a Michigan native who earned her PhD from the University of Florida. She has spent her career building a research program that uses a variety of data, like fossils and genomic data, to understand the diversity and distributions of birds. Her hope is that these data can be used for conservation applications and will provide insight into the importance of paleontological data in biogeographic, phylogenetic, and ecological studies.
Michelle J. LeFebvre is an archaeologist and a curator of archaeology at the Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida. With a focus on how interactions between people and animals in the past have impacted animal diversity and distribution in the present, she collaborates with paleontologists, biologists, Indigenous peoples, and local resource managers to support the conservation of biological and cultural diversity in the Anthropocene. Her passion lies in exploring the ways in which human culture and nature are linked and shape the world around us.
We are delighted to inform you that we have partnered with The Cornell Lab of Ornithology to provide free access to Birds of the World to anyone within the Caribbean islands!* Just login to your existing eBird/Cornell account, or create a new eBird/Cornell accountto access Birds of the World for free!
BirdsCaribbean members outside the Caribbean can receive a 25% discount on a personal subscription plan, using the coupon code BC25 (current paid-up BC members have free access through the end of 2023). The Cornell Lab of Ornithology also provides complimentary access to certain user groups under their Birds of the World Digital Access Scholarship. If you fit into any of the categories, be sure to reach out to them.
Every Bird has a Story
Birds of the World (BOW) is the largest online ornithology resource with comprehensive life history information on 10,906 species and 249 families of the world’s birds. BOW brings together scholarly content from four celebrated works of ornithology, including Birds of North America, Neotropical Birds,The Handbook of Birds of the World, Neotropical Birds, and the Internet Bird Collection (IBC), among others, to provide an in-depth scholarly account for every species. With the integration of millions of bird observations from eBird and stunning images from the Macaulay Library, BOW is the most powerful ornithological resource ever created. It’s a single platform where biologists, birders, and anyone with an interest in birds can explore comprehensive life history information on birds.
Content includes topics such as identification, plumages and molt, taxonomy, distribution, habitat, diet, behavior, breeding, movement, conservation and management, and more. All species accounts have range maps and a growing number have “intelligent maps”—science-based abundance maps and animated migration maps (created from eBird data). Magnificent colour plates from many of the world’s top illustrators are backed up by the massive Macaulay Library resource – a media asset of photographs, video and audio recording. Every species displays its IUCN conservation status and additional ornithological notes as appropriate. The common species names are even available in more than 50 languages!
And here’s a neat feature – because it is linked to eBird, when you are logged into Birds of the World each species account shows a blue badge indicating whether or not you’ve seen, photographed, or taken audio recordings of the bird. If you’re not yet an eBird user, now is a perfect time to sign up and start using this wonderful app to find birds, keep track of the birds, and contribute to science! And if you’re in the Caribbean be sure to use our special eBird Caribbean portal.
Since all of the information has been vetted and can be accessed from a single platform, you will save time spent on endlessly searching and comparing facts across different websites and other sources, reduce costs associated with research (citations are listed and linked to publications where available!), correctly identify birds and improve your birding skills, master bird taxonomy, or keep up with the latest bird news, webinars and research through the exciting science news blog.
One overriding feature of the resource is that it will be constantly revised by ornithologists to include the latest taxonomic revisions and latest information about each species.
Access in the Caribbean is enabled by the efforts of a large number of expert birdwatchers and ornithologists across the region who work with BirdsCaribbean to write, update, and curate Caribbean species accounts. The list of active accounts will continue to be updated as more articles are written, so make sure to check this space regularly for our Caribbean Birds!
In exchange for free access to all Caribbean birders, we have agreed to adopt and update a set of the Caribbean species each year. So would you like to contribute to Birds of the World? BOW is keen to use species experts to help author the species accounts. If you are interested in helping or would like to learn more, contact: Caroline Pott, BirdsCaribbean’s Birds of the World Coordinator, and Stefan Gleissberg, Managing Editor of the Journal of Caribbean Ornithology. Thanks to all for your contributions!
*Included locations are: Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Bermuda, Caribbean Netherlands, Cayman Islands, Cuba, Curaçao, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Haiti, Jamaica, Martinique, Montserrat, Puerto Rico, Saint Barthélemy, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Martin (French part), Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Sint Maarten, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, British Virgin Islands, and U.S. Virgin Islands.
Anyone in this area currently subscribed to Birds of the World, who now wants free access, should actively cancel their subscription in order to avoid future charges. Go here to do this.
Join or renew your membership with BirdsCaribbean!
If you’re not a current member, we encourage you to join BirdsCaribbean or renew your membership today! Membership benefits include discounts on our meetings, programs, and materials; the opportunity to meet and network with scientists, birders, educators, and conservationists across the region; and the satisfaction of knowing that you are helping in our urgent fight to save habitats from destruction and birds from extinction. Your membership also supports the Journal of Caribbean Ornithology, an open access, peer-reviewed journal covering all aspects of ornithology within the Caribbean region. Any questions about your membership, contact Delores Kellman, Administrative Assistant, BirdsCaribbean.
Current paid-up BC members outside the Caribbean have free access through the end of 2023. New and renewing BirdsCaribbean members outside the Caribbean can receive a 25% discount on a personal subscription plan, using the coupon code BC25 (those within the Caribbean have free access).
Your membership helps our efforts to raise awareness, train and mentor conservation professionals, support research and monitoring, and engage people in citizen science and conservation actions. We look forward to welcoming new members as well as welcoming back lapsed members!
Colorful and friendly, the Cuban Tody is one of Cuba’s most beloved endemic birds. (photo by Aslam Ibrahim)
Join BirdsCaribbean, the Caribbean Birding Trail and talented Cuban bird guide, Tania Piñeiro, on the adventure of a lifetime in January or March of 2024!
Cuba is well-known for its amazing landscapes, vibrant culture and unique biodiversity. According to the new Annotated Checklist of the Birds of Cuba: 2023 Edition (and recent research), 404 birds have been recorded in Cuba, including 28 which are endemic to the island, 20 that are endemic to the West Indies, and 21 which are considered globally threatened. Due to its large land area and geographical position within the Caribbean, Cuba is also extraordinarily important for Neotropical migratory birds—more than 180 species pass through during migration or spend the winter on the island.
Our itinerary takes you to several of the best and most beautiful birding locations in Cuba, providing opportunities to see many of Cuba’s endemic species and subspecies as well as many West Indian endemics and migrants. Along the way, we will meet people in local communities, stay in Bed & Breakfast establishments (casas particulares) and eat in private restaurants (paladars), allowing you to experience Cuba’s rich culture, delicious food, friendly people, and generous hospitality. We will also have the opportunity to meet and have discussions with local ornithologists and conservationists that have been working with BirdsCaribbean for many years.
https://youtu.be/3p7DZmHxuKA?si=FsV3XNco_vWQ-kwv
BirdsCaribbean is offering two tours in 2024: a 9-day trip in January and a 12-day trip in March.
Find detailed itineraries for our 2024 trips below!Traveling with us helps Caribbean birds as a portion of the proceeds from the trip supports our bird conservation programs and partners in Cuba and the Caribbean. See some of the world’s most beautiful and memorable birds, knowing that you are helping ensure their welfare by supporting the people who study and protect them.
Read testimonials and see photos from past trips in the gallery below. Purchase the Endemic Birds of Cuba Field Guide here. See our eBird trip report from our March 2023 trip here. Check out the report and photos from our January 2016 trip here and from our July 2017 trip to Havana and Zapata Swamp here. Read more
Front and back covers of Birds of the National Botanic Garden of Cuba. The Cuban Green Woodpecker, on the front cover, is the only representative of the Cuban endemic genera living in the garden.
At almost 500 hectares, the National Botanical Garden of Cuba offers a green oasis to birds, other wildlife, and people, in the capital city of Havana. It is well known for its extensive collection of palm trees, ethno-botanical displays, greenhouses, and serene Japanese Garden. From November to February it is an ideal place to see migratory birds, while some of Cuba’s iconic endemic and native birds can be seen year-round.
The new field guide “Birds of the National Botanical Garden of Cuba” (Aves del Jardín Botánico Nacional de Cuba) is the most comprehensive, authoritative, and up-to-date work of its kind. We speak with the dedicated authors Dr. Martin Acosta, Dr. Lourdes Mugica, and MSc. Karen Aguilar, about the field guide. They share the extensive research that went into its creation, how the team persevered through numerous setbacks, their surprising finds and fond memories at the garden, and advice for aspiring field guide authors.
What inspired you to create a field guide to Birds of the National Botanical Garden of Cuba?
It is a long love story between our group and the birds of the National Botanical Garden. In 1982, Dr. Martin Acosta began tutoring an undergraduate’s thesis on the garden’s birds. Since then, he realized that, with its almost 500 hectares and varied vegetation, it was a privileged place, despite the fact that at that time less than 40 species were detected. From there we carried out and published several studies on the ecology of the species that inhabited the different areas that make up the garden.
Cover of the first field guide to the Birds of the National Botanical Garden of Cuba, published in 1990.
Later, in 1990, we published a short rustic guide to identify the 41 birds we had recorded at the garden. As we had no camera or way to obtain the illustrations, Dr. Vicente Berovides, Professor at the University of Havana, drew each of the birds by hand with pencil. Incredibly, his drawings were good enough to identify the birds! That simple guide sold out quickly, so very early we could appreciate that the public was eager to get this kind of information.
From the year 1990, the well-known Special Period arrived in Cuba, with a deep economic crisis that did not allow us to travel to the field and investigate the waterfowl of the rice fields and natural wetlands that were the main focus of our research in that period. That fact resulted in all our energy and time being focused on the birds of the garden, where we traveled by bicycle from before dawn to monitor their bird populations and assemblages, to do several ecological studies, and to assist our students in their undergraduate theses.
Over time our knowledge of the place and commitment to sharing our results were increasing. Both Martin and Lourdes thought that we were going to retire without fulfilling the dream of having a book for the general public. At the time we did not have any funds to guarantee writing, editing, design, and printing. Even without the funds, but with all the accumulated knowledge of more than 30 years, in 2019 we got the final push when Dr. Banessa Falcón, Director of Teaching and Research of the National Botanical Garden, insisted on the importance of achieving this book. Karen joined the authors to contribute voluntarily with the design, photography, and anything else that was needed.
Similarly, Neyda Izquierdo, winner of the National Publishing Award in Cuba, edited the book free of charge. Additionally, Dr. Banessa Falcón, supported us in working on the book from its inception and was our scientific editor for the botanical topics.
Karen and Lourdes traveled by bike to the garden almost every day until the book was completed.
In this way, we managed to assemble a fantastic team, with whom the work became a constant exchange of ideas between wonderful people, who dedicated many hours to ensure the quality of the text in the pandemic times. In the end, it was a collective work, full of love, commitment, science, and fun!
Today, within 55 years, the garden has an assemblage of birds that has tripled in diversity in response to the vegetation development. So far 128 species, (three of them after publishing the book) have been registered, so this group of vertebrates is among its greatest attractions.
Undoubtedly, this was the great moment to bring to light the work that seemed to be just a dream for so long. Our research shows the importance that a well-managed anthropogenic (man-made) site can have for the conservation of birds. In addition, we hope that this field guide may be a useful model to other botanical gardens in Cuba and the world.
How is this field guide different from other Cuban bird guides?
It differs in several aspects:
It is the first Cuban bird guide made entirely with photographs of birds; the guides that currently exist in Cuba are based on illustrations.
The biggest difference is that it includes closeup images of the heads of most bird species (85%), which allow you to appreciate important details that are not visible in general photos or drawings.
In Chapter Four of the field guide, each family has a general picture with the main characteristics of the family and then, all the species within the family are presented. Each species has between two to six pictures; icons and text complete the descriptions.
It is the first guide that dedicates a chapter to the interdependence between the development of plant communities and the assemblages of birds that use them, in addition to revealing different aspects of the ecology of some notable populations. The guide also includes a chapter that encourages bird watching in Cuban society and offers strategies for its development.
In Chapter Three, the authors promote birdwatching and give advice on how to attract birds to your garden. In this page several vegetation structures are highlighted because of the impact they may have on birds and the resources they can offer.
It is a field guide based on the original scientific results obtained by the authors from more than 30 years of research, not on a bibliographic compilation, and it includes a chapter where many of these results are shared.
In Chapter Two, the published ecological results collected by the authors for over 30 years at the garden are presented.
The incorporation of informational boxes within the text of the general chapters is also new in Cuban bird guides. They offer a deeper understanding of the scientific elements, and were obtained by the authors in this botanical garden.
The book focuses on an ex situ conservation institution, dedicated primarily to the conservation of plants, which now joins a small group of botanical gardens around the world that have their own bird guide.
In the Field Guide chapter, 125 species are presented with 473 photos. Although the authors provided 70% of the pictures, the rest are from the selfless collaboration of 52 Cuban and foreign photographers, so this guide is a result of solidarity for the good of conservation.
Soon after the guide was published, we received a national award from the Cuban Book Institute (First Prize for Technical Scientific Criticism 2022) and the Prize for Best Scientific Book of Natural Sciences from the University of Havana. It is the first Cuban bird guide to achieve these recognitions within the country.
Tell us about your team of authors—how did each contribute?
Taking photos of moving subjects is not easy but Karen persevered.
Martin and Lourdes had the general idea of writing a bird guide since 1990, when we first published a much simpler version. Both of us contributed with our long experience, field data, and results from published studies. We wrote most of the text, and did the exhaustive revision of each version. Martin also contributed numerous photographs that are used in the field guide.
But it was Karen who designed the book and supplied most of the photos. She spent many hours doing fieldwork during the book’s development, and processed the images for the guide. She also wrote some informational boxes.
The three authors worked closely and intensively during the two and a half years it took to complete the book. We also actively participated in the final revision of the text, together with the general and scientific editors.
How much research did you need to do for this field guide?
That’s a good question, because we never worked to make a field guide, we worked to contribute to the knowledge of the natural history of the birds that live in the garden, and the more we learned, the more questions arose. So we carried out research on reproduction, territoriality, feeding, seed dispersal, and composition and structure of the assembly of birds associated with some types of vegetation. The findings have all been very useful in writing the book.
The birds used the water from the garden to maintain their feathers and meet daily demands, as well as the annual molting behavior in different bird species.
After extensive research, the authors found that the garden can meet the birds’ diverse needs: food, shelter and security.
What we can say is that it is not enough to know the list of birds that have been recorded in a site. It takes years of observations, and countless hours of fieldwork, to study essential aspects of the ecology of the species of birds that live there to contribute to their knowledge more effectively.
Martin closing a mist net at the garden. Mist netting is an essential tool for species inventory, provides useful indices of relative abundance, and can be used to track temporal trends in abundance.
What part of creating this field guide—writing, photographing, designing and editing—did you have the hardest time with or find most challenging?
Photography and design were the biggest challenges of this book. Photography, because we set out to create a guide based entirely on photos, and getting good-quality photos of 125 species, many of which are rare or difficult to photograph because of their behavior, such as aerial insectivores, was really a major challenge. At the end all species have photos and each species identification page has between 2 to 6 photos.
Martin and Karen taking photos in the garden.
Martin and Karen talk about camera models and techniques to get the best photos.
The design was challenging because it was Karen’s first design job, so taking on that task involved long hours of intense work. Both challenges were successfully overcome.
In general, it was challenging to achieve our goal that both the writing and the design were attractive to a very wide audience, including children, young people, adults, birdwatchers, and specialists in the subject.
What helped you to stay focused on such a large project?
First of all, the love of birds. Knowing that a book like this can have a great impact on Cubans and contribute to bird conservation also motivated us. Little by little, we realized that the garden can contribute a lot to local knowledge and the appreciation of birds, helping people to value not only their beauty, but also all the ecological services they provide.
Secondly, it is not easy to visit our protected areas because they are located in isolated areas that are difficult to access and transportation is scarce. However, the National Botanical Garden is situated close to Havana (only about 30 km or 18 miles) and can be easily visited by the population of the city.
Finally the teamwork, which was fabulous and exhilarating. It kept us together and working hard from start to finish. Every photo achieved, every chapter completed, every species completed, was an achievement we thoroughly enjoyed and it kept us excited to reach the next goal.
What was one of the most surprising things you learned while creating this field guide?
We learned important things related both to the birds, as well as to perseverance and the strength we have to achieve our goals.
As for the birds, we were impressed by the beauty and complexity of the birds’ heads—the close-up photos highlighted details that are not captured with binoculars or full-body photography.
Another thing that surprised us was the important role played by the Red Silk Cotton Tree (Bombax ceiba) in the early months of the year, when very few plants bloom in the garden. In January and February, this tree is covered with beautiful red flowers and numerous birds are attracted to them, but not only in search of insects, nectar and pollen. The most surprising thing is that the flowers accumulate a lot of water, and the birds use them as natural sources, to quench their thirst, in these months of intense dryness.
At the top of the left-hand page you can see a Yellow-faced Grassquit looking for water in a Red Silk Cotton tree flower; at the bottom, in the same tree, a Cuban Blackbird looks for water or insects in the flowers.
For Martin and Lourdes, it was not difficult to write the text, they knew the site and the birds well and already had the experience of working on other books. But for Karen the challenge was immense, she did not know about design, nor photography, nor was she able to recognize the bird species. All this knowledge was necessary to complete the book.
That involved numerous hours of self-study to learn how to work CorelDraw, Photoshop, and InDesign programs. So Karen took photography courses, studied the content of the main bird guides that have been published in America, and learned the particular style of providing the information in the field guides. At the same time, she made frequent visits to the field to take photographs, and learn to recognize the birds, and she kept working on the book every single day during those years.
Any fun stories to share during the process of writing, photographing, design, and editing?
There were many stories. At first Karen said she wanted the guide to be with photos, so that it would bring something different from other Cuban guides. When she tried to take her first photos, a mockingbird and a sparrow, after much effort, she did not achieve anything with her lens—at that moment she realized that the road was going to be long, difficult, and that she had a lot to learn.
I remember when we went to the zoo to take close-up pictures of the herons. They were asleep with their heads lowered and eyes closed. Yelling at them was the only way to wake them up. We shouted wildly and the moment they woke up Karen took the photo very fast. People passing by looked at us as we were screaming at the herons and by the looks on their faces, they thought we were crazy. We really laughed a lot.
Another day, Karen went alone on a motorcycle to the garden to take photos. When entering the garden, she saw a group of puppies crossing the fence and stopped the motorcycle to play with them. But the puppies ran after her which gave her a good scare. She had to run so they wouldn’t bite her.
How long did it take to complete the field guide?
We started in June 2019, the book was ready to print in January 2022. During Covid we had an interruption of about six months in which we were totally isolated without communication, (not all in the team had a good cellular phone to use the internet), and without the possibility to visit each other as we were not able to meet. So we would say that it took approximately two intense years to complete the book.
When the lockdown restrictions were lifted, we established a method of working that allowed us to advance relatively quickly, because at the same time that we were advancing in the text, we worked on the design. We made constant visits to the garden, looking for photographs that helped us explain the text, and with those visits we were constantly updating the information.
In fact, up to 2019, when we started working, 105 species had been registered; in 2022 that number had already risen to 125.
How did you celebrate when the field guide was completed?
The five of us, three authors and two editors, were so happy, we could not believe that we had finished the book. When we saw the first print proof the emotion was immense! We celebrated it by spending time together and sharing each of our experiences.
How many endemic birds live in the garden?
Of the 27 living endemic species in Cuba, 10 are found in the garden; and also 12 of the 20 species reported as endemic for the West Indies—making a total of 22 species in this category.
In the book we report on nine Cuban endemics, but recently the Cuban Trogon was recorded for the first time at the garden!
What is one of your fondest memories of birding in the Botanical Garden?
Every time we visit the garden we enjoy it so much and we learn something new about the behavior of the birds so it is difficult to say. For example, seeing the sunrise and the awakening of the birds, seeing for the first time the Cuban Tody, a typical bird of our well-preserved forests, seemed incredible to us, and recently, we just observed the Cuban Trogon for the first time!
The national bird of Cuba- the Cuban Trogon. (Photo by Rafy Rodriguez)
I remember one time when it started to rain, and we had to place the camera under the umbrella to take the photos. That day we registered two new species and got several quality photos for the book, it was unforgettable!
Recording a new species and getting a quality photo that we needed, of a bird doing an activity that we mentioned in the text, was always exciting to us. I can say that the three of us thoroughly enjoyed each visit, which in those last two years amounted to more than 60.
Where in Cuba can someone purchase this field guide?
Right now it is not for sale. We have a small first batch of just 300 printed books and very high demand. The first copies have been used to promote the book and they have been given as a prizes in competitions and festivals, as well as gifted to outstanding nature photographers, decision-makers, and some libraries.
The second printing will be made this year, thanks to a grant from the Betty Peterson Conservation Fund from BirdsCaribbean. We are thinking of selling copies from this second batch at the National Botanical Garden or in the Library of the University of Havana, Alma Mater, in the City of Havana.
How can someone outside of Cuba get their own copy?
We hope to eventually sell the book through BirdsCaribbean’s website.
Do you plan on providing an English translated version of this field guide?
We would love to have an English version and the idea is to seek funding in the future for translation, design, and proofreading.
What would you say to a birder who is thinking of publishing his own field guide?
Keep going, never stop, work hard, visit the site as many times as you can, and record species, behaviors, dates and places. When you gather enough information, find a good team and work together. A good field guide is a collective work, which can help birds and people.
We have always lived in a poor country under a strong blockade, with few resources, little transportation, lots of communication problems, and high migration of young personnel. If we could succeed, then anyone who proposes a project like this and puts in the effort, perseverance, and love will succeed too.
Our small Caribbean countries need to know their natural heritage, and be aware first of what we have, so that later they become aware of the responsibility of each one in taking care of it. We all can contribute in some way to conservation. Books like this are the first step to take—knowledge brings appreciation, appreciation is an important step for conservation.
You can, you should.
The three authors of the book, from left to right, Karen Aguilar Mugica, MSc in Geography, Martin Acosta Cruz PhD. and Lourdes Mugica Valdés PhD, both ornithologists from the Bird Ecology Group of the University of Havana. Karen has been a volunteer with the group for several years.
Drs. Lourdes Mugica Valdés and Martin Acosta Cruz are Professors at the University of Havana’s Faculty of Biology in Cuba. They teach both formal ecology courses and in the faculty’s research and environmental education programs. They, along with Karen Aguilar Mugica, are members of the University of Havana’s award-winning Bird Ecology Group (BEG). The BEG is widely recognised for its contribution to our knowledge of Cuban waterbird ecology. They are, moreover, long-standing members and friends of BirdsCaribbean.
The former Antillean Euphonia has been split into three new Euphonia species! (Photo by Bobby Wilcox-ML532706381)
Get out your binoculars and plan a Caribbean birding adventure because we’ve got five new species of birds for you!
The American Ornithological Society has just announced their 64th Supplement to the Checklist of North American Birds. Every year, ornithologists and birders alike eagerly peruse their current bird lists and wait for the announcement of new bird species! Usually, these new species don’t arise from a remote jungle expedition, but by re-examining the differences and similarities within our current species lists.
Species can either be “lumped” or “split.” Lumps occur when two similar species are lumped back together and considered one species again. This is usually the case for very similar birds that have overlapping ranges. “Splits” are when one species is divided into two or more different species. These splits usually include birds that may look alike but evidence suggests have diverged sufficiently that their populations would no longer interbreed.
We are very excited to welcome these new bird species to the Caribbean—bringing us now to a total of 180 endemic bird species. Our Caribbean birding hotspot just got even hotter, giving you all the more reason to plan your next Caribbean birding adventure!
The joys of isolation…
Within the Caribbean, we have many species that occur across multiple islands, but don’t island hop–making these isolated populations. Over time, as these bird populations continue to breed in isolation from one another, they can develop differences, and even evolve into distinct species! By reviewing evidence, including genetics, morphology, plumage, vocalizations, and behaviors; ornithologists can determine if the populations are in fact distinct enough to be considered different species.
This year we are very excited to announce that we have five new species for the Caribbean! These species all fall under the category of splits (there were 4), meaning they were formerly considered one species and are now considered two or more! Let’s review the newest members of the flock.
*Drum roll*…welcoming five new Caribbean species!
Grand Cayman Bullfinch and Cuban Bullfinch
Let’s give a warm welcome to a new bullfinch species in the Caribbean, the Grand Cayman Bullfinch (Melopyrrha taylori)! This species was split from the Cuban Bullfinch(Melopyrrha nigra) due to vocal and morphological differences. The Cuban Bullfinch can now proudly boast that it is a true Cuban endemic, and the Grand Cayman islands have their second endemic bird species. Interestingly, the research supporting the split came from a birdwatcher’s observations of song differences between birds on Cuba and Grand Cayman! This show the value of citizen scientist birders being observant and uploading their information to apps like eBird (sightings, photos, and recordings of songs and calls).
Cuban Bullfinch, female. Females and juveniles are duller black and have a less prominent wing patch (Photo by Mario Olteanu)
Grand Cayman Bullfinch, female. Her color is dull slate-black tinged with olive. (Photo by Ray Robles)
The male Cuban Bullfinch is glossy black with white wing patches. It’s bill is a little smaller than the Grand Cayman Bullfinch. (Photo by Greg Lavaty)
The male Grand Cayman Bullfinch is black with a greenish gloss and has white wing patches on shoulders; its bill is slightly larger and heavier than the Cuban Bullfinch. (Photo by Aaron-Boone, ML151327701)
Hispaniolan Nightjar and Cuban Nightjar
Let’s give a warm welcome to two new species of nightjar! The bird formerly known as the Greater Antillean Nightjar (Antrostomus cubanensis) has now been split into the Hispaniolan Nightjar(Antrostomus ekmani) and Cuban Nightjar (Antrostomus cubanensis), based on convincing vocal differences between the two populations. The Hispaniolan Nightjar is found in the western third of the Dominican Republic and the western part of the Tiburon Peninsula of Haiti. The Cuban Nightjar is found throughout the island of Cuba.
Hispaniolan Nightjar. (Photo by Dax Román)
Cuban Nightjar. (Photo by Greg Griffith, ML204321841)
Listen to the difference in the songs of the Hispaniolan Nightjar and Cuban Nightjar!
From one to three new Euphonias! Puerto Rican, Hispaniolan, and Lesser Antillean
Let’s give a warm welcome to not two but three new Euphonia species! The former Antillean Euphonia (Chlorophonia musica) has now been differentiated as the Puerto Rican Euphonia (Chlorophonia sclateri), the Hispaniolan Euphonia (Chlorophonia musica), and the Lesser Antillean Euphonia (Chlorophonia flavifrons). This long awaited split is based on considerable plumage differences between the three new species.
Males of the Hispaniolan Euphonia and Puerto Rican Euphonia have a turquoise blue crown and nape, blackish-violet face, back and wings, a small band of tawny-yellow to orange on the forehead. However, the male Puerto Rican Euphonia boasts a sunny yellow throat, underside, and rump, while the male Hispaniolan Euphonia has a dark blue throat and orange underside and rump. The male Lesser Antillean Euphonia has an olive-green body, sky-blue crown and nape, and yellow forehead; his plumage is fairly similar to the females of all three species but he is a little brighter.
The females of all three species are lighter overall, with yellow-greenish body and wings, turquoise crown and nape, and the forehead nicely adorned with a spot of gold.
The male Puerto Rican Euphonia has a yellow throat, underside, and rump. (Photo by Alfred Irizarry)
The male Hispaniolan Euphonia has a dark blue throat and an orange underside and rump. (Photo by Joshua Covill, ML548852851)
Female Hispaniolan Euphonia; yellow-greenish body and wings, turqoise cfrown and nape and yellow-orange spot on the forehead. The plumage of females of all three Euphonia species is similar. (Photo by Hemant Kishan)
The male Lesser Antillean Euphonia has an olive-green body, blue head cap, and yellow forehead. (Photo by Anthony Levesque)
Hispaniolan Palm-Crow and Cuban Palm-Crow
Let’s give a warm welcome to two new species of palm crow! The bird formerly known as the Palm Crow (Corvus palmarum) is now recognized as the Hispaniolan Palm-Crow (Corvus palmarum) and the Cuban Palm-Crow (Corvus minutus). The vocalizations between the two are quite distinct, enough that ornithologists can tell the two apart, so it’s likely that the crows can too! They also show genetic and behavioral differences, including a curious tail-flicking behavior exhibited only by the Hispaniolan Palm-Crow!
A Cuban Palm-Crow. (Photo by Arturo Kirkconnell Jr.)
Hispaniolan Palm-Crow. (Photo by Jay McGowan, ML162378241)
Listen to the differences between the calls of the Hispaniolan Palm-Crow and Cuban Palm-Crow.
We are very excited to welcome these new bird species to the Caribbean—bringing us now to a total of 180 endemic bird species. Our Caribbean birding hotspot just got even hotter, giving you all the more reason to plan your next Caribbean birding adventure!
We’re curious: Did you get an “armchair lifer” or two? (i.e., a new bird on your life list without actually having seen a new bird due to splits like this) Which of these new species would you like to see the most? Comment below!
The endangered Whistling Warbler, an endemic bird to St. Vincent in need of more monitoring (Photo by Judd Patterson).
In April 2021, La Soufrière Volcano, on the Caribbean island of St. Vincent, erupted for the first time in 42 years. Explosive eruptions and heavy ash fall devastated ecosystems, leaving many species without homes and unable to forage in the wild. St. Vincent’s wildlife, especially endemic landbird species like the threatened St. Vincent Parrot and endangered Whistling Warbler, faced grave peril. The conservation community swiftly formed an emergency group, raising funds and providing much-needed assistance to the Forestry Department working on-the-ground in St. Vincent.
As St. Vincent’s forest regenerates, there is still work to be done to assess the impact of the volcanic eruptions on wildlife populations. A historic lack of research and funding means that there is limited baseline knowledge about the ecology and population status for most of the forest birds on the island. Thanks to funding from theCritical Ecosystems Partnership Fund (CEPF), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and BirdsCaribbean members, partners and donors, we have launched a project to build capacity and provide the data needed for long-term landbird species protection. Read on for a second update on this vital work to study and conserve St. Vincent’s unique birds!
Human activities are a threat to the landbirds—and then came the volcano…
Landbirds, as their name implies, spend the majority of their lives on land, and include birds like hummingbirds, raptors, doves, flycatchers, and songbirds. They forage and breed in a variety of habitats in the Caribbean, from gardens, parks, open savannas, and cultivated areas, to scrub and many different types of forests at varying elevations. Many habitats have already been lost, and those remaining are constantly threatened by destruction and degradation from land-based development, cutting of trees for charcoal and timber, and also pollution, invasive species, and climate change. These factors mean that landbird populations, already at risk, experienced another blow to their survival with the eruption of La Soufriére in 2021.
Mesopotamia Valley, one of the most cultivated areas on St Vincent. (Photo by Nandani Bridglal)
How are the landbirds doing now? Enter the CLM Network!
Assessing the status and recovery of endangered wildlife populations is now an urgent priority. In collaboration with the St. Vincent Forestry Department and other partners, we launched the “Conservation of the Endangered Whistling Warbler Project” in April 2022 to monitor the Whistling Warbler and other forest birds, build local landbird monitoring capacity, prepare a Conservation Action Plan for the Whistling Warbler, and raise awareness for landbird species. In January 2023, we held a Caribbean Landbird Monitoring Training Workshop to 1) build local capacity to monitor forest birds using standardized protocols, and 2) establish a long-term monitoring program on St Vincent.
This project is held under the banner of the Caribbean Landbird Monitoring (CLM) Network, through which BirdsCaribbean has been building the capacity of Caribbean conservationists to identify and monitor landbirds. Using these data, we can expand our knowledge of how birds use different habitats in space and time, and enable researchers to assess the status and trends of their populations in relation to habitat, climate, and natural and anthropogenic activities and threats.
Post-eruption clean-up exercise in Hermitage, St. Vincent, on April 2, 2021. (Photo by the SVG Forestry Department)
The elusive and endangered Whistling Warbler. (Photo by Mike Akresh)
The Vulnerable St Vincent Parrot. (Photo by Mike Akresh)
Ash plume on April 9th at 4 PM, the first day of eruptions (photo by Richard Robertson, UWI Seismic Research Centre)
Valley on the Leeward side of St. Vincent showing severe damage to trees and vegetation. (photo by Richard Robertson, UWI Seismic Research Centre)
Under the Caribbean Landbird Monitoring (CLM) Network, BirdsCaribbean has been building the capacity of Caribbean conservationists to identify and monitor landbirds using standardized survey protocols. Using these data, we can expand our knowledge of how birds use different habitats in space and time, and enable researchers to assess the status and trends of their populations in relation to habitat and climate variables. The first CLM Training Workshop was held in the Dominican Republic in February 2022, followed by an introductory workshop in Puerto Rico in July 2022 in conjunction with the AOS-BC meeting. For this workshop, we head to another enchanting Caribbean island, this time in the Lesser Antilles.
Landbird Monitoring takes wing in the Lesser Antilles
St. Vincent (St. Vincent and the Grenadines) is brimming with bird life and is home to legendary species found nowhere else in the world like the St. Vincent Parrot, Whistling Warbler, and the Grenada Flycatcher (also endemic to Grenada). Other beautiful regional endemics include the Antillean Crested Hummingbird, Purple-throated Carib, Lesser Antillean Tanager, Lesser Antillean Euphonia, Brown Trembler, and Rufous-throated Solitaire.
The Grenada Flycatcher is a landbird that is endemic to both St Vincent and Grenada. These two were spotted at the Botanical Gardens of St Vincent and the Grenadines. (Mike Akresh)
The workshop’s content and sessions were facilitated by: Jeff Gerbracht and Ingrid Molina (both from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology), Lystra Culzac-Wilson (Science Initiative for Environmental Conservation and Education – SCIENCE), Glenroy Gaymes (Wildlife Unit, St. Vincent and the Grenadines Forestry Department), Dr. Mike Akresh (Antioch University), Dr. Maya Wilson (BirdsCaribbean), and Dr. Lisa Sorenson (BirdsCaribbean).
During the workshop, 24 Caribbean wildlife professionals representing NGOs and government agencies in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, St. Lucia, Montserrat, and Grenada learned how to use the Programa de América Latina para las Aves Silvestres (PROALAS) landbird monitoring protocols. These protocols were originally developed in Latin America to survey birds in tropical habitats. We have adopted the methodology (PROALAS Manual, Caribbean version) for our Caribbean Landbird Monitoring Program and are training our local partners in its use.
Group photo of workshop participants and facilitators at Montreal Gardens, St Vincent. (Photo by Timothy Vaughn)
Bountiful Birds at the Botanical Gardens
Curator’s House at the Botanical Gardens of St Vincent and the Grenadines.
The workshop was held in the Curator’s House at the Botanical Gardens, just outside the capital city of Kingstown. At over 250 years old, it is the oldest botanical garden in the Western Hemisphere, and an important conservation site. This is also the location of the Nicholas Wildlife Aviary Complex, which maintains a captive population of the vulnerable St. Vincent Parrot.
This location was perfect for learning, discovery, and practice. The Botanical Gardens and nearby Anglican Pastoral Centre’s small forest patch support a variety of bird species, allowing participants to quickly step out of the classroom to practice carrying out PROALAS point counts and transect surveys. The lessons entailed estimating distance using both stride lengths and range finders, marking survey areas, and recording count data in the eBird app (Caribbean pack). But perhaps the most intense and highly rewarding process for participants was learning to identify the birds around them.
Landbirds are often small busy birds that perch briefly, usually hidden by leaves, before darting off to another tree. Fortunately, participants were guided by local birding veterans Lystra Culzac (Director of local NGO SCIENCE) and Glenroy Gaymes (Chief Wildlife Officer, St Vincent Forestry Department) for these bird identification sessions. They reiterated the importance of using field marks, with help from the Merlin app and the Birds of the West Indies field guide, as well as songs and calls, to correctly identify the birds they spotted.
Forestry Officers (St Vincent and the Grenadines) conducting transect surveys behind Anglican Pastoral Centre.
Kayroy Baptiste (Union Island Environmental Alliance) entering data into PROALAS survey sheet during transect survey behind Anglican-Pastoral Centre.
Ingrid Molina explaining monitoring methods to participants.
Dr Maya Wilson presenting on the importance of monitoring landbirds.
Practice makes perfect
Following several preparatory sessions, including “Bird ID 101,” “Landbirds of St Vincent and the Grenadines,” and “How to Use Binoculars,” the participants headed out to the Botanical Gardens to practice identifying birds. The group’s concentration and determination were palpable! Those working in small groups whispered to each other about the nuances of colors, bill shapes, tail lengths, and other field marks. Others pointed out the different bird calls, another important means to ID forest birds. Some of the more experienced birders in the group even used the opportunity to take their bird knowledge and identification skills to the next level, mentoring less experienced birders and adding “lifer birds” to their personal lists!
Lystra Culzac-Wilson introduces participants to the landbirds found in St Vincent.
Dr Mike Akresh helping participants identify birds at the Botanical Gardens.
Jeff explaining binocular specs to participants.
Participants practicing using their Vortex binoculars. (Photo by Mike Akresh)
Lystra Culzac-Wilson highlighting the differences among species of doves found in St Vincent.
Lystra and participants practice identifying birds in the Botanical Gardens.
Conquering wild terrain and rough weather to master PROALAS in the field
Botanical gardens and reserves in urban landscapes provide refuge for birds and other wildlife. But realistically, most of our poorly studied and threatened species, including the Whistling Warbler, inhabit rugged forested areas. All of the participants are normally tasked in their jobs with traversing rivers and climbing steep hills—often in unpredictable weather. The workshop’s trajectory naturally shifted from practice to on-the-ground application.
Fieldwork over the next several days began with 5 am wake-up calls to catch the bus to the Vermont Nature Trail or Montreal (part of the Central Mountain Range Forest Reserve). Early risers were rewarded with “gram worthy” views of pristine moist forests and lush undulating ridges. At Vermont Nature Trail we were delighted to see and hear St. Vincent Parrots! Here, on narrow slippery trails with dense vegetation on either side, participants had to rely upon their knowledge of the PROALAS protocols and bird identification by sound to yield the best data for their surveys. Participants displayed sheer professionalism and dedication, working together to improve their skills while braving the less than ideal environmental conditions (yes, we had some downpours!). The team discussed survey methods, assigned tasks, and helped each other with bird identification and equipment use.
Stream along the Vermont Nature Trail. (Photo by Mike Akresh)
Amonie Holas (Gaea Conservation Network) using a rangefinder to calculate distance during the survey on Vermont Nature Trail.
Ansaki Roberts (SVD Forestry Department) marking a point count station with flagging tape on the Vermont Nature Trail.
Participants conducting a point count survey at Vermont Nature Trail. (Photo by Maya-Wilson)
View from the parrot observation deck at Vermont Nature Trail. (Photo by Lisa Sorenson)
Participants identifying and recording birds along the Vermont Nature Trail.
St Vincent Parrot quietly perched on a tree, Vermont Nature Trail. (Photo by Lisa Sorenson)
Briefing before start of surveys at Montreal Gardens.
Participants identifying birds with Lystra Culzac-Wilson at Montreal Gardens.
A Purple-throated Carib sitting in her nest was spotted by Lisa at Montreal Gardens. (Photo by Lisa Sorenson).
On the last day we headed to the dry forest on the leeward side of the island at Zion Hill. Along the way we stopped at Buccament and Layou to survey waterbirds for the annual, regional Caribbean Waterbird Census, which was ongoing at the time. Bird identification reached a crescendo when Jeff set up the spotting scope for everyone to get a closer look at the shorebirds. The most popular among the group was an American Oystercatcher! We were all jumping back in line to catch a second look at this snazzy bird with its carrot-like beak.
Buccament Bay, St Vincent.
Jeanette (St Lucia National Trust) and Aloysius (St Lucia Forestry Department) looking for waterbirds at Buccament Bay.
Identifying waterbirds for CWC2023, St-Vincent. (Photo by Maya Wilson)
The Layou River in St. Vincent is an important freshwater site. (Photo by Lisa Sorenson)
Caribbean Waterbird Survey at Layou Bay. (Photo by Maya Wilson)
American Oystercatcher using its unmistakeable red-orange beak to forage.
And the CLM Network grows
After a non-stop week of birding and learning, participants returned to their home countries to start the next phase—designing and implementing their own landbird monitoring programs, educating their communities about local landbirds, and contributing information to an accessible online Caribbean landbird monitoring database. This mass Caribbean capacity building is ultimately what these workshops are about. This type of training enables participants to develop sustainable and homegrown programs in their own countries, laying the groundwork for a future where our endemics can be known and protected through deeper appreciation, ongoing monitoring, comprehensive Conservation Action Plans and policy interventions.
In particular, we are excited to see the St. Vincent Forestry Department lead their own landbird monitoring programs to understand and conserve the St. Vincent Parrot, Whistling Warbler, and other forest birds. In addition, both Forestry and SCIENCE are raising awareness with children and communities about St Vincent’s special endemic birds and how important it is to protect their forest habitats. Stay tuned for further updates reporting on the results of our monitoring and education programs!
Forestry staff and workshop facilitators during a brainstorming session for a landbird monitoring plan for St Vincent, at Montreal Gardens.
Participants shared how their workshop experience would support their own conservation work:
“I am now able to organize a [landbird] monitoring program for my island and use the eBird app.”
“The workshop deepened my understanding of landbird ecology and how to efficiently monitor these birds.”
“I really appreciated being able to connect with other Caribbean conservationists and build my network.”
“The workshop gave us the tools, equipment and knowledge to collect data about landbirds.”
The workshop “provided me with the necessary skills to properly survey a [bird] population.”
“It has increased my understanding of what should and should not be done when monitoring landbirds.”
Acknowledgements: BirdsCaribbean is grateful to the Critical Ecosystems Partnership Fund (CEPF) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for funding this Caribbean Landbird Monitoring Training Workshop. We also want to express our deepest appreciation to Mr. Fitzgerald Providence and his staff at the St. Vincent Forestry Department for their help and support, and to Vortex Optics for assistance with binoculars for all participants. Special thanks to our workshop trainers and to all of the participants for an incredible workshop. Finally, we thank BirdsCaribbean members, partners, and donors for your support, which made this work possible.
Behind-the-scenes
BirdsCaribbean has years of experience organizing and executing workshops and each one comes with its own unique challenges and opportunities. Here are some of the behind-the-scenes preparations for this CLM Training Workshop.
Getting there
Even though in some cases islands are miles apart, inter-Caribbean travel is rough. Economy flights are expensive between islands because airlines have to pay high taxes at each airport and each airline has fixed flight schedules. This meant some participants had to overnight on another island before flying to St. Vincent or leave St. Vincent a day later. Maya had to be methodical in selecting flights so that everyone got to St. Vincent on time for the start of the workshop. We suggest that Maya add ‘travel agent’ to her CV.
Field Reconnaissance
Workshop facilitators also have to scout for suitable locations for the field sessions. This entails selecting the site, visiting the site, collecting sample data and vetting for safety. During the recon mission at the Anglican Pastoral Centre, our very own member of the Media Working Group, Aliya, slipped and fell down one especially steep part of the trail. Although Glenroy told us “what happens in the forest stays in the forest,” we think it’s too funny not to share. Aliya admits that she is prone to falling but that this event stood out to her because it was “not an abrupt fall I am used to. I slowly slid down the trail and it felt like I was never going to stop!” We hope that Aliya and her legs have since worked out their differences.
Workshop and outreach materials
Flights are expensive and so is shipping to the Caribbean! Every opportunity to meet in-person is an opportunity to share printed materials and equipment. It really would not be a gathering of Caribbean people if suitcases of goods other than clothes were not brought to the event! We used this opportunity to share field guides, binoculars (again, massive thanks to our donors), rolls of flagging tapes, stacks of waterproof notebooks, nest cameras, Endemic Birds of the West Indies coloring books, and stickers.
Rolls of stickers of birds endemic to the Lesser Antilles. Each roll contains 1000 stickers. (Photo by Lisa Sorenson)
Close-up of the Whistling Warbler sticker with the call to “Protect & Love Our Endemic Birds.”
The beautiful stickers were designed by Josmar Esteban Márquez featuring 11 Lesser Antillean gems; Green-throated Carib, Antillean Crested Hummingbird, Bananaquit, Rufous-throated Solitaire, Whistling Warbler, Scaly-breasted Thrasher, Lesser Antillean Tanager, Grenada Flycatcher, Mangrove Cuckoo, and St Vincent Parrot. They were custom-made for use by the various NGOs and government agencies partners during their conservation outreach and education activities at schools and thus bear the name of the bird with a call to “Protect & Love (heart symbol) our endemic birds.”
We underestimated the time it would take to divide and distribute stickers (1000 per roll per species). Since the workshop was coming to an end, we needed all hands-on-deck to cut and package the stickers for each of the NGOs and government agency representatives. Indeed, teamwork makes the dream work! But next time we’ll get a head start.
Workshop facilitators sorting, tearing and packaging stickers for our partners during the workshop.
Stephon and Antwone (Montserrat National Trust) receiving outreach materials from Lisa.
Kristy Shortte (Sustainable Grenadines) receiving outreach materials from Lisa.
Forestry staff receiving outreach materials from Lisa.
Aloysius Charles St. Lucia Forestry Department receiving outreach materials from Lisa.
Ajhermae White Montserrat Department of Environment receiving outreach materials from Lisa.
Kayroy Baptiste and Roxanne Froget (Union-Island Environmental Alliance) receive outreach materials from Lisa.
Children are natural explorers – some of whom are curious about birds. And why wouldn’t they be? Birds come in all colors, shapes and sizes. They sing sweet melodies, give funny chirps and whistles, and even make eerie sounds. But perhaps best of all, like superheroes and fairies, they can fly!
Birdwatching is a great way to nurture children’s innate scientific interests through the study of nature. This is what BirdLife Jamaica set out to achieve with their “Bring A Child Birding” event in May, which coincided with Jamaica’s observation of Child Month and the Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival. Emma Lewis, our Media Working Group Chair and member of BirdLife Jamaica, shared this lively retelling of the young birders’ first experience birdwatching at Hope Gardens, Jamaica.
One small girl found the binoculars weighed her down too much, so her father took them over.
Talking birds: Justin Saunders lends a listening ear to a young birder. (Photo by Stuart Reeves)
Another girl (pre-teen age) was convinced that there were woodpeckers in the clump of bamboo; in fact, bamboo often makes all kinds of knocking and rattling noises when the wind blows. But we did see a real endemic Jamaican Woodpecker, with his blazing red head, a little later.
Male Jamaican Woodpecker. (Photo by Tim Avery- Macaulay Library- ML87028941)
Several Common Moorhens tripped as fast as they could along the pond side to avoid the children’s cries–but were duly admired, anyway.
Hey! Are you taking a photo of us? Adults and children birdwatch by the pond. (Photo by Stuart Reeves)
Two boys, guided by their father (a brilliant bird photographer), were busy counting Greater Antillean Grackles, who were making their usual “cling cling clii-ing” racket in a bush.
Greater Antillean Grackle. (Photo by Rafy Rodriguez)
BirdLife Jamaica’s concept of staging a children’s birding session in Kingston’s beloved Hope Gardens was an absolute winner, straight out of the starting block. Since it was the first attempt, perhaps we could call it a “pilot project.”
The gardens themselves were remarkably busy, with what seemed to be a major picnic going on. Literally hundreds of children were spread across the grass, with the occasional lady and gentleman dressed up in wedding attire, for photo-ops. The noise level was terrific. I was disturbed to see how many cars were allowed in the gardens, however. There is quite a large parking lot. It should be a place to walk (or run).
We gathered in the shadiest spot we could find in the Chinese Garden, which was a little more sedate. We handed out binoculars and signed adults and children up. I think we had a total count of around fifty. The parents were protective, supportive and seemed to enjoy themselves. The children were kept so busy that only one or two had “meltdowns” towards the end of two hours or so of hard birding–quite understandable!
Binoculars are a birder’s best tool! (Photo by Stuart Reeves)
Splitting up into groups, each with an adult leader, we walked off in different directions, with our necks adjusted at different angles, to find birds. The children’s necks needed adjusting, too; it is not just about spotting a bird, but also training one’s binoculars in the right direction–the right tree, the right branch–to see it in spectacular detail. Also, one usually needs to fiddle with the binoculars so that it’s not all a blur, but actually matches your eyesight and fits your eyes comfortably.
Justin Saunders and Damany Calder help a participant identify a bird at Hope Gardens. (Photo by Stuart Reeves)
The children soon became adept at spotting the birds when they weren’t too busy interacting with each other in various ways. Spotting them wasn’t a problem. Several children shouted, pointed, and jumped up and down each time they saw a bird! The objects of their interest were not very impressed with this behavior, often flying away from the shouting, gesticulating young humans. We had to explain to them that when birding you have to speak quietly, step lightly, and refrain from sudden movements. This is something, of course, that children are not naturally prone to do. We had to remind them to use their binoculars, too. This brings the whole birding experience to life.
Frequently heard comments were:
“I see it!”
“Where?”
“Oh, it’s gone!”
“Give me your binoculars!”
“I don’t see it.”
“Look, look, look!” (crescendo)
“My binoculars aren’t working!”
And more.
Below are some more photos, courtesy of Stuart Reeves, Kahlil Francis, and myself. We did not photograph the birds this time since we were focused on the kids watching the birds! However, apart from the more common residents such as Greater Antillean Grackle, White-winged Dove, Smooth-billed Anis and Zenaida Dove (plus a whole host of Cattle Egrets, pecking away at some freshly watered grass), we did spot some endemic species that live nowhere else in the world but Jamaica–the children found this fact surprising. There was the aforementioned Jamaican Woodpecker, Jamaican Parakeet, Yellow-billed Parrots, Jamaican Oriole (endemic sub-species), and the Red-billed Streamertail. A pair of much less common Black-billed Parrots (conservation status: Vulnerable) posed for a while on a bare branch.
Birdwatching in the Chinese Garden at Hope Gardens. (Photo by Stuart Reeves)
Practicing the birding on one knee technique. (Photo by Stuart Reeves)
Some participants could not contain their excitement. (Photo by Keisha-Miller)
Pop quiz time with Keisha Miller. (Photo by Stuart Reeves)
Winding down in the warm late afternoon sun, we handed out posters of Jamaican endemic birds to each young participant. Copies of my personal little “Bible,” A Photographic Guide to the Birds of Jamaica, by Ann Haynes-Sutton, Audrey Downer, and Robert Downer, were on sale. All went home quite satisfied as there was just no time to be bored. I think we have “converted” a few children to birding (and perhaps one or two adults, too). Moreover, I believe that the children enjoyed themselves, being away from their tablets, iPads and phones and appreciating nature.
The poster entitled “The Endemic Birds of Jamaica – 31 More Reasons to be Proud of Jamaica.”
I think it’s safe to say that BirdLife Jamaica pulled off a coup (the non-violent kind, of course). Many congratulations to Justin, Michelle, Keisha, Damany, Treya, Kahlil, Stuart and all the others that got involved to make it a roaring success! With special, special thanks to Jamaica Environment Trust (JET) and the Caribbean Coastal Area Management Foundation (C-CAM) for their support.
Happy adults and children after a lovely evening spent watching birds. (Photo by Stuart Reeves)
BirdsCaribbean is proud to work alongside BirdLife Jamaica and we salute their efforts to protect the birds of Jamaica and their habitats. We were thrilled to learn of the positive experiences and hope that other NGOs in the region will also be inspired to make bird watching more accessible and enjoyable to the youth.
Hope Gardens, formally known as the Royal Botanical Gardens, comprises 200 acres of endemic and exotic botanical collections located in Kingston. It is the largest public green space in the capital and is often used for picnics, weddings, band concerts, poetry readings and birdwatching! The Gardens offer a variety of habitats for birds and other wildlife. Among the habitats are the Cassia Cassia siamea grove by the main entrance; a Palm Avenue, where sago palms are among the oldest living trees in the garden; a cacti garden with rare varieties; the annual gardens with numerous species of exotic flowers; a bougainvillea walk; an orchid house; a maze; a forest; the sunken gardens; and the lily pond.
Celebrate the Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival (CEBF) with us! Our theme in 2023 is “Water: Sustaining Bird Life” highlighting the importance of water conservation to both humans and birds. 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: Red-shouldered Blackbird
It takes two! Duetting male and female Red-shouldered Blackbirds make beautiful music together. And it is quite impressive for this Cuban endemic because not all species of songbirds can sing duets with their mates.
Amazing duetting ability aside, you may be wondering if this endemic bird is not in fact the Red-winged Blackbird, one of the most abundant birds in marshes across North America. The two species are not the same but are each other’s closest relative! Differences in the two species’ songs and the coloration pattern of females helped confirm that they are different species.
Male Red-shouldered Blackbirds look very much like male Red-winged Blackbirds—all black with a slight bluish gloss and scarlet shoulder patch edged with yellow. The females, however, are different—not streaked with brown like female Red-wings but solidly black, like the male, but lacking the colorful epaulet. Juvenile males have a reddish-brown patch and are overall dull black.
The Red-shouldered Blackbird can be found in western and central Cuba, and the Isle of Pines in swamps and marshes with tall vegetation like cat-tails and bulrushes. It breeds from April to August. The female builds the cup-shaped nest in which she lays 2-3 bluish-white eggs with brown and pale purple spotting. Both parents feed the chicks and defend their nesting territory.
In the non-breeding season they also venture out of the marshes and into nearby uplands, pastures, and agricultural fields foraging for insects, small vertebrates, fruits, and seeds. Outside the breeding season, they usually form large mixed flocks with Cuban Blackbirds, Tawny-shouldered Blackbirds, and Greater Antillean Grackles.
Red-shouldered Blackbird can be difficult to tell apart from several other black birds in Cuba. Both sexes of Tawny-shouldered Blackbird have a yellow-orange shoulder, though the shoulder color is sometimes only visible in flight. It also has a forked tail and shorter bill and the song is different. The Shiny Cowbird lacks a shoulder patch, has a purplish gloss, and a shorter and stouter bill than Red-shouldered Blackbird. The Cuban Blackbird is larger and more robust, and without color patches on its wings.
The song is not musical, described as a repeated shrill screeching “o-wi-hiiii,” similar to that of the Red-winged Blackbird but higher-pitched and shorter. It is sung by both sexes, sometimes in duet. The call is a short “chuk” or “chek,” sometimes in short series. When singing, the male lifts the feathers on his back, drops his wings, exposing the brilliant red shoulder patch, and spreads his tail.
The Red-shouldered Blackbird is called “Chirriador” meaning “screecher” in Cuba and also “Mayito de Cienaga” which means “marsh blackbird.”
When foraging for the young, the males and females provide food at similar rates and the overall breeding system is monogamous. This contrasts with the polygynous breeding system (one male pairing with 2 or more females) of the Red-winged Blackbird.
The Red-shouldered Blackbird is not globally threatened but has a restricted and fragmented distribution in Cuba. Further fragmentation or loss of its habitat may have disastrous effects on the population. It is therefore important that we protect and maintain this endemic bird’s existing habitat on the island. Learn more about this species, including its range, photos, and calls here.
Thanks to Aliya Hosein for the text!
Colour in the Red-shouldered Blackbird
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 Red-shouldered Blackbird
The song of the Red-shouldered Blackbird is a shrill “Shuh-reee-eee.”
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 Red-shouldered Blackbird with his red-yellow wing patches he looks very similar to the closely related Male Red-winged Blackbird. (Photo by Jan Hansen Macaulay Library-ML188770901)This female Red-shouldered Blackbird looks very different to the female Red-winged Blackbird. She is solidly black and not streaked with brown like her relative. (Arturo Kirkconnell Jr. Macaulay Library-ML90702281)
Activity of the Day
FOR KIDS AND ADULTS: In keeping with our theme “Water: Sustaining Bird Life” our activity today involves providing water for birds in your outdoor space! You can’t have a bird-friendly garden without a spot for the birds to drink from, bathe in or just cool themselves down on a hot day. Like humans, all birds need a reliable source of clean water. Follow our instructions and you can make your own bird bath using materials from around your house and yard. You will need:
an old garbage bin lid, flower pot drip tray or serving tray
rocks or pebbles
any size and color tomato cage
wire cutters
As this activity involves using wire cutters you will need to ask an adult to help you.
Once you have made your bird bath make sure that you follow our “Keeping your bird bath safe for the birds & you” tips. By frequently changing the water and keeping your bird bath clean you should be able to provide a place for the bird in your garden to enjoy and for you to enjoy the birds!
Enjoy this video of a Red-shouldered Blackbird in the wild!
Cuba—definitely on the bucket list of most birders and indeed world travelers! Read all about The Caribbean Birding Trail tour that took place in January 2016. The exciting trip took in many birding and cultural highlights including a trip to the The Zapata Peninsula, which many wonderful birds were seen including endemics such as the Cuban Black Hawk and today’s featured bird Red-shouldered Blackbird. Find out more here:
Celebrate the Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival (CEBF) with us! Our theme in 2023 is “Water: Sustaining Bird Life” highlighting the importance of water conservation to both humans and birds. 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 Spindalis
What’s that colorful sunset spot in the tree?? Why it’s the Hispaniolan Spindalis!
Males of this species are unmistakable. They sport a black head with two bold white stripes, one above the eye and another at the ‘malar’ or mustache region. They have a rich yellow nape and breast, fading to a gray belly. Their bright yellow contrasts with an olive back patch and crimson-chestnut breast spot, sometimes with a charcoal center. They have striking black wings and tail feathers, edged white with a rusty shoulder patch. Sometimes their mandarin orange rump feathers will peek through their primaries.
Females don’t boast quite as bright of a suit. Instead they flaunt a subtle beauty, with an overall olive-brown coloration to their feathers and fine streaking on the breast. Their wings and tail feathers are edged a soft yellow, giving a slight glow about them. At first, they may be more difficult to recognize, but both males and females have a similar small, gray bill with a hook on the end.
Both young males and older females can have an intermediate look. Males in the first year will start to molt in some of those black head feathers and bright body feathers, but usually in a patchier, teenage punk kind of way. Older females will also have some male characteristics, like a brighter chest or bolder wing feathers, but will not have as much coloration as younger males.
For such a colorful bird, the male Hispaniolan Spindalis isn’t much of a singer. They give a thin, high-pitched whistle “tsee” or a rapid “tsi-tsi-tsi-tsi-tsi.” Often they’ll whistle these high pitched notes from atop a tree or within a dense thicket. Females even have their own soft response, that sounds like a jumble of notes.
The Hispaniolan Spindalis was formerly considered part of the Stripe-headed Tanager complex, which included Western Spindalis, Puerto Rican Spindalis, and Jamaican Spindalis. Recently, they were split up into the four species that we know today. And they were even given their own unique avian family, Spindalidae, separating them from other tropical tanagers and creating another endemic bird family for the Caribbean!
Look for them in a variety of wooded habitats from sea level to 2,500 m in both the Dominican Republic and Haiti. Though they seem especially abundant in montane habitats in evergreen pine and broadleaf forests, they may wander down to lower elevation habitats during the non-breeding season usually in search of more fruits! They are primarily frugivores, feeding on a variety of tropical fruit, flowers, seeds, and leaf greens; though they may expand their palette to include insects during the breeding season. Usually they prefer to forage in small groups of 3-4 birds; though with an abundance of ripe fruit you’ll sometimes see more birds join the flock!
Breeding season is usually May – June. Pairs will build a small cup nest out of dry grasses and place it about 1.5 m up in a tree or shrub. The female lays 3 whitish eggs with brownish spots. Her more camouflaged plumage helps with avoiding predators during incubation and feeding the chicks in the nest.
Although the Hispaniolan Spindalis is still widespread and common throughout Hispaniola, it is likely starting to experience declines due to habitat loss. Protected areas, such as national parks and reserves on the island, have provided vital habitat for these stunning birds. It is important that we all do our part to learn about and protect these birds so that we can continue to enjoy them!Learn more about this species, including its range, photos, and calls here.
Thanks to Holly Garrod for the text!
Colour in the Hispaniolan Spindalis
Download our West Indies Endemic Bird colouring page. Use the photos below as your guide, or you can look up pictures of the bird online or in a bird field guide if you have one. Share your coloured-in page with us by posting it online and tagging us @BirdsCaribbean #CEBFfromthenest
Listen to the calls of Hispaniolan Spindalis
The calls of the Hispaniolan Spindalis include a rapid high-pitched “tsi-tsi-tsi-tsi-tsi” as well as a single “tsee” call.
Puzzle of the Day
Click on the image below to do the puzzle. You can make the puzzle as easy or as hard as you like – for example, 6, 8, or 12 pieces for young children, all the way up to 1,024 pieces for those that are up for a challenge!
The stunning male Hispaniolan Spindalis looks like a sunset. (photo by Dax Roman)The female Hispaniolan Spindalis looks quite different from the male and may be difficult to identify at first. (Photo by Jose M Pantaleon)Male Hispaniolan Spindalis feeding on berries. (Photo by Jose Miguel Pantaleon)
Activity of the Day
FOR KIDS AND ADULTS: The male Hispaniolan Spindalis is a striking bird with vivid colors of black, white, chestnut, yellow and orange!But who says you have to travel to the wet montane forests of Hispaniola to enjoy these beautiful colors? In this activity you’ll make a suncatcher—a decoration that catches rays of sunlight and casts them as rainbow hued patterns across the room.
Here is a list of materials you will need:
empty clear plastic milk jug, washed and dried
permanent markers
scissors
utility Knife
hole punch
twine, string or yarn
You can download full instructions here including a bird template for you to use. This activity involves using a knife and scissors. Make sure you have an adult to help you with the cutting.
Enjoy this short video of a male Hispaniolan Spindalis in the wild!
Celebrate the Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival (CEBF) with us! Our theme in 2023 is “Water: Sustaining Bird Life” highlighting the importance of water conservation to both humans and birds. 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 Tanager
Usually heard before it reveals itself, the Puerto Rican Tanager or “Llorosa”, as it’s known locally, will alert all forest critters with an array of chewp or chuck calls or a longer chi-chi-chit. These small birds prefer to stay hidden in dense vegetation, often in small flocks of four to six individuals. Every now and then, one or more will hop on an exposed branch showing their somewhat somber plumage that is perfectly camouflaged for their gloomy habitat. The dusky gray-brown upper parts hide them from raptors flying above. The faintly striked whitish underparts make them hard to see against the background of the sky for predators looking up from below. The crown and face is dark, contrasting well with the all-white throat. A small white spot in the wings of adults sets this bird apart from other “little brown birds”.
Puerto Rican Tanagers used to be placed in the tanager family, giving them their name. But actually it belongs to its own family, “Nesospingidae”, of which it is the only member! Their closest relatives are the Spindalis, the Palm-tanager, Green-tailed Warbler, and White-winged Warbler.
Foraging groups sound as if they are in a feisty disagreement or upset. This gives them their Spanish name “Llorosa” (which means “tearful”). As they forage for small insects, spiders, snails, tiny vertebrates, fruits, and seeds, other bird species join them through the forest. Such gatherings are known as mixed-species flocks and attract warblers, flycatchers and other small birds that find safety in numbers.
During the breeding season, males sing a light “tsweet-tsweet-tsweet-tsweet” song. Singing males and their female mates will defend a small territory where they build a small cup-shaped nest made of plant material and lined with feathers and other soft fibers, usually at the ends of branches at heights between 2-10 meters. Females lay 2-3 eggs, white with reddish-brown blotches. Chicks are born naked after an incubation period of a couple of weeks. The young leave the nest after 2-3 weeks, but remain with the adults for several months.
The Puerto Rican Tanager is endemic to Puerto Rico. It is restricted to mountain forests 300 meters above sea level. It is believed that they ranged across the mountainous center, the Cotdillera Central, the Sierra de Luquillo, and the Sierra de Cayey. Most birds are found in subtropical wet and rain forests, and subtropical lower montane forests. The loss of 85% of the island’s forests during the early 1900s affected the Puerto Rican Tanager by fragmenting the population and reducing their range to the Maricao forest in the west, Toro Negro forest and the protected peaks of El Yunque National Forest and the Carite State Forest. Regeneration of forest in the past 20 years has seen a constant expansion into subtropical moist forest at lower elevations. It is considered as Vulnerable due to its limited distribution. Learn more about this species, including its range, photos, and calls here.
Thanks to Jose Salguero-Faría for the text!
Colour in the Puerto Rican Tanager
Download our West Indies Endemic Bird colouring page. Use the photos below as your guide, or you can look up pictures of the bird online or in a bird field guide if you have one. Share your coloured-in page with us by posting it online and tagging us @BirdsCaribbean #CEBFfromthenest
Listen to the call of Puerto Rican Tanager
The call of the Puerto Rican Tanager is a harsh “chuck” or “chewp” often given in a chattering series of calls.
Puzzle of the Day
Click on the image below to do the puzzle. You can make the puzzle as easy or as hard as you like – for example, 6, 8, or 12 pieces for young children, all the way up to 1,024 pieces for those that are up for a challenge!
A male Puerto Rican Tanager, with his pale lower mandible. (Photo by Benny Diaz Macaulay Library-ML593336721)
A female Puerto Rican Tanager with an all black bill, you can also see small white spot at base of primaries present on adult birds. (Photo by Gabriel Lugo)
Activity of the Day
FOR KIDS: Let’s celebrate dads AND endemic birds! Father’s Day is this weekend on June 18th and we’ve got you covered. We have an endemic bird-themed Father’s Day Cards to download and color! This is a fun activity for people of all ages to celebrate the father figure in their life. With a cute bird-themed picture for you to customise, our card also features a beautiful drawing of today’s endemic bird – the Puerto Rican Tanager – along with some interesting 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! You could use this blank template.
FOR KIDS AND ADULTS: Enjoy this video of a Puerto Rican Tanager foraging in the wild!
The T-shirt designed for the 2022 Joint BirdsCaribbean AOS meeting was beautiful! It featured the endemic birds of Puerto Rico, the location for the meeting, including today’s Endemic Bird of the Day! The idea to create this T-shirt was conceptualized by Gabriel Lugo, past president of the Sociedad Ornitológica Puertorriqueña, Inc. (SOPI) and Tour Guide for Wildside Nature Tours. In partnership with renowned Cuban artist and friend of BirdsCaribbean, Arnaldo Toledo, the pair created this timeless piece that will undoubtedly be a source of pride for all Puerto Ricans and friends of Puerto Rico. Read more about the process of designing the T-shirt here:
Celebrate the Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival (CEBF) with us! Our theme in 2023 is “Water: Sustaining Bird Life” highlighting the importance of water conservation to both humans and birds. 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: Palm Crow
A crow that lives on palm trees? Well, yes…, but the name can be misleading. Palm Crow (Corvus palmarum) can also be found in high-elevation pine forests, lowland and swampy forests, dry plains, and cultivation areas. Restricted to the islands of Cuba and Hispaniola, there is a recent proposal for separating them into two different species. This could have a profound effect on its conservation status, given that the Cuban subspecies is very rare and confined to just a few localities.
This bird is one of the four resident species of crows in the Caribbean. All of them show the classic black plumage with purple-blue iridescence, that people associate with crows and their spooky reputation. They are gregarious, often found in small flocks. Cuban Crow and Palm Crow are almost indistinguishable, a fact that poses an identification challenge for every birder.
Fortunately, they have unique vocalizations. The song of the Palm Crow is a harsh nasal “craaa, craaa,” that resembles the North American Fish Crow (Corvus ossifragus), while the song of the Cuban Crow resembles parrot calls or a gobbling turkey. The Palm Crow also has the well-developed nasal bristles covering nostrils that distinguishes crows from other small blackbirds. The Cuban subspecies is slightly smaller and duller than the one living in Hispaniola.
The Palm Crow’s short, stout, sharp-pointed black bill allows it to devour a variety of food items from fruits to invertebrates. Another important clue for identifying this species is that it can be found frequently feeding on the ground, sometimes near roads, contrasting with its other Caribbean relatives that rarely leave the tree tops.
We know very little about the Palm Crow´s natural history, especially its breeding biology. Pairs build the typical crow nest consisting of a platform made of sticks and lined with dry grasses and other soft materials, located among tree branches or at the base of palm fronds (here is where its name comes from!). They are presumably solitary nesters that defend an exclusive territory, but small groups of up to six individuals can be seen together when mobbing or harassing potential predators away. In Cuba, the breeding season takes place from March through July, and they usually lay three to four pale green eggs spotted in brown and dark olive.
Crows are the quintessential “spooky” birds, considered omens of bad luck when seen. But we can change that undeserved reputation to omens of habitat quality and protection. Half of our Caribbean crows are threatened, and Palm Crow, even though it is not globally threatened, is protected and considered Endangered in Cuba. The forests they inhabit are being lost to agriculture and human development all across their range. Even in Hispaniola, where they are more common and widespread, their numbers have decreased recently. A lack of long-term data on population trends hinders us from making a clear assessment of the species’ status.
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 Palm Crow
The calls of the Palm Crow are a flat, harsh “raaah.”
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 Palm Crow in Cuba. (Photo by Arturo Kirkconnell Jr.)
A Palm Crow on Hispaniola. You can see the well-developed nasal bristles on it stout beak. (Photo by Aiden Place, Macaulay Library, ML37309361)
Activity of the Day
FOR KIDS: This year the theme for the festival is “Water: Sustaining Bird Life.” Birds need water just as much as we do. Water is important both for drinking and as a source of food for birds. It also keeps birds clean and cool on hot days when they take a splish-splash in a puddle, gutter, or backyard bird bath. Many birds also rely on wetland habitats, such as our ponds, salinas, marshes, mangroves, rivers, and coastal waters. With growing human populations and relentless development, there are growing demands for water and continued destruction of our remaining wetlands.
Pollution, erosion, and prolonged droughts are also directly impacting the quantity and quality of water resources and habitats available both for our birds and ourselves!
How much do you know about saving water and making sure we don’t waste this precious resource? Test you knowledge in our ‘Water IQ’ quiz. If you need some help with the answers you can search online- you could try here as a starting point for tips of water conservation.
Completed the quiz? You can check your answers here.
FOR KIDS AND ADULTS: Enjoy this video of a Palm Crow in Cuba. You can hear the birds rasping calls to each other in the background.
Celebrate the Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival (CEBF) with us! Our theme in 2023 is “Water: Sustaining Bird Life” highlighting the importance of water conservation to both humans and birds. 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: Rufous-throated Solitaire
The Rufous-throated Solitaire (Myadestes genibarbis) is a beloved songster of wet montane forests. It is found only on the following islands: Jamaica, Hispaniola, Dominica, Martinique, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent, each with its own subspecies. Across these islands this bird is more commonly heard than seen. It is always a delight to anyone on the trails to hear its melodic and hauntingly beautiful song.
Its song consists of a series of clear and somewhat inharmonious flute-like whistled notes. The first note is low, second high, third low, interspersed with a ringing double note; or sometimes as “twuit, toi, tu-tu-tu-tu”. Calls include a single long “toot” like a distant car horn!
You’ll find this bird hidden in the canopy of humid montane forests. If you’re lucky enough to see it, the first thing you’ll notice is its brilliant brick-red throat with overall gray plumage—slate-gray above and paler gray below. It has a white crescent below the eye, a white-flecked face, and whitish chin and mustache separated by a dark malar (stripe from the beak down the cheek). The lower belly and vent are tawny, bill black, and legs yellow. The sexes are similar. Juveniles are dark with orange-buff spots and streaks above.
The Rufous-throated Solitaire forages up in the forest canopy, but it may occasionally feed in low vegetation. It feeds on small fruits and insects and travels alone or in mixed-species flocks. Insects are taken via aerial sallies, gleaning and hawking, and also by pouncing on insects on the ground from a perch.
In the Dominican Republic and Jamaica it is a partial altitudinal migrant. It moves to lower altitudes in colder weather and ascends to the higher highlands as temperatures rise.
The breeding season takes place from March to August in the DR and Jamaica, May in Haiti and May to July in the Eastern Caribbean. The nest is cup-shaped and usually placed in a crevice, creeper, in the center of a tree-fern or bromeliad, or tree hole. The female lays 2-3 eggs, bluish-white or blue with reddish-brown spots.
The species is not globally threatened but in Haiti its numbers are much reduced due to habitat loss. It would be a shame to lose this gorgeous bird and not hear its melodious forest song so we should support local initiatives to protect its habitats. Learn more about this species, including its range, photos, and calls here.
Thanks to Aliya Hosein and Lisa Sorenson for the text!
Colour in the Rufous-throated 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 Rufous-throated Solitaire
The song of the Rufous-throated Solitaire is a series of drawn out, flute-like whistled notes given at varying 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!
A Rufous-throated Solitaire in the Dominican Republic. (Photo by Guillermo Armenteros)
A Rufous-throated Solitaire in the Dominican Republic. (Photo by Guillermo Armenteros)A pair of Rufous-throated Solitaire in St. Vincent (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 lovely song of today’s bird the Rufous-throated Solitaire, or one of our other featured endemic birds. You could also head outside and listen out for the sounds the birds are making and then create your own birdsong! You can download our instructions here to help you make some melodious bird-inspired tunes.
Please note that by submitting your video you give BirdsCaribbean consent to use your photos and/or videos on our website and social media accounts.
FOR KIDS AND ADULTS: Enjoy this video of a Rufus-throated Solitaire in the wild in Jamaica! You can hear it’s calls and another bird singing in the distance.
Celebrate the Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival (CEBF) with us! Our theme in 2023 is “Water: Sustaining Bird Life” highlighting the importance of water conservation to both humans and birds. 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: Flat-billed Vireo
There seems to be no braver small bird than the Flat-billed Vireo (Vireo nanus). It is highly territorial and will respond to any potential intruder, no matter the size, with acute shaking of its body and a harsh scolding note.
The Flat-billed Vireo is endemic to the island of Hispaniola and is locally distributed in both the Dominican Republic and Haiti. It is a grayish-green bird with duller, yellow-washed underparts, two bold white wing bars, and whitish eyes. It has a noticeably wide, flattened, and triangular dark gray bill.
Although the plumage is rather plain it has a very cheerful, whistling song “wi-wi-wi-wi-wi,” and a more rapid chattering “weet-weet-weet…” Like other vireos they are more often heard than seen, unless you lure it out of the dense vegetation by imitating its call.
It is a bird of dense lowland scrubby habitats— usually the thick underbrush in a dry forest on limestone floor. For this reason the Flat-billed Vireo belongs to a particular group of vireos called the “scrub vireos.” But it has also been recorded at 1,200m above sea level. It is usually seen moving low above the ground foraging for small fruits and insects; sometimes, the species even descends to the ground to feed. The Flat-billed Vireo will also catch flying insects out of the air.
This could explain an old debate, which argued that this vireo was actually a flycatcher, and should be placed in the genus Empidonax. Later on, it was finally placed in the vireo family in the genus Vireo. Like the common name implies, its peculiar flattened, broad-based bill confused ornithologists for quite some time. The specific name “nanus” depicts its already mentioned small size (dwarf).
The breeding season runs from February to June. The female lays two white, unmarked or with light gray markings at blunt end, eggs in a cup shaped nest. Nest is made of plant fibers and sometimes horsehair.
The local name “Cigüita Juliana,” as Annabelle Dod called it in the first book on the birds of the Dominican Republic (first ever written in Spanish), links its relationship with the other resident (and well known) vireo, the “Julián Chiví” (Black-whiskered Vireo), which actually has a truly onomatopoeic name.
The Flat-billed Vireo is not globally threatened but has suffered considerable loss of habitat in recent times. It is uncommon and local in its distribution. It is up to us to protect its remaining habitat by volunteering and/or donating to reforestation projects led by local environmental NGOs on Hispaniola.Learn more about this species, including its range, photos, and calls here.
Thanks to Miguel Landestoy for the text!
Colour in the Flat-billed 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 Flat-billed Vireo
The song of the Flat-billed Vireo is a cheerful repeated whistle, almost liquid-like in quality, “we-we-we-we-we…”
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!
Flat-billed Vireo perched. Note the two white wing bars and whitish eye. (Photo by Dax Roman)
Flat-billed Vireo spotted in the Dominican Republic. (Photo by Francisco Alba)
Activity of the Day
FOR KIDS: What facts can you remember about today’s endemic bird – the Flat-billed Vireo? Test your knowledge by filling in the missing words in our Flat-billed Vireo facts! We have given you all the correct words to use but can you put them into the right fact?
You can re-read the information all about this bird above, or search on the BirdsCaribbean webpages or online for more information about the Flat-billed Vireo! Then, when you have completed all the sentences, you can check your answers here.
FOR KIDS AND ADULTS: Enjoy this video of a Flat-billed Vireo in the wild! In this video you can see the Vireo perched high in a tree and you can also hear its song.
The Black-capped Petrel or “Diablotin” is the region’s only endemic seabird and it’s Critically Endangered. (Photo by David Hollie)
During February 2023 members of the International Black-capped Petrel (aka Diablotin) Conservation Group traveled to Dominica to carry out a search for one of the Caribbean’s most fascinating, but threatened, birds. Looking for the elusive Diablotin, an endangered seabird that comes to land only at night, to nest in burrows was a challenge. This was only made harder by the need to search its preferred habitat – the rugged and heavily vegetated peaks of the Island. This year the group had some assistance from a four-legged friend!
As well as searching for burrows the team aimed to raise awareness of the Diablotin on Dominica and forge a strong research-media partnership. Through visits to schools, and interviews on local TV and radio, they made sure the Diablotin got the attention it deserves! Read on to find out more about how the trip went and what the team found.
The environmental club at The Convent School, Dominica. (Photo by The Convent School)
Students in Dominica have a charming way of thanking guest speakers. After a presentation, a selected volunteer formally gives thanks on behalf of the class and states an appreciation for the topics covered and the time spent. Being thanked this way is gratifying to any speaker, of course. Even more satisfying is when students engage by asking questions and relating their own experiences! It helps if the topic is compelling and relatable to the audience. We found this to be the case for the education and outreach activities associated with the 2023 Diablotin Expedition to Dominica.
Jennifer Wheeler takes a picture with the Diablotin Expedition Team in Dominica (L-R): Jeannelle Brisbane and Stephen Durand (active and retired Dominica Forestry), Yvan Satgé (Environmental Protection in the Caribbean (EPIC) & Clemson University, Department of Forestry and Environmental Conservation), Jacob Solis-Gonzalez (Universidad de Barcelona), Sea McKeon (American Bird Conservancy), and detection dog Africa. (Photo by Jennifer Wheeler)
Expedition Diablotin took place February 8-17, 2023. It consisted of field work to collect evidence that a rare seabird (also known as the Pterodroma hasitata or Black-capped Petrel) continues to nest on Dominica. The work included hikes up mountain peaks to listen and look for flying birds, use of a trained dog to detect the scent of burrows used by petrels, a boat trip to look for petrels in coastal waters, and engagement with citizens to sleuth out local knowledge. Scientists and conservationists believe it is highly likely that Diablotin breed on Dominica because of evidence in recent decades, but nesting has not been confirmed in the scientific literature since 1862!
Yvan interviewing fishermen. Since the Diablotin forages at sea during the day and only flies to and from the mountains at night, those working the coastal waters are most likely to see the Diablotin. (Photo by Jacob Solis-Gonzalez)
The scarcity of Diablotin explains why few Dominicans or visitors are familiar with this bird. Most people that we met were surprised to discover that the country’s tallest mountain, Morne Diablotin [elevation 1,447 m; 4,747 ft] received its name from a seabird. Early European and African arrivals to Dominica were frightened by eerie noises in the darkness, which were actually vocalizations by the Diablotin during nighttime courtship flights. However, people do tend to know that the volcano-formed Dominica hosts tall peaks, steep ridges and deep valleys, and is largely undeveloped with much of its forest intact. They are aware that they live on “The Nature Island” which harbors unique wildlife…even if not all the wildlife is understood or appreciated.
A preserved specimen of a breeding-aged female Diablotin grounded in 2007, along with a life-sized model chick made of yarn, stickers and brochures, were used as educational tools. (Photo by Jennifer Wheeler)
During media interviews and school presentations, we explained why the once-abundant Diablotin birds disappeared. One reason is that humans over-harvested the birds for food. People ate both the adults and the chicks (small, fluffy puffballs of fat raised on fish oils!). The animals that accompanied humans to Dominica – rats, cats, dogs, and pigs – also ate their share of petrels. Finally, small nesting populations could have been wiped out on an island prone to landslides and hurricanes
Arlington James, former Director of Forestry, was able to join Jeannelle and Jennifer at one of the school presentations. This was a special treat since Arlington was personally involved in the recognition, collection, and preservation of the 2007 specimen.
We presented to about 80 students at four schools: Geography students at Dominica State College; 4-H students at St. Mary’s High School for Boys; Science students at Community High School; and the Environmental Club at Convent High School for Girls. A fun tidbit is that Jeanelle formed this club when she was a Convent student!
There is nothing like live demonstrations to engage an audience. In two classrooms, Africa was available to demonstrate her detection dog abilities, sniffing out a dog toy placed out of sight.
A St. Mary’s Teacher who acted as a hazardous power line poses with the student “petrel fledgling” that survived the Diablotin Obstacle Course. (Photo by Jennifer Wheeler)
In another class, Jeannelle set up a Diablotin Obstacle Course – a game modified from Migration Challenge in the Birdsleuth Curriculum. Students pretended to be petrel fledglings on their first flight from nest to ocean. Others became the obstacles: snatching with their hands to mimic introduced predators, holding up extension cords to serve as power lines or a long strip of cellophane to serve as a lighted glass structure. Others threw paper balls mimicking owls or other aerial hazards or whirled around the room as hurricanes. Given all these challenges, it’s unsurprising that few of the “fledglings” made it across the classroom!
Stickers were created as outreach and education tools for the Diablotin Expedition.
Prizes and mementos are popular outreach and educational tools. Students able to answer questions about the Diablotin, its history, and its threats were rewarded with stickers. Stickers and even yarn chicks were awarded to students who voluntarily asked questions – the most satisfying being a version of, “How can I help?” Students were urged to spend time in the forest as a way to get to know its wild inhabitants. If they preferred an indoor job, we suggested pursuing an education to contribute to conservation as a laboratory scientist, software programmer, equipment engineer, or land-use policy-maker.
The Expedition was covered in the local newspaper
Kairi Radio interview
Interviews on four of Dominica’s media services hopefully reached a large proportion of Dominica’s 72,000 inhabitants.
Radio and television allows for a far-greater reach than in-person presentations. We had interviews with four media services:
Government Information Services
Dominica Broadcast Station
Kairi Radio
Vibes Radio
In interviews for the media, we described the Diablotin and emphasized the importance of habitat conservation in preserving biodiversity. We congratulated Dominica for its unique position as a country with more than 60% of its forest intact.
In the end, Expedition Diablotin covered 50 km of trails and 3,800 meters in altitude through thick Dominica’s forest. We had Africa, thermal binoculars, a loudspeaker, and spotlights and lots of mud, rain, fog, and wind. Alas, we found no clear evidence that the Diablotin is still in Dominica. However, there were some possible burrow detections (to be monitored by camera) and lessons learned to apply to future expeditions.
Importantly, we did find many Dominican citizens and visitors very interested in the fate of the Diablotin and receptive to another reason to conserve their forest. Considering that, as well as the number of students and other citizens now inspired to lend their eyes and ears to the search for this special bird, the Expedition Diablotin was clearly a success.
enjoy some more photos from the 2023 Diablotin expedition
In the classroom. (Photo by Jeanelle Brisbane)
Jeanelle Brisbane, Arlington James, and Jennifer Wheeler after a school presentation.
Gorgeous rainbow over the hills
Africa, the sniffer/detection dog practices looking for petrel scents using feather samples. (Photo by Jacob Gonzalez-Solis)
“Have you seen the Diablotin Bird?” Flyer used in Dominica
Jeanelle Brisbane, Arlington James, and Jennifer Wheeler after a school presentation.
“Have you seen the Diablotin Bird?” Flyer used in Dominica
“Have you seen the Diablotin Bird?” Flyer used in Dominica
Africa posed by the Diablotin logo
Yvan and detection dog Africa set up a trail camera. (Photo by Jennifer Wheeler)
Team Diablotin prepares to climb a peak. (Jennifer Wheeler)
Stephen Durand, Yvan Satge, and Jacob Gonzalez-Solis prepare for a wet night of Diablotin searching. (Photo by Jennifer Wheeler)
Stephen Durand and Yvan Satge prepare for a survey. (Photo by Jennifer Wheeler)
Yvan Satge discusses birds at sea with fishermen. (Photo by Jacob Gonzalez-Solis)
Team recovering after a long rainy evening up a mountain. (Photo by Jennifer Wheeler)
Stephen Durand strategizing for Diablotin searches. (Photo by Yvan Satgé)
Jennifer admires a giant stick insect on the way down from a Diablotin search. (Photo by Jeanelle Brisbane)
Checking a map
Looking for Diablotins in the mountains of Dominica involved rain, mud, darkness and a lot of climbing. (Photo by Yvan Satgé)
Jennifer Wheeler shares information on national TV about the search for the Endangered Diablotin (Black-capped Petreo).
This effort involved partners from Seabird Ecology, the American Bird Conservancy, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, WildDominique, Dominica’s Forestry, Wildlife & Parks Division, BirdsCaribbean, Universitat de Barcelona, and the International Black-capped Petrel Working Group. Thank you to our members and donors who helped make this trip possible!
You can read the full trip report from this expedition by Yvan Satgé, Jacob González-Solís and Stephen Durand here. And, find out more about Black-capped Petrel conservation efforts in the Caribbean and the activities of the Black-capped Petrel Working Group in the posts below!
Celebrate the Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival (CEBF) with us! Our theme in 2023 is “Water: Sustaining Bird Life” highlighting the importance of water conservation to both humans and birds. 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: Gray-fronted Quail-Dove
With patience and silence, you may be lucky enough to spot the stunning Gray-fronted Quail-Dove on the trail ahead or walking quietly in the nearby woods.
This Cuban endemic is usually found either at low elevations in wet forests bordering swamps, or at middle altitudes in dense moist woods. Here it forages in the leaf litter for seeds and small insects and is quite focused while searching for food. This is why if you remain still, it may not notice you and approach quite closely. This chunky dove walks with an unusual posture of chest down, head forward, and tail up.
The Gray-fronted Quail-Dove is easily spooked and once disturbed will quickly” melt back” into the forest! But it is a beautiful bird when seen in good light conditions. It is dark gray above with conspicuous purple and blue iridescence on its back, gray underparts with rufous lower belly, gray crown and neck, and white forehead. On the other hand, in poor light conditions it simply looks like a mid-sized, mostly dark pigeon.
If you can’t get a good look at it, listen out for its song, low-pitched repeated cooing notes, “uup-uup-uup-uup,” sometimes preceded by “oo-oo-oo-oo-oo.”
The breeding season is from January to August. Nests are built using twigs and leaves, lined with rootlets and/or grasses and placed 1–3 m above ground. Clutch size is 1–2 beige-coloured eggs. In captivity, incubation lasts 13 days and chicks fledge the nest in as little as 10-12 days.
The Gray-fronted Quail-Dove’s conservation status is listed as Vulnerable. It is generally uncommon and local, but it is known from ten localities in the Zapata region alone, and 45 localities in total.
This species faces a variety of threats from habitat loss, predation by introduced species, and hunting. Like the Blue-headed Quail-Dove, an even rarer Cuban endemic, it is a delicacy and consequently hunted using drop-traps baited with orange seeds. This rare dove would benefit from protection of its habitat from unsustainable development and introduced predators, and initiatives aimed at reducing its consumption. Learn more about this species, including its range, photos, and calls here.
Thanks to Aliya Hosein for the text!
Colour in the Gray-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 Gray-fronted Quail-Dove
The song of the Gray-fronted Quail-Dove is a continuous low-pitched “uup-uup-uup-uup”
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!
Gray-fronted Quail-Dove in Cuba. Note the purple and blue iridescence on the back, gray underparts, unstriped gray head and whitish forehead. (Photo by David Tomb Macaulay Library-ML430903281)
Gray-fronted Quail-Dove. This photo shows well the spectacular colors of the dove, including the rufous lower belly and undertail coverts. (Photo by David Ascanio)
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 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!
FOR KIDS AND ADULTS: Enjoy this video of this Gray-fronted Quail-Dove in the wild!
Seventeen strangers from three countries, Bahamas, Bermuda, and the United States, became fast friends on the BirdsCaribbean 4-day Pre-conference Tour, before the 2017 BirdsCaribbean meeting in Cuba. On a bird and culture packed tour the Gray-fronted Quail-Dove was just one of many endemic birds seen by the group. Read more about the trip in this blog post by Martha Cartwright.
Celebrate the Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival (CEBF) with us! Our theme in 2023 is “Water: Sustaining Bird Life” highlighting the importance of water conservation to both humans and birds. 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 Mango
When you think of hummingbirds, you most likely think of glittering hues of green, blue, red and purple. However, Jamaican Mango (Anthracothorax mango) is truly like no other, appearing dark overall compared to other species. It is also the largest of the four hummingbirds in Jamaica!
Both male and female have metallic magenta purple head and neck and velvet black underparts. Upperparts are dull green-bronze. The bill is slightly curved and black, central tail feathers are dusky bronze to dull black and the others are metallic violet. The female’s outer tail feathers are tipped white. Juvenile males have a deep blue throat until they are two years old.
The Jamaican Mango can be found in a variety of habitats from open and semi-open lowland vegetation including arid areas, gardens and plantations.This majestic bird is regularly seen visiting the flowers of the cactus, Agave, and Aloe Vera in the dry forest. It is also seen visiting mango flowers, which could explain its common name. Like other hummingbirds they follow the nectar trail and will disperse to mid-altitude regions in Cockpit Country and to Blue and John Crow Mountains from June–August. They also eat small flying insects caught on the wing and has been observed pulling insects from spider webs.
This is a rather silent hummingbird but it has a high-pitched raspy call “tsic-tsic-tsic-tsic.”
It breeds all through the year, peaking from January to May and will even nest in gardens. The female builds a small cup-shaped nest of densely woven silky fibers, seed down (e.g. Tillandsia) and cobwebs, at about 3–8 m above the ground. Clutch size is two white eggs and chicks have blackish plumage.
The Jamaican Mango is listed on the IUCN Red list as Least Concern. It is unknown if habitat loss impacts the species since it is found in both forested and disturbed areas. But we should all continue to work together to protect its habitats so that we can continue to be dazzled by this endemic gem for many years to come. Learn more about this species, including its range, photos, and calls here.
Thanks to Damion Whyte for the text!
Colour in the Jamaican Mango
Download our West Indies Endemic Bird colouring page. Use the photos below as your guide, or you can look up pictures of the bird online or in a bird field guide if you have one. Share your coloured-in page with us by posting it online and tagging us @BirdsCaribbean #CEBFfromthenest
Listen to the calls of Jamaican Mango
The call of the Jamaican Mango is a sharp “tsic-tsic-tsic-tsic.”
Puzzle of the Day
Click on the image below to do the puzzle. You can make the puzzle as easy or as hard as you like – for example, 6, 8, or 12 pieces for young children, all the way up to 1,024 pieces for those that are up for a challenge!
Jamaican Mango, perched. (Photo by Clive Daelman)Jamaican Mango foraging for nectar. (Photo by Paul Chung)Jamaican Mango. (Photo by Bobby Wilcox)
Activity of the Day
FOR KIDS AND ADULTS: Hummingbirds, like the lovely Jamaican Mango, are elegant little birds, often with brightly coloured jewel-like plumage. Why not capture some of their elegance by making your very own hummingbird from paper using origami? Join Josmar Esteban Márquez and learn how to fold a Hummingbird out of paper. The video also features some gorgeous photos of the many hummingbird species that are endemic to the Caribbean islands!
Celebrate the Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival (CEBF) with us! Our theme in 2023 is “Water: Sustaining Bird Life” highlighting the importance of water conservation to both humans and birds. 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 Tanager
Locally known as the “Prince Bird,” the Lesser Antillean Tanager (Stilpnia cucullata) is endemic to St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Grenada. This regal bird is unmistakably the most colorful bird found on the island, second only to the St. Vincent Parrot (Amazona guildingii).
Because of its beauty this species has been captured and caged for hundreds of years, going as far back as to the days of slavery. Sugar cane plantation owners saw it as a symbol of prestige to walk down the road with this caged bird in hand. Even today this beautiful bird is still sought after by some of the wealthier inhabitants of the neighboring island of Bequia.
The Lesser Antillean Tanager male is yellowish buff above and grayish below with striking turquoise wings and tail, a dark mask, and a distinct reddish-brown cap. The plumage differs a bit between the two countries: the crown of the St Vincent subspecies is more rufous compared to chocolate-brown in the Grenada race. In addition, the upperparts of the St Vincent race are more buffy, the wings and tail are more bluish, and it is a little larger.
Females are duller than males and more greenish (Grenada) or brownish (St Vincent) overall. Juveniles are like adults but much duller, with only hints of dark masks, and may show little or no rufous on their crowns.
This spectacular bird can be seen in most habitats – dry and moist forests, wooded borders, second growth forests, parks and gardens, and montane thickets and rainforests at different times of the year. However, it prefers the dry coastal forest at higher elevations, and farm and pasture lands.
Whenever red plums (Spondias spp) are in season you will be sure to find the Lesser Antillean Tanager feeding on them. Although they are mainly seen in pairs, when plums are in season up to nine may be seen on a single tree foraging! They also eat mangoes, figs, soursop, Cecropia fruits, and insects. The insects are gleaned from the leaves or the tanager sallies short distances from a branch to catch them mid-air.
Little is known about the breeding biology of the Lesser Antillean Tanager since it has not been well studied. The breeding season reportedly occurs from April to July. Pairs build a cup-shaped nest similar to that of the Lesser Antillean Bullfinch (Loxigilla noctis), about 2-5 meters up the tree and the female lays 2 eggs that are white to bluish, with brown and gray markings. It has been observed stealing material from the nests of other birds.
Oftentimes you hear the tanager before you see it. Its song comprises a series of about six loud clear whistles that increase in volume and either end abruptly, as when you hold a bunch of keys and rattle it continuously for a few seconds (St Vincent subspecies), or in a jumbled twitter (Grenada subspecies): weet-weet-weet-witwitwitwit.
The Lesser Antillean Tanager is not globally threatened but is a restricted-range species, only occurring in two islands in the Lesser Antilles. It will be affected by threats to its habitats like deforestation, pollution, and natural disasters; it is therefore important to maintain and protect its existing habitats on both Grenada and St Vincent and the Grenadines. Learn more about this species, including its range, photos, and calls here.
Thanks to Glenroy Gaymes for the text!
Colour in the Lesser Antillean Tanager
Download our West Indies Endemic Bird colouring page. Use the photos below as your guide, or you can look up pictures of the bird online or in a bird field guide if you have one. Share your coloured-in page with us by posting it online and tagging us @BirdsCaribbean #CEBFfromthenest
Listen to the song of Lesser Antillean Tanager
The song of the Lesser Antillean Tanager consisted of of single thin notes followed by a jumbled series of high-pitched notes, weet-weet-weet-witwitwitwit, reminiscent of jingling keys.
Puzzle of the Day
Click on the image below to do the puzzle. You can make the puzzle as easy or as hard as you like – for example, 6, 8, or 12 pieces for young children, all the way up to 1,024 pieces for those that are up for a challenge!
Lesser Antillean Tanager on Grenada, perched on some fruit. Note the chocolate-brown cap and turquoise wings. (Photo by Dennis Main, Macaulay Library, ML251965591)Lesser Antillean Tanager on St. Vincent – note the more rufous cap and bluish wings compared to the Grenada birds. (photo by Steven Hunter, ML200625941)Lesser Antillean Tanager on Grenada. (Photo by George Tuthill)
Activity of the Day
FOR KIDS: Lesser Antillean Tanagers are beautiful and colourful birds. Sadly, for this reason some people take them from the wild to keep in cages. Other birds in the Caribbean and around the world are also taken from the wild and kept in cages as part of the illegal wild bird trade. Some birds, like tanagers and parrots, are kept as pets for their beauty, and some for singing competitions like finches and grosbeaks. These birds should be flying free in the wild not kept in cages!
In our activity we want you to think about and answer some questions about the Lesser Antillean Tanager and birds being kept in cages.You can read the text on the Lesser Antillean Tanager to help you or check the internet for more information on the illegal wild bird trade.
FOR KIDS AND ADULTS: Enjoy this video of a Lesser Antillean Tanager, filmed preening on St Vincent.
The Lesser Antillean Tanager was one of the birds caught and banded during an expedition by Canadian students to band birds in Grenada. You can read more about their adventures here:
On Saturday, May 13, birders in the Caribbean and around the world got up (early) and out in force for Global Big Day! Twice a year, during peak migration times (once in spring and once in fall) birders around the world spring into action and try to spot as many different bird species as they can in 24 hours. Besides the sheer enjoyment of the day, the list of birds collected and submitted to eBird from across the globe are hugely valuable for science and conservation!
The Big Day numbers were, as usual, quite impressive. Global Big Day in 2023 was a huge success, with 7,636 bird species recorded by over 58,000 people around the world! An amazing 3.2 million bird sightings were logged by eBirders in 24 hours!
In the West Indies, Big Day birders once again increased in numbers and saw 515 species in total, thanks to the amazing efforts of 511 eBird observers! There were more birds, and more humans watching them, in 2023 compared to the previous years (see the stats on the graph in Figure 1).
Figure 1: Global Big Day 2020-2023 comparisons showing changes in total number of eBird Observers in the West Indies, total species seen, and total number of eBird checklists submitted.Figure 2. The number of ‘new’ people taking part in Global Big Day in 2023 (compared to 2022) in the West Indies, including all those who took part in the region.
This year, many Caribbean islands saw an increase in the number of people taking part in Global Big Day. In fact, the number of eBirders in 2023 grew by more than 100% from 2022 in some countries. Special mention goes to the Dominican Republic, who added 40 more eBirders in 2023, increasing participation by over 170%. What a great achievement! New recruits to the growing “army” of eBirders are always welcome, helping to boost birding records for the region.
What about the number of species seen? Looking at the eBird data from all those who took part in the West Indies (not just our BirdsCaribbean teams – see below for team stats!) – Cuba once again edged out the others for the most species seen – 172! Trinidad and Tobago were hot on their heels this year with a total of 170, with Puerto Rico in third place with an amazing count of 132 species!
Banding Together for Caribbean Birds—Fundraising Success!
Our Big Day birding teams stepped up again in 2023 to help raise funds for bird conservation in the Caribbean. This year, those funds are going towards our Caribbean Bird Banding program. Our Global Big Day fundraiser was another stunning success! Together, our 17 participating teams from across the Caribbean and beyond have raised over $19,300 USD so far. We are over 90% of our goal of $20,000. A huge THANK YOU to everyone who took part or supported us so far!
Funds raised will support more bird banding training workshops, like this one held in The Bahamas in 2022, to build conservation capacity in the Caribbean.
These donations will continue to provide bands and other resources to Caribbean banders. They will also help us host and support more international training workshops, internships and additional training sessions. You can STILL donate to help us reach our goal (we are SO close). https://givebutter.com/BCGBD2023
How did our BirdsCaribbean Teams do in 2023?
Well… (drum roll)…
This is what we all want to know: what are the stats from this year’s team competition? Once again the multinational “Flying Pintails” led by Executive Director Lisa Sorenson topped the list! Not only did they see the most species – 702 – they topped all the other categories too! Including most West Indies Endemics – 52. We might need to change their team name to the “Dominant Ducks!”
With team members from a total of 14 countries, their impressive performance is perhaps not surprising. To put it in perspective, it works out to just 50 species per country, far less than for some ‘national teams’ totals! Perhaps Lisa needs to get her team working harder next year. . . Or, on second thought, maybe that’s not such a good idea!
Coming in second place on total species was another multi-national team, “President’s Perch” with 457, and the Globe-Trotting Todies trotted into third place in the total species seen with 271. (You can see a full round up in Figure 3 below.)
Figure 3. Global Big Day results for our 17 BirdsCaribbean Teams. The numbers in red show which team had the highest number for each category.
The “Bee Hummers Dream Team” from Cuba deserves a special mention for getting the most people involved, with a fabulous 63 team members entering their species lists on eBird. They also saw an impressive 170 species within the West Indies (just beating the “Piping Pawis” from Trinidad, who saw 169). Some of these races were tight!
Ciego Birding Club. Yaro Rodriguez friends Big Day birding in Cuba.
“Small is beautiful” for some teams!
Whilst the large multinational teams might have dominated in the ‘species seen’ stats (we’re looking at you “Flying Pintails”) when it came to species seen by each team member the smaller teams really shone. The nine team members in the “Far Flung Flock of Friends” totaled an impressive 25 species each (on average). Within the “national” teams, the “TCI Royal Terns” stood out with their three team members recording 20 species for each on average. That’s pretty intense! (you can see all the stats in Figure 4).
Figure 4. The average number of species seen per person for each of the 17 Global Big Day teams. Far Flung Flock of Friends saw the most birds per team member with an average of 25 species/person.
Biggest Big Day team birders
Of course, we shouldn’t forget the outstanding contributions of individual team members! This year we had some seriously impressive individual efforts. Topping the top team birders list was Beny Wilson, who was birding in Panama and recorded 164 species for the Flying Pintails !! For this fabulous feat, Beny wins some awesome BC swag!
Our top five birders (or birding duos) located anywhere (not necessarily in the Caribbean) on Big Day were:
164 Beny Wilson – Flying Pintails 161 Paul Rodewald – Flying Pintails 160 John Garrett- Flying Pintails 148 Holly Garrod & Joshua Covill – Globe Trotting Todies 118 Jeff Gerbracht – Flying Pintails
Our top five birders (or birding duos) with the most species in the West Indies were:
106 Alex Sansom and Mark Hulme – Trinidad and Tobago (Piping Pawis) 94 Eric Torres-Rivera – Puerto Rico (Warbling Warriors) 94 Ricel Polán Hernández – Cuba (Bee Hummers Dream Team) 85 Julio Salgado – Puerto Rico (Warbling Warriors) 80 Xavier Ragbir – Trinidad and Tobago (Piping Pawis) 78 Susan Davis – Bonaire (Flying Pintails)
Beny Wilson and friends birding in Panama for the Flying Pintails
Broad-billed Motmot one of 164 species seen by Beny!
Crimson-collared Tanager anther bird spotted by Beny!
Josh Covill and Holly Garrod birding for the Globe Trotting Todies
Jeff Gerbracht on Big Day birding for the Flying Pintails
On the trail of the island endemics
Of course, in the Caribbean, it isn’t all about how many species are seen. Global Big Day is also a chance for teams to find and record their endemic birds. On some islands, tracking down all the island endemics can be more of a challenge than others! But we should note that “Bajan Birders & Friends” and “Cayman Birding” both found ‘their’ endemic bird on Big Day.
Figure 5. Number and percent of endemics seen (by proportion) on Global Big Day, 2023.
The Warbling Warriors in Puerto Rico really stepped up to that challenge, finding all 16 endemics. The “Bee Hummers Dream Team” in Cuba, and the “Palmchatters” on Hispaniola also came pretty close to 100% of endemics seen. Well done to all!
Looking for Endemics a Puerto Rican Woodpecker. (Photo by Alice Falto)
Another endemic woodpecker! A West Indian Woodpecker spotted in Cuba. (Photo by Roberto Jovel)
Working hard for the endemics
Within the Caribbean some birders went that extra mile to find the region’s endemic birds. So we want to give a special mention to the following birders who had 20 or more West Indies Endemics on their GBD checklist on May 13th:
Adrian Corbas (Cuba) – 32
Ricel Polan Hernandez (Cuba) – 26
Wisdenilde Navarro (Cuba) – 21
Franklin Zakhur Howley-Dumit Serulle (Dominican Republic) – 20
Idania Garcia Castillo (Cuba) – 20
Eric Torres-Rivera (Puerto Rico) – 20
Every single bird recorded during our Global Big Day birding fundraiser counted towards our effort and every birder taking part helped make this year an amazing success! We also want to thank everyone who helped us raise funds and donated to help support bird banding in the Caribbean. It’s not too late to contribute to our 2023 fundraiser – we are so close to our $20,000 goal! Your donation will help us empower our local partners to learn more about Caribbean birds through bird band, building the region’s capacity for bird conservation through our Caribbean Bird Banding Network.https://givebutter.com/BCGBD2023
2023 BirdsCaribbean Global Big Day Teams
You can visit each birding team’s page profile on eBird to see maps of the team’s countries/ islands where birds were sighted and their checklists. You can also visit each team’s GiveButter page and donate to specific teams to help them reach their fundraising goal, or donate to the general campaign.
Common Gallinule seen by Julian Moore on Barbados during Big Day
Enjoy some more photos captured by members of BirdsCaribbean’s various Global Big Day teams on 13th May, 2023. (keep an eye out from more Big Day photos in our “Big Day Photo Contest” results).
Celebrate the Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival (CEBF) with us! Our theme in 2023 is “Water: Sustaining Bird Life” highlighting the importance of water conservation to both humans and birds. 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: Black-capped Petrel
Imagine being up on one of the tallest mountains in the Caribbean. Imagine being there at night on a moonless February night. You can feel the fog all around you and can hear the sounds of a few frogs and insects. Suddenly, out of nowhere and everywhere at the same time, comes an eerie call, between a laugh and a lament. In ancient times, some thought these were the calls of the devil or witches. But today you can be assured that you are lucky enough to be near one of the few courtship areas of the Black-capped Petrel.
This mysterious seabird is the only seabird endemic to the Caribbean! Is is known as Diablotin (“the little devil”) in Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and Dominica, and Pajaro de la Bruja (“the witch’s bird”) in Cuba. It used to be widespread in the Caribbean but is now only known to nest in Haiti and the Dominican Republic, and possibly in Cuba, Dominica, Jamaica, and Guadeloupe.
The Black-capped Petrel has long wings (dark above, white below), a white nape and rump, and the black cap that gives it its English name. Its diet is not well known but consists mostly of fish and squid. A pelagic seabird, it spends most of its life far out at sea and comes to land only to breed, between November and June.
It is very difficult to see the Black-capped Petrel on land because it comes back to its burrow only after sunset and leaves long before sunrise, flying up and down river flyways in the dark. At sea, it is active day and night and lucky birdwatchers may see it near the coast of those Caribbean islands where it breeds. However, the best place to see a Black-capped Petrel would be just off the Guajira Peninsula in Colombia (where petrels from Hispaniola come to feed) and off Cape Hatteras, a hotspot for migrating petrels near the southeastern coast of the USA. There, you will notice its characteristic “roller-coaster” flight where it soars above the ocean and then dips to just above the water.
The Black-capped Petrel has a small population (estimated at 2,000-4,000 individuals) and is considered globally endangered. The main threats affecting the species on land are the loss of forested habitat, introduced predators (mainly mongoose, feral cats, and feral dogs), and collision with telecommunication towers. At sea, the petrel is affected by pollution (such as mercury and plastics), production of marine energy (oil and gas, and offshore wind), and attraction to lighted ships.
The Black-capped Petrel has long been part of Caribbean culture. Songs tell its story and mountains bear its name: in Dominica, two of the highest mountains (Morne Diablotin and Morne aux Diables) are named after it. The International Black-capped Petrel Conservation Group is hard at work to keep the Black-capped Petrel flying up and down Caribbean mountains. Protection of its forested breeding habitat and protection from predators is key to its long-term survival. You can learn more about this mysterious seabird at diablotin.org. Learn more about this species, including its range, photos, and calls here.
Thanks to Yvan Satge for the text!
Colour in the Black-capped Petrel
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 Black-capped Petrel
The calls of the Black-capped Petrel at nesting areas include a drawn out “awwwww” – these ‘spooky’ noises they make from nesting burrows give them their “Little Devil” name. Away from nests, when at sea they are usually silent but sometime give a short high-pitched ‘yelp’ call.
Puzzle of the Day
Click on the image below to do the puzzle. You can make the puzzle as easy or as hard as you like – for example, 6, 8, or 12 pieces for young children, all the way up to 1,024 pieces for those that are up for a challenge!
Black-capped Petrel in flight, spotted in May at-sea in North Carolina. (Photo by Kate Sutherland, Macaulay Library, ML343236161)Black-capped Petrel in flight. (Photo by Tom Benson)
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 Black-capped Petrel. You’ll need to know about where is lives, what it eats, and how it behaves. You can find all the answers to the clues here.
FOR KIDS AND ADULTS: Find out more about community-based conservation of Black-capped Petrels in the Caribbean and join Adam Brown as he takes us on a trip to Haiti, to the remote mountain village of Boukan Chat. This village and the people who live there are the focus of conservation efforts to save the elusive and endangered Black-capped Petrel. Click below to see more about village life and how sustainable agriculture has been helping both the people and the petrels.
Celebrate the Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival (CEBF) with us! Our theme in 2023 is “Water: Sustaining Bird Life” highlighting the importance of water conservation to both humans and birds. 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 Martin
Cuban Martins (Progne cryptoleuca) are aerial insectivores. This group of birds gracefully swoops and soars through the air, catching insects on the wing. They have long and pointed wings that help them perform their aerial acrobatics. They also tend to have wide beaks that enable them to scoop insects as they fly. This group includes potoos, nightjars, swifts, swallows, and flycatchers.
Cuban Martins are striking birds. The adult male is bright metallic blue all over with a purplish gloss; some hidden white feathers on the lower belly are not usually seen in the field. The female has a white belly that contrasts sharply with a sooty-brown chest, sides, throat, and upper-parts, with some steel-blue feathers on her back, scapulars, and part of the head. Both sexes have forked tails. First-year juveniles are similar to the adult female, but much duller, and their tails are less forked than those of adults.
Cuban Martins are quite similar to Purple Martins (Progne subis). In fact, males of both species are indistinguishable in the field! However, females can be differentiated as the Purple Martin has some brown streaking on the underpart and a less distinct border between a darker breast and whitish belly.
The calls of the Cuban Martin include a harsh “churr,” a high-pitched, buzzy “zwick-zwick,” like a vibrating wire; and also a strong melodious warble.
Being a migratory species, the Cuban Martin’s range includes breeding, passage and wintering areas. It breeds only in Cuba with records on the main island, the Isle of Youth, and several cays both north and south of the island. The migration route and wintering range is largely unknown, but it is believed to winter in South America since the Cuban Martin is rarely reported in the rest of the Caribbean. This hypothesis is supported by recent data from an individual breeding in Cuba that was fitted with a geo-locator tag; it had traveled to Brazil for the winter!
The few records of the Cuban Martin in the region include observations in the Cayman Islands, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Guadeloupe, Barbados, Aruba, and Curacao.
The Cuban Martin inhabits open or semi-open areas in palm groves, mangroves, grasslands, agricultural lands, low scrubland, and coastal lagoons. They are also common in cities and towns where they can be observed perched on power and telephone lines. They return to Cuba to breed starting in late January with most of the population arriving between mid-February and early March. They begin to depart for their wintering area by late September/early October and are not seen again until the next breeding season.
Cuban Martins nest in colonies, but may breed in isolated pairs. The female lays 3 to 5 white eggs in abandoned woodpecker nests, dead palms, and cavities in cliffs and caves. They also nest under bridges and in old buildings and church towers. In Cuba, the largest breeding colony recorded is in the Convent of San Francisco de Asis in Old Havana. The few studies related to cavity use and breeding phenology are concentrated in that colony.
Cuban Martins are well adapted to capturing airborne insects. Their short, wide bill acts as a funnel to capture prey during flight, as they alternate between flapping and gliding. The diet, although not described in detail, includes known prey such as beetles, dragonflies and damselflies, butterflies and moths and bees. Both males and females feed the chicks in the nest, and even when the chicks leave the nest, both parents have been observed transferring food to the young during flight.
There is currently no reliable population estimate for this species. However, it is considered common throughout its breeding range in Cuba, and the population is assumed to be stable. It is therefore listed by BirdLife International as Least Concern. However, there are records of declines in local populations at some sites in the Ciénaga de Zapata, Cuba due to the loss of nesting cavities. This is likely related to habitat destruction by poachers, who cut down nesting trees in search of psittacine (parrot) nests. The impact of other possible threats such as invasive species, hunting, collisions, and human disturbance is generally unknown. Learn more about this species, including its range, photos, and calls here.
Thanks to Alieny González Alfonso for the text!
Colour in the Cuban Martin
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 Martin
The calls of the Cuban Martin include a harsh “churr,” a buzzy “zwick-zwick,” as well as other musically burbling, buzzy 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!
A pair of Cuban Martins perched in Havana, Cuba. (Photo by Ianela García Lau, Macaulay Library, ML353442741)Male Cuban Martin at a nest site in an empty pipe. (Photo by Ianela García Lau)Female Cuban Martin in flight. (Photo by Wayne Fidler, Macaulay-Library, ML84056381)
Activity of the Day
FOR KIDS: Cuban Martins depend on insects as there main food source! This is true for lots of birds who need insects to survive. Even those who eat nectar or fruits might sometimes also eat insects or will catch them to feed to their hungry growing chicks (who need protein to be able to grow their feathers).
So, why not find out more about which insects live near you that are providing important food for birds? In this activity you will need:
an old light colored bed sheet or towel will work
a magnifying glass
garden gloves (optional)
camera
sheet of paper and pencil
You will also need a parent or trusted adult to help you with this activity. Download the activity instruction sheet here. And then you are ready to go looking for insects—who knows what you might find !
FOR KIDS AND ADULTS: Enjoy this video of a Cuban Martin at a nest at the top of an old church in Old Havana – you can see a female trying to get her fully-grown chick to leave the nest!
Want to know more about other wonderful and acrobatic ‘Aerial Insectivores’ that live in the Greater Antilles? Then check our this fun blog post by Justin Proctor!
Celebrate the Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival (CEBF) with us! Our theme in 2023 is “Water: Sustaining Bird Life” highlighting the importance of water conservation to both humans and birds. 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 Blackbird
Beautiful white-sand beaches, smiling faces, and a warm and welcoming ray of sunshine kissing your cheeks as you sip on freshly chopped coconuts. This is what most people think about when they hear the name of the Jamaican Blackbird’s (Nesopsar nigerrimus) homeland. However, this endangered endemic prefers to stay 500-2,000m above sea-level in the lush, cool, rainforests of the country’s interior mountains.
Its name describes its features perfectly with the exception of its dark-brown iris and slight blue gloss on its all-black plumage. This shiny black icterid (Family Icteridae includes blackbirds, orioles, meadowlarks, troupials, the Bobolink, etc.) boasts a slim, sharply-pointed black bill and a short, slightly forked, rounded tail, and black legs. Juveniles are similar to adults but their plumage has a slightly brown tinge and they lack gloss. Compared with other members of its family, Nesopsar has shorter legs and more curved claws, which are advantageous in arboreal (tree) foraging. The Jamaican Blackbird climbs vertically, like a woodcreeper, pecking into the trunk for crunchy and gooey beetles, snails, and caterpillars.
To locals, Jamaican Blackbirds are affectionately known as the “Wildpine Sergeant” because they can be found silently foraging in bromeliads and moss, or at the base of trees tossing out dead leaves and sticks. The sound of these disturbed leaves and the rain of debris, as they seek out small invertebrates, is often the first thing that attracts the attention of curious and hopeful birdwatchers to its whereabouts.
The Jamaican Blackbird breeds between the months of May and July. Their nests are built in the shape of a cup, well-hidden in the foliage. Though they are never seen in flocks, they may be seen in family groups sometimes after nesting periods. The song is a wheezy, tuneless “zwheeee-zee-zooo-zee-zee-zooo.” The call is a single, squeaky “wheet” repeated every few seconds.
This species is poorly studied and has become increasingly difficult to find over the decades, probably due to a loss of habitat. It is now classified as Endangered. Bauxite mining, commercial tree planting, and coffee plantations have all led to the removal of mature native trees that support the large bromeliads in which it forages.
When you visit the beautiful island of Jamaica make sure to keep an eye out on the winding roads and trails in Cockpit Country, and the Blue and John Crow Mountains National Park, you may just spot a rare Jamaican treasure! And locals, let our government know that the habitat of our endemic Jamaican Blackbird needs to be protected to ensure its survival long into the future. Learn more about this species, including its range, photos, and calls here.
Thanks to Justin Saunders for the text!
Colour in the Jamaican Blackbird
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 Blackbird
The song of the Jamaican Blackbird is a wheezy “zwheeee-zee-zooo-zee-zee-zooo.”
Puzzle of the Day
Click on the image below to do the puzzle. You can make the puzzle as easy or as hard as you like – for example, 6, 8, or 12 pieces for young children, all the way up to 1,024 pieces for those that are up for a challenge!
Jamaican Blackbird, in the Blue Mountains, Jamaica. (Photo by Tom Johnson, Macaulay Library, ML89062321)Jamaican Blackbird spotted in Portland Parish, Jamaica. (Photo by Michael McCloy, Macaulay Library, ML51196591)
Activity of the Day
FOR KIDS: We hope that you have been enjoying learning all about our Caribbean endemic birds! Don’t forget that this year our theme is “Water: Sustaining Bird Life”. Some of the birds we have featured so far are endangered and many others are under pressure, often from human activities. This means our special endemic birds and many of the other beautiful birds that live in or visit us in the Caribbean need your help.
All birds need water to survive so you can help by carrying out the actions in our “Pledge to Conserve Water.” You can download and print our water pledge here. Then sign your name and get started helping our birds by following some of the simple water-saving actions listed in the pledge. You could also hang or pin it up somewhere at home to remind you to keep saving water and helping birds and wildlife. And don’t forget to share this pledge with your family and friends!
FOR KIDS AND ADULTS: Enjoy the short videos below of a Jamaican Blackbird foraging for tasty insects in the Blue Mountains National Park in 1) lichen and moss along tree branches, and 2) a large bromeliad.
Did you know that in 2020 Shika Shika released their album “A Guide to the Birdsong of Mexico, Central America, & the Caribbean” ? The project was a unique fusion of music and birdsong , the ten-track electronic music album, incorporated the songs and calls of endangered birds. Amongst the calls and songs of endemics from the region you can listen out for the sweet songs of our Caribbean birds- including the Jamaican Blackbird! Find out more below:
Celebrate the Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival (CEBF) with us! Our theme in 2023 is “Water: Sustaining Bird Life,” highlighting the importance of water conservation to both humans and birds. 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: Narrow-billed Tody
If you’re thinking the Narrow-billed Tody must be the counterpart of the Broad-billed Tody – you’d be right. Hispaniola (shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic) is the only island with TWO todies and the only island where the todies are not named after their locale. These two todies indeed differ in bill width. They also separate altitudinally. The Broad-billed Tody is found in the lowland broadleaf forests while the Narrow-billed Tody (Todus angustirostris) inhabits the high-elevation cloud and pine forests.
Todies, the charismatic faces of the Caribbean, are small green birds with a bright red throat and paler chest. Though similar in coloration to hummingbirds, they are actually more related to kingfishers and motmots. Todies comprise 5 species spread across 4 of the Greater Antilles and are completely endemic to the Caribbean!
Besides the narrower bill, how can we distinguish the Narrow-billed Tody? First, check the eye color. Narrow-billed Todies have pale, typically blue eyes rather than the dark brown eyes of Broad-billed Todies. Next, check the breast color, Narrow-billed Todies will have a stark white breast, allowing their yellow and pink side feathers to really pop.
In contrast, the Broad-billed Tody has a much streakier yellow-pinkish breast. Finally check the bill. While Narrow-billed Todies do in fact have a narrower bill, the underside of the bill will typically be much darker. And if you really pay close attention, you might even notice that the Broad-billed Tody is overall a much brighter green than the darker, more forest-green of the Narrow-billed Tody.
The Narrow-billed Tody is locally known as the Chi-cui, named after its raspy, insect-like vocalization. They can often be heard making this chi-cui sound or a faster lazer call. But unlike the Broad-billed Tody which can make a nonvocal wing noise that sounds similar to running your fingers through a comb, Narrow-billed Todies do not appear to sport this ability.
These tiny green birds, weighing in at about 5-6 grams, have a voracious appetite and are seen in a near constant state of foraging. They’ll devour anything- from gooey caterpillars to butterflies, and have even been observed munching on 18 different species of fruits! And with their tiny size they’ve even been found choosing smaller fruits compared to some of Hispaniola’s other avian frugivores.
Like the other Caribbean todies, Narrow-billed Todies will dig their own nest burrow in any dirt bank they can find. Unlike Broad-billed Todies, however, which can be found nesting in your local neighborhood, Narrow-billed Todies are a bit pickier and prefer to nest deeper in the woods. In the Cordillera Central of the Dominican Republic, these tiny todies actually make an elevational migration related to their breeding season. In April, right as they start to get ready for breeding, they’ll move upwards in elevation, being found no lower than 1,000m. But after the breeding season ends, usually July-August, they beeline back down the mountain and can be found as low as 650m during the rest of the year!
Similar to other Caribbean birds that live in forests, the Narrow-billed Tody is rapidly losing habitat, especially to growing agricultural activities like cattle ranching and coffee farms. Climate change has already pushed the two todies closer together—they can now be found breeding in overlap zones around 900m in the Cordillera Central and around 1,200m in the Sierra de Bahoruco of the Dominican Republic. There are even rumors of the first likely hybridization between the two species!
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 Narrow-billed Tody
The song of the Narrow-billed Tody is a buzzy chattering which is repeated at intervals.
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!
Narrow-billed Tody, showing it’s pink sides. (Photo by Alberto Rojas)Perched Narrow-billed Tody. (Photo by Francisco Alba)
Activity of the Day
FOR KIDS: Can you find the words in our Narrow-billed Tody word search? Remind yourself of some of the interesting facts about this endemic bird as you look for all 15 hidden words!
Remember the words may appear forwards and backwards, as well as horizontal, vertical and diagonal! Need some help? Or want to check your answers? You can see where all the words were here.
FOR KIDS AND ADULTS: Enjoy this video of a Narrow-billed Tody preening!
The Narrow-billed Tody was one of the beautiful birds , found in the Dominican Republic, that were seen by the participants of Landbird Monitoring Training Workshop. This workshop was held at the in the hills of central Dominican Republic during 2022 as part of our Caribbean Landbird Monitoring Program. Wildlife professionals from 16 countries had the opportunity to get together in person and learn to address the challenges of identifying, counting, and tracking our fascinating landbirds – in a variety of beautiful habitats. Find out what it was like taking part from participant Daniela Ventura.
Celebrate the Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival (CEBF) with us! Our theme in 2023 is “Water: Sustaining Bird Life,” highlighting the importance of water conservation to both humans and birds. 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: Yellow-headed Warbler
Easy to spot because it forages in the understory is a small distinct warbler with an all-yellow head that contrasts with a plain gray body—the Yellow-headed Warbler (Teretistris fernandinae). It occurs over the western third of the main island of Cuba, as well as on the Isle of Youth and Cayo Cantiles. It is one of two warbler species endemic to Cuba.
The Yellow-headed Warbler is considered a “sister species” of the more easterly distributed Oriente Warbler (Teretistris fornsi), the other endemic warbler. Sister species are closely related – they are the two descendant species formed when one species splits during evolution.
In recent times, some biologists found an area of geographical overlap of the two species on the south side of the island between Cienfuegos and Trinidad City. Interestingly they have discovered a hybrid population here!! This means that both species have been living in this area and breeding with each other for years!! Hybrid zones happen when two closely related species come into contact with one another again and interbreed.
It’s easy to tell these two warblers apart in the field. The Yellow-headed Warbler, has an all-yellow hood and yellow eye-rings and the rest of the plumage is plain gray while the Oriente Warbler has a gray head but yellow face and chest. So you may be wondering, what do the hybrid warblers look like? The hybrids have a yellow hood and yellow chest!
Yellow-headed Warblers inhabit forests and wooded vegetation at all elevations, also scrubby thickets in semi-arid areas. They form small flocks when they are looking for food like insects and other invertebrates, mostly in understory, but also on the ground or in branches. During this time you may hear them making high-pitched buzzy notes tsi-tsi-tsi tsi-tsi, repeated many times.
Many other species of birds tag along with these bustling foraging flocks and often wait for the insects that escape from the Yellow-headed Warblers. They also benefit from the added protection of being alerted to the presence of lurking predators. It is common to see Cuban Vireos, La Sagra´s Flycatchers and Cuban Bullfinches, as well as migratory warblers like Black-and-White Warblers, Prairie Warblers, Worm-eating Warblers, and Northern Parulas joining the flock of Yellow-headed Warblers.
With spring, starting in March, the numbers of insects and bugs begin to increase! This is when the breeding season for the Yellow-headed Warbler starts and usually continues until July. It builds a cup-shaped nest of grasses, rootlets, and other plant fibers placed low or fairly low in a bush, vine, or sapling. Clutch size is 2 to 3 eggs, with egg-laying taking place from April to June.
Although the conservation status of the Yellow-headed Warbler is Least Concern, we need to monitor and protect this bird. Keep in mind that it is a restricted-range species, present only in western Cuba. It is therefore vulnerable to many threats, such as deforestation, pollution, and impacts from climate change, including severe drought, storms, and hurricanes. These threats could kill birds outright as well as damage their habitats, food sources and ability to breed successfully. Learn more about this species, including its range, photos, and calls here.
Thanks to Ernesto Reyes Mouriño for the text!
Colour in the Yellow-headed 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 Yellow-headed Warbler
The song of the Yellow-headed Warbler is series of raspy, high-pitched, buzzy 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!
A Yellow-headed Warbler calls. (Photo by Greg Lavaty)Yellow-headed Warbler. (Photo by Doug Greenberg)
Activity of the Day
FOR KIDS: There are two warblers who both live in Cuba and look very much alike, but they’re not the same! Once is today’s endemic bird, the Yellow-headed Warbler, and the other is the Oriente Warbler. Both are mainly gray and yellow! In our activity of the day you need to look carefully at two photos and try to identify the Yellow-headed Warbler. Check the text above for some handy tips.
If you get stuck and feel like you need a bit of extra help then take a look on the second page of this activity. You will find some helpful hints to set you on the right track.
Thinks that you found the Yellow-headed Warbler? You can check if you are right on our answer sheet here. This activity is perfect to play with school groups or outdoor education clubs etc.
FOR KIDS AND ADULTS: Enjoy this delightful video of a Yellow-headed Warbler foraging in the wild!
Celebrate the Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival (CEBF) with us! Our theme in 2023 is “Water: Sustaining Bird Life,” highlighting the importance of water conservation to both humans and birds. 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: Inagua Woodstar
This feisty Bahamian endemic hummingbird was formerly considered a subspecies of the Bahamas Woodstar. But the Inagua Woodstar was classified by the American Ornithological Society as a separate species in 2015. It is found only in Great and Little Inagua, two Islands in the southeastern part of The Bahamas archipelago. The Bahamas Woodstar, however, is found throughout the rest of the Bahamas. Additionally, both species differ from each other in morphology, coloration, vocalizations, and even courtship displays!
The male’s iridescent gorget (throat) of both species is a brilliant shade of purple, sometimes chartreuse (yellow-green) if the light catches it just right. But the Inagua Woodstar male may have patches of iridescence on its forehead and lores (area in front of the eyes). Furthermore, adult male Inagua Woodstars have a unique tail—it is slightly longer and more strongly forked than the Bahama Woodstar, and the outer feathers fan out in a unique lyre shape (think of a U-shaped harp).
Female Inagua Woodstars are much like female Bahama Woodstars—dull green on the back, rufous belly, and whitish upper breast and throat. As with most hummingbirds young males closely resemble females until they undergo their first adult molt at about 10 months of age. Young hummingbirds tend to rest on plant leaves instead of hovering when feeding on flowers.
The song of the Inagua Woodstar is quiet and simple, sounding like wet, squeaking shoes. Calls include a sharp, metallic “tit” or “tit-it”; often given in a series, sometimes quite rapidly. Males also make a metallic sound with their tail during display flights.
Woodstars can be found in nearly all habitats, including dune scrub, freshwater riparian areas, parks, and gardens. They visit flowers of numerous native plants including salvia, sages, various honeysuckles, red-bird cactus, aloe vera, Bougainvillea, Noni, and flame of the woods (Ixora) shrubs. The Geiger Trees, however, seem to be a magnet for many male Inagua Woodstars. Both sexes defend territories around favored nectar sources. Nests may be found anytime from September to June (and possibly year-round) with possible peaks in April-May and October. Nests are usually 3-7 feet off the ground in trees which offer evergreen foliage. In vegetated areas just off the beaches on the eastern side of the islands, nests may be found in various wild scrub plants, about 2-3 ft off the ground. All nests are approximately 2 inches and usually contain two eggs.If you hear the female making repeated calls as you enter a nesting area, she’s telling you “do not come any closer to my nest!” And we hope that you will take heed of of her disturbance warning.
The location of the birds on the islands is highly dependent on the weather in summer and fall, due to the direct influences of hurricanes and the amount of rainfall. While this species is presently common in the Inaguas, it is a restricted range species. It is therefore vulnerable to threats like severe storms and hurricanes, which could wipe out its population directly from the storm itself, or indirectly from destruction of its habitat and the loss of nectar food sources.
Wondering how you can get an up-close look of this endemic gem? Travel to Great Inagua in The Bahamas, where you will fly into Matthew Town, the one small settlement on the island. The locals are helpful with sharing recent sightings and are very willing to give you directions. Please contact these expert local birders/guides for more information: Tarra Lindo Lilninebig@hotmail.com or Casper Burrows Friendlytoursinagua@gmail.com
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
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!
Perched Male Inagua Woodstar. (Photo by Ann Maddock)Female Inagua Woodstar in flight. (Photo by Ann Maddock)
Activity of the Day
FOR KIDS: Like all birds, the Inagua Woodstar and other hummingbirds like to bathe. But they won’t use a traditional birdbath. They prefer to take a shower in moving water- like from a mister, sprinkler. or dripper, or they use a much shallower source. They will even bathe in the water droplets that collect on leaves!
Why not make a hummingbird water dripper so that these lovely little birds can take a shower in your garden? If you have an empty juice bottle you can make this dripper. Other wildlife in your yard will also appreciate having some water!
To make the dripper you will need:
1 plastic jug or bottle, clean, empty and with labels removed
craft wire, twine, ribbon, strips of cloth
1 straight pin or fine-gauge needle
Scissors
Paint or markers (optional)
Be sure to have an adult on hand when using the needle and scissors!
FOR KIDS AND ADULTS: Enjoy this video of an Inagua Woodstar feeding in the wild!
Want to know more about these beautiful endemic birds and other hummingbirds? Why not watch our webinar “Flying Jewels: A Photographic Journey of Select Hummingbird Species of the US and The Bahamas“. In it Ann Maddock shares fascinating information about hummingbirds, using stunning photos from her book of the same name! Ann and our friends from The Bahamas talk about the Cuban Emerald, Bahamas Woodstar, and Inagua Woodstar and how anyone can safely photograph hummingbirds, attract them to your yard, and keep them coming back! First shown as a live Webinar as part of BirdsCaribbean’s Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival 2021.
Celebrate the Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival (CEBF) with us! Our theme in 2023 is “Water: Sustaining Bird Life,” highlighting the importance of water conservation to both humans and birds. 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 Becard
In the forests and woodlands of Jamaica, you hear a loud and melodious Ricka-ticky-ti-tee and quickly begin searching the canopy of the large trees around you. There it is – the Jamaican Becard (Pachyramphus niger). This unmistakable call lends to one of its local names “Rickatee.” Usually perched scanning for prey, this small flycatcher-like bird is around 18 cm with a large square head and heavy black bill, large brown eyes, and a slightly forked tail.
Males are glossy black on the back and duller on the front. Females (and juveniles) are quite different—they have a bright rufous head, throat, wings, and tail, medium gray back, and pale gray underparts. In most instances, if you see one sex you’re sure to see the other. The Jamaican Becard is typically seen foraging in the mid to upper levels of the forest primarily feeding on insects and other small invertebrates, which it captures by hovering or gleaning from the leaves and branches of trees. They also eat small berries. Belonging to the family Tityridae, a group of Neotropical songbirds, the Jamaican Becard is unique. Of the 17 species of Becard (Pachyramphus spp), it is the only island endemic. The other 16 are found on the continental mainland ranging from Mexico through Central America and South America (only one species, the Rose-throated Becard, is resident in the US in southeastern sections of Arizona and Texas). A standout trait of the Jamaican Becard is its spectacular nest. It’s very large, up to 1.2 m in circumference, and made of sticks, leaves, grasses, ferns, vines, moss, and Tillandsia. The nest is draped and hung at the end of a slender branch high above the ground from a large tree. This gives rise to two of its other local names: “House bird” and “London City.” The female lays three eggs. The breeding season runs from March to June.
Jamaican Becards are clever birds too! The main entrance to the nest is usually at the bottom but there are often several false entrances to baffle predators. With such an attractive stockpile of materials, many other birds of varied species often steal material to make their nests, keeping the Becard couple busily remodeling or fending off the looters. Although fairly widespread across the island, Jamaican Becards are not found in dry limestone forests. With their ecology being dependent on fairly good canopy and large trees the Jamaican Becard is another species that highlights the importance of maintaining forest habitats with large trees in Jamaica.
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 Becard
The song of the Jamaican Becard is an an excited-sounding chatter of squeaky notes, often followed by a drawn out “tweeeee” note.
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 Jamaican Becard. (Photo by Matt Grube)Female Jamaican Becard. (photo by Dave Curtis)
Activity of the Day
FOR KIDS AND ADULTS: Today’s endemic bird, the Jamaican Becard lives in the forests of the mountains in Jamaica. This is where they will nest and attempt to raise their chicks. But it’s not always easy! Jamaican Becards, like many other birds, face many challenges during their breeding season. They must find a mate and build a nest. Then protect the nest and eggs. They must also feed their chicks so that they can grow into strong and healthy birds.
In our “Bird Survivor” game you can learn more about nesting birds and what birds need to do to successfully raise a bird family! Have you got what it takes?
For this activity you will need at least one adult to help organize the game; a large space (indoors or outside); the “Bird Survivor” game cards (provided with the full activity guide); and a group of adults and/ or kids to play the game! You can find out more in our activity introduction here. You can find all the information, instructions, a guide to learning outcomes and the “Bird Survivor” cards in our “Bird Survivor” activity guide and materials. This activity is perfect to play with school groups or outdoor education clubs etc.
Enjoy these videos of a female and a male Jamaican Becard in the wild!
Celebrate the Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival (CEBF) with us! Our theme in 2023 is “Water: Sustaining Bird Life,” highlighting the importance of water conservation to both humans and birds. 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 Swift
As the name implies, this superb flying swift is endemic to the Lesser Antilles. It is generally fairly common, and at present the species is known to breed on the islands of Guadeloupe, Dominica, Martinique, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent (St. Vincent and the Grenadines). eBird data also reports some observations in the Grenadines—Bequia and Union Island.
The Lesser Antillean Swift has a protruding head, a short square tail, and wings that bulge in the middle, cut in at the body, and hook at the end. At first glance it may look like a torpedo with wings whirling through the sky. But spend enough time observing the Lesser Antillean Swift and you will see its black-brown upperparts with a narrow gray rump-band; brown underparts and paler throat. In fact this swift, like many other swifts, spends most of its life on the wing using its speed and agility to catch flying insects. Even copulation occurs in flight!
The Lesser Antillean Swift can be found in a variety of habitats from high altitude pristine mountains to drier lowland savannas and cultivated areas. Highly gregarious, it is often found in flocks of 20-40 individuals. Its stubby dark-gray body and rapid, shallow wingbeats differentiate it from all swallows.
While it doesn’t decelerate often, it does slow down to nest. The breeding season is believed to span from May to July. The nest is built with a mixture of mud, saliva, and other materials the swifts catch in flight. Nests are cup-shaped and built within hollows, trees, caves, or on the sides of cliffs in mountainous areas. Clutch size is 2-3 eggs.
Although not considered a species of conservation concern, there is a serious lack of research and knowledge about this species, making it difficult to accurately assess the species’ status. It’s important to keep in mind that insectivorous birds have undergone some of the steepest declines across all avifauna, due in high part to the use of chemical pesticides applied at industrial scale. Deforestation is also likely to affect the species by reducing available nesting sites. It’s also important to note that basic natural history information on many Caribbean swifts, including this species, is limited, presenting low-hanging fruit for future research.Learn more about this species, including its range, photos, and calls here.
Colour in the Lesser Antillean Swift
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 Lesser Antillean Swift
The calls of the Lesser Antillean Swift are a high, sharp twittering.
Puzzle of the Day
Click on the image below to do the puzzle. You can make the puzzle as easy or as hard as you like – for example, 6, 8, or 12 pieces for young children, all the way up to 1,024 pieces for those that are up for a challenge!
Lesser Antillean Swift on the wing. (Photo by Frantz Delcroix)Illustration of a Lesser Antillean Swift. (Art by Ian Lewington)
Activity of the Day
FOR KIDS: Lesser Antillean Swifts feed on insects, swooping through the air to catch them on the wing! Can you help this hungry Lesser Antillean Swift find its way through our maze to to grab some tasty insect food? You can find the correct route here.
FOR KIDS AND ADULTS: Enjoy this video of Lesser Antillean Swifts in the wild!
Celebrate the Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival (CEBF) with us! Our theme in 2023 is “Water: Sustaining Bird Life,” highlighting the importance of water conservation to both humans and birds. 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: Gray-crowned Palm-Tanager
Of all the endemic Hispaniolan birds, only one bears the title of being Haiti’s only endemic, and that is the lovely Gray-crowned Palm-Tanager. Found only in the western part of Haiti, it is counterpart to the more wide-spread Black-crowned Palm-Tanager, found throughout Hispaniola. This handsome bird is gray below with a gray crown and nape and yellow-green wings, back, and tail. Its black face mask contrasts sharply with broad white mustache stripes and three white spots around the eye, giving it a spectacled appearance and its common name of “four eyes” in Spanish and French, cuatro ojos or quatre-yeux.
The Gray-crowned Palm-Tanager can be distinguished from the similar Black-crowned Palm-Tanager, by, you guessed it, the namesake crown color. In addition, Gray-crowned Palm Tanagers have a white chin and gray throat, whereas the Black-crowned Palm Tanager has an entirely white throat.
But be wary of young Black-crowned Palm-Tanagers in the Sierra de Bahoruco population in the southwest of the Dominican Republic. These young birds will often have a black-gray mottled crown. So how else can we differentiate the two? Check the breast color, the Gray-crowned Palm-Tanagers not only have a gray crown but also a grayer breast, compared to the Black-crowned Palm-Tanager, whose breast is more grayish-white.
With these two birds being so similar, they’ve got to be related right? Correct – and actually it’s a pretty cool story also explaining a bit of the restricted range of the Gray-crowned Palm-Tanager. These birds are found west of the Jacmel Depression, a strip of land running north-south that separates the Tiburon Peninsula from the rest of Hispaniola. During the Mid Pleistocene (circa 1 million years ago) the Jacmel Depression was so low, it was actually underwater, making the Massif de la Hotte mountain range on the Tiburon Peninsula effectively isolated from the rest of Hispaniola. This isolation is what allowed for the speciation of the Gray-crowned Palm-Tanager. And it’s speculated that this geographic barrier led to the speciation of many other flora and fauna, much of which has yet to be described to science!
Though very range restricted, within the Tiburon Peninsula, the Gray-crowned Palm-Tanager is actually fairly common, being found in forests from the coast up to 2,400m elevation. They have been found inhabiting mangrove forests, city parks, coastal scrub, agro-forestry plantations, pine forest, semi-humid forest, and humid forest. Though they are especially abundant in the Macaya Biosphere Reserve, a national park high up in the Massif de la Hotte mountains. Like their black-crowned counterpart, these birds are also generalists, feeding on ripe fruits and probing dead leaves for arthropods.
While the Gray-crowned Palm-Tanager is considered common, especially in comparison to many other Haitian birds, they are still of conservation concern. Only 1.5% of Haiti’s original forest cover remains, and even this continues to face the threat of encroaching agriculture and charcoal production for cooking. Their small range and lack of any conservation enforcement means conserving what little remains of the Tiburon Peninsula should be a top conservation priority to ensure the survival of these unique birds as well as other species waiting to be discovered..Learn more about this species, including its range, photos, and calls here.
Colour in the Gray-crowned Palm-Tanager
Download our West Indies Endemic Bird colouring page. Use the photos below as your guide, or you can look up pictures of the bird online or in a bird field guide if you have one. Share your coloured-in page with us by posting it online and tagging us @BirdsCaribbean #CEBFfromthenest
Listen to the call of the Gray-crowned Palm-Tanager
The call of the Gray-crowned Palm-Tanager is a thin “Peee-u“.
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!
Gray-crowned Palm-Tanager – note the gray crown and white mustache strips and chin. The throat of the similar Black-crowned Palm Tanager is entirely white. (Photo by Charles Davies-Macaulay Library -ML128928411)A Gray-crowned Palm-Tanager feeds on berries. (Photo by Sean Christensen-Macaulay Library- ML50182511)
Activity of the Day
FOR KIDS AND ADULTS: This activity is for everyone! The Gray-crowned Palm-Tanager is endemic to Haiti, part of the island of Hispaniola. It’s time to get creative and learn to draw two other beautiful endemic birds from Hispaniola. The similar looking Black-crowned Palm Tanager, who lives ‘next door’ in the Dominican Republic and another the Hispaniolan Lizard Cuckoo (found across Hispaniola). Grab some paper and your colouring pencils and get ready to draw along with artist Josmar Esteban Marquez!
Then, enjoy this video of a Gray-crowed Palm-Tanager in the wild!
Celebrate the Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival (CEBF) with us! Our theme in 2023 is “Water: Sustaining Bird Life,” highlighting the importance of water conservation to both humans and birds. 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 Flycatcher
The Puerto Rican Flycatcher (Myiarchus antillarum) is a medium-sized tyrant flycatcher, endemic to the island of Puerto Rico. It can be inconspicuous, due to its dull brown plumage on its back and mostly grayish-white underparts, but the voice of this elegant bird can be heard from a distance. The Spanish name “Juí” is derived from its characteristic whistled “wheeeeee” call. It also produces other distinctive calls throughout the day, like the quick “tsee-ick” whistle and longer dawn song “whee-a-wit-whee.”
Flycatchers can glean for insects from a substrate, but they mainly catch them in the air, flying out from a perch. This hunting strategy, known as “sallying,” requires acute vision and rapid movements! Its preferred diet consists of insects, like wasps, crickets, and beetles. But it also consumes a small amount of vertebrate prey, including snails and small lizards, and a few seeds and fruits.
The reproductive season extends from February to July. It nests in natural tree cavities, some previously built by Puerto Rican Woodpeckers (Melanerpes portoricensis). They are also known to use artificial nest boxes. Breeding biology studies have found that Shiny Cowbirds (Molothrus bonariensis) parasitize the nests of the Puerto Rican Flycatcher, thus decreasing their breeding success.
The species inhabits wooded areas, from coastal woodlands and mangroves at sea level to coffee plantations and mid-elevations montane forests. The species is not limited to the island of Puerto Rico; it is also found in the dry forests of the U.S. and British Virgin Islands, including St. John, Anegada, and Beef Island, although uncommon.
A long-term mist-netting study in Guánica State Forest in southern Puerto Rico, found a sharp decline in the flycatcher capture rate between 1989 and 2010. However, it is unknown if this trend extends island wide. For the moment, it is considered a species of Least Concern.Learn more about this species, including its range, photos, and calls here.
Thanks to Adrianne Tossas for the text!
Colour in the Puerto Rican Flycatcher
Download our West Indies Endemic Bird colouring page. Use the photos below as your guide, or you can look up pictures of the bird online or in a bird field guide if you have one. Share your coloured-in page with us by posting it online and tagging us @BirdsCaribbean #CEBFfromthenest
Listen to the calls of the Puerto Rican Flycatcher
The calls of the Puerto Rican Flycatcher are a short “tsee-ick” and a plaintive whistle “wheeeeee.” It also has longer dawn song “whee-a-wit-whee.”
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 Flycatcher perched, showing off its crest. (Photo by Matt Grube)Puerto Rican Flycatcher. (Photo by Alan Wells)Puerto Rican Flycatcher. (Photo by Benny Diaz)
Activity of the Day
FOR KIDS: Puerto Rican Flycatchers can be found in many different habitats including mangrove forests. Mangroves are important for so many of our endemic, resident and migratory birds. They are also home to many other animals and plants. On top of all this mangrove provide protection against storm damage and floods! Do you know where the mangroves are on your island? Why not find out and complete our Where Are My Mangroves? activity.
FOR KIDS AND ADULTS: Enjoy this video of a Puerto Rican Flycatcher carrying nesting material to its nest, in an old pipe!
Celebrate the Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival (CEBF) with us! Our theme in 2023 is “Water: Sustaining Bird Life,” highlighting the importance of water conservation to both humans and birds. 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: Red-necked Parrot
Looking out over Dominica’s lush rainforests, you might think the trees have learned to fly as large green shapes soar through the sky. But just as if they’ve read our curious minds, the birds announce themselves with loud, shrill “chur-lu-weeek” calls—it’s the Red-necked Parrot (Amazona arausiaca) making its presence known over the island’s sweeping valleys.
Locally called the Jaco Parrot, this species is one of two parrots found only on Dominica (Waitukubuli). The only other Caribbean island with two endemic parrots is Jamaica. What sets the Jaco apart from its cousin, the Imperial Parrot(Amazona imperialis) or Sisserou, is its striking appearance— a bluish head, a bright green body, a yellow tail band, and a splash of orange-red on its upper chest and wings. When in flight, its blue underwings become visible, blending beautifully into the sky—just as its green plumage camouflages it within the rainforest canopy.
Jaco Parrots feed mostly on seeds, nuts, and fruits from both wild and cultivated trees, though they are sometimes seen nibbling on young plant shoots. They are as messy as they are noisy, leaving half-eaten fruit scattered across the forest floor—almost as if they’re leaving a trail of breadcrumbs for birdwatchers! One thing they certainly share with the Dominican people is their love for seeded fruits like citrus, guava, and passion fruit.
While these parrots are said to have an exceptional palate, their fondness for cultivated crops sometimes creates conflicts with farmers when they damage harvests. However, the Jaco Parrot is listed as a specially protected bird in Dominica due to its cultural, economic, and ecological significance, as well as its Vulnerable status on the IUCN Red List.
Dominica’s forests—and its parrots—have recently faced numerous and devastating challenges, including hurricanes and poaching, but the Jaco’s resilience has allowed it to recover time and again. With the ability to lay up to four eggs and adapt to both coastal and inland vegetation, these charismatic birds continue to thrive. Flocks of up to 15 birds can still be seen soaring over the island’s mountains, their loud calls echoing as if to say, “Hello, hello, I am still here!”
Thanks to Jeanelle Brisbane and Stephen Durand for the text!
Colour in the Red-necked 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 Red-necked Parrot
The calls of the Red-necked Parrot include a shrill “chur-lu-weeek” with the final note louder and high-pitched, as well as “cureeek” call.
Puzzle of the Day
Click on the image below to do the puzzle. You can make the puzzle as easy or as hard as you like – for example, 6, 8, or 12 pieces for young children, all the way up to 1,024 pieces for those that are up for a challenge!
A Red-necked Parrot, locally know as a “Jaco”. (Photo by Jenny Craddock)
A Red-necked Parrot enjoys a tasty meal. (Photo by Stephen Durand)‘Jaco’ Parrot Perched in a tree. (Photo by Paul-Reillo)
Activity of the Day
FOR KIDS AND ADULTS: Red-necked 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 Dominica – 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 up, 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 Red-necked Parrots in the wild! The video shows these beautiful parrots feeding on flowers.
Sadly the charismatic endemic parrots of Dominica have been subject to the controversial export of several individual birds after the 2017 hurricane season and the highly damaging passage of Hurricane Maria. You can read more details of what happened below, including links to a detailed investigation carried out by ‘The Guardian’ newspaper (UK).
Celebrate the Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival (CEBF) with us! Our theme in 2023 is “Water: Sustaining Bird Life,” highlighting the importance of water conservation to both humans and birds. 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: Ashy-faced Owl
The Ashy-faced Owl (Tyto glaucops) is endemic to the island of Hispaniola (Haiti and Dominican Republic). It is a close relative of the Barn Owl (Tyto alba), but it is much darker and smaller. Its adorable heart-shaped face is ash gray which gives rise to its common name.
It is easy to distinguish a night owl from a daytime owl by the color of its eyes. The Snowy Owl, the owl featured in “Harry Potter,” has yellow eyes and is a good example of a daytime owl. The Ashy-faced Owl has black eyes and is a night owl or nocturnal hunter. It feeds mostly on small mammals (rodents and bats), but its diet includes more than thirty species of birds, plus reptiles, amphibians, and invertebrates.
Although the Ashy-faced Owl is considered abundant on the island, and is not threatened (Least Concern) its population is considered to have declined since 1930. This is due to the destruction of its habitats and the scarcity of nesting cavities. It is also suspected that its close relative, the Barn Owl, may be competing with it for nesting sites. Unfortunately, owls are also persecuted and often killed because they are believed to be omens of death. This is a quite common, but unfounded superstitious belief in the Caribbean.
Ashy-faced Owls live in many types of habitats: open fields, both dry and wet forests, scrub, cave areas, agricultural plantations, palm plantations, and abandoned buildings, but they prefer dense wooded areas. Their calls consist of a harsh “shaaaaaa” sound that looks like a whistle and rapid clicks like those of insects.
They breed from January to June, nesting in natural cavities such as hollows in trees, in caves, in limestone cliffs, and in artificial places. They lay 3 to 4 white eggs. The eggs of birds nesting in dark cavities are almost always white, perhaps because in the dark they cannot be seen by predators. Only females incubate the eggs. Incubation lasts from 30 to 32 days.
Females are much larger and stronger than males—they weigh more than 500 grams, while males weigh between 300 and 350 grams. Therefore, in cases of “domestic disputes” between a nesting pair, the male is the most vulnerable. But there is an advantage to being smaller. Males, being smaller and more agile, hunt different prey from females. Their diet is more varied and this helps reduce competition for food between the sexes.
In captivity a pair with three chicks consumes on average a dozen mice per night, which proves their importance as biological controls. Perhaps whoever kills an owl should be condemned to eat twelve mice a day for several weeks! Learn more about this species, including its range, photos, and calls here.
Thanks to Simón Guerrero for the text!
Colour in the Ashy-faced Owl
Download our West Indies Endemic Bird colouring page. Use the photos below as your guide, or you can look up pictures of the bird online or in a bird field guide if you have one. Share your coloured-in page with us by posting it online and tagging us @BirdsCaribbean #CEBFfromthenest
Listen to the calls of the Ashy-faced Owl
The calls Ashy-faced Owl are include a harsh and hissing “shaaaaaa” call as well as rapid, high-pitched clicks.
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!
Ashy-faced Owl spotted in 2023 in the Dominican Republic. (Photo by Joshua Covill, Macaulay Library-ML527553631).An Ashy-faced Owl with it’s small mammal prey, Dominican Republic. (Photo by Ross Gallardy- Macaulay Library-ML26038361)Ashy-faced Owl in the Dominican Republic. Note the ash-gray face and buffy underparts, which distinguish it from the Barn Owl, which has a white face and underparts. (Photo by Jay McGowan, Macaulay Library-ML162362421)
Activity of the Day
FOR KIDS: How much do you know about the life-cycle of our featured bird the Ashy-face Owl? Why not test your knowledge and complete our “Life Cycle of an Owl” activity?
First spend some time learning about owls on the internet or at your school library. Then carefully cut the ‘missing’ images and paste in the correct order to complete this owl’s life cycle! Don’t forget to label each stage.
You can check your completed life cycle against the correct one, which can be found here.
FOR KIDS AND ADULTS: Enjoy this video of an Ashy-faced Owl in the wild!
Find out more about the Ashy-faced Owl in the article from the Journal of Caribbean Ornithology, published in 2018. In this article, Curti et al. provide the first detailed description of an Ashy-faced Owl nest, providing vital information about the biology of this secretive species.
