BirdsCaribbean brings you highlights from the Journal of Caribbean Ornithology in our feature “Just Published in JCO”. Here, Zoya Buckmire, the Lead Copy Editor for the Journal of Caribbean Ornithology, gives us a behind-the-scenes look at various research on the Critically Endangered and endemic Ridgway’s Hawk.
The Ridgway’s Hawk is one of the most critically endangered raptors in the world with fewer than 400 individuals remaining. It is endemic to Hispaniola. (Photo by Dax Román)
Few things are more exciting than the rediscovery of a once-extirpated species, and the case of the Ridgway’s Hawk (Buteo ridgwayi) is no exception! This Critically Endangered raptor is endemic to Hispaniola (Haiti and the Dominican Republic), but despite its historically widespread distribution, it had not been spotted in Haiti since 1962. A chance encounter on one of Haiti’s satellite islands prompted hope and a follow-up study as Anderson Jean and colleagues sought to confirm their suspected sighting of the species. Thus began an epic scavenger hunt to rediscover this unique hawk on the Haitian side of Hispaniola! The authors shared a behind-the-scenes look at their discovery and their ongoing work to conserve the Ridgway’s Hawk.
Map showing current known Ridgway’s Hawk distribution on Hispaniola. (Map by Leah Dunn of The Peregrine Fund)
The first sighting in 2019 was entirely by chance—or rather, by fate. Anderson Jean andMaxon Fildorwere conducting a rapid ornithological assessment of Les Cayemites, two islands off the southwestern coast of Haiti, as part of a baseline study for the recently declared Baradères-Cayemites protected area. They were compiling information on the terrestrial vertebrates present to inform the management plan for the region. It was then that they spotted two raptors in flight—rushing to document what they could, they speedily took pictures, videos, and audio recordings to aid in identification. One of those two birds was later identified as a juvenile Ridgway’s Hawk, the first sighting of the species in Haiti in over 50 years, and the first sighting for Les Cayemites in over a century.
Juvenile Ridgway’s Hawk spotted by Anderson Jean and colleagues on Petite Cayemite. (Photo by Anderson Jean)
Adult female Ridgway’s Hawk with a green vine snake on Petite Cayemite. (Photo by Thomas Hayes)
With this confirmation, the authors returned the following year with a purpose, partnering with The Peregrine Fund to conduct systematic surveys on the Baradères Peninsula and both Petite and Grande Cayemite. Between 2020 and 2021, the group detected as many as 19 Ridgway’s Hawks in the region—a veritable population! And not only is a population present, it also has the potential to persist as the birds are breeding.
The authors describe their most memorable moment as the instance, in 2021, when they found two nests on Grande Cayemite for the first time. Whilst the nest was located high in a tree on a weak branch too high and risky to climb, the evidence of breeding was enough. On the smaller cay, Petite Cayemite, they have only observed one breeding pair to date, but that pair has nested every single year since they were spotted in 2019. Another exciting development is that the authors banded their first Ridgway’s Hawk chick in 2023, which will surely provide more insights to this ongoing research.
Ridgway’s Hawk nest in a gumbo limbo tree with a juvenile hawk perched above. (Photo by Anderson Jean)
Ultimately, Jean and colleagues hope that their research will contribute to the body of knowledge on this charismatic species, and help conservationists understand the causes of population decline and to increase the population size in Les Cayemites. They are continuing their search in nearby areas like Pestel, Grand Boukan, and Gonâve Island. Although White et al. did not find any sign of the species in their 2012 raptor survey of Gonave Island, it is possible that Ridgway’s Hawk have recolonized the island in the decade that has since passed. Anderson Jean and his colleagues hope to eventually witness the reintroduction of the species throughout its historical range.
La Gonâve Island, Haiti. (Photo by Justin White)
Amidst this exciting rediscovery in Haiti, on the other side of the island of Hispaniola, another fascinating investigation was underway! Samantha Hagler and colleagues studied the breeding behavior of the species—looking particularly at pre-breeding behavior—observing and recording the birds to gain insights into how they form and strengthen pair bonds. This research supports ongoing conservation efforts to restore the Ridgway’s Hawk population, including a past project by The Peregrine Fund that translocated hawks to create a new population in Punta Cana. Translocating the hawks was a challenge within itself, with initial successes limited by high mortality rates due to power poles near the sites. Dwyer et al. document the creative solutions that had to be used to minimize hawk mortality, leading to eventual success of the program.
Ridgway’s Hawks hatched in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic thanks to The Peregrine Fund’s Assisted Dispersal Program. (Photo by The Peregrine Fund)
Ridgway’s Hawk parent feeding its chick in the nest. (Photo by Dax Román)
At the newly established population in Punta Cana, Hagler et al. tracked three established breeding pairs to compare them (and their behaviors) to the source population in the Los Haitises National Park. Interestingly, pre-breeding behaviors actually differed between the two groups. This could be a function of the populations’ size, density, or different levels of development—and raises even more questions that will be critical to better understanding and conserving the species.
Between these two populations in the Dominican Republic and the newly found population in southwestern Haiti, the future of the Ridgway’s Hawk looks brighter than in previous years. Thanks to the award of a BirdsCaribbean Betty Petersen Conservation Fund grant, Anderson Jean is continuing his urgent work to map and protect Ridgway’s Hawk populations in Haiti. His surveys will be further extended to the larger island of Grand Cayemite. To additionally address anthropogenic threats, the team will initiate an educational campaign directed at local communities, especially schoolchildren and farmers. Outreach materials will be distributed in the communities and a special curriculum will be presented in local schools.
We look forward to further research and reports on this important endangered and endemic raptor, as it provides hope for the conservation of other raptors throughout the Caribbean.
The Journal of Caribbean Ornithology publishes the peer-reviewed science on Caribbean birds and their environment that is so important to inform conservation work. All of the publications are free and open-access.
MORE FEATURED ARTICLES FROM “JUST PUBLISHED IN THE JCO”
Demonica Brown and Maya Wilson assembling the Motus antenna. (Photo by Lisa Sorenson)
Our Motus stations are multiplying! Twostations were recently installed in The Bahamas, bringing the total to six stations in just over a year—starting with two in Puerto Rico, followed by one each in Jamaica and Barbados. You may ask, “Remind us what Motus is?” The Motus Wildlife Tracking System, often abbreviated to “Motus” from the Latin word for movement, is an international collaborative research network that uses coordinated automated radio telemetry to facilitate research and education on the ecology and conservation of migratory animals. Put simply, it tracks the movements of small animals and birds in flight.
The Caribbean Motus Collaboration (CMC) aims to fill the geographical gap in the network in the Caribbean. As more stations are added, we will be able to learn more about the movements of migratory birds throughout the islands. It is exciting work! We look forward to a future filled with Motus stations to help us learn more about how to preserve these remarkable species on their journeys. Here, Demonica Brown, Science Officer at The Bahamas National Trust, shares her story of how the first two Bahamian stations were installed, and the impact they will have.
Wildlife backpackers on the move
Flying animals such as birds, bats, and insects are safely captured by trained professionals and “tagged” with tiny, lightweight transmitters that look like miniature backpacks. When these animals fly within the range of receiver stations, detection data is transmitted and added to the database. Motus is a powerful tool that allows researchers to gain a greater understanding of how these species, especially birds, move around.
Kirtland’s Warbler fitted with a lightweight nano-tag. This tiny transmitter lets researchers track the movements of tagged birds, bats, and even large insects with precision across thousands of miles. (Photo by Scott Weidensaul)
The various types of Motus tags that can be attached to animals to track their movement. (Photo by Lisa Sorenson)
The islands of The Bahamas are popular wintering grounds for many migratory bird species. Similarly to tourists that travel to the Caribbean to escape the cold in their home countries, winter migrants from North America make their way down the eastern coast of the US to our beautiful islands, where many of them remain throughout their non-breeding season (fall through early spring). For some migrants, our islands serve as a stop-over location along their migratory pathway as they make their way further south. Over 300 species have been recorded in The Bahamas, with migratory species accounting for more than half of them.
A male Green-winged Teal ventures across the mud. (Photo by Hemant Kishan)
Palm Warblers were named based on a specimen collected on Hispaniola, but this is far from a ‘tropical’ bird year-round. They are one of the northernmost breeding of all warblers (only the Blackpoll Warbler breeds farther north). (Photo by Ryan Schain Macaulay Library- ML223997711)
A Willet feeding. (Photo by Jesse Gordon)
Four stations slated for three Bahamian islands
Through the Caribbean Motus Collaboration, four new Motus stations will be installed across the country. Two stations will be set up on the northernmost island of Grand Bahama (described here). In the coming months, a third station will be installed on Eleuthera in the central Bahamas and finally, a fourth station on Great Inagua in the south! The installation of these stations is a big step towards better understanding how migratory, resident, and endemic species move throughout our islands and the Caribbean at large. I had the opportunity to assist with Motus tower installations on Grand Bahama, a first for myself.
Cesar and Todd attaching the antenna to the Motus tower at Rand Nature Center. (Photo by Maya Wilson)
Cesar and Todd attaching the antenna to the Motus tower at the Lucayan National Park. (Photo by Maya Wilson)
Since I reside in Nassau (the capital of The Bahamas), located on the island of New Providence, I first needed to get to Grand Bahama. Fortunately, this only required a quick 30-45 minute flight. Upon arrival, I was picked up by Lisa Wildgoose (Rand Nature Center Office Administrator) and headed to drop off my bags at my host home for the next few days. There I met my host Martha Cartwright, a Grand Bahama resident and fellow birder, who graciously welcomed me into her home.
Getting started on Grand Bahama, still feeling Hurricane Dorian’s effects
Lisa and I then made our way to The Rand Nature Center (RNC), one of three national parks on the island. This park protects 100 acres of pine and coppice forest, as well as a freshwater pond, making it a hotspot for birds. There I met with the rest of the Motus installation team, which consisted of Lisa Sorenson (BirdsCaribbean Executive Director), Maya Wilson (BirdsCaribbean Landbird Monitoring Program Manager), Todd Alleger (Northeast Motus Collaboration Installation Expert), and Cesar Montero (Caribbean Motus Collaboration Trainee). Also on hand to assist were two BNT Park Wardens, Bradley Pinder and David Claire. Director of Parks, Ellsworth Weir, provided crucial assistance with procuring supplies and getting all of the shipped Motus equipment out of customs—no small feat!
Grand Bahama Motus Installation team: Lisa Sorenson, Todd Alleger, Bradley Pinder, Cesar Montero, Maya Wilson, Demonica Brown and David Cooper. (Photo by Lisa Sorenson)
After catching up for a bit, we reviewed plans for the remainder of the week. To get started, Maya, Bradley, and I would start the work at Lucayan National Park (LNP) while the remainder of the team worked on getting additional supplies from the hardware store.
The scenery on the drive along the Grand Bahama Highway was somber. In 2019 Hurricane Dorian had ravaged this island for two full days. Winds of 185 mph, storm surge (up to 23 feet) and salt-water inundation drastically damaged pine, coppice, and mangrove habitats on both Grand Bahama and Abaco. These serve as vital habitats for many bird species, and their destruction resulted in the decreased population of many species including endemics such as the Bahama Swallow, Bahama Warbler (potentially extirpated on GB), and Bahama Nuthatch (potentially extinct). Though this is my second time visiting Grand Bahama post-Hurricane Dorian, it is still a sight to take in, with miles and miles of trees snapped in half. However, it was encouraging to see continued signs of regeneration, especially young pine growing, amongst the vast stretch of dead pine stands.
New pine trees and poisonwood growth after the devastation by Hurricane Dorian in 2019. (Photo by Lisa Sorenson)
It was hard labor—shovels, buckets, and mixing cement!
After a 25-30 minute drive, we finally arrived at Lucayan National Park (LNP). Established in 1982, this park protects both marine and terrestrial habitats, including one of the world’s longest-charted underwater cave systems. There we were joined by Delores Kellman (BirdsCaribbean Administrative Assistant) and Bob Davies (BNT volunteer), who generously offered to assist. The station was going to be located on the back of the rebuilt LNP Gift Shop, and our first task was to dig the hole for the base of the station. Pickaxes and shovels in hand, the team quickly got to digging.
Taking turns to dig the hole for the base of the tower behind the Lucayan National Park Gift Shop. (Photo by Demonica Brown)
Delores Kellman helps Maya to dig the hole for the base. (Photo by Demonica Brown)
Demonica and Bob Davies digging the hole for the base of the tower at the Lucayan National Park. (Photo by Maya Wilson)
About a quarter of the way down, we were met with a slight issue—our hole quickly started to fill with groundwater! This resulted in us needing to bail out buckets of water multiple times throughout the morning. After reaching an acceptable depth, the team worked on creating the frame that would hold the concrete when poured. With a few fittings to the hole, leveling, and other necessary adjustments, the frame was finally set and the 5-ft Rohn section (first section of the tower) was added and stabilized.
Water in the hole! The hole for the base of the tower filled with water. (Photo by Demonica Brown)
Delores bailing water from the hole. (Photo by Demonica Brown)
We returned to LNP the following morning to continue working on the station. While waiting on the equipment needed to complete the base, the team worked on assembling the antennas for the tower and preparing the cables. Three antennas for each of the 2 standard radio frequencies used by the Motus network were assembled, for a total of six antennas. This process was simple and went by quickly with everyone helping out. As the Motus expert, Todd gave each antenna a final look to ensure that everything was in place! Once complete, we resumed work on the base of the tower. With the 5-ft Rohn base section secured in place, it was time to add cement to set it in place for good. Mixing cement by hand can be a laborious task, but thankfully we had the help of a mixer which made the process easier. Many bags of cement later, we were ready to pour!
Bob and Maya constructing the base frame. (Photo by Demonica Brown)
Many bags of cement are needed to build a sturdy base for the Motus tower. (Photo by Lisa Sorenson)
Pouring cement into the mixer. (Photo by Demonica Brown)
“Many bags of cement later, we were ready to pour.” (Photo by Demonica Brown)
Todd and Cesar ensures the tower is placed at the center of the base. (Photo by Lisa Sorenson)
Lisa and Maya assembling one of the antennae for the tower. (Photo by Demonica Brown)
Todd and Cesar check the antenna before it is attached to the tower. (Photo by Lisa Sorenson)
Base beautifully decorated with flowers and plants. (Photo by Lisa Sorenson)
While the rest of the team finished preparing the base, Lisa and I worked on collecting leaves and flowers of native plants, which were gently pressed into the top of the wet cement. With the cement successfully poured, and beautifully adorned, all it needed was time to dry. We finished off the remainder of the day at the Rand Nature Centre, where we prepared for the station installation the following day.
Demonica and Lisa with the various plants they collected to adorn the tower base at Lucayan National Park. (Photo by Demonica Brown)
A birding break…
I started my final day with the team with one of my favorite hobbies: birding! Martha planned a morning tour and led us to a few birding spots on the island, including Dover Sound and Barbery Beach. Perfect weather allowed us the opportunity to record about 27 species in total, including an unexpected lifer sighting for myself (Purple Martin). Overall, the morning was a success! We also were fortunate enough to spot five Bahama Swallows near a cell tower along the Grand Bahama Highway on our way to LNP to pick up supplies. Eventually, it was time to get back to work and continue work on the RNC station.
The group pauses to take a selfie while birdwatching at Barbery Beach, Grand Bahama. (Photo by Lisa Sorenson)
Martha Cartwright and Cesar Montero searching for Wilson’s Plovers at Barbery Beach, Grand Bahama. (Photo by Lisa Sorenson)
Martha, Cesar, Demonica, Maya and Todd birding at Barbery Beach, Grand Bahama. (Photo by Lisa Sorenson)
Bahama Swallow swoops low to the ground. (Photo by Brendan Fogarty)
…Then, back to work!
At RNC, I assisted with preparing the remaining antennas and cables for the station. Once assembled, colored coordinated electrical tape was added to antennas of the same frequencies and then down the cables for ease of reference when installing them to the mast and connecting to the receiver. Finally, it was time to erect the Rohn tower onto the base plate that was secured onto the existing concrete near the main entrance of the building. Once set in place and secured with bolts, it was then bracketed to the building for extra security. The next steps would then be to attach the antennas and coaxial cables and connect them to the receivers.
Entrance to the Rand Nature Center, Grand Bahama. (Photo by Lisa Sorenson)
Maya and Todd checking cables. (Photo by Lisa Sorenson)
Motus station receiver with attached cables. (Photo by Lisa Sorenson)
Motus tower set up complete at Rand Nature Center, Grand Bahama. (Photo by Lisa Sorenson)
And the work continued…
Eventually, my time with the team came to an end and it was time to return home. The Motus team, however, kept hard at work and completed both installations before departing that weekend!
It is exciting to have these towers set up. I am looking forward to the data that will be collected and the research they will help to advance. In fact, the station at Lucayan National Park has already detected a migratory shorebird—a Semi-palmated Sandpiper that was tagged in Quebec, Canada! I am incredibly grateful to have had the opportunity to assist with this amazing work and to have the ability to see first-hand the work that goes into these installations. I would like to give a special thank you to BirdsCaribbean for including me in this work and to Martha Cartwright for her hospitality!
Semipalmated Sandpiper (Photo by Sipke Stapert)
Demonica Brown is an early-career environmental scientist serving as a Science Officer at the Bahamas National Trust. In her current role, she focuses on avian and terrestrial matters in which she executes multiple bird-related projects involving monitoring migratory and resident birds. Understanding the importance of protected areas to these species, she is passionate about conservation and collecting valuable data that can also further aid in their management. She hopes to pursue a master’s in wildlife and environmental conservation and to conduct much-needed research on local threatened, endangered, and endemic bird species.
Acknowledgments
BirdsCaribbean thanks our members and donors who made the installation of these two Motus stations possible, including the US Fish and Wildlife Service, Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Action Fund and American Bird Conservancy (ABC). A huge thank you to Cesar Montero, and to Todd Alleger and the Northeast Motus Collaboration for their ongoing support (Todd now works as the Atlantic Flyway Motus Technical Coordinator with ABC). Thanks also to Martha Cartwright, Delores Kellman, and the BNT staff and volunteers who assisted in getting these stations up. Finally, much gratitude to Ed Gates and the late Erika Gates for supporting our crew on this visit with accommodations, transportation, and delicious meals. We dedicate these two new stations to the memory of Erika Gates, who was always striving to advance bird knowledge, awareness, and conservation in Grand Bahama and the Caribbean.
BirdsCaribbean is excited to invite applications to participate in a 5-day training workshop focused on bird banding, an important tool for research and monitoring! Through a blend of classroom and field-based activities, participants will learn about the basics of bird banding—from setting up a mist-net to examining molt patterns. We’ll also discuss and demonstrate some of the benefits of joining our new Caribbean Bird Banding Network. We’re very excited to take our bird banding workshop to the Lesser Antilles this year! In partnership with Gaea Conservation Network and the Grenada Fund for Conservation, the workshop will take place in Grenada, from March 7-11, 2024.
Why do we need to band birds?
A Cuban Tody wearing a BirdsCaribbean band about to be released. (Photo by Daniela Ventura)
Bird surveys, like those we will cover in our upcoming Landbird Monitoring Training Workshop, provide valuable information about bird communities. Bird banding is another tool that can give us deeper insight into how our birds are doing. By individually marking and assessing birds in the hand, we can collect data that can tell us about their demography and health, including:
Looking at fat scores and weights to assess the body condition of birds in different habitats and at different times of the year, which in turn sheds light on the quality of the habitats these birds are using;
Aging birds using plumage to investigate demographic patterns;
Using recapture records to learn about survivorship and longevity;
Assessing the presence or absence of breeding characteristics to better understand the timing of breeding and life history for many of our understudied Caribbean endemics; and
Finding out which migratory routes our shared birds are taking, and gaining a better understanding of factors influencing survival and longevity of species.
Over the long-term, banding can also help us understand patterns and trends in bird populations, to aid in their management and conservation.
About the workshop
This workshop is the third annual Caribbean Bird Banding (CBB) Training Workshop. It will cover many of the same topics explored in our previous CBB Training workshops held in The Bahamas (March 2022) and the Dominican Republic (March 2023). The workshop is designed for Caribbean wildlife professionals and volunteers who are interested in gaining more experience with bird banding. Prior banding experience is not required. However, priority will be given to applicants who are likely to continue training to gain the knowledge, skills, and experience needed to initiate avian research and/or banding programs on their home islands.This workshop will focus on banding landbirds. We hope to provide banding training opportunities for other bird groups in the future.
The purpose of the workshop is to:
Provide participants with a basic understanding of bird banding techniques and best practices.
Discuss what it takes to set-up and run a bird banding station.
Prepare participants for additional bird banding training and potential North American Banding Council (NABC) certifications (bander, trainer) in the future.
Share information about the other training opportunities, resources, and community available through the CBB Network.
Daniela Ventura del Puerto (Cuba) provides instruction on bird molt to workshop participants Giselle Ragoonanan (Trinidad) and Elvin Manual Vargas Estevez (Dominican Republic).
Several NABC-certified trainers will share their knowledge in the classroom, at the mist-net, and at the banding table, covering topics like:
Proper set-up and placement of a mist-net
Extracting birds from mist-nets using the body-grasp technique
Starting a banding station
Bird first-aid and safety
Bird banding ethics and basics
Using bird banding for education and public demonstrations
Aging birds using both WRP and Howell-Pyle terminology
Molt patterns
Bird banding is a complex skill to learn. This workshop is intended to be a starting point, and participants should not expect to leave the workshop with the necessary qualifications to band birds independently. To become fully immersed and practice what was learned at the workshop, participants will have the opportunity to be considered for a bird banding internship at one of several partner bird observatories.
In an effort to decrease the amount of time spent in the classroom, some workshop sessions will be held virtually prior to the in-person workshop. These virtual sessions will also be made available to a wider audience. Stay tuned for more information!
Funding and Logistics
We aim to include approximately 15 participants in this workshop. BirdsCaribbean has funding for a limited number of need and merit-based scholarships to cover the costs of travel and participation. Participants who are able to contribute all or part of their costs can help us enhance the workshop content and allow us to include additional participants/trainers. We encourage applications from all candidates who are well-suited to make use of this training, regardless of their financial ability. Participants should plan to arrive in Grenada on March 6th and depart on March 12th.
Participants at our Caribbean Bird Banding Workshop held in the Dominican Republic earlier this year. (Photo by Joshua Covill)
Applications
If you are interested in participating in this workshop, please fill out this form by 22 December 2023.
BirdsCaribbean would like to thank J.C. Fernández-Ordóñez for the Spanish translation.
Oportunidad de Capacitación: Taller de Anillamiento de Aves en el Caribe
BirdsCaribbean se complace en invitarle a participar de un taller de capacitación de 5 días centrado en el anillamiento de aves, una importante herramienta para la investigación y el seguimiento. A través de una combinación de actividades de aula y de campo, los participantes aprenderán los fundamentos del anillamiento de aves, desde la instalación de una red de niebla hasta el examen de los patrones de muda. También discutiremos y demostraremos algunos de los beneficios de unirse a nuestra nueva Red de Anillamiento de Aves del Caribe. Estamos muy contentos de llevar nuestro taller de anillamiento de aves a las Antillas Menores este año. En colaboración con Gaea Conservation Network y el Fondo de Granada para la Conservación, el taller tendrá lugar en Granada del 7 al 11 de marzo de 2024.
¿Por qué necesitamos anillar aves?
Los estudios sobre aves, como los que trataremos en nuestro próximo taller de capacitación sobre seguimiento de aves terrestres, proporcionan información valiosa sobre las comunidades de aves. El anillamiento de aves es otra herramienta que puede darnos una visión más profunda de cómo están nuestras aves. Marcando y evaluando individualmente a las aves en la mano, podemos recopilar datos que nos informen sobre su demografía y salud, entre otros:
Observar las puntuaciones de grasa y los pesos para evaluar la condición corporal de las aves en diferentes hábitats y en diferentes épocas del año, lo que a su vez arroja luz sobre la calidad de los hábitats que estas aves están utilizando;
Envejecimiento de las aves mediante el plumaje para investigar patrones demográficos;
Utilización de registros de recaptura para conocer la supervivencia y la longevidad;
Evaluar la presencia o ausencia de características reproductoras para comprender mejor el momento de la reproducción y el ciclo biológico de muchas de nuestras endémicas caribeñas poco estudiadas; y
Averiguar qué rutas migratorias siguen nuestras aves compartidas y comprender mejor los factores que influyen en la supervivencia y longevidad de las especies.
A largo plazo, el anillamiento también puede ayudarnos a comprender las pautas y tendencias de las poblaciones de aves para contribuir a su gestión y conservación.
Sobre el taller
Este taller es el tercer Taller Anual de Capacitación en Anillamiento de Aves en el Caribe (CBB). Cubrirá muchos de los mismos temas explorados en nuestros talleres previos de Entrenamiento en CBB llevados a cabo en Las Bahamas (marzo 2022) y República Dominicana (marzo 2023). El taller está diseñado para profesionales y voluntarios de la vida silvestre del Caribe que estén interesados en adquirir más experiencia en el anillamiento de aves. No se requiere experiencia previa en anillamiento. Sin embargo, se dará prioridad a los solicitantes que tengan posibilidades de seguir formándose para adquirir los conocimientos, habilidades y experiencia necesarios para iniciar programas de investigación y/o anillamiento de aves en sus islas de origen. Este taller se centrará en el anillamiento de aves terrestres. Esperamos ofrecer oportunidades de formación en anillamiento para otros grupos de aves en el futuro.
El propósito del taller es:
Proporcionar a los participantes una comprensión básica de las técnicas de anillamiento de aves y las mejores prácticas.
Discutir lo que se necesita para montar y dirigir una estación de anillamiento de aves.
Preparar a los participantes para formación adicional en anillamiento de aves y posibles certificaciones del Consejo Norteamericano de Anillamiento (NABC) (anillador, formador) en el futuro.
Compartir información sobre otras oportunidades de formación, recursos y comunidad disponibles a través de la Red CBB.
Varios formadores certificados por la NABC compartirán sus conocimientos en el aula, en la red de niebla y en la mesa de anillamiento, abordando temas como:
Montaje y colocación correctos de una red de niebla
Extracción de aves de las redes de niebla mediante la técnica de agarre del cuerpo
Puesta en marcha de una estación de anillamiento
Primeros auxilios y seguridad de las aves
Ética y fundamentos del anillamiento de aves
Uso del anillado de aves para educación y demostraciones públicas
Envejecimiento de aves utilizando terminología WRP y Howell-Pyle
Patrones de muda
El anillamiento de aves es una habilidad compleja de aprender. Este taller pretende ser un punto de partida, y los participantes no deben esperar salir del taller con las calificaciones necesarias para anillar aves de manera independiente. Para sumergirse por completo y poner en práctica lo aprendido en el taller, los participantes tendrán la oportunidad de ser tenidos en cuenta para unas prácticas de anillamiento de aves en uno de los varios observatorios de aves asociados.
En un esfuerzo por reducir el tiempo de permanencia en el aula, algunas sesiones del taller se celebrarán virtualmente antes del taller presencial. Estas sesiones virtuales también se pondrán a disposición de un público más amplio. Esté atento para más información.
Financiación y logística
Nuestro objetivo es contar con aproximadamente 15 participantes en este taller. BirdsCaribbean cuenta con financiación para un número limitado de becas basadas en la necesidad y el mérito para cubrir los costes de viaje y participación. Los participantes que puedan contribuir con la totalidad o parte de sus costes pueden ayudarnos a mejorar el contenido del taller y permitirnos incluir más participantes/formadores. Animamos a presentar solicitudes a todos los candidatos que estén en condiciones de aprovechar esta formación, independientemente de su capacidad financiera. Los participantes deberán prever su llegada a Granada el 6 de marzo y su salida el 12 de marzo.
Solicitudes
Si está interesado en participar en este taller, complete este formulario antes del 22 de diciembre de 2023.
Hundreds of thousands of migratory shorebirds are already on the move, and we are getting ready to celebrate World Shorebirds Day 2023! Diverse habitats and food supply make the Caribbean an attractive destination for shorebirds and a veritable birders’ paradise, so why not take part in the Global Shorebird Count this year? BirdsCaribbean has everything you need to help you #ShowUpForShorebirds (and show out!) in the best possible way.
World Shorebirds Day is held every year on September 6. This day celebrates shorebirds, their magnificent migration journeys, and most importantly, raises awareness of the threats they face and actively promotes their monitoring and conservation. The key event associated with this day is the Global Shorebird Count (GSC), September 1-7.
Across the Caribbean (and the entire globe!), groups of birders will be out looking for and counting shorebirds and recording what they find on eBird Caribbean. Some birders will go out in ones and twos; others in small groups. Wherever you are, whoever you are with, or even if you are on your own—we welcome your participation and contribution to citizen science.
This year, we have a special mission for you: we are asking you to do more than one count if possible. Read on to find out why.
Why should you #ShowUpForShorebirds?
The answer is that our migratory shorebirds are more vulnerable than ever, threatened by human activities such as destruction of their habitats, pollution, disturbance, and climate change. Recent analyses show that shorebirds in North America are declining more than any other group of birds; in fact, more than half of 28 species studied were estimated to have lost more than 50% of their abundance in the last 30 years.
Least Sandpiper – a common migrant to the Caribbean; this one has stopped for a rest in St. Maarten (photo by Binkie van Es)
The Caribbean is an important region for migratory shorebirds. They rely on our mangroves, salt ponds, beaches, sand flats, and mud flats to rest and refuel as they continue on their long migrations, or they may spend the entire winter with us.
The Global Shorebird Count helps map the distribution of shorebirds during migration and record their numbers. This data is essential to help us identify and protect key stopover and/or wintering habitats that shorebirds use. Protecting these habitats benefits people too because healthy coastal areas provide vital ecosystem services such as clean water, food, sustainable livelihoods, protection from storm surge, and much more.
Thanks to the great work you all are doing in gathering data through the Caribbean Waterbird Census (CWC) and the Global Shorebird Count, the importance of this region for waterbirds and shorebirds is becoming better understood at a rapid rate. However, scientists are telling us that to further document numbers and long-term trends, more frequent monitoring data are needed, especially during migration. Thus, this year we invite you to visit your nearby shorebird sites and carry out 2 or 3 counts a month during migration season (August-October), ideally a week to 10 days apart. If you’re able to do this, bravo, and thank you! Your efforts will help us learn much more about shorebirds in the Caribbean—you’ll be doubling or tripling your impact for shorebirds.
We can’t do it alone
Individuals, groups and communities must come together to conserve shorebirds and the habitats we both depend upon. This is why we need you to join the GSC to help count shorebirds, invite others, and share how awesome shorebirds are. You may even discover new or rare birds on your islands! Feel free to use our cool graphics to promote World Shorebirds Day (see below), and invite your friends and family to count shorebirds too.
We’ll be here to help you every step of the way.
Grupo Acción Ecológica members counting shorebirds in the Dominican Republic. (Photo by Maria Paulino).
Fernando Simal surveying shorebirds. (Photo by Lisa Sorenson)
Proyecto Reverdece tu Comunidad-Working on bird ID during a bird count.
Orisha Joseph and her team counting waterbirds at Belmont Salt Pond, Union Island, St Vincent and the Grenadines.
Where to find shorebirds?
Where should you look for shorebirds? The simple answer is: anywhere there is water. This means that, as their name suggests, you can find them at the beach and on other types of shorelines. However, some shorebirds will be further inland, including in salt ponds and salinas, freshwater pools, agricultural fields, and at brackish marshes and ponds. Shorebirds will also gather on mud flats, in mangrove areas, and on tidal flats.
Wild Cow Run Beach, Middle Caicos, Turks and Caicos Islands (Photo by Craig Watson)
You may not be quite sure of the best places to look in your area. If so, why not take a look for ‘hotspots’ at your local wetlands on eBird. Just click on ‘Explore’ on the eBird Caribbean site, and find ‘Explore Hotspots.’ You can open hotspots on a map and then click on a hotspot to see what types of birds have been seen there recently.
A view across the newly created wetlands and coastline at Walkers Reserve in Barbados. (Photo by Shae Warren, WIRRED)
How to participate in the count
Have an eBird account
eBird Caribbean is a critical tool for tracking and understanding bird migration and population changes—never more so than for our shorebirds. If you do not have an account, it is easy to register—here’s a quick guide to enter eBird data online.Check out our helpful video here on how to use eBird and Merlin.There is even a free eBird Essentials course to get you fully oriented. Download the free mobile app for recording your data in the field. Recording your findings on eBird is not only satisfying and enjoyable, but you are directly contributing to the global knowledge base of birds—what, when, and wherever they are to be found.
If you need help with or have questions about eBird checklists or with setting up an eBird account, do contact Alex Sansom: waterbird.manager@birdscaribbean.org
Count shorebirds
Visit your local sites where shorebirds occur and do a count. Record all the species you see and/or hear (including other non-shorebird species; see below) and how many individuals of each species. We recommend spending a minimum of 6 to 10 minutes at each site (longer if there are a lot of birds) and scanning the entire area carefully with your binoculars to detect birds, which can easily blend into their surroundings (mud, water, vegetation, etc.). Be sure to record the start time and duration of your count if you’re using a notebook (the ebird mobile app will do this for you). Start a new checklist each time you change locations.
A mixed shorebird flock seen during Roots & Shoots CWC survey, Puerto Rico. (Photo by Miguel Angel Rivera)
Count shorebirds on as many different locations as you can during the Global Shorebird Count period (1-7 Sept). Then, if possible, repeat your counts at these same sites 2 or 3 times a month during fall migration (August through October). Repeated counts will greatly add to our knowledge of shorebird movements and migration patterns!
Note that shorebirds are a type of waterbird. So, any counts you do at wetlands, mangroves, mud flats, coastal areas or beaches at any time of year count as Caribbean Waterbird Census (CWC) counts. When you do your counts please choose one of the CWC protocols in the eBird app or when you submit or edit your data online. When you are using the mobile app make sure that you are using the eBird Caribbean Portal. To check or change the portal you are using, go into your settings on the app and look for “Portal” and select “eBird Caribbean.”
Each time you complete a checklist, be sure to share it with ebird username worldshorebirdsday. This will ensure that your checklists are included in data analyses for the Global Shorebird Count.
Coral Aviles listing birds on eBird, Blassina Canal Puerto Rico. (Photo by Eliezer Nieves)
Rinse and repeat
As mentioned above, we ask that, if possible, do 2 or 3 counts at your local site or sites per month during fall migration(7 to 10 days apart is ideal). Scientists are telling us that we need more data on shorebird migration through the Caribbean, including which species pass through, how many individuals, the timing of each species’ migration, how long they stopover, where they go next, etc. The best way to get this local and regional data is through repeated counts!
Shorebird ID and FREE resources for the field
We know that Shorebirds can be tricky to identify, and some are especially difficult to tell apart. BirdsCaribbean is here to help you with some useful tools! We have a Shorebird Poster and “Quick ID Guide” to get you started as well as handy Shorebird ID cards that you can download and print featuring common shorebirds of the Caribbean.
Shorebird identification can be tricky but with practice and our ‘Quick ID Guide’ it gets easier. (Photo by Kristy Shortte)
We also have a list of some best practice tips to help make your count go as smoothly as possible. You can download and share this infographic with your fellow birders. When you go out on your survey, a spotting scope or a camera with a good zoom lens, as well as binoculars, will make for very helpful tools. They will help you get a closer look to pick out the identifying features of the birds, without disturbing them. Photos can be looked at and shared later if you have any birds that were difficult for you to identify in the field. Birding colleagues and experts can explain further if they have visual evidence of the bird! (Did we say some are quite tricky to tell apart?)
Promotional graphic templates – feel free to modify for your counts
Promotional Graphics for World Shorebirds Day 2023 are available in English, Spanish and French. We also have ‘Global Shorebird Count Tips’ graphic formatted for Facebook or Instagram . You can add your own logos or event information. Click on each image in the gallery below to enlarge then right click on an enlarged image and ‘save image as’ to download. You can also use these links to Canva to use our promotional graphics as a template (each link contains graphics in all three languages):
While counting shorebirds you may see birds with colourful bands on their legs. Do your best to record the band colors and any numbers or letters paying special attention to the location of the band or bands on the bird’s legs. Binoculars or zoom photography may allow you to clearly see the band colors and the numbers engraved onto the band – if you get a photo you will be able to send it along with your sighting. Look out for bands especially on Piping Plovers, Red Knots, Semipalmated Sandpipers, Semipalmated Plovers, Ruddy Turnstones, and Sanderlings. You can report your sightings and send any photos you have to BandedBirds.org and the USGS Bird Banding Lab, which oversee all banding in the United States.
Keep a sharp eye out for Piping Plovers, including banded birds!
There are several different projects banding Piping Plovers and if you see a banded Piping Plover you can report it to the correct person using the information below. This also provides a guide to reading the bands and the information that will be useful to send when you report a banded bird. The tips in this guide are useful for any banded birds you see, not just Piping Plovers! You can find out more about reporting banded Piping Plovers from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service here. This 1-page guide is available to download as a pdf here. We also have 2-page version with more information for you to use and share here. And a square infographic that you could share on social media here.
Share your shorebird stories
A Cuban birder takes a selfie with his bike at the beach.
Tag us in your photos on social @birdscaribbean and let us know how your counts are going and what you’e finding!
Use the hashtags #ShowUpForShorebirds #WorldShorebirdsDay2023 #GlobalShorebirdCount2023 #CaribShorebirds #DoubleTheImpact
We love looking at photos of shorebirds, your local wetlands, and smiling faces. We will be excited to share your photos and findings on our Global Shorebird Day wrap-up blog! See our 2022 blog here.
If you’ve got little explorers, be sure to download the following activity* sheets and take them with you to the beach:
Beach Scavenger Hunt. This activity is suitable for children ages 4 to 7 years old. They are asked to find plants and animals at the beach.
Beach Bird Bingo. This activity is suitable for children ages 8 to 12 years old. They are asked to find items on the list four in a row, horizontally, vertically or diagonally. They do not need to touch or collect any of the items on the list.
Talk about this with your children before beginning any of the activities. They should not touch or collect items on the lists. When observing birds they should speak softly. They do not need to get close to the birds but if they need to, ask them to do so slowly and quietly. You can check off the items (with a pencil or pen), as they are located. When everyone has had a chance to look for the items listed, come back together to chat about what they were able to find or see. For example, why is the bird’s beak long and straight?
*These activities were not designed to teach a child how to name and identify shorebirds but rather to give them space to explore and feel connected to their natural environment. Parents and guardians, you will not need to worry about your own knowledge of birds or plants. All you need to do is accompany and participate with your child in these activities.
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.
Ingrid Molina explaining monitoring methods to participants.
Dr Maya Wilson presenting on the importance of monitoring landbirds.
Kayroy Baptiste (Union Island Environmental Alliance) entering data into PROALAS survey sheet during transect survey behind Anglican-Pastoral Centre.
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.
The annual BirdsCaribbean Seabird Working Group (SWG) newsletter is now available! Catch up on the latest research, conservation, restoration, and education projects happening across the Caribbean – in English, Spanish, and French!
In this issue of the SWG newsletter learn about the ongoing Caribbean Seabird Census and how you can get involved. SWG members have created a suite of resources (webinars, bird ID cards, trendy field apparel, and much more!) to ensure you are well equipped for your seabird census. Visit the Seabird Working Group webpages and our Seabirds Resources page to access these resources.
Click on the images to view and download newsletters in English, Spanish and French.
The newsletter also provides updates on the spread of Avian Influenza in the Caribbean and recent and ongoing regional projects and publications, including a seabird conservation plan for the Cayman Islands, Brown Pelican monitoring project on Sint Maarten, GPS tracking of Red-footed Boobies in St Vincent and the Grenadines, and more.
Also in this issue’s “seabird spotlight” meet Cuban seabird researcher Antonio Garcia Quintas! He is using traditional, modern, and state-of-the-art methods to help us better understand the breeding behavior and requirements of nesting terns and gulls in Cuba.
Interested in connecting with the SWG and its members? Please take advantage of the many avenues for communication described in the newsletter, including their Facebook group, and if you have seabird news to share, let us know! We would love to feature your work in the next issue!
Lastly, the SWG expects that the group will continue to thrive with the support, dedication, and ideas of new members. The SWG welcomes everyone – from experienced researchers to citizen scientists and casual seabird spotters.If you have any questions or are interested in joining, do not hesitate to contact them!
Global Big Day 2023 was another whirlwind of birding, fundraising and fantastic photography! Thank you to all those who took part and for the amazing photos you sent us. We are absolutely delighted to announce all the ‘winners’ of our photography awards. Many of this year’s photos showcase the beauty of Caribbean birds and the ability of our community to build connections across the globe!
If you missed our Global Big Day 2023 report on teams and individual stats –click here
When great people, birds and art combine incredible things can be accomplished. A huge Thank You to everyone, especially our team leaders and generous donors for making Global Big Day 2023 a success. With a record number of teams- 17 – participating, we were able to raise close to $20,000 for our Caribbean Bird Banding Network – amazing!
Photography Award Winners 2023
Best Bird Photo! We especially congratulate this year’s first place winner- Aruba Burrowing Owl by Michiel Oversteegen.
The Second Place Best Bird Photo goes to Cuban Emerald by Roberto Jovel.
The Third Place Best Bird Photo goes to Julian Moore and his image of the Caribbean Elaenia.
An additional 13 categories were awarded to photographers from almost every team and corner of the world.
Most Beautiful Landscape: A wetland in Puerto Rico by Eric Torres Rivera
Urban Birds: White-cheeked Pintail ducklings huddled under a bridge by Michiel Oversteegen
Life in the Wild: Susan Davis on Bonaire captured this exciting confrontation between Brown Pelicans and a pair of Black-necked Stilts, who were determined to defend their nesting territory!
Best GBD Celebratory Drink: Mark Hulme celebrates a great day of birding, being in nature and seeing 106 bird species for the Piping Pawis on Big Day in Trinidad by Alex Sansom.
Best Shorebird: Sanderling, on Aruba by Michiel Oversteegen
Because one shorebird is never enough: Spotted Sandpiper looking determined to get somewhere, perhaps it realizes that it should be migrating north by now! By Susan Davis
Youngest GBD-er: Maison Gaymes, a young Big Day birder in St. Vincent and the Grenadines!
Sweetest Fluffiest Bird: Killdeer chick spotted on Aruba by Michiel Overstegeen
Best Selfie: We couldn’t just choose one! See who you can spot.
Three women Birders in Cuba
Adrianne Toassas birding for the Warbling Warriors in Puerto Rico
Beny Wilson and friends in Panama
Ciego Birding Cuba – Yaro Rodriguez and friends
Couple birding in Cuba
Couple birding in Cuba
Couple birding in Cuba
Group birding for the Bee Hummers Dream Team in Cuba
A young Cuban birder
Birding by Bike in Cuba
Josh Covill and Holly Garrod of the Globe Trotting Todies
Lisa and Mike Sorenson
Past BC president Andrew Dobson birding with members of the Presidents Perch
Nils and Diego Navarro birding in Cuba
Presidents Perch member Anna Dobson
Rafy and a friend birding in Puerto Rico for the Flying Pintails
Best Night Birding Photo: Bare-shanked Screech-Owl in Panama by Venicio (Beny) Wilson
Best Camouflage: Northern Potoo on Jamaica by Ann Sutton.
Best Bird Impersonation: The team from ARC conservation take the crown for their fun bird impersonations!
Best GBD Non-human Birders: Best birding companion by Lisa Sorenson.
Best Caribbean Endemic: A St Lucia Warbler stops foraging to investigate the photographer by Jerome Foster
Congratulations to everyone! And thank you for reminding us that nature is all around us and full of wonder.
ENJOY THIS GALLERY OF BIRD, PEOPLE AND SCENERY PHOTOS TAKEN ON GLOBAL BIG DAY BY VARIOUS TEAM MEMBERS IN THE CARIBBEAN, US, UK, PANAMA, AND MORE!
Striped Cuckoo, Panama. (Photo by Beny Wilson)
On the road for GBD, Puerto Rico. (Photo by Eric Torres Rivera)
Carbon-neutral birding- A Cuban birder selfie with their bike.
Birding at Hellshire Wetlands, Jamaica. (Photo by Damion Whyte)
Learning about conservation in Trinidad. (Photo by ARC Conservation)
Collared Plover, an uncommon bird on Barbados. (Photo by Julian Moore).
Sooty Tern, Aruba. (Photo by Michiel Oversteegen)
Fun at the ARC Conservation Global Big Day event, Trinidad. (Photo by ARC Conservation)
Alex Sansom looking for birds at Caroni Ric Fields, Trinidad. (Photo by Mark Hulme)
Learning about conservation in Trinidad. (Photo by ARC Conservation)
Jamaican Woodpeck takes flight. (Photo by Simon C Shields)
American Kestrel seen in Jamaica. (Photo by Simon C Shields)
Charles River Rocky Narrows Reservation. (Photo by Lisa Sorenson)
Crimson-collared Tanager in Panama. (Photo by Beny Wilson)
A young birder takes notes in Cuba.
Beny Wilson and friends in Panama
Yellow Oriole bathing in wet leaves, Aruba. (Photo by Michiel Oversteegn)
Barn Owls in Bonaire. (Photo by Susan Davis)
Jamaican man looking for birds on GBD. (Photo by Simon C Shields)
A group of birders during Big Day in Cuba.
Birder getting the perfect shot in the Blue Mountains, Jamaica. (Photo by Birdlife Jamaica)
Mark Hulme birding along Tortuga Shortcut Road, Trinidad. (Photo by Alex Sansom)
Blue-tailed Emerald males in a territorial fight in Aruba. (Photo by Michiel Oversteegan)
Great Egret, Caño Majagual, Mayagüez, Puerto Rico. (Photo by Alice V Falto)
Black Swift seen in Barbados. (Photo by Julian Moore)
Northern Flicker. (Trevor Williams)
Channel-billed Toucan Tortuga Short Cut, Trinidad. (Photo by Mark Hulme)
House Finch. (Photo by Trevor Williams)
Alex Sansom looks for waterbirds at Temple by the Sea, Trinidad. (Photo by Mark Hulme)
Tricolored Heron searches for food, Kaminda Lac wetlands Bonaire. (Photo by Susan Davis)
Eastern Towhee. (Photo by Trevor Williams)
Green Heron, Aruba. (Photo by Michiel Oversteegan)
White-cheeked Pintail, Aruba. (Photo by Michiel Oversteegen)
Diego Navarro birding in Cuba. (Photo by Nils Navarro)
Canyon Wrens in the Lake Georgetown dam area Texas. (Photo by Brynne Bryan)
Eastern Bluebird, near Chicago. (Photo by Stave Constantelos)
A Zenaida Dove looks for food along a path, St. Lucia. (Photo by Jerome Foster)
An Antillean Crested Hummingbird spotted in St. Lucia. (Photo by Jerome Foster)
Lincoln’s Sparrow, Chicago. (Photo by Steve Constantelos)
Chestnut-sided Warbler. (Photo by Trevor Williams)
Mr Mallard relaxing at Auburn Cemetary birding hotspot. (Photo by Lisa Sorenson)
White-necked Jacobin, Brasso Seco, Trinidad. (Photo by ARC Conservation)
A Scaly Breasted-Thrasher seen in St. Lucia calls to another individual hidden in surrounding vegetation. (Photo by Jerome Foster)
Semipalmated Plover in Bonaire. (By Susan Davis)
Mark Oberle birding at Port Orchard, Washington State.
King Philips Overlook, Rocky Narrows Reservation. (Photo by Lisa Sorenson)
Eurasian Collared Dove, Temple by the Sea, Trinidad. (Photo by Mar Hulme)
Green Ibis, Panama. (Photo by Beny Wilson)
View from the top of a hill whilst birding, Puerto-Rico. (Photo by Eric Torres Rivera)
Young birders joined in on Big Day in Cuba!
Snowy Egret on the mud flats at Orange Valley, Trinidad. (Photo by Mark Hulme)
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron, Caño Majagual, Puerto Rico. (Photo by Alice V Falto)
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).
Elvin removing a cuckoo from a mist net. (Photo by Josh Covill)
BirdsCaribbean’s Caribbean Bird Banding Network recently held their second bird banding training workshop in the beautiful Dominican Republic. Read on for a delightful personal account of this workshop from local high-school teacher and dedicated Dominican biologist Elvin Manuel Vargas Estévez.
On the fresh morning of March 8th, 2023, in Jarabacoa, Dominican Republic, one of the most rewarding experiences of my life as a biologist would begin. I was participating in a Bird Banding Workshop organized by BirdsCaribbean. It sounds beautiful just to say it, but the true beauty lies in how and what happened there to consider it so valuable.
I must admit—I have always been a wildlife lover since I was a child. But my four-year-old self could never have imagined that I would have a bird in my hands, measuring its anatomical proportions, carefully observing the arrangement of its feathers, and eagerly looking for molt limits. However, today I feel immense excitement knowing that it is now part of my life, allowing me to continue to educate myself and contribute knowledge to avian conservation and society.
Setting up mist nets and sowing euphoria
On the first day of the workshop, my colleague Gerónimo Abreu and I were so excited to start the activities. We talked about what we wanted to do that day from the moment we woke up until we left our room. Once everything was ready, we headed to the main hall and dining room of the Ranch, where lead banding trainer Holly Garrod explained to us with great enthusiasm what we were going to do that day. With clear instructions, we took the necessary equipment and set off to explore the area that would be our morning workplace for the next four days.
The non-traditional, open-air classroom where learning, sharing and discussions took place during the workshop. (Photo by Elvin Estévez)
The process of setting up mist nets is an art that is not as boring as it may seem. Well, it’s true that it’s probably not the most exciting part of a bird bander’s day, but there is a certain magic in the process. The first time I saw a mist net was during a bird banding demonstration that Holly did at the Botanical Garden in Santiago. There I learned that setting up and taking down nets is like a climbing sport. We drive stakes firmly or look for a stable attachment, and “climb with the net” to maintain tension at all times. How interesting! Something as methodical and procedural as setting up a mist net can become fun if you look at it with different eyes.
I remember how the other participants were attentive to everything that moved, what the trainers said, and what more experienced banders did. Throughout that first day, I kept learning about the nets, observing how the more experienced bird banders worked, and learned how to enter banding data while eagerly waiting to hold and band a bird for the first time.
Participants learned to set up and close mist nets during the workshop. (Photo by Josh Covill)
“Don’t be afraid, you are in control, not the bird”
As a child, I used to watch many programs on channels like Animal Planet and Discovery Channel with deep curiosity, as I have always found wildlife fascinating. However, animals did not captivate me solely for their majesty, such as lions and other big cats, or for their incredible sizes, like hippos and rhinos. For me, the greatest treasure in observing an animal is being able to understand its unique behavior and social interactions, at both inter- and intraspecific levels. That’s why I was so amazed when I started focusing more on birds as my birdwatching hobby developed. As fellow ornithologists and birders know, there is nothing more unique than a bird’s behavior.
The first time I held a bird in the context of bird banding was at the Santiago Botanical Garden. I was given the opportunity to release a freshly banded bird and it was a beautiful experience. However, it pales in comparison to the moment when I released a bird from its bag, held it properly, and took the necessary measurements before banding it and then releasing it. This whole process was so exciting for me that it came with a mix of nervousness.
When I was about to process my first bird, Juan Carlos (JC) Hernández Ordoñez was the one supervising my work. I am infinitely grateful to JC as he helped me learn the proper technique and gain confidence to safely handle a bird. I remember very clearly how at the beginning my nervousness caused my hands to shake a little when taking measurements and analyzing the bird. It was then that I heard JC say, “Don’t be afraid, you are in control, not the bird.”
Elvin banding a Palmchat. (Photo by Josh Covill)
That is when I realized that my nervousness, perhaps driven by the fear of hurting the bird, was only adding stress that was being transmitted to the animal. If you are nervous and stressed, the bird you are holding will be too. But if you control the situation and remain calm, the bird you are processing will eventually calm down as well.
By the end of the course, about five birds had passed through my hands, and all but one showed no signs of stress that would warrant a premature release. It is amazing to have an animal in your hands for the right purpose, and then release it knowing that someone, another bird bander or even a birdwatcher, may encounter it some day in the future. The banded bird connects us to a shared conservation goal and binds us to it in an intimate way.
Molt, molt, molt!
Wait, who said that it was only about knowing how to handle a bird, taking it out of the net, and banding it for release? That’s excellent, but I’m sure you’ll be interested in knowing the age of the individual you’re holding, or at least an approximation. Why is it useful for us to know the age of the bird we’re banding? Well, among many things, it allows us to understand the ecological role that the individual is playing, or will play in the near future. If it has already gone through a reproductive stage, if it will seek to reproduce soon, if it has recently left the nest. Or if it is simply a fully mature individual that has been interacting with the surrounding ecosystem for more than two years. Of course, in addition to age, there are other things we can learn with greater accuracy with a bird in the hand, such as its sex or health status, which, of course, will help us quantify and infer more aspects of the bird’s life cycle.
A bird in the hand allows us to learn about the age and health of the bird. (Photo by Josh Covill)
Molt, also known in birds as the replacement of feathers, is key to bird banders. These patterns of feather replacement, or molt patterns, can help us determine the age of a bird. When I first learned about molt, I was amazed by the beauty of this natural process in all birds. I admit that at first my “operating system” almost failed due to so much information to process. At that moment, I realized how we were all connected by another common interest throughout the workshop: molt! It was incredible. If we were at the banding table, we talked about molt. During and after lunch: more conversation about molt. Before sleeping: a study session on molt. We were obsessed with learning more and more about molt, practicing the Wolfe-Ryder-Pyle (WRP) method (a system for aging birds based on their different plumages) countless times, and even immersing ourselves in Peter Pyle’s book “The Identification Guide to North American Birds” as if it were our “bible.” How much I enjoyed all of that! As my friend Daniela Ventura said, we were becoming “molt nerds” and we were enjoying it.
Daniela and Elvin take a closer look at a bird’s wing while another participant Amonie Holas looks on. (Photo by Josh Covill)
The best part is realizing that we never really stop learning, because Pyle’s book does not have all data about all birds. In fact there are birds for which we have little or no data. Those occasions when we encountered individuals with unique molting strategies, challenging molt limits, and deceptive alternate (breeding) plumages were the perfect setting for creating a session where trainers discussed what the correct code would be to describe the age of the bird, and the rest of us watched attentively as these interesting analyses unfolded. The fact that you can always come across these unique and challenging situations is, for me, part of the magic that birds hold in their molt strategies.
Birds Connecting the Americas
Undoubtedly, one of the most beautiful things about the workshop is the opportunity to meet people with similar interests and visions. Since we arrived at Rancho Baiguate in Jarabacoa on the afternoon of March 7th (a day before the official start of the workshop), we realized this benefit. After dropping off our luggage in the assigned room, we immediately went to dinner and sat at a table with Holly, Maya, Steve, and Zoya. From that moment on, we got to know each other and had many conversations about various topics, and it was very enjoyable. But if there’s one thing that stands out above all else, it’s how birds were the center of many of those conversations. Yes, I understand it may seem obvious, but even though we knew we would meet people who shared the same love for birds and conservation as we do, it’s always an indescribable pleasure to be able to talk and connect in person. Throughout the workshop, we met and interacted with incredible people, and we expressed our desire to work together on different approaches, always revolving around birds.
Coming together to learn. Holly teaches the group about molt. (Photo by Maya Wilson)
Making lasting connections at the bird banding training workshop. From left to right: Daniela, Gerónimo, Elvin and Zoya.
Participants at the banding workshop, earlier this year, in the Dominican Republic. (Photo by Joshua Covill)
Examining a Hispaniolan Woodpecker wing for signs of molt. (photo by Josh Covill)
Elvin banding a Black-throated Blue Warbler (photo by Maya-Wilson)
Finding common ground with people who share similar research and conservation interests is great because valuable knowledge is shared in those encounters. However, this would not amount to much if genuine connections are not formed—concrete connections that allow for efficient and organized collaboration. That’s why we were all very excited with the presentation of the BirdsCaribbean Caribbean Bird Banding (CBB) network and the Institute of Bird Population’s monitoring program for overwintering migratory birds, otherwise known as MoSI (monitoreo sobrevivencia invernal). It’s fascinating!
I want to express how thrilled and engaged we all were when the CBB network was introduced. The fact that we are being presented with a way to stay connected is more valuable than it may seem because it encourages more organized efforts: joint research proposals, shared databases, and fundraising for future projects. Similarly, I find the MoSI program incredible as it specifically focuses on connecting different bird banding stations where data on molt and plumage condition of banded species are provided. What does this do for us? It helps us primarily to understand how birds are changing their molt strategies, which, in addition to updating our records, helps us understand how species are being affected by various factors such as habitat loss and climate change.
My Plus/Delta
The Plus/Delta dynamic was key to the performance and experience we had in the workshop. Every afternoon, we took a moment to discuss the positives of the day (the “Plus”) and what we wanted to improve on in the next day’s work session (the “Delta”). It was very productive, as we listened to each other’s daily experiences, had the opportunity to share our achievements, and set goals for the next day. It is very gratifying to remember how, thanks to Plus/Delta, Gerónimo and I reflected on something that filled me with particular joy and satisfaction.
At the beginning of the article, I mentioned how after each morning’s banding session, we would casually talk about the things we were able to accomplish and say, “But tomorrow I want to be able to do this.” And that’s how, thanks to our trainers and fellow workshop participants, we were able to accomplish each and every one of those things we said we wanted to do.
My Plus, as some of us would say at the end, was the entire workshop. I am infinitely grateful for the opportunity to connect with so many incredible people through birds, and at the same time, learn so much alongside them. My experience was invaluable, and I am satisfied with everything I was able to achieve in those five days. The fact that I was able to band birds for the first time and know that I had the opportunity to contribute useful knowledge through it is amazing. The mini-courses on molt were amazing, our shared obsession made us connect so much that there was not a moment during the workshop when we were not making references to WRP codes or molt limits. Even during the farewell dinner, while we talked about everything, references to aspects of molt in birds would occasionally arise, and it was fascinating.
Elvin receiving his Certificate of Achievement from Holly and Juan Carlos (JC).
And what about my Delta? My Delta is a collection of things. It is clear that I want to continue to educate myself to grow this newly created wonderful network of bird banders in the Caribbean. In addition to that, I want to fight to make my country, the Dominican Republic, a place where ornithology, conservation, and science in general receive their deserved recognition and support from society and authorities. The love or curiosity for nature is in some way part of all human beings, but it is clear that not everyone can be expected to understand the complex ecological processes behind the beauty of the natural world.
Beyond that, I understand that in every nation, there must be a solid system where anyone willing to serve through scientific knowledge can find support and guidance. For this reason, one of my long-term goals (a goal that is shared by many of us attending the workshop) is to advocate for the reinforcement of the importance of avian conservation and government support for research related to it, both in the Dominican Republic and throughout the entire Caribbean.
About Elvin:Elvin Manuel Vargas Estévez, is biologist interested in bird behavior and avian conservation, from the Dominican Republic. He is a high-school science teacher at O&M Hostos School in Santiago and also volunteers with the Santiago Botanical Garden to survey and monitor the bird population in the Garden. Elvin is incredibly passionate about inspiring and educating the next generation of nature enthusiasts. He hopes to continue learning about birds and acquiring new skills that will help him make a positive impact in bird and wildlife conservation.
Acknowledgements: BirdsCaribbean thanks the US Fish and Wildlife Service, US Forest Service International Programs, and all of our members and donors whose support helped make this workshop and our Caribbean Bird Banding Network possible.
To learn more about our Banding Workshops and Caribbean Bird Banding Network, check out the links below:
In 2022, Cuba held its first ever bird banding workshop, part of BirdsCaribbean’s ongoing efforts to build a banding community in the Caribbean. Find out more about bird banding in Cuba and about how the workshop went from Cuban bird bander and ornithologist Daniela Ventura.
Daniela Ventura banding a Cuban Green Woodpecker supervised by banding trainer Juan Carlos Fernández Ordóñez (Photo by Holly Garrod)
The year 2022 was pivotal for bird banding in the Caribbean. Earlier in March, the first Caribbean Bird Banding Workshop was held in The Bahamas. Bird researchers and conservationists from several islands, attended with the goal of learning about ethical and scientific banding protocols and acquiring the skills to successfully run their own banding stations. The long-term dream is to develop a network of collaborators, spread across the region, that can contribute with insights into bird movements and population status of migratory and resident species. This event alone would have sufficed to call the year a landmark. But we Caribbeans like to think BIG.
Therefore, the Caribbean Biological Corridor (CBC) partnered with BirdsCaribbean to host the first ever Banding Workshop in Cuba, which took place from November 4th to the 18th in Santiago de Cuba. Cuba being the largest island in the region with the longest banding tradition, is an essential part of this network. The goal of this workshop was ambitious: gather people and institutions with current banding protocols in the island to organize them into a National and Regional Banding Network and host a North America Banding Council (NABC) certification. NABC certification is widely accepted as the banding standard throughout the Americas. This is the certification that BirdsCaribbean is aiming to use as part of the Caribbean Bird Banding Network.
This workshop represented a milestone in my bird banding career. Back in March, I would not have imagined that my banding skills were going to be tested that soon. The NABC certification is a rigorous process of theoretic and practical exams that evaluates your abilities and knowledge in bird banding, according to the standards and practice of that institution. I accepted the challenge. It meant a great incentive to boost my skills, and if I became certified, I would be confident enough to pursue my long-cherished dream of starting my own banding station in Havana. With those motivational thoughts in mind, and the prospects of seeing some eastern endemic birds that I don’t get to see often, I embarked on the wearisome 12-hours bus trip to Santiago. It would prove to be worth it.
A very long and thin island
Havana, the capital city and my hometown, is 868 km away from Santiago de Cuba, the second most important city in the country, which is famous for its carnival and its scorching sun all year round. The tiresome road trip was endurable thanks to the best company I could possibly have: my friends Esteban Márquez and Juan Carlos Fernández (JC). Their good humor guaranteed the trip was joyful. Actually, sometimes I was just about to doze off and JC interrupted it with a joke. During the long journey to Santiago, we were picking up participants from other provinces.
Arnaldo Toledo checking the molt on an Oriente Warbler at the banding station. (Photo By Daniela Ventura)
The ride took us all night and so we arrived at our destination at the same time the first dawn chorus of birds began singing. The Ecological Reserve Siboney Juticí is a karstic landscape of marine terraces—ancient ocean floor now elevated gazing at the Caribbean Sea. The typical coastal shrubby and thorny vegetation is a paradise for migratory warblers and plenty of Cuban endemics, like the Oriente Warbler, Cuban Gnatcatcher, and Cuban Bullfinch. It was a perfect location for the longest running banding station in Cuba, named after the German scientist that was a pioneer of Cuban ornithology: Juan Cristóbal Gundlach. The first four days of the workshop were scheduled to be spent here, coinciding with the monthly period of banding sessions occurring at the station.
We arrived yawning and with sleepy eyes, only to meet an incredible welcoming committee. Freddy Rodríguez Santana, the leader of the station and the most dedicated and diligent workshop organizer, received us with a beaming smile. The station and protected area staff were also cheerful and active, almost as if it wasn’t 5 am in the morning! They seemed ready to start working and I, honestly, was only longing for a bed.
We didn’t have to wait for long for coffee and breakfast. Behind that magic brew that stirred us all a little, was the heart and soul of the banding station: Emelina. She is the keystone that holds the station and everyone together. Eme (as colleagues called her lovingly) is more than the excellent cook that prepares the delicious food and drinks that keeps you sane in the melting hot weather. She is also a kind and caring woman so all of us, workers and visitors alike, become instantly her spoiled children.
When the introductions were over, Freddy quickly rushed us to the rooms, so we could settle in and rest a few hours before the work started. The objective of the day was setting up the mist nests for the upcoming banding session, and to officially inaugurate the workshop.
Learning about Cuba’s longest running banding station
Mariam Curbelo checks mist nets during a net run. (Photo by Daniela Ventura)
The workflow of a constant-effort banding station has a unique flavor. For twelve years, researchers of BIOECO and the staff of the protected area (some of whom have banding training and certification from Germany) have conducted monthly banding sessions at the reserve. Not even hurricanes nor a pandemic have stopped their committed work. We witnessed its smooth organization from the moment we arrived. Each person plays an invaluable role, from the field technicians that know the exact location of every single net, to the researchers that band the birds and take the data. Setting up the nets is an essential process of every banding protocol. A total of 22 nets are placed along three different trails. The park’s staff kindly took their time to show us and guide us through the process step by step. Left alone they would have done the job in less than half an hour. That is how well they do their job!
With the nets ready to start banding the next day, we headed to the classroom to receive the official welcoming. Thirteen participants from all around Cuba, and my friend Esteban from Venezuela, were going to receive training in the nitty-gritties of banding birds for scientific endeavors. Esteban’s main motivation, along with another three of us, was taking the NABC exam that would allow us to be the first Caribbean certified banders. Even though the stakes were high, we had the best teachers: Holly Garrod and JC Fernández, NABC trainers, and of course, the staff at the JCG station with their gathered experience of 12 years of nonstop field work.
A season of Blackpoll Warblers
A male Blackpoll Warbler in fall migration and winter plumage. Males in breeding plumage in spring look very different—they have a black cap and white cheek patch. (Photo by Anthony Levesque)
I was expecting to meet and get a closer look at birds that I can’t find so easily at mist-nets in western Cuba. But Blackpoll Warblers were a treat beyond my wildest daydreams. I had the privilege to band a few of the dozens of individuals we caught during these three days. Blackpolls are world champions in the bird migration contest. Some individuals are known to fly up to 8,000 km from their breeding grounds in Alaska to their wintering areas in Brazil. They also take a route that leads them to fly out over the Atlantic Ocean sometimes three-days long without making any stop. That easterly path is the reason why they are more commonly found in places like Santiago, and very rare in the western side of Cuba.
Uncommon birds for me, but the daily bread for our banding colleagues in Santiago, were Cape May Warblers and Black-throated Blue Warblers. Cape-Mays can be very tricky to age and sex, because there are a lot of individual variability and overlap, but Black-throated proved easier for me. These challenges of new species were just exactly what we needed to get ready for the NABC exam. A bander must also be prepared to deal with species that he or she has never encountered before. That is why learning the theory behind molt strategies and molt extents in bird families in general is a requirement for getting a better understanding on the topic. And why we not only had the morning sessions at the banding table, but presentations about these subjects in the afternoons. Luckily, we had Emelina´s miraculous coffee to keep our brains working!!
Butter butts in the cloud mountains
La Gran Piedra Biological Station sign. (Photo by Daniela Ventura)
Packing jackets and scarves are not something you would expect for a banding trip to Santiago, which is known as the “tierra caliente” or “hot land” to Cubans. But precisely because I am a daughter of the tropics, temperatures below 20 degrees Celsius already make me shiver. The second part of our banding training was going to take place in the cloud evergreen forest of Santiago’s mountains. From the melting sun and heat of Siboney, we moved to the chilly weather of Gran Piedra biological station. The landscape was surreal. We got up before dawn every day, only to walk into a never-ending cloud. We felt the moisture dampening our clothes and boots, and chilling our bones to the core… Ok ok, you might think I am exaggerating. But if you do not believe me, ask Holly, who knows the winter in cold Montana and was as frozen as me. Luckily, even the sun warms up there, so as the day grew old, the temperature got mildly cozy, neither too cold nor too hot—the perfect weather for banding.
Female Yellow-rumped Warbler, showing off her “butter butt.” (Photo by Karen Gallo)
And the perfect weather too for some northern warblers that do not usually migrate far south, it seemed. I had never seen a Yellow-rumped Warbler before, and for that week at Gran Piedra, I must confess I almost got tired of them. There were just too many, an incredible and rare event not only in Santiago, but in Cuba. These birds are known to be facultative migrants, which means there are years when most of the population ventures farther south, and there are others when they mostly stay close to their breeding areas. Scientists do not yet understand well the mechanisms regulating these cycles, but they believe it has something to do with their favorite food, caterpillars, which also have complicated population cycles. Imagine our bewilderment when during one net check there were 15 “butter butts” in just a single net, waiting for us to band them. They proved a “hard pill to swallow” because of the variation in their winter plumage.
Esteban and I were actually quite worried we that we might end up with a somewhat tricky Yellow-rumped during our NABC exam. And if you know Murphy´s Law, well as a matter of fact, that was just what happened. But it allowed us to practice our skills before the exam. An important lesson we learned during that week was that in this banding business, accuracy is better than precision. If we are not certain of a bird’s age or sex, it is better to be less precise by saying “I honestly don’t know”. Bander’s ethics are important not only regarding bird safety, but also to ensure the quality of the data we are gathering.
Uncovering the mysteries of Cuba’s iconic endemics
We also had the chance to band some of the more stunning and iconic endemics, like the Cuban Tody, Cuban Pygmy-Owl, and Cuban Trogon. The study of our resident birds has for a long-time been a pending subject of Caribbean ornithology. There are mysteries waiting to be unraveled and bird banding can allow us to unearth some of them. For example, it can help us decipher the reason behind todies having both blue and brown eyes. Or if there might be size or plumage differences among the sexes in trogons where males and females appear to look identical. I was lucky to band one of the two Cuban Trogons we caught at the nets. These were also the first Trogons ever banded in the Gran Piedra station!! This was a great opportunity for me to practice the cone-shape or “ice cream” grip, the handling method used for birds with short tarsus (the lower part of a bird’s leg) like trogons. Using the appropriate handling technique for each bird is one of the first lessons for a bander to master. Our aim is to always improve and update our knowledge and practice to ensure bird safety.
Testing Times
Daniela and Josmar consult Pyle the bird bander’s “bible” and discuss molt with JC. (Photo by Mariam Curbelo)
The days passed in a blur of banding practice in the morning, molt theory during the afternoons, and night outings to marvel at the pair of Stygian Owls that lived in the pine trees surrounding the banding station. But for the four of us who had a rapidly approaching and demanding exam, our days also included a lot of study of Pyle, the bird bander’s “bible,” looking through wing pictures, and reading of the bander’s study guide. Eventually, the first day of the certification arrived. The examiners put to test our abilities at extracting birds from the nets, and also our handling and banding skills. The practical exam also included the setting up of mist nets.
That afternoon, we had the most dreaded and unnerving part of the certification: the four-hour long written exam that comprised questions ranging from bird safety to molt theory. We needed a minimum of 80% of correct answers to be qualified as banders. I remember the feeling of relief when I handed my exam sheet to Holly. Evaluations were not finished yet, so I went to bed tired but at least more relaxed knowing that the toughest part was over. During the remaining sessions we were going to be examined in the use and understanding of the Pyle guide, and a test where we were expected to accurately identify species, age, and sex from 10 bird photos.
Supporting Success
As we were drawing near the end of the certification, exhaustion and tension were high. I must acknowledge the supportive spirit of the workshop participants, the station’s staff, and our examiners alike. They all put up their best smiles, and constantly cheered us on. Emelina almost fed us too much and made us drink nearly too much coffee. But I don’t have enough “thank you” words for every person that tolerated my stressful humor or made me laugh those days. I know that I owe them a huge debt that I can now call myself a NABC certified bander!!
For in the end, thanks to our trainers and all the support I received, I achieved my goal – I left the workshop as a NABC certified bander, as did Josmar! Later, two of my Cuban colleagues Carmen Plasencia Leon and Arnaldo Toledo, would finish the final portion of the exam and leave the second BirdsCaribbean Banding Workshop in the Dominican Republic (February 2023) as NABC banders. Back in Fall 2022, Zoya Buckmire from Grenada received her NABC certification whilst interning at Klamath Bird Observatory (KBO) in Oregon. This means that in the last year the Caribbean Bird Banding Network has now helped the first five Caribbean banders get their NABC bander certification. This lays the foundation for the future growth of the network.
Processing a recaptured Oriente Warbler, a Cuban endemic and a focal bird at Santiago´s banding scheme. (Photo by Daniela Ventura)
Partipants heading to-open mist nests placed alongside the road at La Gran Piedra Biological Station. (Photo by Daniela Ventura)
Arnaldo Toledo reads a combination of metal and color bands on an Oriente Warbler. (Photo by Daniela Ventura)
An endemic Cuban Pygmy Owl in the hand.
I said earlier that the Cuba Banding Workshop was a milestone. But it wasn´t because I proved myself in a challenging exam. It was the invaluable lesson that if we as a country want to have a broad understanding of our bird population dynamics, we have to work with a team spirit. We have to go for independence and self-sufficiency and develop our own research objectives, and training opportunities. This workshop was the first step towards that ambitious goal.
About Daniela:I have a Bachelor’s degree in Biology and I am part of the Bird Ecology Group of the University of Havana. As a professor trainee I give lectures and seminars in Ecology and Vertebrate Zoology. I am also a graduate student. My research interests include bird population dynamics, movements, and migration. I am a passionate bird bander and molt nerd, and recently created a banding station at the National Botanical Garden in Havana, a dream project of mine. I believe that long-term monitoring of bird populations will greatly increase our knowledge about the ecology of our resident and understudied species, and will highlight the importance of Cuba and the Caribbean as a wintering and stopover site for Neotropical migrants.
Science communication and public outreach are also very close to my heart. Organizing activities for the Caribbean Bird Endemic Festival and World Migratory Bird Day, and managing the social media accounts of the Bird Ecology Group on Instagram and Facebook, perfectly combine my interests in bird conservation and public outreach. I am a fervent advocate of the idea that research needs to be shared in every step of the process, and that science must be taken out of the ivory tower of academia and be made by and for all people. Empowering locals and creating community alongside building conservation networks should be the goal of all Caribbean islands. As a proud member of BirdsCaribbean, my dream is to keep contributing to the development and success of bird research projects in the region, as well as educating the next generation of conservationists.
Acknowledgements: BirdsCaribbean thanks all of our members and donors whose support helped make this workshop and our Caribbean Bird Banding network possible.
We’ll be participating in this year’s Global Big Day (GBD)—the biggest birding day of the year—on Saturday, May 13, 2023, and raising funds to grow our Caribbean Bird Banding Network.
We are bringing back our popular teams competition, and celebrating together the bird diversity, excitement, and camaraderie that’s associated with Global Big Day.
Last year, Global Big Day virtually brought together more than 51,000 birders from 201 countries and submitted 132,000 checklists with eBird. This is the current world record for a single day of birding.
For BirdsCaribbean, the event was also successful—15 teams with members from 29 countries reported a total of 1,078 species and raised $13 734. We had so much fun doing this. Together we can make this year even better! Learn more below and on our Global Big Day GiveButter Teams page – join the fun here!
24 hours of learning, counting and sharing
During peak migration time in the spring, birders around the world head out to their favorite birding spots, or venture into new areas, to see, hear and record as many bird species as they can in a 24-hr period of time. This event helps scientists understand global bird populations and raises awareness of issues affecting them—and we need your help to do it!
No matter where you are, you can submit important data, via eBird checklists, about the birds around you. You don’t need to be an expert birder or spend the entire day looking for birds. Just 10 minutes of birding in your backyard or from your balcony will count too.
But birding is more enjoyable when done with a friend or a group. We are again calling on our community to bird together in virtual teams (you can decide if you want to join your national team or not) during Global Big Day. And engage in friendly competition to see which team can:
1) collectively see the most species of birds, and
2) raise the most funds.
Funds raised by BirdsCaribbean GBD participating teams will be used to grow our Caribbean Bird Banding Network by providing bands and other resources to Caribbean banders, providing more training opportunities and supporting bird banding projects across the islands.
The ‘Join a Team’ button is located just below the header graphic.
If you choose to create a team, personalize it with a fun name, photos and your own lingo. NOTE: if you are outside the US or Canada, we will need to assist you with the first step of creating your own team; after this you will be able to manage the team (email Lisa.Sorenson@BirdsCaribbean.org and she will get you set up pronto!)
All team leaders and members should then invite family, friends, colleagues, and members of your birding community to join your team and/or donate to your team. It helps to set your own personal fundraising goal to help your team reach its overall goal!
By inviting people to your team, you are
(1) raising awareness for BirdsCaribbean and the Caribbean Bird Banding Network,
(2) helping to raise funds for Caribbean bird research and conservation, and
(3) promoting Global Big Day, citizen science, and the importance of conserving birds and their habitats.
By doing so, you will have (1) helped advance knowledge of Caribbean birds through bird banding which gives us a more detailed look at birds’ life histories, and (2) encouraged that team to give it their all on Global Big Day.
and/or . . .
3. Committing to spending some time (or the entire day!) birding on Global Big Day (May 13), being sure to keep track of what you see and then entering that information into eBird. We hope everyone will do this, whether or not they join a team or fundraise.
Group of birders in the Dominican Republic. Photo by Zara Palmer.
This will be a fun event to fundraise for and get excited about birds! Be ready to visit birding hotspots or set yourself up in a safe place* and bird for as much of the day as possible, knowing that all of your teammates, friends, and BirdsCaribbean community members are doing the same!
If birding from the Caribbean, you should plan to submit your observations to eBird Caribbean. Then we’ll tally them up and see how we all did! We will send out more information about this as the event draws closer.
Why this is Important
The insular Caribbean is a critical region for birds. There are 176 species that occur here and nowhere else in the world! In addition, the islands provide a winter home for numerous migrants—many stay 6 months or longer while others rely on the islands as stopover sites to rest and refuel during their long journeys north and south.
The development of a strong regional conservation community, through capacity-building training and career development opportunities at the island level for local people, is critical to ensure the sustainable preservation of island birds and their habitats.
How your Donation Will be Used
This Global Big Day fundraiser will support the Caribbean Bird Banding (CBB) Network, allowing us to continue providing bands and other resources to Caribbean banders, host more international training workshops , support Caribbean banders to attend internships (read about Zoya’s incredible internship at Klamath Bird Observatory) or other opportunities to practice and develop their skills, and grow and expand this network to more Caribbean islands.
Bird Banding Training Workshop participant David Walters placing a band on the leg of a Palm Warbler. Photo by Josh Covill.
The first webinar, ‘Banding Together – Creating the Caribbean Bird Banding Network, Part 1’ will be held on Friday, April 21 at 2 PM EDT. Join the BirdsCaribbean Caribbean Bird Banding (CBB) Network live and learn what bird banding is, its applications and how it can change the future of Caribbean bird conservation.
The second webinar “Banding Together—Creating the Caribbean Bird Banding Network, Part 2” will be held on Thursday, May 4th at 4 pm EDT. Several Caribbean Bird Banding (CBB) Network members, including Daniela Ventura del Puerto (Cuba), Zoya Buckmire (Grenada), Hector Andujar (Dominican Republic), and Dayamiris Candelario (Puerto Rico), will share what they have gained from being part of this initiative, and exciting plans for expanding bird banding in the Caribbean.
As with everything in the Caribbean, we will be successful when our whole community pitches in, so let’s do this together! We need your help to do this!
Team Up to WIN
Prizes will be awarded to
the team that raises the most funds
the team with the most creative name and stylish fundraising page
the team that sees the most bird species on Global Big Day
the “country/island team” that sees the highest proportion of their birds on Global Big Day (to control for differences in the number of species on each island!)
the team with the best “find” of the day (unusual, rare, plumage aberration, etc.)
the team with the best bird photo of the day (must be posted on eBird along with your list)
We are happy and proud to congratulate our President Adrianne Tossas, who has received an Outstanding Women in STEAM award from the University of Puerto Rico for contributions to scientific research and education.
Adrianne Tossas giving an acceptance speech for her award.
Adrianne was nominated by her peers to be part of the 4th Power of Women in Science symposium that took place at the main campus of the University of Puerto Rico in Río Piedras on March 31, 2023. The event celebrated the achievements of 25 women professors who excel in science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics (STEAM). In a special ceremony, the Vice President for Research acknowledged the nominees representing the 11 campuses of the University of Puerto Rico, with a special recognition that was prepared and presented by young women from different local schools.
Adrianne has been a professor of biology at the University of Puerto Rico in Aguadilla since 2008. As part of this position, she has led about 200 students in their first research experiences through the Bird Ecology and Conservation Project. Through the course Introduction to Research she engages undergraduate students in bird monitoring and mentors them to apply for graduate programs. Every semester, small groups of 10 to 15 students receive training in bird identification techniques, surveying protocols, experiment design, scientific writing, and skills for oral presentations.
Recognition for Outstanding Women in STEAM program invitation.
Adrianne with faculty of UPR Aguadilla after receiving her award.
Adrianne Tossas with fellow award recipient and woman in science Brenda Ramos during the event.
Both women and girls received awards for their contirbutions in the fields of science, technology, engineering, arts, and maths.
Here is more on our President’s work and achievements:
Landbird monitoring
In 2009 Adrianne Tossas started monitoring the avian community of Guajataca State Forest, a natural reserve in the northern karst region of the island. Point counts are conducted every spring, allowing for the assessment of 37 bird species, including 12 of Puerto Rico’s 18 endemic species. This 15-year comparison has shown population changes related to an extreme drought in 2015 and the passage of Hurricane María in 2017. The combined effects of both events caused a 10-20% difference in overall bird abundance from 2016 to 2018 compared to 2009-2015. Almost five years after the hurricane, the average number of individuals per count was still lower than baseline estimates.
Audiomoth Automatic Recording Unit (ARU) set up on a tree to record songs and calls of forest birds. (photo by Lisa Sorenson).
A new monitoring project with AudioMoth digital recorders began in this forest in 2022, to assess the singing activity of bird species. Approximately 3,000 minutes per month were recorded in February, May, July and August 2022, and January- March 2023. The open-source software ARBIMON was used to analyze the findings of the most abundant species. The top-five most frequently detected were the Bananaquit (Coereba flaveola), Black-whiskered Vireo (Vireo altiquus) Puerto Rican Vireo (Vireo latimeri), Puerto Rican Bullfinch (Melospiza portoricensis), and Adelaide’s Warbler (Setophaga adelaidae). Ongoing data collection will permit comparing patterns over time.
Since the forest trails were inaccessible for almost a year after the passage of Hurricane María, Adrianne designed new projects in coastal areas to engage students in bird monitoring.
White-tailed Tropicbird
White-tailed Tropicbird egg. (Photo by Mary Gillham)
Since 2018 the group has been assessing the size and annual fluctuations of populations of the White-tailed Tropicbird (Phaeton lepturus) when they return from the sea to breed in the rocky cliffs of Quebradillas in northern Puerto Rico. This is the species’ only breeding site on the main island, since it is mostly known to nest on cays off the eastern coast. Biweekly surveys were conducted during the reproductive season, which extends from December to July, detecting a yearly average of 70 tropicbirds (range of 0 – 94 individuals). These data suggest that the population consists of approximately 50 breeding pairs; however, this number could be larger because the cliffs provide potential nesting sites beyond the study site. A count conducted along a broader extension of the cliff in February 2023 recorded a total of 206 individuals.
Brown Pelican
Adrianne and Brown Pelican on a boat during the 2023 Caribbean Waterbird Census.
Since 2019 the group has been assessing the population status of the Caribbean Brown Pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis occidentalis) on the coast of Aguadilla. From 2019 to 2021, up to 49 individuals were counted in 38 monthly surveys, including adults with reproductive plumage and juveniles. In October 2021 the group found an active breeding colony with 53 nests in a steep cliff bordering the seashore. A second nesting season is currently under study. No surveys have taken place in this area since 1993, even though this is one of the only three pelican breeding sites in Puerto Rico. These data are helping local conservation groups to promote the creation of a new nature reserve in coastal Aguadilla.
We congratulate Adrianne on her inspiring work in science and education and on her well-deserved award!
A pair of Ospreys (Pandion haliaetus ridgwayi) constructing a nest atop one of the higher cliffs on the north end of Booby Cay, The Bahamas, on 25 October 2015. (Photo by Shelley Cant-Woodside)
BirdsCaribbean are bringing you some highlights from the Journal of Caribbean Ornithology in our new feature “Just Published in JCO”. Here Zoya Buckmire, the Lead Copy Editor for the Journal of Caribbean Ornithology, tells us all about an article characterizing the birdlife of Conception Island National Park in The Bahamas, read on to find out more about this paper, including an exciting story from the field.
In the midst of the central Bahamas archipelago lies the tiny Conception Island National Park. This multi-island park is designated as an Important Bird Area, but until now, its bird diversity was poorly documented. In this paper, Reynolds and Buckner present the first avifaunal list for this park in over a 100 years, with a whopping 68 species, three of which are Bahamian endemics.
Although this is a much-needed update to the bird list of the park, it was not birds that first drew the authors to Conception Island. Reynold and Buckner’s numerous visits to the area, between 1994 and 2017, focused rather on lizards and snakes. But they made the most of each visit by recording everything else they observed, including the birds.
Years later, as Reynolds compiled their collective data from over the decades, the team decided to collate and publish the bird list as they noticed a glaring knowledge gap. “All the other islands surrounding Conception Island had published bird lists, but Conception did not. Conception Island is one of the most important National Parks in the Bahamas, so we felt that we needed to characterize the bird fauna there.” And what an important characterization it is! The last bird lists for the area were published in the late 1800s and did not exceed 13 species; the new estimate of 68 species is a fivefold increase and a testament to the ecological value of the National Park.
A Cape May Warbler. (Photo by Dax Roman)
As is often the case with nature, nothing can be studied in isolation, and in 2015, the authors’ herpetological (reptile-based) and ornithological (bird-based) interests collided. Reynolds gives the following anecdote: “My favorite moment was in 2015 when I found an endemic Critically Endangered silver boa stalking a sleeping Cape May Warbler in the middle of the night. The boa stalked it for about 10 minutes, then lunged to grab it and missed! The boa ended up with a mouth full of primary feathers, and the bird escaped.The boas were only discovered in 2015, so before that we had no idea that a large predator might be hunting the birds on the island. It turns out that the boas hunt the migratory birds as they rest on the island!”
It is always fascinating to witness nature in action, and we only wish that he had gotten a video of that moment!
This study was not without its challenges, of course. The difficulties of conducting research in the Caribbean are only amplified on remote islands. Expenses were a major limitation for Reynolds and Buckner. Trips to and stays on Conception Island were limited by their budget, so they had to maximize each visit. They did this by spreading their efforts over as many locations and at as many different times of day as possible. This produced bird data that was not systematically collected nor suitable for in-depth analyses, but perfect for the inventory presented here.
The brackish pond on the east end of Booby Cay in 2016. This brackish pond is not permanent and is sometimes completely dry. (Photo by R. Graham Reynolds)
The bulk of new bird records were waterbirds and shorebirds from this pond. Including Yellow-crowned Night Heron (pictured). (Photo by Heron-Hemant Kishan)
As for main takeaways, Reynolds and Buckner want to emphasize that “Conception Island is a tremendously important island for Bahamas wildlife, [and] it is hard to overstate how important it is,” both for seabird breeding colonies and as a stopover for migratory birds.
They are hopeful that this research highlights the value of the Conception Island National Park and the need to both study and protect it. The authors themselves have not been back to the area since 2018 due to changes in The Bahamas’ scientific permitting process, but hope that this paper serves as a step in the right direction. Conception Island National Park is a treasure, and further research will be critical for its continued management and conservation.
The Journal of Caribbean Ornithology publishes the peer-reviewed science on Caribbean birds and their environment that is so important to inform conservation work. All of the publications are free and open-access.
Whether it’s the regal tropicbird in a crevice, the boisterous Sooty Tern overhead, or the Brown Booby sitting defiantly on its nest, it’s exciting to be among seabirds of all kinds. This year we encourage you to join the excitement during the 2023-2024 Caribbean Seabird Census! (or CSC23/24).
WHO can take part? This groundbreaking effort relies on participants to get out and count seabirds locally. Whether you manage a seabird nesting island as part of your professional duties, are an avid amateur ornithologist or birder, or are new to the seabird world but keen to get involved, you can take part in CSC23/24!
WHEN will CSC23/24 take place?It has already started but will run until the end of 2024! And a bit longer for species that nest over December-January. The best time to census nesting colonies of tropical seabirds is during the peak nesting period. The timing of this peak depends on species and can vary between islands – have a look at our Species Hours webinars (below) to learn more.
HOW to get involved in CSC23/24? Plan and carry out a count at one or more of your seabird colonies! Chances are that if you are a wildlife professional, you are already involved with the Caribbean Seabird Working Group! If not, we encourage you to join our email listserv and our Facebook page for regional information. At the island level, we encourage you to reach out to your local environmental NGOs: most of them already have plans to survey seabirds during CSC23/24 and would welcome any help. Once you have collected census data, you will be able to share it with the Seabird Working Group (more on this below).
Your data will contribute to a regional update of the health of our region’s seabirds, allowing us to determine if historical nesting sites are still active and whether populations are increasing or decreasing compared to previous estimates. We will also be collecting information on localized threats, which can inform conservation actions.
We have put together some great resources to help you get on your way to being a part of this important regional study. Use the links below to find what you need.
Thanks to funding from SPAW-RAC, all of these webinars are available with French subtitles! Spanish translations are on the way. Thanks to Hannah Madden, Frantz Delcroix, and Juan Carlos Fernández-Ordóñez for help with the translations.
Recently we have begun a new series called Species Hours, which covers groups of seabirds; it’s an open forum for experts to share their wisdom and answer questions so you are prepared to go in the field and study seabirds.
Test your knowledge of Caribbean seabirds and field methods with our quizzes, which are linked to our webinar topics! Watch the webinar series to find all the answers (follow the links below for each quiz).
This page is also where you can find the Caribbean Seabirds Monitoring Manual! The manual is a great place to start and is available in English,Spanish and French.
Our Census Data Sheet
We have prepared standardized data sheets which can be used either in the field or as a guide for the types of information the census should include. You may already have a form you use or a well-worn notebook; any format is fine as long as it includes the key elements found in the standardized data sheet.
It’s important everybody collects the same types of information found in the data sheet, such as GPS points, names of observers, species, and number of apparently occupied nests. Using standardized information will allow for easier and more relevant comparison of results across the region.
Once you’ve collected your field data, you’ll need to enter it into our standardized reporting database so we can easily compile and compare everybody’s data.
Your data will then be referenced into the Global Biodiversity Information Facility, a free online, publicly available open-source repository of datasets that will ensure that you remain the full owner of your datasets. Once all CSC23/24 data have been collected, we will reach out to data owners and to Seabird Working Group members for interest in participating in data analyses. If you are keen to be involved in the regional analyses, you can already reach out to us at caribbeanseabirdsurveys@gmail.com. We will also strive to turn the regional analysis of CSC23/24 data into a learning opportunity for all. Once analyzed, the results of the surveys will be shared with the public. We are excited to share what the data tells us about the health of seabirds in the region!
Let’s start surveying!
Grenadines Seabird Guardian citizen scientists (Photo by A. Ollivierre)
The year has already started so we encourage you to get out there and survey year-round breeding seabirds, such as pelicans, frigatebirds, tropicbirds, and boobies which can be found now. The next big surge in nesting will be when migratory seabirds like gulls and terns return.
You can also join the Working Group’s Facebook page to hear about other people’s projects and share about your surveys. We are ready to help make your survey dreams a reality!
Graphics for the 2023-2024 Seabird Census are available in English, Spanish and French. Click on each image in the gallery below to enlarge then right click on an enlarged image and ‘save image as’ to download.
The 2023 Caribbean Seabird Census is jointly organized by BirdsCaribbean and EPIC, with support from SPAW-RAC and individual donations.
Dayamiris holding a bird during a banding session. (Photo by Omar Monzón)
Dayamiris Candelario and her husband Omar traveled from their home island of Puerto Rico to the Willistown Conservation Trust in Pennsylvania for a one-month bird banding internship. As someone new to bird banding it was a steep but rewarding learning curve for Dayamiris. Find out more about her experiences in her blog post below.
“In my hand I held the most remarkable of all living things, a creature of astounding abilities that eludes our understanding, of extraordinary, even bizarre senses, of stamina and endurance far surpassing anything else in the animal world. Yet my captive measured a mere five inches in length and weighed less than half of an ounce, about the weight of a fifty-cent piece. I held that truly awesome enigma, a bird.” (A. C. Fisher Jr.)
My work as an environmental educator at Centro Ambiental Santa Ana, a nature center located in an urban forest in Puerto Rico, involves many activities in bird education. As a member of staff for more than twelve years, I have presented many Endemic and Migratory Birds Festivals and birdwatching workshops for urban residents of the island.
Dayamiris offering a guided hike to Girl Scouts about Puerto Rican birds. (Photo by Yaritza Bobonis)
It is here, while preparing for these activities, that my interest in birds peaked. I was often in awe at how these tiny and fragile beings could face so many perils throughout their lives. My daily tasks as an interpretive guide emphasize birds as a key to get my audiences hooked in our Puerto Rican nature. But before the experience that I’m about to narrate, a question always lingered in my mind: “How many secrets do birds hold to overcome their life’s obstacles and still live amazing lives?”
A beautiful setting for bird banding
A Gray Catbird, well known for its catlike “meow” calls and “orange underpants” (cinnamon undertail coverts).(photo by Alan D Wilson)
It was a serendipitous invitation that brought me closer to getting answers to my questions about birds. I was invited to release a live Gray Catbird (Dumetella carolinensis) on September 1st of 2022, just after arriving at the Rushton Woods Preserve Bird Banding Station in beautiful Pennsylvania, a natural protected area managed by the Willistown Conservation Trust (WCT).
I was beginning my one-month bird banding training internship with my husband, Omar, hosted by the Willistown Conservation Trust (WCT), in collaboration with BirdsCaribbean, the Powdermill Avian Research Center of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, and the Northeast Motus Collaboration.
We stayed at the beautiful historic house located next to the Rushton Farm, part of the Preserve. We felt the chilly autumnal breeze in the grasslands, bushes, and meadows. I let the sweet scent of the goldenrod flowers fill my lungs, while listening to the soft rocking of tree branches as the wind commanded their movement. Whenever we walked towards the bird banding station at dawn, we heard the lively chirping and tweeting of the birds. We wanted to learn as much as we could. After participating in the bird banding training activities, which started very early in the morning until almost midday, we would work remotely in our respective jobs. And in the evenings, we would devour all the literature that the Bird Band Station uses for their activities.
The farmhouse at Rushton Woods Preserve, Willistown Conservation Trust
From a beloved pet bird to a wild bird
I still remember what I felt when Blake from WCT put the bird in my hand to let me release it after it was banded. I have held a live bird before: my dear Chuqui, a Cockatiel (Nymphicus hollandicus) that taught me that her dearest person EVER was my husband. He died at fifteen years of age in the hands of her beloved. I learned about Chuqui’s juvenile and preformative plumage; how to correctly sex her (we thought she was a male until she started laying eggs!); her molt once per year (and the mess of feathers that would follow); and how to not expose her to artificial light to avoid her laying eggs. I remember feeling her tiny bones and observing carefully the differences of her body feathers from the wings and tail.
Dayamiris at Powdermill. (Photo by Omar Monzón)
Our experience at WCT was different, however, because I was touching for the first time a bird that faces the daily challenges of being wild and free—the “Green Fire,” as described by Aldo Leopold in the film, “A Land Ethic Of Our Time.” I remember feeling the vibration of the Gray Catbird’s body, the warmth of its belly, and how it grabbed my fingers tightly with its toes. That was my first encounter with the daily work of education, research and conservation of this bird banding station, which has been operating for 14 years, as part of the WCT’s Bird Conservation Program.
How (or how not) to extract a bird
In the following weeks, Lisa Kiziuk, Director of the Bird Conservation Program, and her staff introduced me to the station’s inner workings as well. I learned the proper timing and setting up of mists nets and their location; how to extract birds from nets ;the different bird banders’ grips to ensure birds are handled safely ;the most common species banded; species that are selected for radio tags to detect migration patterns; and the different sizes of bands used. Measurements were taken to determine population health, habitat preferences, and to detect changes that could signal a threat. Some of these measurements are: the wing chord, weight, fat deposits, molt, and aging, which was the most challenging for a novice like me.
Dayamiris and her husband Omar band birds at WTC. (Photo by Blake Goll)
I remember how frustrated I was the first time I tried to extract birds because I was fearful that I might hurt them. I later realized that bird extraction is a puzzle with a time limit—you need to figure out in a short time how to free wings, head, legs, and feet from the thin and entangled fibers of the nets. In particular, I had some delightful moments of laughter from my encounters with the House Wren (Troglodytes aedon). After several failed attempts at the net to extract them, they escaped and looked at me triumphantly from a nearby branch! In the end I did extract one, but it still got away when I was about to band it! Thanks to the patient training, supervision, and guidance of Lisa and her staff, my final bird banding tally was 41 birds from at least eleven different species – most en route to their southern journey, and some not commonly seen wintering in Puerto Rico.
The meow of the Gray Catbird and the blue of the Blue Jay…
One of the most common species at the station, the Gray Catbird, was very memorable because it is not as common in Puerto Rico. Therefore, whenever this bird is spotted in the island, a generalized buzz from birders would follow in order to watch and hopefully listen to this bird’s peculiar “meowing” while wintering in the Caribbean. I proudly banded 16 of them (comprising 40% of my first bird banding training batch) – which created envy among my local fellow birders!
The Northern Cardinal also left a memory and some bite marks in my fingers too!! I was told this species was a “biter” and I can proudly declare that I survived its powerful beak. Also, I was in awe when I had the pleasure of banding a Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata) – a beautiful and HUGE bird that stayed calmly in my grip while I banded it. I did observe its exceptionally long feathers (resembling silky hair) as I blew on its head, breast and belly looking for molt and fat deposits. I have never seen a blue so magnificently blue!!
A stunning male Northern Cardinal – not a bird seen in the Caribbean!
A gorgeous Blue Jay – a treat for Daymi to see and hold up close!
…And a very special bird
But I have a special place in my “bird bander’s” heart for the Wood Thrush (Hylocichla mustelina). I will never forget how I often peeked at the bird bag to take hold of it. I always found a beautiful large eye looking at me. Next, I would feel the warmth of its round belly, while its bright brown and streaked plumage seemed as if it was painted on the bird. Some other species that I banded included: Swainson’s Thrush (Catahrus ustulatus), Ovenbird (Seiurus aurocapilla), Gray-cheeked Thrush (Catharus minimus), American Redstart (Setophaga ruticilla), Hairy Woodpecker (Dryobates villosus), and Downy Woodpecker (Dryobates pubescens).
“A very special bird” the Wood Thrush
A striking black and white, female Hairy Woodpecker
Motus installations and wild apples: A great learning opportunity in Vermont
Dayamiris helping to assemble the Motus station. (Photo by Omar Monzón)
We also learned from WTC about efforts through the Northeast Motus Collaboration to promote bird conservation through research, especially by installing antennas to track the movements of birds in the northeast of the U.S. We accompanied the antenna installation team in their task of installing three antennas in the beautiful state of Vermont: one at Bennington College, another at Wolcott Research Station at the University of Vermont, and the last one in Smugglers’ Notch Resort in Jeffersonville. Assisting them in installing these antennas with their metal tubes, cables and bolts served as a reminder of the amount of background work involved in installing all this infrastructure, all to aid ornithologists and researchers as they seek to understand bird movements.
On a funny note, I also discovered that you could easily find wild apples to eat in many places in Vermont!
Thanks to WTC, we had the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to stay for a few days at the Powdermill Nature Reserve to learn about the operation of its Avian Research Center, part of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History of Pittsburgh (CMNH). We observed a major bird banding operation at one of the oldest bird banding stations in the U.S., 60 years in operation. We were amazed at the number of mist nests they could operate with a small staff. We also learned about the research being carried out onsite to determine the best glass window materials to prevent bird collisions. We got to know many of the staff from the station and some other personnel from the Museum, who invited us to visit their avian specimen collection. We took a good look, and asked a million questions.
Kindness and support for a “newbie” bird bander
For me, a newcomer in bird banding, I have to say that I was very fortunate to be able to answer my existential question about birds because of all the kind, patient, and warm people that offered us their best skills, knowledge, guidance, food, coats, places to stay, opportunities to meet new people, jokes and laughter, making us feel at home and ready to learn while being away from Puerto Rico. From the WTC there was Lisa, Fred, Allison, Blake, Aaron, Shelly, Kirsten, Todd, Phyllis, and Holly; and at CNMNH Cheyenne, Cullen, Annie, Lucas, Loren, Mallory, Rose, and Serina.
Birds inspired me, and brought us together
Our farewell to WCT’s staff. Dayamiris (center) with Aaron Coolman (Northeast Motus Collaboration crew), her husband Omar Monzon (Para la Naturaleza), Holly Garrod (Caribbean Bird Banding Network Coordinator, BirdsCaribbean), and Lisa Kizuik (Director, Willistown Conservation Trust).
As I write this article, I am in the middle of my second opportunity to train in bird banding – this time in my home island, learning with resident species and Holly Garrod, Project Manager of BirdsCaribbean’s Bird Banding Program, which is working hard to build capacity for banding in the region through workshops, providing bird bands, and banding internship opportunities, like this one.
I thank all of the people who inspired me to want to become better at this new skill. Fingers crossed that in the near future I will become a certified bander. This will help me amplify my capabilities and skills as an Environmental Scientist and Educator, furthering the conservation of birds as a gateway to the conservation of all Nature.
The birds’ wings, molts, beaks, songs and amazing journeys did much more than just existing. The birds succeeded in uniting people from different backgrounds, languages and cultures, who continue to work, in awe of their amazing superpowers.
Rushton Woods Preserve garden and barn, Willistown Conservation Trust, Pennsylvania
Dayamiris Candelario is an Environmental Manager that works currently as an Environmental Educator for Centro Ambiental Santa Ana, a nature center located in an urban forest in the island of Puerto Rico; and as a Coordinator for the Blue Flag Program for Organización Pro Ambiente Sustentable. Daymi is also a Certified Interpretive Guide from the National Association for Interpretation (NAI), and uses these skills to provide meaningful experiences to Puerto Rican children about their local nature. Her experience involves environmental education initiatives, many focusing on endemic and migratory birds, in outdoor informal settings, community projects, and research on air pollution and karst ecosystems. In her free time, she enjoys birdwatching, drawing and painting nature, traveling, writing, and hiking in natural areas.
BirdsCaribbean is pleased to announce the 2023 cohort of grantees under our three named awards, the David S. Lee Fund for the Conservation of Caribbean Birds, the Betty Petersen Conservation Fund, and the new James A. Kushlan Research and Conservation Fund.
These are ten exciting projects that promote the study and conservation of avifauna in six different Caribbean countries. A total of $74,500 was awarded to these projects through the three funds. Learn here about each recipient’s proposed plans, and stay tuned for results and accomplishments featured in future Journal of Caribbean Ornithology and blog articles.
Congratulations to these outstanding researchers and conservationists from our BirdsCaribbean community, we wish you all the best and can’t wait to hear about your results!
Ridgway’s Hawk Conservation and Education Project in Haiti
Anderson Jean, Action pour la Sauvegarde de l’Ecologie en Haïti (ACSEH)
The Ridgway’s Hawk (Buteo ridgwayi), found only on the island of Hispaniola, is one of the most endangered raptors in the world. It is estimated that there are fewer than 400 individuals remaining. Only two populations were known from the Dominican Republic, until 2019 when Anderson and biologists from ACSEH discovered the hawks on Petite Cayemite Island, located off the coast of southwestern Haiti. Since then, they have found more individuals and breeding pairs. These funds will allow the extension of surveys to the larger island of Grand Cayemite. To address anthropogenic threats to this Critically Endangered species, the team will initiate an educational campaign directed at local communities, especially schoolchildren and farmers. Outreach materials will be distributed in the communities and a special curriculum will be presented in two local schools. The project will also organize, for the first time, a Ridgway’s Hawk Festival in May, in collaboration with the mayor and government officials of Les Cayemites.
Birdwatching movement in Cuba as a way to improve the knowledge of Cuban avifauna and promote conservation efforts based on citizen science
Yaro Rodríguez, Cuba Birders Club
Illegal trapping and trafficking of wild birds in Cuba have long been a serious problem in Cuba. However, due to the rise of social media and economic problems caused in part by the pandemic, it has recently reached a crisis point, with tens of thousands of residents and migratory birds captured every year. Yaro along with partner Nils Navarro plan to address this critical problem through growing a nascent bird watching movement in Cuba. These new birders will a) help to put pressure on the authorities to enforce laws protecting wild birds, and b) provide valuable citizen science data to eBird Caribbean, thereby increasing our knowledge of the status and trends of Cuban birds, including further identification of hotspots for endemism and migration stopover sites. The project will provide binoculars and training to community and group leaders that will engage in bird monitoring and share the data through eBird Caribbean. The teams will grow local birding clubs and raise awareness in communities throughout Cuba of the need to protect birds and their habitats through community education and social media. They also plan to increase the interest of participants in birdwatching by organizing a second Cuban Big Year for 2024.
Promoting conservation of birds and nature on St Maarten through education, birding, and bird guide training
Kevin Sammy, Nature Foundation St. Maarten (NFSM)
Many of the local population on St Maarten did not receive education in relation to local flora and fauna, and therefore feel little responsibility to protect the environment. Conservation and preservation efforts have proven to be challenging when community members are not in touch with the importance of a balanced ecosystem, and therefore don’t value local natural resources. Introducing and connecting others to and educating them on the beautiful bird populations on the island form the foundation on which to build preservation efforts. Nature Foundation Sint Maarten will recruit and train local people to become birdwatchers and bird guides with the goal of increasing awareness of the importance of protecting bird species and their habitats as well as supporting sustainable livelihoods. The trainees will participate in an intensive workshop, led by trainer, Binkie Van es, (graduate of our Caribbean Birding Trail Guide Training Program) to learn about the island’s flora and fauna. In addition, trainees will receive birding equipment and educational resources to help them in their work as guides and to conduct annual bird counts. Participants will be able to practice their skills in a new bird observation deck planned to be built this year. In addition, a public awareness and education campaign will be launched that includes talks and field trips with youth and communities.
Facilitating community involvement in Pawi (Trinidad Piping-Guan) research and conservation
Mark Hulme, University of the West Indies, St Augustine, Trinidad & Tobago
The Critically Endangered Trinidad Piping-Guan or Pawi, is Trinidad’s only endemic bird. Its population has been estimated at only 77 to 231 individuals, restricted to moist forested habitats. The main threats to the species are illegal hunting, disturbance, and habitat destruction through quarrying, logging, agriculture, and construction. Mark’s project aims to recruit members of communities in and close to the habitat to participate in the first species survey in 20 years, and foster enhanced awareness of the Pawi and involvement in its conservation. Community members will receive training in Passive (remote) Acoustic Monitoring, a technique that works well for sparse and cryptic arboreal birds. In addition, the recordings will provide them with a soundscape of all the wildlife in their landscape for other research projects, to develop a sense of pride, and for other uses, such as education and ecotourism.
Bird Conservation in the Botanical Garden: Publication of a new field guide
Lourdes Mugica, University of Havana, Cuba
Cuba’s National Botanical Garden is a crucial institution to promote bird conservation in Havana city since it receives 300,000 visitors annually. In surveys initiated in 1983, members of the Ecology Group of the University of Havana have reported 125 bird species in the garden’s diverse landscape that covers almost 500 ha. This funding will cover the printing costs of an exciting new field guide, Aves del Jardín Botánico Nacional de Cuba (The Birds of the National Botanic Garden of Cuba), and other educational materials, including a bird identification card, a checklist, and a map of the trails. With this project, Lourdes and her colleagues want visitors to experience birdwatching firsthand, learning about the many endemic, resident, and migratory birds that live in or visit the garden seasonally. Their ultimate goal is to increase awareness and appreciation of Cuba’s incredible avifauna, to help reduce local threats such as trapping and keeping wild birds in cages as pets.
Does Los Roques Archipelago continue to be a safe place for breeding colonies of seabirds of Brown Booby, Red-footed Booby, and Audubon’s Shearwater in the Caribbean?
Josmar Márquez, AveZona
Los Roques Archipelago, off the coast of Venezuela, is an important breeding site for seabirds, including the Brown Booby, Red-footed Booby, and Audubon’s Shearwater, with more than 12,000 nesting pairs reported overall. However, the sustainability of these breeding colonies is threatened by a growing tourism industry. Josmar, along with partners from AveZona and other Venezuelan NGOs, proposes to conduct intensive seabird surveys to determine the population sizes and reproductive success of these species, with the aid of camera traps in nests and drones to reach remote areas. Moreover, they will be engaging people from the local communities in the counts, by providing educational materials, training on seabird identification and conservation, and even reaching out to hotels and inns to provide birdwatching opportunities as an income source.
Reproductive management with artificial nests and its effect on the populations of Psittacidae in the Pico Cristal National Park. Cuba
Inés Fernández, Flora and Fauna Enterprise, Santiago de Cuba
The Cuban Parakeet and Cuban Parrot are two threatened endemic species confined to small remnant forest fragments mainly in protected areas in Cuba. However, they maintain their degree of threat, due to all the negative actions to which they are subjected. These include loss of their natural habitats, and illegal hunting and capture for the pet trade. Inés will work on the implementation of an Artificial Nests Program to collect information about the breeding biology of both species in Pico Cristal National Park in eastern Cuba. The project will include a strong educational component for the communities surrounding the park, including the preparation and dissemination of brochures, manuals, and posters, and the recruitment of local residents to be monitors and technicians that will oversee the protection of these ptsittacids. A national awareness campaign will extend through mass media, including TV, radio, and newspapers, to discourage the illegal capture of these birds.
Establishing a long-term bird banding station in the National Botanical Garden in Havana, Cuba
Daniela Ventura del Puerto, University of Havana
Neotropical migrants have shown steep population declines since the 1970s. These include a diversity of migratory passerines that spend the winter months in the Caribbean region. In addition, the current status of resident bird populations in Cuba is poorly known, and there are no reliable demographic estimates due to very few marking and monitoring methods and their integration into a system that allows large-scale analysis. This makes it difficult to assess impacts on bird populations from loss and damage to habitats, illegal hunting and trade, and many other threats. Daniela proposes to establishing a permanent bird banding station in the National Botanical Garden in Havana. Her objectives are to 1) evaluate the migration phenology of Neotropical bird species that stop over or winter at the gardens, 2) describe the molt strategies and assess the physical condition, survival, and demographic parameters of both migratory and resident birds, 3) describe the reproductive phenology and population dynamics of the resident and endemic birds, and 4) build capacity among undergraduate and graduate students and volunteers in Cuba through their participation in the bird banding and monitoring activities. Daniela recently completed BirdsCaribbean Monitoring Training and Bird Banding Training workshops and is an active member of BirdsCaribbean’s new Bird Banding Network. The banding and monitoring data will provide invaluable quantitative data to evaluate species population trends and fill gaps in our knowledge of natural history and migration and breeding ecology of many resident and migratory birds.
Investigating male and female vocalizations of an understudied endemic Caribbean songbird
Michelle Moyer, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
The Caribbean has eight endemic species of orioles, with half of them considered globally threatened. The Puerto Rican Oriole, is one of eight species of Icterids endemic to the Caribbean, but its behavior, ecology, and conservation status are understudied. In addition, this species and others are threatened by human-caused habitat loss and degradation, introduced invasive species, and climate change, including increasing severe hurricanes and drought. This study intends to compare the singing behavior of males vs females, to understand aspects of its breeding behavior, including pair-bond maintenance, and territoriality in Hacienda La Esperanza, northern Puerto Rico. Individuals from different territories will be identified with the aid of colored and aluminum leg bands, to allow a quantitative analysis of their songs using the software Raven Pro. Knowledge of song rates (both males and females) has the potential to vastly improve population estimates, since point counts are based largely on auditory detection of songs.
First Field Inventory of the Avifauna in Los Colorados ́s Archipelago, northwestern Cuba
Ivalut Ruiz, Managed Resources Protected Area, Cuba
Los Colorados, north of the province of Pinar del Río, is the least explored of the four Cuban archipelagos. Its 28,260 ha were designated as a protected area as recently as September 2021. Ivalut proposes to determine the bird species richness and distribution, and identify the most important nesting, roosting, and feeding areas. This pilot study will help design a long-term monitoring protocol emphasizing the breeding season of species that are particularly vulnerable to climate change, like the Least Tern (Sternula antillarum), whose nesting areas are determined by modifications to sandbars. The data will also allow the development of conservation strategies that can be used by the Protected Area Managed Resources agency and the selection of the best site for the establishment of a field station. The project will engage local residents, particularly by increasing their awareness of the need to protect bird species and their habitats, and how to generate income from nature tourism.
Are you working on or planning a research or conservation project with Caribbean birds? The next call for proposals will be advertised in the fall of 2023. Members of BirdsCaribbean conducting research and conservation work are eligible to apply. Stay informed and don’t miss our announcements by subscribing to our monthly newsletter, joining our listserve and following us on social media (@BirdsCaribbean on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and Linked In).
BirdsCaribbean thanks the scientists and conservationists that provided thoughtful and constructive review of the proposals. We are also indebted to our generous donors for making these awards possible. We are pleased and proud to be able to support a diversity of projects in the Caribbean that advance the development of young Caribbean wildlife professionals and contribute to the conservation of Caribbean birds.
If you would like to help us support future projects, please click here to donate. We also encourage you to consider endowments or other large awards to ensure that our grants programs can continue long into the future.
If you prefer to donate with a check, please make the check out to “BirdsCaribbean” and in the memo section, note the fund you are donating to. If you have questions or to make other arrangements for donating, please feel free to contact Jennifer Wheeler, BirdsCaribbean Financial Officer (jennifer.wheeler@birdscaribbean.org)
Checks can be mailed to: BirdsCaribbean, 841 Worcester St. #130, Natick, MA 01760-2076
Survey team in Cuba searching for Piping Plovers during CWC2023. (Photo by Daniela Ventura)
2023 is the 14th year of our annual Caribbean Waterbird Census (CWC) regional count. Many of our dedicated friends and colleagues got out and about in our wonderful wetlands, all across the Caribbean, to count waterbirds! This year we asked people to make a special effort to find wintering Piping Plovers. Many of you did just that and plenty of other beautiful birds were encountered during the three-week count period. Read on to hear about where Piping Plovers were seen (or not!) and for some highlights from around the islands. Every single survey makes an important contribution and we are so grateful to everyone who took part in our 2023 CWC!
Waterbirds delight both visitors and locals on Bonaire
In Bonaire Susan Davis tells us that the amazing waterbirds of this island did not disappoint. During the CWC 2023, bird enthusiasts who flocked to Bonaire were treated to a breath-taking sight. At the famed “Flamingo Island” visitors got to witness the awe-inspiring breeding colony of American Flamingos from afar. The magnificent birds were in the midst of their breeding season, building mud nests and raising their single chick. Although the breeding area is strictly off-limits, birders had plenty of opportunities to observe other coral-colored flamingos up close and appreciate their beauty.
Flamboyant flamingos displaying during the breeding season on Bonaire. (Photo by Susan Davis)
The magnificent white morph of the Great Blue Heron (photo by Susan Davis)
Birders enjoying their waterbird experience on Bonaire. (Photo by Susan Davis).
Reddish Egrets – Adult being followed by two juveniles. (Photo by Susan Davis)
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Visiting birders were also thrilled to spot the rare Great White Heron, which has become something of a celebrity on the island. Fondly referred to as “Big Bird” by local birders, the white morph of the Great Blue Heron is considered quite rare outside Florida or Cuba. Susan tells us that it has been on Bonaire for a year now!
As if that wasn’t enough, local birders had been keeping a close eye on a nesting site of Reddish Egrets since early September. During the 2023 CWC two chicks now 14-weeks old were present. The chicks had learned to forage on their own, but they still acted like “children” whenever one of their parents returned to the nest. The entire experience was a joy to behold, and birders left Bonaire with memories that will last a lifetime!
A migratory Peregrine Falcon visits Bonaire during CWC. (Photo by Steve Schnoll)
Caren Eckrich, who is a Biologist with STINAPA on Bonaire, carries out CWC counts quarterly through the year. She tells us that during this past year there has been more rain than normal and that the salinas were incredibly full. CWC surveyors noticed the difference this made in the species and abundances of birds in the different salinas. Highlights during the regional count included some rare finds and several birds of prey. Merlins, Ospreys, Crested Caracaras and, best of all, Peregrine Falcons were all seen hanging around the salinas in Washington Slagbaai Park. Caren’s favorite find during her CWC counts, was a shy Sora spotted in Salina Tam where she had never seen this bird before!
Flocking together and flying solo in Jamaica
Several small groups of BirdLife Jamaica members counted waterbirds during the CWC, and others did solo counts at several sites across the island. Jamaica is currently entering a drought period; nevertheless, the birds of Port Royal, at the entrance to Kingston Harbour, were enjoying life with the fisherfolk and begging for scraps. These included Snowy Egrets, Brown Pelicans, Ruddy Turnstones, and Black-bellied Plovers. On the Harbour itself, Royal Terns and a host of Laughing Gulls were seen; one Royal Tern was banded. On the North coast, at the mouth of the White River Fish Sanctuary, there were night herons, egrets and Common Gallinules a-plenty.
A pair of Least Sandpipers in Jamaica. (Photo by Stuart Reeves)
A Brown Pelican has a stretch. (Photo by Emma Lewis)
White Ibis spotted near the mangroves in Jamaica. (photo by Vaughan Turland)
A Sanderling taking a rest. (Photo by Stuart Reeves)
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One intrepid birder, in search of more unusual species, was rewarded with a Grasshopper Sparrow and West Indian Whistling-Ducks in two wetland locations, a Yellow-breasted Crake, Masked Duck, and three species (Green-winged Teal, Ring-necked Duck and Lesser Scaup) were at Montego Bay Sewage Ponds. Sewage ponds are a favorite spot for waterbird spotting!
“Birders just want to have fun!” – the BirdLife Jamaica members during CWC 2023
Picking up a Pelican in Puerto Rico
BirdsCaribbean President Adrianne Tossas shared some of her CWC 2023 experiences on social media. She carried out waterbird surveys at the mouth of the Anasco River.
On their way to survey Aguadilla Bay the survey team picked up a feathered friend on their boat-ride to get to the survey site!
Adrienne Tossas and her-students at Aguadilla-Bay, PR
Mouth of Anasco River, PR (photo by Adrienne-Tossas)
Magnificent Frigatebird soaring over Aguadilla Bay, PR (photo by Adrienne Tossas)
Adrienne Tossas and her-students boat for CWC2023, PR
Adrienne, Luis, Fernando, Victor, Jose at Anasco River, PR
The Anasco River in Puerto Rico provids a home to species like the West Indian Whistling-Duck and it is a source of fresh water on the island. (photo by Adrienne Tossas)
Flock of birds at mouth of Anasco River, PR (photo by Adrienne Tossas)
Adrianne and Brown Pelican on a boat during the 2023 Caribbean Waterbird Census.
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Celebrating wetlands in the Dominican Republic
In northwestern DR Maria Paulino and her team from Grupo Acción Ecológica (GAE) continued their long-term CWC monitoring of the wetlands of Monti Cristi National Park. GAE’s repeated visits to this important wetland complex are vital, not just to count the birds but also to continue to identify threats to these wetlands. As part of their work in this area the group continue to remove illegal snare traps. These are set to capture flamingos, which are then sold to hotels, but are of course a threat to many other wetland birds.
The GAE team count waterbirds a Monte Cristi. (Photo by GAE)
Flamingos and shorebirds share the mud and water at Monte Cristi in the northern Dominican Republic. (Photo by GAE)
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As part of GAE’s outreach work to raise awareness about wetlands and the special birds that use them, Maria and the team celebrated World Wetlands Day (February 2nd) with the children of Jose Garbriel Garcia Primary School in Monte Cristi. The children learned all about wetland birds and were then delighted to venture out to see them for themselves at the Estero Balsa wetlands.
Maria Paulino teaches a group about waterbirds and wetlands. (Photo by GAE)
Children in Monte Cristi enjoying the birds during World Wetlands Day. (Photo by GAE)
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In search of Piping Plovers in Cuba
Members of the Grupo de Ecología de Aves (GEA) from Havana University went in search of Piping Plovers, to contribute to the regional survey of this shorebird during CWC. Daniela Ventura tells us that they headed to Playa del Chivo, a small but important stopover and wintering site for waterbirds just in the outskirts of Havana Bay. This area has been greatly modified by people and is a site with lots of disturbance. But one member of the team reported a Piping Plover just last September, so hopes were high! The team surveyed the area twice for this CWC. Unfortunately, they couldn’t find the “most wanted plover in town,” but they did count more than 20 different bird species and encountered two of the CWC 2023 featured birds: Little Blue Heron and Brown Pelican! Daniela and the team also manage to capture an idyllic picture of some pelicans, chilling with a stunning view of Havana city to their backs.
Pelicans chilling at Playa del Chivo with the Havana city skyline behind. (Photo by Daniela Ventura)
A young Little Blue Heron, one of our CWC 2023 featured birds. (Photo by Daniela Ventura)
Short-billed Dowitchers resting at Playa Las Canas. (Photo by Daniela Ventura).
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Not giving up, GEA members Lourdes Mugica, Martin Acosta, Saul González, Susana Aguilar, and Daniela Ventura, headed to Playa Las Canas, south of Pinar del Rio province. There have been historical sightings of Piping Plover in this location. No luck again, but at least they could marvel at a large flock of Black Skimmers, and a most varied gathering of shorebirds, including Dunlin, Sanderling, Short-billed Dowitchers, Least and Western Sandpiper, Semipalmated and Wilson’s Plover and many others. Daniela says “It was an amazing opportunity to share with ornithologists and colleagues from other Cuban institutions, like Zaimiuri Hernández from Flora y Fauna Group, and for kids to enjoy the joy of birdwatching!”
Black Skimmers spotted during CWC counts in Cuba. (Photo by Daniela Ventura)
Kids enjoying the birds and joining in with CWC surveys in Cuba. (Photo by Daniela Ventura)
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Cuba´s contribution to this CWC were also added to with surveys conducted by two other GEA collaborators: Rodolfo Castro in Los Palacios, Pinar del Río, and two additional counts made by Zaimiuri Hernández at Playa Las Canas.
Making connections on US Virgin Islands
The Department of Planning and Natural Resources, Division of Fish and Wildlife of the US Virgin Islands participated in the 2023 CWC joined by community birders on the islands of St. Croix and St. John. Some highlights of these surveys included sightings of the rare and vibrant Purple Gallinule and immature Little Blue Heron on St. Croix and a beautiful Scarlet Ibis on St. John! These efforts were made for the conservation of native and migratory waterbird species of the USVI and to strengthen the connection with the larger birding community throughout the Caribbean and beyond.
Jahnyah Brooks, a DFW Wildlife Biologist on St. Croix carries out a CWC survey.
Community Birders on St John.
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Searching for waterbirds in St Vincent
CWC counts were also conducted in the gorgeous mountainous country, St Vincent and the Grenadines. A BirdsCaribbean crew was there during the week of January 22nd to deliver a Landbird Monitoring Workshop in partnership with St Vincent Forestry and SCIENCE. They managed to sneak in a little time to visit several wetlands and coastal areas to conduct several counts before the workshop started. And on the final day of the workshop, all the participants enjoyed visiting the same wetland sites and were thrilled to identify and count many waterbirds! The groups spotted Royal Terns, Brown Boobies, Magnificent Frigatebirds, Spotted Sandpipers, Brown Pelicans, Common Gallinules, Little Blue Herons, Yellow-crowned Night-Herons, and much more.
CWC birding crew in St Vincent showing off their Piping Plover Census 2023 shirts.
Identifying waterbirds for CWC2023, St-Vincent. (Photo by Maya Wilson)
Workshop participants enjoy early morning CWC count at Buccament Bay, St. Vincent (photo by Mike Akresh)
CWC birding crew on-bridge at Buccament Bay (photo by Lisa-Sorenson)
St Lucians, Jeanette Victor and Aloysius Charles count waterbirds at Buccament Bay (photo by Aliya Hosein)
The Layou River in St. Vincent is an important freshwater site. (Photo by Lisa Sorenson)
Little Blue Heron eating-a very large fish (photo by Mike Akresh)
Enjoying road-side barbecue corn en route to the next CWC site in St Vincent!
Resting Royal Terns (photo by Mike Akresh)
Plover Patrol! Joanne Gaymes, Lisa Sorenson, Maya Wilson, Ingrid Molina at Buccament Bay for pre-workshop CWC count.
Plover Patrol
In addition to the efforts Daniela described above to find Piping Plovers in Cuba during our CWC2023 Caribbean Piping Plover Survey, several people sent us their plover sightings from around the Caribbean.
In Anguilla during her CWC surveys Jackie Cestero from Nature Explorers Anguilla looked for Piping Plovers at a site where a single bird has visited in previous winters. During her visits Jackie actually spotted two Piping Plovers hanging out with small group of Semipalmated Plovers on the beach. So her lone wintering bird seems to have found a friend! Jackie carried out several survey during the CWC period and 58 species of birds including a Lesser Scaup, White-cheeked Pintails, a Sanderling that had been banding in New Jersey, as well as spotting an elusive Mangrove Cuckoo! You can read more about Jackie’s CWC efforts on her blog post here. And check out her wonderful video is this post.
Green-winged Teal spotted during CWC in Anguilla. (Photo by Jackie Cestero)
Two Piping Plovers on Anguilla, hanging out with a small group of Semipalmated Plovers. (Photo by Jackie Cestero)
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In Puerto Rico a special effort was made to carryout CWC surveys at wetland sites around the island with the hope of finding wintering Piping Plovers. With the help and coordination of Dimaris Colon, survey teams were assembled who covered a total of 23 sites! These consisted of a range of wetland habitats; many of the sites surveyed were in places where Piping Plovers had been recorded in the past. Only a single Piping Plover was seen at one site—Arroyo Lighthouse! This bird was on the beach amongst seaweed. However, the effort was not wasted, the surveyors across the many sites recorded a wide range of wetland birds, including an impressive diversity of shorebird species such as American Oystercatcher, American Avocet, Least Sandpiper, and Snowy Plover.
Shorebirds perched at sunset, Punta Cucharas, Puerto Rico.
Greater Yellowlegs seen during CWC surveys at Punta Cucharas
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Over on the Caribbean coast of Mexico we got an exciting Piping Plover update from the team at Green Jay Bird Conservancy. Juan Flores let us know that during their waterbird surveys they spotted several Piping Plovers. Amongst the group of 38 at Isla Blanca they spotted an old friend – a banded Piping Plover “H54” has spent the last 8 winters in the area, having been banded 2014 in the Great Lakes!
“H54” has been wintering in Isla Blanca for 8 years! (Photo by Green Jay Bird Conservancy)
The survey team in Mexico. (Photo by Green Jay Bird Conservancy)
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In the Bahamas Chris Allieri of the NYC Plover Project took the same journey as the migratory Piping Plovers and traveled south to take part in our 2023 CWC Piping Plover Survey on Andros! Chris was rewarded for his amazing efforts by some thrilling sightings, including counting over 100 Piping Plovers in one little spot in the Joulter Cays! Dozens of Piping Plovers and many other wintering shorebirds were spotted and counted in the other places they surveyed on Andros and nearby cays. You can enjoy the wonderful video Chris made whilst doing his CWC surveys.
The Caribbean Waterbird Census is an ongoing, long-term survey effort and provides us with important data that helps to keep track of the birds using Caribbean wetlands, understand threats, and to raise awareness. We appreciate every single CWC count that gets done during the annual 3-week regional census in winter. Thank you to all those who sent us highlights and all those who led or joined a CWC survey this year. If you missed this year’s regional census don’t worry – you can do a CWC count at any time of year! Counts are valuable at any time of year and add to our knowledge of the resident and migratory birds using our wetlands and beaches. Just be sure to use a CWC protocol in eBird Caribbean to enter your data and do your best to do a complete count, i.e., record all the birds you see and hear.Find out more about the CWC and how to participate here: https://www.birdscaribbean.org/our-work/caribbean-waterbird-census-program/count-waterbirds-in-the-caribbean/ and get practicing for next year’s annual census!
Enjoy some more posts shared by our Partners on Social Media during CWC 2023!
What would entice a small-island girl from Grenada to fly all the way to southern Oregon to live in a cabin in the woods for 3 months? Birds, of course! Seeing birds, hearing birds, and the coolest opportunity of all: getting up close and personal and banding birds. Here is how it all went down:
Last summer, at the end of July, I ventured out to Oregon to join the Klamath Bird Observatory (KBO) for a 3-month long bird banding internship. This internship was a follow-up to BirdsCaribbean’s Bird Banding Workshop in The Bahamas, which I was fortunate to attend.
Zoya checking the tail pattern of a Townsend’s Warbler. (Photo by Claire Stuyck)
This was where I finally—after years of being interested in banding and having witnessed several banding operations—finally began to understand the fundamentals of molt (the process by which birds replace their feathers in a predictable pattern). The Bahamas was great, but needless to say, one does not become a proficient bird bander in 5 days. At the end of that workshop, molt was only just beginning to click for me, and I was eager to learn more and get more hands-on practice with birds.
From Tropical Heat to…Oregon Heat!
So off I went. After a 24-hour-long journey, of which about 12 hours were spent in the air, I arrived in Medford, Oregon, in the midst of a massive heatwave. I definitely did not expect it to be hotter in high-elevation, high-latitude Medford than it was in my tropical home I’d left the day before, but temperatures were indeed over 40°C. The drive to my home for the next few months—a literal cabin in the Upper Klamath woods—was scenic, with sprawling ranches and beautiful forests along the mountain roads. Along the way, I also got glimpses of the Klamath Lake, a small aquatic consolation for this island girl. I settled in quickly, getting to know my housemates and new colleagues over the weekend as we prepared for banding in the coming week.
Views of the Upper Klamath Lake.
Banding, Day One: A Quiet Start
August 2nd was my very first day of banding, and we were off to a busy start. In some ways, I was thrown into the deep end—immediately incorporated into the crew and put to work as we set up nets and ran the station each morning. However, in other ways, it was a slow burn before I started to get the hands-on practice I craved. My first few weeks consisted of mostly scribing as others banded, observing the operation and flow of the station carefully, and assisting with tasks like set-up and takedown. I flipped a lot of pages looking for reference material in Pyle, the “Bird Bander’s Bible”, and was always ready to shine the spotlight when needed to skull a bird (“skulling” is the process of checking how well-grown a bird’s skull is to figure out its age).
Ready for the banding day. Table with all the tools neatly arranged. (Photo by Claire Stuyck)
Hands on banding! Holding is Believing…
On August 17th, I banded my first bird at KBO, a Nashville Warbler, and from then, the pace certainly picked up. By October 14th, our last official day of banding, I had been privileged to handle just under 280 birds, whether I extracted them from the net or banded them myself. These 280 birds were of 45 different species, many of which I had never even seen before going to Oregon. I had previously visited the west coast when I briefly lived in Vancouver, B.C., during the pandemic (summer 2020) and did some socially-distanced birding where I saw the usual suspects like Bushtits, Steller’s Jays, and House Finches.
But still, observing the strange behavior of a Northern Flicker on a lawn is very different from holding one in the hand and noticing amazing details like their heart-shaped belly pattern. Nor does seeing a majestic Cooper’s Hawk soar overhead compare to holding it like an ice-cream cone and launching it (safely) into the air after banding it. I feel truly honored to have been so “up close and personal” with so many different birds – and to learn something new and interesting about each of them during my time there.
A bit of love from a Red-shafted Flicker.
The many skills I learned
Before going to KBO, I had handled and processed a few dozen birds (< 50 total), of tropical species like the Bananaquit, Lesser Antillean Bullfinch, Spectacled Thrush, and Caribbean Dove. These opportunities were primarily in Grenada with the Koper Lab of the University of Manitoba, and more recently, in the Bahamas at the March 2022 workshop. However, I had applied bands to very few of those birds (less than 10) and was only vaguely familiar with proper application technique and the process of aging and sexing.
Throughout my 3-month internship, I learned so much about mist net setup, extraction, proper handling technique and modifications for various sizes of birds, band sizing and application, assessment of molt limits, aging and sexing of birds in the hand, and data management. Since I plan to establish my own banding station in Grenada, these skills are invaluable for me to have as primary bander. KBO also filled the knowledge gaps I had about aging birds, particularly molt, molt limits, and the use of WRP—an updated system of terminology for aging birds based on cycles. The most valuable skill I learned, in my opinion, is skulling, which will be incredibly useful in aging my resident birds in Grenada that potentially have year-round breeding seasons. I am very excited to put that skill into practice at home.
Checking crown patch of a Wilson’s Warbler. (Photo by Claire Stuyck)
A wooden canoe, and nerdy indoor games
The internship was not all work, thankfully. My crew mates and I had a few opportunities for fun, including making the most of our grocery runs to the nearest town 30 minutes away by thrifting to our hearts’ content—my field wardrobe has nearly doubled, and everything was secondhand! We were granted the use of a nearby cabin on the Klamath Lake, affectionately called “Boathouse,” where we could go kayaking and canoeing through the marsh. Regrettably we only went once before the weather got too cold for unnecessary outdoor adventures, but my first time in a real-life wooden canoe was magical, even though I failed in my quest to see beavers. More often, we huddled up at home in the cabin and played games; one of my crew mates brought quite the collection with him, and nearly every week we had a new board or card game to try out.
Zoya out canoeing on the lake. (Photo by Yuly Caicedo Ortiz)
“Wingspan” was an instant favorite, to no one’s surprise, and we adapted the game to double as study time. Each time we drew a bird card of a species that we caught at KBO, we went around the table giving “fun facts” about the species including its band size, molt strategy, and aging/sexing criteria (nerdy, I know!). All of these moments of downtime went a long way in helping the crew to bond and breaking up the monotony of fieldwork with a bit of fun.
An International Flavor, and Some Language Learning
Our crew was also quite diverse. The three Americans—from Illinois, Texas, and South Carolina—were joined by Colombian, Mexican, British, and Grenadian interns, making us one, big, happy international family. For me, the coolest part was hearing all about everyone’s banding adventures in their home countries and states, and all the other places they had worked, from Alaska to Ontario to New York to Costa Rica. It was amazing to know that, even with these varied backgrounds, we had all come to KBO with the common purpose of learning more about birds and banding, and hopefully, getting certified to do what we love.
I grew especially close to the two Latin American interns, who taught me not only about molt in tropical birds—which differs in important and fascinating ways from temperate, migratory birds—but also, so much Spanish. We spoke often as we tried to learn each other’s languages, and while I would not claim to be fluent in Spanish (yet), I do definitely know a lot more about “la muda y la vida ahora.”
Smoke, Bears, Rattlesnakes, Oh My!
Of course, the internship was not without its challenges. Southern Oregon is fire country, and we often had to adjust our plans around fires in the area, and sometimes, work through some degree of smoke. One of the sites is located atop a mountain, and the mile-long hike to get there did not always agree with my arthritic knees. We had to be mindful of bears everywhere—and the crew did have a few close encounters—and keep an eye out for rattlesnakes at one site. I took more than one fall in the field and I have the scars to show for it.
Banding continues, even in mild smoke.
The hours were long, mornings were often cold (sometimes with 0°C starts), and the work was exhausting at times, but the good always outweighed the bad. Not only did we get to work with birds and collect important data for their conservation, but we also got to share that with the public. We had several outreach opportunities, most of which were at the Crater Lake National Park in partnership with the National Park Service, and people of all ages were excited to see us in action and especially excited to help release a bird. I remember my own first time releasing a bird in 2017 with the Koper Lab, and that obviously sparked an interest in me that has brought me here all these years later..
Zoya helping a visitor release a bird. (Photo by Claire Stuyck)
Plus-Delta-Plus: Assessing Our Day
One KBO tradition that I grew quite fond of was our daily check-in of Plus-Delta-Plus (or High-Low-High as our British crewmate sometimes called it). At the end of each banding day, after summarizing our effort and captures, each of us had to identify two things that went well (our pluses); and one thing that maybe did not go so well or an area for improvement(our delta).
Pluses often included progressing in or mastering a certain technique (skulling, anyone?), noteworthy team dynamics and communication, good banding flow and keeping up with the pace of the day. Extra-cool captures of birds, such as the one day we caught and banded a Pileated Woodpecker, were definitely Pluses! Deltas were equally varied, from breakdowns in communication or teamwork to physical stresses or injuries. Deltas often included areas for improvement, such as realizing that we didn’t understand an aspect of molt quite as well as we thought we did. Having a space to reflect on the day, and sandwiching the “bad” with the “good”, was a great way to not only check in with ourselves but also with our teammates. This is definitely a ritual that I would like to incorporate into my own banding station going forward.
Testing, Testing…Certification!
I gained so much knowledge over my 3 months in Oregon, but knowledge is often intangible. One of the few tangible and recognized measures of banding competency (in this Hemisphere) is a certification from the North American Banding Council (NABC). At the end of October, our entire crew got certified as either Banders or Trainers! In full transparency, I did not expect to be able to pass the certification when I started my internship in July, as the big end-of-season evaluation was daunting. I thought I would be at a disadvantage since I was the least familiar with the birds in the area.
The NABC certification process typically includes a written exam, specimen exam, and an intense field session, where you are observed banding-in-action. This system has worked for years, but is prone to inducing nerves and failure, as a lot of pressure rests on just one day in the field. Thankfully, KBO recently implemented a programmatic certification process, which changes the traditional model of testing everything at the end to testing bits and pieces as you go. We used the “Bander’s merit badge checklist” to evaluate important knowledge and skills throughout the fall. Individual skills—like ability to measure a wing formula or correct application of a band—were checked off by demonstrating competence in the field.
These practical tests were spaced over several weeks, and allowed us time to improve and incorporate feedback if we did not succeed on the first try. We still had to complete the written exam, but having continuous evaluation rather than one field test really took the pressure off. Our performance was then independently reviewed by Trainers at the Humboldt Bay Bird Observatory during our visit, and voila, everyone passed! I am very proud to be one of the first NABC-certified Banders from Grenada, and also one of the first under this BirdsCaribbean Landbird Monitoring Program – which is sure to build a lot of capacity throughout the region.
Zoya after receiving her bird banding certification at HBBO. (Photo by Axel Rutter)
A Weekend in Humboldt Bay
The weekend at Humboldt Bay was the perfect end to the season. It is the banding station of field ornithology legend Dr. CJ Ralph, and our visit coincided with his famed end-of-year party. We arrived on Thursday 20th October after a five-hour drive from southern Oregon to northern California. We spent the day on Friday banding at their station, followed by a bonfire barbeque. The next day there was a mini-conference, where we all presented on various topics related to banding; the keynote was a fascinating presentation on the results of a long-term banding dataset in Brazil. We ended the day with an award ceremony of sorts, and the much-anticipated end-of-year party where we mingled with banders from both observatories.
Zoya and her crew mates at the end of year party. (Photo by Victoria Langham)
On Sunday, we drove back to the Upper Klamath, but not before stopping to sightsee along the way. Several stops at the redwood forests and the Pacific Ocean later, we got back home to several inches of snow on the ground. Our last week at the cabin was cozy; we kept the fire roaring out of necessity, but were also incredibly busy as we scrambled to pack up our things, pack up the cabin, complete data entry, and overall wrap up the banding season.
Goodbyes…And Appreciation
We began saying goodbye to various crew members, starting in California and ending at the airport where I bid adios to my Colombian friend and started the equally long journey home. All in all, my time at KBO was an incredible learning experience where I learned about myself as much as I did about banding; made lasting bonds with people I may have never encountered otherwise; and gained amazing insight into the world of banding and bird conservation.
KBO, a human logo. (Photo by Claire Stuyck)
KBO was so welcoming, both the place and the people, and I look forward to going back someday; as they say, we are all KBO “famigos” now. Our trainer, Claire, was exactly the tough but compassionate teacher I needed. She has really helped me to be the best bander I can be. I’m especially excited to be home and to start applying everything I’ve learned to the study and conservation of my local birds. I have BirdsCaribbean to thank for this opportunity. Words can hardly express how grateful I am for the chance to intern at KBO last year, and I am so excited to see what comes next with this evolving Caribbean Bird Banding Network. Thank you, BirdsCaribbean and KBO!
Zoya is a conservation biologist with varied passions, including birds, the beach, and writing/editing. She recently completed her Master’s in natural resource management and has a love for coastal ecosystems, especially mangroves. Zoya is excited to use her bird banding experiences at KBO and elsewhere in the Caribbean to learn more about the understudied resident and endemic species in her home country, Grenada.
We are very proud of Zoya for successfully passing the rigorous NABC (North American Banding Council) exam and becoming a certified Bander. She is just one of three persons in the Caribbean who are now certified. All three received certification in 2022, as part of our new Landbird Monitoring Program which aims to build capacity for bird monitoring, banding, and MOTUS in the Caribbean. We thank the US Fish and Wildlife Service, Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Act Fund for support for this project.
The Journal of Caribbean Ornithology publishes the peer-reviewed science on Caribbean birds and their environment that is so important to inform conservation work. In this annual blog feature, JCO’s staff is proud to show off the amazing research from scientific teams around the Caribbean. Let your curiosity lure you into exploring:
Warblers eat lizards and fish? What is the preferred snail diet of the Grenada Hook-billed Kite? How can nesting success of terns be improved? There was once a Giant Barn Owl roaming Guadeloupe?
Look back and discover how James Bond, a pioneer of Caribbean ornithology, relied on the expertise of little-known Caribbean experts. Or look forward and reflect on the future prospects for bird conservation in our age of unprecedented human impact on Caribbean nature.
As JCO’s Managing Editor, I am immensely grateful for a dedicated team of editors, reviewers, copyeditors, proofreaders, and production specialists that have worked together so well this past year to produce high-quality publications. And of course, our fabulous authors that do the work on the ground to help us better understand the biodiverse Caribbean and the challenges it faces. With the non-profit BirdsCaribbean as our publisher, JCO emphasizes access: trilingual content, support for early-career researchers, and open access–from the latest article to the very first volume from 1988.
While our 100% open-access publication policy is the most prominent and public-facing feature of our work at the journal, there has been a lot going on “behind the scenes” as well.
In 2022, JCO welcomed Caroline Pott, our new Birds of the World (BOW) Coordinator, and huge thanks to our outgoing first BOW coordinator, Maya Wilson! Caroline works with authors and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology to produce BOW accounts of Caribbean bird species. Zoya Buckmire took the reins as the new JCO Lead Copy Editor, and helped to recruit Laura Baboolal and Kathryn Peiman to the copyediting team. Dr. Fred Schaffner will join us for editorial help with English manuscripts from authors for which English is not their first language. Joining our Associate Editor board were Dr. Virginia Sanz D’Angelo, Caracas, Venezuela, Dr. Jaime Collazo, North Carolina, and Dr. Chris Rimmer, Norwich, Vermont. We are looking forward to hearing from you, our readers and supporters, and working with the JCO team in 2023!
With Volume 35, JCO introduced the assignment of a unique Digital Object Identifier (DOI) to each article, making it easier fo the scientific community to locate an author’s work in the published literature.
Map depicting research locations of the studies published in Volume 35.
The Journal of Caribbean Ornithology relies on donations to keep all of our publications free and open-access. Support our non-profit mission and give a voice to Caribbean ornithologists and their work by becoming a supporter of JCO. Consider being a sustainer with monthly contributions of $5 or more!
The Cueva Martín Infierno protected area in Cuba is well-known for its cave and stalagmite formations, but what about its bird community? Located in the Guamuhaya Mountains, one of Cuba’s biodiversity hotspots, this protected area is sure to support a thriving bird community, but this aspect is previously undocumented. In this paper, Montes and Sánchez-Llull present the first comprehensive record of birds in Cueva Martín Infierno, including several endemics and species of conservation concern.
Monica Gala, Véronique Laroulandie, and Arnaud Lenoble
What has two talons, feeds on large rodents, and used to roam the Caribbean night sky? Giant owls! Giant barn owls (Tytonidae) once inhabited the Caribbean in precolonial times, as evidenced by recent palaeontological research. In this paper, Gala et al. describe a bone fragment of an unspecified giant barn owl found on Guadeloupe, the second such record for the Lesser Antilles.
Plastic waste is an increasing source of pollution worldwide, especially in marine environments. Seabirds are particularly vulnerable to marine litter, as they can ingest, become entangled in, or incorporate this waste into their colonies and nests. In this research note, Coffey reports on two Brown Noddy (Anous stolidus) interactions with marine litter in the Grenadines, one instance of nest incorporation and another of entanglement and mortality.
Fernando Simal, Adriana Vallarino, and Elisabeth Albers
The hypersaline lagoons of northern Bonaire are home to several populations of seabirds, making it a regionally significant nesting site in the southern Caribbean. Among the species that breed there are the Eastern Least Tern (Sternula antillarum antillarum), Common Tern (Sterna hirundo), Royal Tern (Thalasseus maximus), and Cayenne Tern (Thalasseus sandvicensis eurygnathus). In this paper, Simal et al. quantify breeding success for the terns at these sites in Bonaire, and provide timely recommendations for increasing tern populations, such as island creation and predator exclusion.
Andrew Fairbairn, Ian Thornhill, Thomas Edward Martin, Robin Hayward, Rebecca Ive, Josh Hammond, Sacha Newman, Priya Pollard, and Charlotte Anne Palmer
How are hurricanes affecting Caribbean landbirds? Like other native species in the region, birds likely evolved under the threat of hurricanes, but as climate change increases the frequency and intensity of storms, this question becomes increasingly important. In the aftermath of Hurricane Maria in 2017, Fairbairn et al. sought to compare the bird community on Dominica to that pre-hurricane. In this paper, they present those results, including the disproportionate effects on some functional groups that may predict which species fare better long-term.
Arnaud Lenoble, Laurent Charles, and Nathalie Serrand
It’s a well-known fact that Hook-billed Kites eat snails- their wonderfully adapted bills tell us that much. But, will any old snail do, or do these high-flying molluscivores have a preference? In this paper, Lenoble et al. present their observations on the diet of the Grenada Hook-billed Kite (Chondrohierax uncinatus mirus), with prey availability and distribution having the potential to inform conservation planning for this endemic subspecies.
Ezra Angella Campbell, Jody Daniel, Andrea Easter-Pilcher, and Nicola Koper
How is the Antillean Broad-winged Hawk (Buteo platypterus antillarum) faring habitat loss and degradation across its small-island ranges? Campbell et al. aim to investigate the status and distribution of this species in Grenada, comparing its distribution by habitat, elevation, and season. In this paper, they present their results as well as recommendations for the conservation of this species that are applicable both to Grenada and across its Caribbean range.
Michael E. Akresh, Steven Lamonde, Lillian Stokes, Cody M. Kent, Frank Kahoun, and Janet M. Clarke Storr
Wood warbler (Parulidae) diets are varied and interesting, from arthropods to fruits and sometimes even nectar. Occasionally, wood warblers may also consume vertebrate species, primarily Anolis lizards, but these instances are not well documented and have not previously been compiled. In this paper, Akresh et al. present a comprehensive literature review on wood warbler vertebrate consumption throughout the Caribbean and USA, and also describe three new observations from The Bahamas, Jamaica, and Florida.
Jeffrey V. Wells, Elly Albers, Michiel Oversteegen, Sven Oversteegen, Henriette de Vries, and Rob Wellens
The Red-billed Tropicbird (Phaethon aethereus) is a stunningly charismatic seabird without many documented or published records in the southern Caribbean until recently. To shed light on this species’ distribution and trends over the decades, Wells et al. sought to compile records from near the islands of Aruba, Curaçao, and Bonaire. This review accompanies an erratum note in this issue, and details all previous sightings of the species, with records as far back as 1939.
James Bond, renowned ornithologist of the 20th century and the namesake of 007, contributed dozens of publications to the field of Caribbean ornithology. Throughout his decades of work, he established a network of scientists and laypeople alike, without whom his work would not have been possible. In this Perspectives and Opinions piece, Aubrecht compiles the biographies of Bond’s most important contributors, highlighting the importance of collaboration and networking in advancing scientific study across the region.
The Caribbean Biodiversity Hotspot is well-known for its avian diversity, with over 700 species! Of which more than 180 are endemic. Unfortunately, the wellbeing of these avian populations is often constrained by the inherent challenges of small island developing states, increasing effects of climate change, and colonial histories. In this piece, Nelson and Devenish-Nelson explore these challenges, with concrete examples of endemic birds across the region, and describe a possible way forward for regional conservation of our species as we navigate the Anthropocene.
The annual compilation of the most important articles that appeared elsewhere, annotated by Steve Latta.
Article by
Zoya Buckmire – Lead Copy Editor for the Journal of Caribbean Ornithology
Stefan Gleissberg – Managing and Production Editor for the Journal of Caribbean Ornithology
TheJournal of Caribbean Ornithology relies on donations to keep all of our publications free and open-access. Support our non-profit mission and give a voice to Caribbean ornithologists and their work by becoming a supporter of JCO.
Workshop Group photo (with: Eliézer Nieves-Rodriguez, Ancilleno Davis, Gisselle Deane, Shanna Challenger, Esteban Márquez, Maya Wilson, Anne Sutton, Alcides Morales, Juan Carlos Fernández Ordóñez, Johnella Bradshaw, Adrianne Tossas, Daniela Ventura, Omar Monzón, Holly Garrod)
In 2022 BirdsCaribbean ran its first Caribbean Bird Banding workshop in the Bahamas. Get a first-hand account of the highlights of this workshop from Cuban participant Daniela Ventura. Want to know what a ‘Molt Nerd’ is? Read on to find out!
No, surely not! Not in my wildest dreams would I have imagined that in 2022 I was going to have the good fortune to visit not one, but two Caribbean other islands. As if that wasn’t unbelievable enough, the trips were scheduled with less than a month apart. But that’s exactly how things went: from learning to monitor landbirds using PROALAS point counts in the rainforest of the Dominican Republic’s misty mountains, I moved to the sunny beaches of Nassau in The Bahamas.
No need to tell you that birds were again the main driver and motivation. This time, I would receive training on banding techniques during the first Caribbean Bird Banding Workshop organized by BirdsCaribbean. The Retreat Garden of the Bahamas National Trust was our training oasis from 8 to 12 March.
Jewelry for birds?
Putting bracelets on birds? Have ornithologists gone mad? No, ornithologists are not crazy; and we do this for very specific and important reasons. It’s not about bird fashion either, though for me they look pretty fashionable.
Scientific banding has been a powerful tool for assessing bird populations for centuries. Nonetheless, I must admit that the first time I heard about banding I also was a bit lost. That happened at the 2017 BirdsCaribbean conference in Cuba. I was a sophomore student of Biology during the first and largest scientific event so far in my career. My mind was swirling! I wanted to absorb everything.
Claire explains how to account for feather wear in an American Redstart
One day I entered the conference room and met Alina Pérez. She was giving a talk about her project monitoring migration in the Guanahacabibes Peninsula. I was amazed that such fabulous research was done in Cuba. At that time, I only knew they captured birds with mist nets, put tiny metal rings on their legs and let them go unharmed afterwards. I could not think of anything but the privilege it must be to hold a bird in your hand – and that I wanted to have that experience. After the conference I looked for Alina, introduced myself as an eager and inexperienced bird enthusiast, and told her I would love to volunteer with her project and learn from her. Alina gave me the warmest of her smiles and said “yes” right away.
I cannot thank Alina enough for the mentorship I received. Not only did she give me the opportunity to start learning the skills required to band birds safely and for scientific purposes, but she taught me so much more. During the three seasons I have spent volunteering on her project I still haven’t got used to the wonder of holding a bird in my hands. Most importantly, though, I discovered my obsession. Soon, I knew that I wanted to become a trained bander and to design research that incorporated this technique.
And so it was that, five years after the conference that changed my life, I was in a plane heading to Nassau, with my banding mentor sitting by my side, ready to walk the next steps of my path to become a certified bander. As I expected, the reality would surpass my expectations by far.
Breaking the bias
Trainer Claire Stuyck demonstrates best practices for mist net setup. In the background, trainer Holly Garrod explains the procedure.
The first day of the workshop coincided with the celebrations of International Women’s Day. We had plenty of reasons to be joyful. This year’s theme, Break the Bias, highlighted the importance of addressing how our own social and cultural biases influence gender inequalities. The conservation industry in particular has a long history of being mainly male-driven. BirdsCaribbean is proudly breaking the bias as an organization led and carried by strong, committed, enthusiastic, and proficient women in science.
The main workshop organizers and trainers were women: Maya Wilson, Holly Garrod, and Claire Stuyck. Besides, among the participants we had the pleasure of having Anne Haynes-Sutton, one of the most influential conservationists in the Caribbean for her work with seabirds, and one of the pioneers of bird banding in the region. Nearly half of the attendees were also female, many of them young but already with important leadership positions and success stories in conservation to share. Alina Pérez, Adrianne Tossas, Shana Challenger, Zoya Buckmire, Johnella Bradshaw, and Giselle Deane were there to prove that women’s contribution to science and conservation should not be neglected and overlooked anymore.
Eating apples, admiring doves, and tying knots on Day One
Trainer John Alexander shows participants some knots for setting up mists nets
Sessions were held at The Retreat Garden, a former private botanical garden and currently a National Park managed by The Bahamas National Trust. The park’s staff are world-class event organizers. They took good care of us by having a steady supply of coffee and snacks. This helped us to keep focus during the intense classroom and field sessions. If it wasn’t for the apples, I wouldn’t have made it! I must acknowledge that I have a serious addiction to apples and I was nicknamed the “Apple Terror” by my Puerto Rican friends. They had no choice but to head first thing in the morning to the snacks table, to grab and put aside an apple if they wanted to have a chance of eating one – before I went to the table and magically made them disappear. Sorry, pals!
The first lesson hadn’t started yet and I already had a lifer to add to my list. A pair of Caribbean Doves, walking unaware of our presence around the classroom facilities made such a pleasant view. Aside from the Cuban endemics, they are the most beautiful doves I have ever seen.
At the banding table, Daniela Ventura studies banding data sheets with Juan Carlos Fernández Ordóñez and Alcides Morales-Pérez. In the background, Holly holds a bird bag carrying the next-to-be-processed bird.
I was lucky to get good views of other notable Bahamian birds, like the stunning male Bahama Woodstar, the Bahama Mockingbird, and of course the ubiquitous White-crowned Pigeon. Definitely, the doves were the dearest to my heart.
Activities began when the trainers, Claire Stuyck and John Alexander from Klamath Bird Observatory, Steve Albert from the Institute for Bird Populations (IBP), and Holly Garrod from BirdsCaribbean, greeted and welcomed us to the five-day intense banding schedule. They had barely finished introductions when we were already getting hands-on learning about setting up mist nets, security guidelines, and tying knots. Making knots can be fun as well as stressful, at least for a person like me who doesn’t have a good spatial memory. But it speaks highly of our instructors’ teaching skills that I soon forgot my insecurities and became immersed in tying knots – and even had a lot of fun!
Getting to know (and love) the Birder’s Bible
Lessons comprised a blend of field practice in the mornings and theory talks in the afternoon. These sessions covered the nitty-gritty of setting up an organized and well-planned banding table, with all the tools and the equipment properly set up to meet our needs. There were talks about the Bander’s Code of Ethics; bird and human safety at banding operations; the use of molt strategies to identify ages; education and public outreach; the use of banding for scientific research; and other related topics.
We split our time between banding demonstrations given by the experts Claire and Holly and conducting regular net runs. We had the luck of getting a closer look at resident birds like the Red-legged Thrush, La Sagra’s Flycatcher, Bananaquit, Thick-billed Vireo, Caribbean Doves, and Common Ground Doves, but also common winter migrants like Cape May Warblers, Black-and-White Warblers, and the American Redstart. Although the birds we captured were never enough to please us, everyone had their chance to learn how to extract birds safely out of the nets, and even handle and band them.
Juan Carlos Fernández Ordóñez in a presentation aboout the Bander´s Bible: Pyle´s Identification Guide to North American Birds
John Alexander explain some molt terminology to the workshop participants gathered at the retreat facilities.
During the low-activity periods, time was well spent learning how to use the Bander’s Bible: The Identification Guide to North American Birds, known simply as “the Pyle”. Diving through the Pyle can be a hard pill to swallow for every amateur bander, but once you realize you can’t have a stronger ally at your banding operations, it becomes as dear to you as an old friend. Helping to make that connection even stronger was the fact that we knew the actual Pyle (yes, Pyle – the “Bander’s God”) knew about us, through his colleague from the Institute for Bird Populations (IBP), Steve Albert. We could feel his presence while we struggled to study molt patterns.
The molt obsession
Now – talking about molt. You can’t be a skilled bander without being a molt nerd. No doubt about that. In the beginning, we thought Holly was nuts when she started talking in a weird fashion about three-letter codes. Wolfe-Ryder-Pyle (WPR) codes for aging birds are another jaw-dropper for anyone new to the secrets of bird identification.
At the banding table, more molt talk by Juan Carlos Fernández Ordóñez. Listening attentively: Alina Pérez, Esteban Márquez, Carlos Peña, Daniela Ventura, Alcides Morales, Jose Ramón Fuentes.
But of course, Holly is far from being nuts. She infused us with so much excitement while talking about molt strategies, that we all got enthusiastic about it. Pretty soon, our days became molt-centered – not only during the sessions, but at dinners, night gatherings at the hotel terrace, and even during the short but necessary break at the Orange Hill Beach. Everyone was truly proud at the end to be called a molt nerd.
I know some of you may already be asking, what’s all this for? Are we actually helping birds by showing off our knowledge of fancy letters and metal and colored rings? In fact, we are helping both birds and humans alike. You probably already know that birds are powerful sentinels of change. Studying how their populations respond to and cope with changes to their habitats, and other threats such as climate change, are useful tools for planning conservation strategies. The Caribbean region is home to more than 700 species, 176 are unique to these islands. The region is also one of those places on Earth that are suffering from rapid transformation by humans.
Banding connects us with nature
But we have another problem, and it is that plenty of our birds’ natural history is still unknown, or at least inadequately studied. Banding can be a powerful tool to begin filling those gaps. Birds in the hand provide us with loads of data about population estimates and trends, survival rates, movement routes and timing, disease prevalence, overall health and condition, molt strategies, physiology, breeding phenology, and much more basic data for ornithological studies. Besides, holding banding demonstrations for the public offers a gateway that helps humans connect with nature, an invaluable resource to educate people about wildlife and conservation. I believe that holding a bird in the hand and then watching it fly away can have a profound effect on someone’s life. And I say this from my personal experience! Banding not only helped me discover my passions, but connected me with nature and conservation like nothing else had before.
Red-legged Thrush is examined before being banded. (Photo by Holly Garrod)
The whole aim of the workshop was to create a network of banders across the Caribbean that could employ a series of standardized protocols to begin answering questions still unaddressed about our birds’ basic ecology. The Caribbean is a crucial stopover and wintering area for many declining North American songbirds. For this reason, the workshop also included talks about the collaboration with the MoSI (Spanish for monitoring winter survival) program from IBP and the installation of MOTUS towers. By combining traditional banding and modern tracking technologies we could boost our understanding of the movements of Neotropical birds throughout the Caribbean region and beyond.
But the main step, besides establishing these connections, is training and capacity-building. We need to end the traditional model of “parachute science” and train our next Caribbean generation of banders and trainers. I am so happy that I can brag about being a friend of the brand-new certified North American Banding Council (NABC) trainer: Juan Carlos (JC) Fernández Ordóñez (yes, the humorous Latin team “influencer”). You can tell when JC is talking about bird stuff because it is the only time you will see him with a serious look on his face. And that does not necessarily mean he is not making jokes. JC has been banding for 25 years. He is knowledgeable about molt strategies and bird ID, not only of Neotropical but also European, African, and Asian species. Most importantly, he enjoys teaching and sharing all he knows with everybody. I am sure that with JC’s example and Holly’s magnetism, most of the participants left with the ingrained desire to continue mastering our banding skills and obtain NABC certification in the near future. That will help lift the banding movement in the Caribbean.
Real Bahamian hospitality!
Welcome to The Bahamas street mural
“Welcome to The Bahamas” are not only the letters of a beautiful mural painted on Bay Street, but the greeting me and my friends received everywhere we went: at the hotel, restaurants, and from people driving a car late at night through the Downtown area. If nothing else, I will never forget from this trip the beautiful aquamarine, gold, and black Bahamian flags waving from almost every building, and the kind hospitality of the people. The Bahamians I met during that week were courteous, smiling, spicy-food lovers, and proud of their history and traditions. Our Bahamas National Trust colleague and fellow trainee, Giselle Dean’s organizational skills made the workshop run smoothly, and she would humbly say it was nothing. Bahamian Scott Johnson not only was kind enough to give us a ride every day from the hotel to The Retreat in his car, but entertained and amazed us with his tremendous knowledge of Bahamian natural history and culture. Chris Johnson was quiet much of the time, but surprised us by generously giving each of us a beautiful calendar with his bird photos! Many of the species are shared by Cuba and the Bahamas, so it is nice to flip through the months of the year and recollect the memories from the trip. Ancilleno Davis was a model host, giving us a tour around Downtown Nassau during the last day of our stay, and providing us with a taste of Bahamian arts, architecture, and history.
The “Plus/Delta” of it all
Participants gather at the banding table, while Holly Garrod explains how to take the data (in the photo, right to left Zoya Buckmire, Alina Perez, Alcides Morales, Claire Stuyck, Juan Carlos Órdoñez, Esteban Márquez, Adrianne Tossas, Holly Garrod, Carlos Peña, Ann Sutton, Daniela Ventura)
The “Plus/Delta” was a daily exercise for us at the end of the sessions. We highlighted the most significant aspect of the day for each of us and reflected on the areas where we needed more study or practice. It’s really difficult for me to decide on the overall Plus/Delta of my Bahamian experience. I have many of them. My Plus was the chance to bond with old and new friends; strengthen collaboration networks that will aid in my future professional development; improve my banding and molt ID skills; and widen my understanding and appreciation for other cultures.
And the Deltas? I also have plenty: I am determined to continue growing my expertise in all subjects regarding banding, bird ID, molt strategies, and overall bird ecology. A key step for achieving that goal is to become a certified NABC trainer. With this qualification, I do not want to only band and contribute to the understanding of Cuban resident species. I would also like to share and hopefully instill enthusiasm for these studies in the new generations of Cuban ornithologists. In the long run they will accomplish the visions we dreamed of on the beaches of the Bahamas. My biggest Delta is the hope that soon a large and powerful network of Caribbean banders will be the authors of a new round of success stories in regional bird conservation.
BirdsCaribbean Acknowledgments
This workshop would not have been possible without our dedicated trainers, enthusiastic participants, and funders, including the US Fish and Wildlife Service and US Forest Service and BirdsCaribbean generous donors and members.
We are tracking where Piping Plovers have been seen during CWC 2023. Send us your sightings as you make them and we will update the map. This means you can track our progress in finding Piping Plovers live during the survey. You can check back to this post to see map updates or follow them on our Caribbean Piping Plover Survey page.
Zoom in or out to view your region or the whole Caribbean. Click the icon in the top right corner to see a larger map. You can share your sightings, including a grid reference and your count of Piping Plovers at that location (if more than one was seen) with waterbird.manager@birdscaribbean.org or on the BirdsCaribbean listserv.
NOTE: If you are not within the Caribbean but have seen a Piping Plover during the CWC survey period you can still share your sightings and we will add them to the map! And we will continue to add all sightings of Piping Plovers in 2023 to this map, so please continue your CWC counts and send us your eBird Caribbean checklists. Remember that although we have one annual 3-week regional count period (14 Jan-3 Feb), we encourage everyone to carry out CWC counts year-round, especially during fall and spring migration. We need much more information on all the habitats that shorebirds and waterbirds use throughout the year. Thanks!!!
Why Join the Survey?
This small, round shorebird is listed as “Near Threatened” by the IUCN with an estimated global breeding population of just 8,400 birds. They breed in restricted areas of North America but migrate south in fall with some birds spending their winter in the Caribbean. It’s vital that we continue to learn more about the numbers and distribution of this rare shorebird in our region.
We already know about some of the main islands and areas where Piping Plovers spend the winter in the Caribbean, including the Bahamas, Cuba, and Turks and Caicos Islands. We also know they have been spotted in smaller numbers in other countries, including Puerto Rico and its offshore islands and cays, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, the US and British Virgin Islands, St Kitts, Guadeloupe, Anguilla, and Bonaire (there are just one or two records for some of these countries). But in the ‘right’ habitat there are likely more Piping Plovers to be found, both in ‘new’ locations on islands where they have been seen before and perhaps some islands where they haven’t been seen yet. We need more people out there looking for them!
Share Your Survey Experience
As well as sharing your Piping Plover locations with us we’d love for you to send us any photos or videos from your CWC surveys! These can be of the birds you see or the amazing places you visit during your surveys or of you and your survey buddies taking part in CWC! You can share your photos and videos with us on social media, tag us @birdscaribbean in your posts and use #CWC2023 or share with waterbird.manager@birdscaribbean.org or on the BirdsCaribbean listserv.
We look forward to finding out where you spot Piping Plovers during CWC2023!
Resources to Help With Surveys
ID Resources
Piping Plovers are small, round shorebirds with ‘stubby’ black bills and orange legs. Their upper parts are pale brown, the colour of dry sand, and they are white below. We have made a handy ID guide to help you pick out Piping Plovers from some of the other small plovers that winter in the Caribbean.
They also have a unique two-note high to low pee-too call that you can listen out for.
Piping Plovers can be quite vocal, even during the winter. They often give a mellow two-part whistle, that drops in pitch, pee-too. Sometimes they only give the first part of this call as single, repeated with several seconds between each call: pee … pee … pee.
Don’t forget to scan the legs of any Piping Plovers you see for colour bands. Finding and reporting these bands can help us learn more about where different breeding populations spend the winter. You can find out how to report bands in our helpful guide (above). More information and different versions of this guide to reporting banded Piping Plovers are available to download on our Shorebird Resources webpage.
Guide to Piping Plover Habitats
Piping Plovers in the Caribbean are often seen in small flocks resting and feeding on sand flats. Even here, out in the open, they can be tricky to spot with their ‘dry sand’ coloured plumage blending with their surroundings. Be sure to also check any seaweed (wrack) on the beach as this is another favourite haunt of theirs. Other places Piping Plovers might be found include mudflats, mangroves, and along rocky areas of shoreline, where again they blend in beautifully, especially if they are resting. Check out and share our handy graphics, with artwork by Josmar Esteban Márquez, to remind you where to look.
Click on each image to enlarge then right click to “save as….” a jpeg. Use these links to download each image in higher resolution as a pdf: Sand Flats, Mangroves, Beach Wrack, Rocky Shore
We want as many people as possible to join in our effort to look for Piping Plovers during the 2023 CWC regional count period. Be sure to watch Sidney Maddock’s webinar before you plan your surveys. You can also use and share these survey tips to get the most out of your Piping Plover surveys.
When you do your surveys please treat them like all your other CWC surveys. This means you should count all the bird species that you see (in addition to any Piping Plovers). Make sure you enter your data in eBird Caribbean using one of the CWC protocols on Step 2 of data entry (online). If using the eBird app, set your portal to eBird Caribbean to access the CWC options for your checklists.
Look and listen out for Piping Plovers during CWC2023. (Artwork by Josmar Esteban Márquez)
This year we have featured seven waterbirds in our Caribbean Water Census graphic! Find out more about each of these beautiful birds in our blog posts and on social media.
The Caribbean Waterbird Census starts today! And our featured bird is the small, round, sand-colored Piping Plover.
These plump shorebirds have ‘stubby’ bills that are orange at the base with a black tip in summer and completely black in winter. When they are breeding they have a black band all or part of the way around their neck and breast. In the autumn and winter some birds will completely lose this band. Piping Plovers are white below and their ‘dry sand’ colored plumage above can make them tricky to spot. Don’t forget to look out for their orange legs! You can listen out for their distinctive two-note “pee-too” whistling call to help you locate them.
Listed as “Near Threatened” by the IUCN the small global Piping Plover population only breeds in restricted areas of North America. Developments on beaches and lake shores mean Piping Plovers have lost some of their breeding habitat. This means Piping Plovers are now far less common than they used to be. Nesting areas on beaches are now often protected from disturbance to try to help the population increase.
Look out for banded birds and be sure to report and sightings. (Photo by Patrick Leary)
A Piping Plover in winter plumage with an all-black bill.
A Piping Plover chick. Piping Plovers breed in restricted areas of North America.
A small flock of Piping Plovers in winter plumage. (Photo by Walker Golden)
Piping Plovers wintering in Cuba. How many can you see in this flock? (Photo by Martin Acosta)
Juvenile Piping Plover. (Photo by Stephen Buckingham)
A Piping Plover in breeding plumage. (Photo by Stephen Buckingham)
Wintering Piping Plover on a sand flat. (Photo by Lisa Sorenson)
CWC 2023 starts on Saturday January 14th and runs through Friday February 3rd. See below for detailed instructions and free downloadable resources to help you make the most of your waterbird counts and don’t forget to keep an eye out for Piping Plovers!
This small, round shorebird is listed as “Near Threatened” by the IUCN with an estimated global breeding population of just 8,400 birds. They breed in restricted areas of North America but migrate south in fall with some birds spending their winter in the Caribbean. It’s vital that we continue to learn more about the numbers and distribution of this rare shorebird in our region. Read on to find out how you can help us.
The 14th annual Caribbean Waterbird Census (CWC) Region-Wide count will be taking place at the start of 2023, from January 14 to February 3. This year we are asking you to make a special effort to find and count Piping Plovers. You can do this by planning your CWC surveys in places where Piping Plovers have been seen before (explore their sightings on eBird). Or by doing surveys in places where there might be suitable habitat for wintering Piping Plovers. We have plenty of information and resources to help you plan your surveys and pick out Piping Plovers from the pack!
Track Piping Plover Sightings Live!
We are tracking where Piping Plovers have been seen during CWC 2023. Send us your sightings as you make them and we will update the map. This mean you can track our progress in finding Piping Plover live during the survey. Click on each point for more information about each sighting.
Zoom in or out to view your region or the whole Caribbean. Click the icon in the top right corner to see a larger map. You can share your sightings, including a grid reference and your count of Piping Plovers at that location (if more than one was seen) with waterbird.manager@birdscaribbean.org or on the BirdsCaribbean listserv.
NOTE: If you are not within the Caribbean but have seen a Piping Plover during the CWC survey period you can still share your sightings and we will add them to the map! And we will continue to add all sightings of Piping Plovers in 2023 to this map, so please continue your CWC counts and send us your eBird Caribbean checklists. Remember that although we have one annual 3-week regional count period (14 Jan-3 Feb), we encourage everyone to carry out CWC counts year-round, especially during fall and spring migration. We need much more information on all the habitats that shorebirds and waterbirds use throughout the year. Thanks!!!
What to look for
Piping Plovers are small, round shorebirds with ‘stubby’ black bills and orange legs. Their upper parts are pale brown, the colour of dry sand, and they are white below. We have made a handy ID guide to help you pick out Piping Plovers from some of the other small plovers that winter in the Caribbean.
They also have a unique two-note high to low pee-too call that you can listen out for.
Piping Plovers can be quite vocal, even during the winter. They often give a mellow two-part whistle, that drops in pitch, pee-too. Sometimes they only give the first part of this call as single, repeated with several seconds between each call: pee … pee … pee.
These little birds can sometimes be very tricky to spot and blend in to their surrounding so you’ll need to look carefully to find them! If you do find any Piping Plovers don’t forget to scan their legs for colour bands. Finding and reporting these bands can help us learn more about where different breeding populations spend the winter. You can find out how to report bands in our helpful guide (above). More information and different versions of this guide to reporting banded Piping Plovers are available to download on our Shorebird Resources webpage.
Where to look
Thanks to dedicated survey efforts over the past few years, we already know about some of the main islands and areas where Piping Plovers spend the winter in the Caribbean, including the Bahamas, Cuba, and Turks and Caicos Islands. We also know they have been spotted in smaller numbers in other countries, including Puerto Rico and its offshore islands and cays, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, the US and British Virgin Islands, St Kitts, Guadeloupe, Anguilla, and Bonaire (there are just one or two records for some of these countries). But in the ‘right’ habitat there are likely more Piping Plovers to be found, both in ‘new’ locations on islands where they have been seen before and perhaps some islands where they haven’t been seen yet. We need more people out there looking for them!
Piping Plovers in the Caribbean are often seen in small flocks resting and feeding on sand flats. Even here, out in the open, they can be tricky to spot with their ‘dry sand’ coloured plumage blending with their surroundings. Be sure to also check any seaweed (wrack) on the beach as this is another favourite haunt of theirs. Other places Piping Plovers might be found include mudflats, mangroves, and along rocky areas of shoreline, where again they blend in beautifully, especially if they are resting. Check out and share our handy graphics, with artwork by Josmar Esteban Márquez, to remind you where to look.
Click on each image to enlarge then right click to “save as….” a jpeg. Use these links to download each image in higher resolution as a pdf: Sand Flats, Mangroves, Beach Wrack, Rocky Shore
We want as many people as possible to join in our effort to look for Piping Plovers during the 2023 CWC regional count period. Be sure to watch Sidney Maddock’s webinar before you plan your surveys. You can also use and share these survey tips to get the most out of your Piping Plover surveys.
When you do your surveys please treat them like all your other CWC surveys. This means you should count all the bird species that you see (in addition to any Piping Plovers). Make sure you enter your data in eBird Caribbean using one of the CWC protocols on Step 2 of data entry (online). If using the eBird app, set your portal to eBird Caribbean to access the CWC options for your checklists.
Thanks to Environment and Climate change Canada for helping to funding these resources and our efforts to survey Piping Plovers during our 2023 CWC!
The 14th annual Caribbean Waterbird Census (CWC) Region-Wide count is just around the corner! This year we are asking people to make a special effort to look out for Piping Plovers- read on to find out everything you need to know about CWC in 2023.
Starting in 2010 our annual CWC region-wide count has seen enthusiastic birders venture into wetlands across the Caribbean to systematically survey all types of waterbirds. This fascinating and varied group includes shorebirds, seabirds, wading birds, marsh birds, and waterfowl! In its 14th year CWC 2023 begins on Saturday, January 14 and runs until Saturday, February 3. As always we need you to help by surveying all types of waterbirds in the wetlands on your island! Anyone can participate in the CWC – just head out to your nearest wetland or beach, and record the birds you see. Detailed information about how to conduct surveys can be found here. A wonderful world of waterbirds awaits!
Note: Our beautiful CWC promotional graphics (created by Josmar Esteban Márquez) are available for free download in English, Spanish and French, and also as a template in Canva so that you can add your logo and modify it for your events – see links below. This year’s featured birds include (clockwise from upper left) the Brown Pelican, White-tailed Tropicbird, Little Blue Heron, Green-winged Teal, Clapper Rail, Pied-billed Grebe, and Piping Plover.
Why the CWC?
Why do we want to take part? It’s more than just an opportunity for another great birding excursion. The Caribbean is home to 185 species of waterbirds! Many of these are migratory but the group also includes many endemic species and a number that are endangered globally. Waterbirds and their wetland habitats in the Caribbean face a range of threats, including development, pollution, human activities, and climate change impacts. A structured, long-term survey program, like the CWC, is essential for understanding how to best conserve this exceptional group of birds and manage their habitats.
Help is at hand! Become a Waterbird expert!
Handy tips for your CWC surveys- also available in Spanish and French (see end of post)
How do you get started? We are here to assist you! If you have never participated in the CWC before or you just want some tips for how to plan and carry out your CWC surveys in 2023, then you can use our handy ‘CWC Survey Tips’ infographic to help you get started. This is also available in Spanish and French. You can also share these tips with others to encourage them to take part! Another great way to learn more about CWC and how to carry out surveys is to watch our webinar “How to Participate in the Caribbean Waterbird Census” which is available on our YouTube channel. And there are CWC survey guidelines here.
We know that waterbirds and shorebirds can sometimes be difficult to identify. One sandpiper can look very much like another. Long bill? Short bill? Yellow legs? But don’t despair! BirdsCaribbean is here to help you build your ID skills! We have free online resources that will help you pick out those plovers in their winter plumage and get to grips with your sandpiper ID – which is a fine art in itself.
You can get ready for your CWC surveys by downloading our ID Guide to Common Caribbean Shorebirds, which you may like to print and take with you. It’s really helpful to have a pictorial guide with you when you are standing in that muddy wetland or at the beach. You can also watch our two other CWC webinars on waterbird and shorebird ID. These and many other ID and outreach resources are available for you to use and download on this page.
Our Caribbean shorebird poster is available for free download in English, Spanish and French.
2023 Piping Plover Alert
For CWC 2023 we are asking that people make an extra effort to look for Piping Plovers. Piping Plovers are small rotund shorebirds that are a delight to see. But they are also listed as “Near Threatened” by the IUCN, with a small population size. They breed in restricted areas of North America but migrate south in fall with some birds spending their winter in the Caribbean!
Piping Plovers in the Turks and Caicos Islands. (photo by Eric Salamanca)
We already know about some of the main places where they spend the winter, like the Bahamas, Cuba, and Turks and Caicos. We also know they have been spotted in other places including Jamaica, Bonaire, and the Dominican Republic. It’s very likely that in the ‘right’ habitat there are more Piping Plovers to be found! Including in ‘new’ places on islands where we already know they winter. They may even spend their winters on some islands where they have not been recorded before. We would like to know more about their whereabouts and to record them on eBird.
It’s vital that we continue to learn more about the numbers and distribution of this rare shorebird in our region. Knowing where their habitat is will help us protect and conserve the beaches and wetlands that Piping Plovers and other shorebirds need to survive. Keeping an eye open for these birds is extra important, for this reason. We already have some resources to help you. You can find out all about surveying for Piping Plover, including ID tips, the habitats they use, and survey considerations in our recent Piping Plover webinar from expert Sidney Maddock. Check out also the ID cards and habitat types to look for Piping Plovers in this article. We also have information on what to do if you spot a color-banded Piping plover (or other bird) on our shorebird resources page.
Finally, check out the awesome Piping Plover merchandise, including t-shirts, hats, sticker and more – just what you need for your 2023 CWC surveys! Note: These items are shipped from the US so ordering via a US based mail service or doing a group order to a Caribbean island should help reduce shipping costs. Check our social media and web pages too, for more Piping Plover resources to come!
Don’t forget to eBird!
An important aspect of the CWC is that it is all captured and stored on eBird Caribbean. As you enter your sightings, you must be sure to use the CWC protocol on Step 2, under “Observation Type.” eBird is playing an increasingly crucial role in the CWC process. If you’re new to eBird, check out our helpful video here on how to use eBird and Merlin. If you need help with eBird submissions (it’s really not complicated!) or with setting up an eBird account, do contact Alex Sansom: waterbird.manager@birdscaribbean.org
Have fun! Stay safe, count responsibly, and enjoy your day (or days) of counting during this three-week period!
Promotional Graphics for CWC 2023 are available in English, Spanish and French. We also have ‘CWC Survey Tips’ graphics in all three languages formatted for Facebook or Instagram . You can add your own logos or event information. Click on each image in the gallery below to enlarge then right click on an enlarged image and ‘save image as’ to download. You can also download our graphics from Dropbox here (higher resolution versions) or use these links to Canva to use our promotional graphics as a template (each link contains graphics in all three languages):
Chris holding a male Western Tanager. (Photo by Zach Hutchinson)
Chris Johnson is a 21-year-old birder, photographer, and conservationist from The Bahamas, and a student at Holland College in Prince Edward Island, Canada. In March 2022, he attended BirdsCaribbean’s first Caribbean Bird Banding Training Workshop in Nassau, The Bahamas, where he had his first experiences learning about bird banding as a tool for research and monitoring. After the workshop BirdsCaribbean selected Chris for a Bird Banding Internship, so that he could continue to train and hone his banding skills. Here, Chris shares his experiences banding birds this summer with Audubon Rockies in Casper, Wyoming.
The well-known phrase “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush” is true even in the literal sense. The movements of birds during migration, their age, body condition, reproductive status, population trends, and more can all be discovered with birds in the hand. Banding is an important tool for understanding how wild bird populations are faring. I was thrilled at the opportunity to further my knowledge of bird banding in Casper, Wyoming, and especially excited to travel to one of my bucket list locations, the magnificent Rocky Mountains!
My first impression: My mind was blown!
Upon arriving in Casper, I was blown away by the incredible landscapes that I’d never seen before. The sweeping grasslands with picturesque hills and mountains were something I had always dreamt of seeing. I experienced new habitats such as riparian wetlands, grasslands, and subalpine forests, along with the birds that inhabit them, such as Black-billed Magpies, Western Tanagers, and Black-Headed Grosbeaks. This was just the start of an unforgettable experience to come.
The picturesque plains and mountains that greeted Chris on his way to Casper, Wyoming. (Photo by Thomas hawk).A male Black-headed Grosbeak. (Photo by Alan D Wilson).
A busy banding day
As I woke up on the first day of bird banding, I was excited to begin banding and handling some amazing new birds in a new location. Upon arrival at Edness K. Wilkins State Park, the temperature was 36 degrees Fahrenheit (2.2 degrees Celsius); a wee bit chilly for this Bahamian. While we ended up having to wait an hour or two for the temperature to warm up a bit, our total number of extracted and processed birds at the end of the day was close to 60 individuals! In previous banding experiences back at home, more than 20 birds made for an extraordinary day. While it was the busiest banding day I’ve ever had, it was a great way to kick off the start of the banding season in Casper and set the tone for what was shaping up to be a great summer.
View of verdant hills and plains in Wyoming, from Casper Mountain. (Photo by Rich Hermann)
As I had very little experience in extracting, processing, and banding birds, the first few banding sessions helped to refresh my memory on handling birds safely and bird banding ethics. I had the pleasure, during my internship, of working closely with Zach Hutchinson (Community Science Coordinator of Audubon Rockies). I learned how to run an effective banding station and the “ins and outs” of processing the data collected from migratory and resident songbirds.
More local banders needed in the Bahamas
I am currently studying wildlife conservation at Holland College in Prince Edward Island, Canada. I hope to return home to The Bahamas to start a banding station and begin collecting data on our resident and migratory bird species. The Bahamas does not currently have any active bird banding stations run by a local person. . While some birds have been studied in The Bahamas by US and Canadian scientists, it is crucial to have more Bahamians with intimate knowledge of the local birds and their behavior to lead this research and advance Bahamian bird conservation.
Zach has had many years of experience operating the bird banding stations in Casper. He has a thorough, comprehensive knowledge of how to run an effective bird banding station, extract and process various bird species, and train volunteers.. As the Casper stations are quite small, it was easy for Zach to share his knowledge with me. I learned more about bird banding in the past three months from Zach and the folks at Audubon Rockies than I would have learned in a year back at home!
A giant leap in banding experience
I had the opportunity to band at Keyhole State Park and at a site on Casper Mountain, besides Edness K. Wilkins State Park. The primary training I received was in banding songbirds but I also got great practice with hummingbirds and Mourning Doves. Before this internship, I had only extracted a total of two birds from mist nets and banded one. After this internship, I can say that I have extracted approximately 105 birds and banded approximately 99! While I’m just starting my bird banding training journey, this internship has given me knowledge in extracting birds from mist nets, identifying molt stages of different birds, sexing and understanding the health of birds in hand, and using the new Wolfe, Ryder, Pyle (WRP) codes to accurately determine the age of a bird.
Hummingbirds were banded too, like this tiny Rufous Hummingbird. (Photo by Chris Johnson).
A Mountain Chickadee. (Photo by Alan D Wilson)
While we extracted and banded many common Wyoming birds like Yellow Warblers, Common Grackles, and American Robins, some of my favorites for practicing extractions and processing were House Wrens, Black-capped and Mountain Chickadees, Bullock’s Orioles, and Black-headed Grosbeaks.
Not all banding stations are the same
While the BirdsCaribbean Banding Workshop back home served as an incredible introduction to the world of bird banding, every station operates a bit differently. Each will use slightly differing methods for station setup, net setup and extraction, and for processing birds, to operate at the highest efficiency. Banding equipment in The Bahamas differs quite a lot from the banding equipment that we used in Casper. The methodology for setting up an effective bird banding station was also quite different. Nevertheless,I cannot wait to utilize some of these new methods and tricks to enhance bird banding when I return to The Bahamas.
Although the training was the main purpose of my internship, I also grabbed the opportunity to see much of Wyoming on days off! A personal favorite would have to be the jaw-dropping Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. I also truly enjoyed attending my first ever BioBlitz in Guernsey State Park, documenting the incredible fauna that Wyoming has to offer. A BioBlitz is a fun but intense event where students, teachers, volunteers, and scientists collaborate to survey as many species of flora and fauna in a particular area over the span of 24 hours.
Chris stops for a photo in front of the Grand Teton National Park sign, during the bioblitz. (Photo by Chris Johnson)
After attending this internship, my appreciation of bird banding has grown exponentially. I hope to continue practicing my bird banding skills before returning home to The Bahamas. My goal is to eventually start my own MoSI (Monitoreo de Sobrevivencia Invernal/Monitoring Neotropical Migrants on their Wintering Grounds) stations, while studying migratory, endemic, and range-restricted Bahamian bird species.
I know I still have a lot to learn when it comes to bird banding. But now I am inspired, and eager to see what the future holds for bird research in The Bahamas. I want to contribute to it back home, in some way.
I’d like to thank Zach Hutchinson and all the folks at Audubon Rockies for all of their support and training over the summer, and Nate and Jenny Edwards for their incredible hospitality and welcoming me into their home for 3 months. I’d also like to thank Ellis Hein and Stacey Scott for their efforts during the banding season and showing me around Casper, and getting some new lifers along the way. Lastly, I’d like to thank Holly Garrod, Maya Wilson, and everyone at BirdsCaribbean for making this summer possible. Without their support I wouldn’t have had this incredible opportunity and experience to band birds in this remarkable location.
BirdsCaribbean would also like to thank Zack Hutchinson and others with Audubon Rockies for supporting this training. Chris’ internship was funded in part by the US Fish and Wildlife Service, Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Act (NMBCA) Fund.
Cesar (second from the right) in Barbados with the Motus team- Lisa Sorenson and Maya Wilson, from BirdsCaribbean and Todd Alleger from the Northeast Motus Collaboration. (Photo by Lisa Sorenson)
Cesar Montero is a nature tour guide based in Vieques, Puerto Rico. After a fortuitous meeting at the 2022 AOS-BC conference in Puerto Rico, where Cesar attended a Motus workshop, he is now in training as an installation expert for the Caribbean Motus Collaboration! This effort by BirdsCaribbean and our partners will expand the Motus Wildlife Tracking system in the Caribbean. Here he recounts his experience installing a Motus station on the island of Barbados… and his complicated journey to get there!
Finally, the day had come. As I started my journey to Barbados, Fiona, then a Category 1 hurricane, had made landfall in Puerto Rico the day before. The storm had triggered floods that destroyed roads, homes and disrupted the island’s power supply. I had an inkling that this trip was going to be an adventure.
Trying to get there: the frustrations of inter-island travel
Part One of my journey began with taking a 7:45 A.M flight from the island of Vieques to San Juan, Puerto Rico. It is a 30-minute flight in a small plane, which scares me because you can feel every bit of turbulence. But the view of the beautiful waters of Puerto Rico to your right and being at eye level with the peak of the El Yunque to your left, truly makes the flight one of a kind. From the smaller airport in Isla Grande, I took a taxi to the international airport in Carolina, where I would take the next flight to Miami.
It was a long journey full of delays, but the team woke up to a beautiful view on the north coast of Barbados (Bathsheba). (Photo Lisa Sorenson)
But not so fast! The flight was delayed. To kill some time, I bought some fast food at the airport. In Vieques we don’t have any fast food restaurants, so eating it is almost like a delicacy for me. I regret it every time afterwards!
After landing in Miami, I made my way to the terminal and waited for my flight to Barbados. What did I do in the meantime? You guessed it – I got more fast food!
At Miami Airport I met Todd Alleger, the Motus expert who would be guiding the team through the installation process. First Maya and then Lisa saw us and we all caught up with each other. The last time we met was at the AOS-BC conference in Puerto Rico in June. As the airline started to call the groups to board the plane, I was in the last group; everyone was already on the plane. I walked up to the counter and presented my passport. This was my first time traveling outside of the U.S. or its territories, so I was excited. But… there was another delay.
My heart sank. The team was on the flight already but I was now put on standby. It was a full flight but some people had not shown up yet. Then a family came running up and were able to board. Then another family. I began to get a little worried. When another person on standby boarded the plane, I was sure I was doomed. Then at last I heard my name being called, whew! I boarded and the fourth and final leg was under way.
Getting down to the basics at Walkers Reserve
I was in Barbados at last!
The next day, we headed to Walkers Reserve in northeastern Barbados, a former sand quarry now transformed into a nature reserve, where we would be erecting the first Motus station on the island. Shae Warren, the Director of Projects at Walkers Institute for Regeneration Research Education and Design Inc. (WIRRED) greeted us and gave us a tour of the reserve. We walked through the potential sites for the station and at each location we visited, the landscape was stunning. It was amazing to see all of the progress they had made in creating a thriving ecosystem, where there had once been a large sand mine. I suggest learning more about its history and the organization’s mission here.
A view across the newly created wetlands and coastline at Walkers reserve. (Photo by Shae Warren)
Motus stations need to be installed in places where the antennas will have a good ‘view’ of the target area that birds are expected to use or pass through. In this case, a good view of the coast and coastal wetlands that migratory shorebirds use was needed. After finalizing the location for the station, the digging began – fortunately, for us, they had an excavator! The next step was to fill the hole with concrete. The WIRRED staff were amazing, helping every step of the way. They made a base box to pour the concrete and also mixed the concrete using their machinery. We all worked together on getting the concrete poured little by little. We made sure to keep it flat and level, as this would form the base of the Motus tower.
The excavator, ready to dig the hole for the station base. (Photo by Maya Wilson)
Todd and Shae watch as the excavator gets to work. (Photo by Lisa Sorenson)
Rain didn’t stop us…
On day two the forecast was: rain! We were worried that the concrete would not dry, but the Caribbean sun is no joke and quickly dried it. As it rained Maya, Todd, Shae and I worked on getting all of the rest of the components of the tower together. We assembled the antennas and prepared the wiring and receiving station, as well as the solar power system. Later in the afternoon, the rain had let up. Off we went to fix the tower to the base. It was a matter of adding screws and bolts where they needed to be to make it secure.
Cesar sets to work helping pour the concrete. (Photo by Maya Wilson)
Todd shows Cesar how to connect up the solar panel. (Photo by Maya Wilson)
The antennas were added next. As a trained climber, it was Todd who added the antennas to the tower. The sun was starting to set and the colors in the sky were spectacular. There were even bats flying overhead taking care of the mosquitoes for us. But this also meant we had to work quickly as we were running out of precious sunlight.
Up on the tower…
Todd had attached all of the antennas but he just needed an extra hand to secure the mast full of antennas to the base of the tower. So up the tower I went. The higher up the tower I climbed, the more windy and scary it became. Todd was walking me through the climb every step of the way and made sure I was clipping on to the tower, using his climbing gear he loaned. This calmed my nerves. The sun was setting and there was no time to hesitate, but the sunset and the view of the ocean from the top of the tower, made me feel like I was at the top of a majestic castle. While at the top I helped Todd push and pull the mast into place and also handed him tools to secure it. We were able to finish installing the tower before it was completely dark. The tower was up and the antennas attached!
Todd heads up the tower first….
Cesar Montero and Todd Alleger install the antennas on a Motus station in Barbados (Photo by Maya Wilson)
Todd and Cesar get ready to attach the solar panel. (Photo by Maya Wilson)
And up again…
On the final day of installation we connected the wires from the antennas to the receiving station and set up the solar system. It was decided that I would benefit from more climbing experience, so up the tower I went again, with Todd guiding me every step of the way. This time I was a lot more relaxed and not as scared. There wasn’t much wind and best of all, it wasn’t getting dark! I didn’t have to spend much time up at the top because I was just binding the wiring to the tower. After everything was connected we tested it to make sure the tower was working and receiving data. Everything was in working order. Mission complete!
Aerial view of the completed Motus station. (Photo by Shae Warren)
Cesar, Shae, Maya, and Todd (R-L) at the completed Motus Station. (Photo by Lisa Sorenson)
But the adventure was not over just yet. The day before flying back to Miami, Ian, a large and destructive Category 4 hurricane made landfall in Florida and devastated the town in which I grew up, Fort Myers.
My mom and brothers all still live there, so I was very worried. Thankfully I was able to keep in contact with my mom and my flight was not delayed. Fortunately, my family withstood the storm with minimal damage. So back to Vieques via Miami, I went, to continue to advance my knowledge of bird conservation and to eagerly await the next installment of the Caribbean Motus Collaboration project.
It was an exciting start!
I would like to personally thank BirdsCaribbean for choosing me to be a part of the CMC project. This would not have been possible without the support of the Vieques Conservation and Historical Trust (VCHT ) Bird Committee every step of the way, leading up to being on this team. Since starting out, there has been an abundance of support for my development that is continuing to grow. Hopefully in the future I will get to meet and personally thank everyone that has made it possible for me to travel to and from this amazing country of Barbados. I am grateful to be able to contribute to advancing our knowledge of migratory birds in the Caribbean through MOTUS and am looking forward to becoming a MOTUS expert!
About Motus and The Caribbean Motus Collaboration
The Motus Wildlife Tracking System is a powerful collaborative research network developed by Birds Canada. Motus uses automated radio telemetry using a network of Motus stations to study the movements and behavior of flying animals (birds, bats, and insects) that are tagged and tracked by Motus receivers.
In an exciting update, the new Motus station at Walkers Reserve detected its very first tagged bird on the 27th of October! It was a Semipalmated Plover that had been tagged in Canada at the end of September, over 3000 km away from Walkers Reserve!
The new Motus station on Barbados was made possible with funding from Environment and Climate Change Canada and advice and support from the Northeast Motus Collaboration (NMC). Big thanks also to Todd Alleger (NMC) for his help in installing this new station. We are also very grateful to Shae Warren and WIRRED staff for their help and support. Barbados provides an important stopover site for migratory shorebirds as they pass through the Caribbean. This is now one of two stations operating on Barbados that are part of the Caribbean Motus Network. You can find out more about Motus in the Caribbean and our Caribbean Motus Collaboration here:
Susan, a certified bird guide from Bonaire, was out birding when she spotted a newly arrived Osprey perched on a post. Only when she looked back at her photos did she spot something different about this bird. Read on to find out more about this bird and its amazing migration from Susan.
Fall migration is an exciting time of year in the Caribbean! This is when those of us birding on Bonaire begin to see the arrival of many migratory species, and one of those is the majestic Osprey. Although we do observe Ospreys year-round, the population greatly increases during fall migration and over the winter months.
Many of the Ospreys that spend winter on Bonaire have a highly refined site fidelity. They actually return to the same tree limb, or other favorite perch, each and every winter. For other arriving Ospreys, Bonaire is quite likely to be the first land they encounter on their southern journey. They will rest and recover from a long flight across the Caribbean Sea, before continuing southward to overwintering grounds in South America.
Two bands are better than one…
The ‘mystery’ banded Osprey photographed on Bonaire. (Photo by Bonaire Bird Tours)
On September 12, 2022, I was birding down in the southern salt flats of Bonaire. Along the way to the southern point, I noticed that one Osprey had just arrived and was perched on its favorite hunting tree. As I continued birding, I spotted a second Osprey perched on a post. Here was a great photo opportunity, I thought, as I snapped off several images. However, it wasn’t until I looked at the images the following day, that I noticed this Osprey wore two bands.
One was a color band and was mostly readable. The number 54 was clearly discernible, but a toe partially obscured the initial letter on the band; it appeared to be an F. Unfortunately, the second band was not readable in my images. Finding a banded bird makes it an individual – it is no longer an anonymous bird among many other anonymous birds. I was curious about this special bird, and so I began my Internet search for registries of banded Osprey to try to find out more, with what little information I had.
But my efforts fell flat- I came away empty handed!
The BirdsCaribbean network: a fountain of knowledge
Every birder needs to be part of a bird network. Since there is just so much to learn about our feathered friends, it’s impossible to know everything. A birder needs a support network–somewhere he or she may go with questions, and, for me, there is no better bird network than BirdsCaribbean. It’s an incredible resource that delivers again and again!
When my initial Internet searches didn’t help, I turned instead to my trusty bird network. And, hey presto! Within just two hours, I learned that Dr. Scott Rush, Associate Professor of Wildlife Ecology and Management, Mississippi State University, was mentoring a Ph.D. research assistant, Natasha Murphy, who was banding Ospreys as part of her doctorate program. Now in touch with the person in the know, I learned the backstory of Osprey F54.
Osprey F54: a long-distance traveler who makes it look easy
F54 gets his band as a chick. (Photo by the Rush Lab)
Natasha was able to provide me with the who-what-where-when details I sought! Natasha and her technician, Sage Dale, with help from the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) and USDA personnel, banded Osprey F54 and his sister, F55, on June 20, 2022. Their nest was at Guntersville Lake (lat/long: 34.659337, – 85.944116) in Alabama, on a structure that acts as a navigational marker in Jones Bar, on Guntersville Reservoir. When banding took place blood was also drawn for research purposes, which also provided DNA-sexing: Osprey F54 was a male. On that same day, Natasha and Sage banded 30 Osprey chicks in the area!
Based upon measurements taken when banded, it was estimated that Osprey F54 was 36 days old at that time. Along with his color band, he was also outfitted with a U.S.G.S. band with the number 1218-10018.
Less than three months later, this Osprey was sighted here on Bonaire. This means that F54 had covered a distance of over 3,000 kilometers, or about 1,900 miles! It would take nearly seven hours in a plane to make that trip. We humans might consider it a long flight, yet this young Osprey made an equivalent trip and arrived in Bonaire looking healthy and fit after his long flight. Zero jet lag!
Only time will tell if Osprey F54 will join the ranks of the many human “snowbirds” who fly to Bonaire to spend the winter (I am talking about the tourists escaping the chilly weather up north, of course). Or, will Osprey F54 be a short-stay “stopover visitor” as tourism officials say, who visits for a week or two for some rest and relaxation, before moving onward? It’s his first migration, and perhaps he will decide he likes Bonaire. Like many other overwintering Ospreys, we are likely to see him back year after year. And he will find his favorite branch or perch, too.
Now all F54 needs is a name!
Bird banding tells a story
The group observes a bird banding demonstration at a BirdsCaribbean workshop.
With the information I received from Dr. Rush and Natasha Murphy, I was able to report banded Osprey F54 to the Bird Banding Laboratory at the U.S. Geological Survey, Eastern Ecological Science Center. Each reported sighting adds a data point to this individual’s history and will provide further insight as to his movements and migrations.
The world’s birds need us now more than ever. Recent studies have shown that an alarming number of birds have declining populations. Research projects, such as Natasha Murphy’s, provide insight and knowledge, allowing for better-managed conservation and preservation efforts.
Making the most of banded birds
How can we maximize the value of banded birds, and learn more from them?
A BirdsCaribbean group enjoying birds and photography in Viñales Valley, Cuba (photo by Lora Leschner).
Get photos if you possibly can. It really doesn’t matter if you are using a point-and-shoot camera, as I do, or if you have the fanciest camera that today’s technology can provide. The point is to document your observations with images. Sometimes we only get a brief glimpse of a bird, and we don’t have time to take in all the details, such as bands. Even if we identify the bands, we might not have the luxury of time with the bird to be able to read them. By taking images, you have a record and can review them for additional details you might not have discerned in the field.
I would also suggest that you become part of a birding network! Knowledge and information can only add to the enjoyment of your birding experiences. In the case of Osprey F54, I would never have been able to find out the bird’s history without my birding network. It added so much to the pleasure of seeing this splendid bird; it is now a unique individual to me. If you can find birders in your area with similar interests, you can discuss your observations. Learning from each other is so rewarding!
Susan has lived on Bonaire for 30 years, she is a graduate of the Caribbean Birding Trail Interpretive Guide Course run by BirdsCaribbean. Susan is a bird guide and a wildlife photographer. You can read more of her Bird Blog posts on her webpages here and get some useful photography tips here.
If you spot a banded bird, do your best to record the band colors and any numbers or letters, paying special attention to the location of the band or bands on the bird’s legs. Binoculars or zoom photography may allow you to clearly see the band colors and the numbers engraved onto the band. Scientists use this information to track bird populations and migrations. Report your sightings of to the USGS Bird Banding Labwhich oversee all banding in the United States, and you can report sightings of color banded shorebirds to BandedBirds.org.
You can find out more about Ospreys as a migratory bird in the Caribbean on our ‘Migratory Bird of the Day’ page all about Osprey! This contains interesting facts, puzzles, videos and photos and more!
BirdLife Jamaica’s Wolde Kristos has a bird in his sights at Parrottee Pond. (Photo by Nickeisha Robinson)
Birders showed up for the Global Shorebird Count – and so did the shorebirds!
Our Caribbean partners were thrilled to see some exciting and unusual birds (including a “first” for Bonaire!) during one of the most eagerly anticipated events on the birding calendar. The Global Shorebird Count took place from September 1 – 7, 2022, around World Shorebirds Day (September 6). These annual counts, carried out by thousands of volunteers and professionals worldwide, contribute valuable information on the populations, distribution, and migration of these fascinating and varied species. Across the Caribbean islands, it is an opportunity for birding groups, individuals and non-governmental organizations to focus on many of our most vulnerable migratory species. For many of our partners, it also helps birders to “reconnect” with our beautiful yet fragile coastlines that serve as resting and feeding stopovers for shorebirds.
“Lifer” shorebirds spotted in Cuba
The Bird Ecology Group of the University of Havana, Cuba, represented by Daniela Ventura, went out, with “two passionate photographers” in tow, to count shorebirds on Playa del Chivo, a small coastal habitat outside the Bay of Havana. The area is well known as an important stopover for many shorebirds. It was a late afternoon trip, and while many Short-billed Dowitchers, Western and Least Sandpipers, Ruddy Turnstones, Killdeers, Semipalmated Plovers, Sanderlings, and more were observed, it was also an enjoyable and relaxing experience. “We enjoyed the sunset and the spectacle of the birds gathering to spend the night,” reports Daniela. (click on the photos below to view larger)
Sunset shorebirds in Cuba. (Photo by Daniela Ventura)
Photographing birds during the Global Shorebird Count. (Photo by Daniela Ventura)
The Whimbrels showed up just as the sun was setting for our Cuban birders. (Photo by Jean Carlos Vega)
The Cubans spotted two lifers: Piping Plover and Whimbrel. “The latter is an uncommon transient and winter resident in Cuba, so a real treat!” noted Daniela. As so often happens, the Whimbrel was spotted just as the group was about to leave, and the last rays of the sun were barely sufficient for taking a photograph.
An unexpected flying visit in Guadeloupe
The Association Ornithologique de la Guadeloupe (AMAZONA) also had a truly exciting experience, according to Anthony Levesque. During a count at Pointe des Châteaux on September 3, the group spotted a flock of no less than eighteen Hudsonian Godwits. “They land only for a few seconds before leaving to continue South, en route to South America!” Anthony reported. It was a memorable moment in time.
An unexpected flock of Hudsonian Godwits on Guadeloupe. (Photo by Frantz Delcroix)
Jamaican birders brave the mud
The BirdLife Jamaica family visited two locations on the island’s south coast on September 4. In the wetlands of Portland Cottage, the team recorded 26 species of birds, braving the twin challenges of incredibly sticky mud and the possible appearance of crocodiles. Another challenge was counting the Least Sandpipers! They spotted a bird that was a “lifer” for most of the group: the Gull-billed Tern.
One of the Black-necked Stilts seen in Jamaica. (Photo by Ian Gage)
Birders take to the mud to spot shorebirds!
A Lesser Yellowlegs seen during shorebird counts in Jamaica. (Photo by Wayne Sutherland)
In the beautiful Crane Road and Parrotee wetlands of St. Elizabeth, a small team led by tour guide and BirdLife Jamaica Vice President Wolde Kristos spotted the Black-bellied Plover and Spotted Sandpiper, among a number of species. In terms of numbers, Sanderlings, Snowy Egrets, and Laughing Gulls topped their list.
A first for Bonaire!
Susan Davis of Bonaire Bird Tours reported some early birds (literally!) “I was surprised to see a Buff-Breasted Sandpiper enjoying a cooling bath in a small rain puddle. These migrating shorebirds generally arrive on Bonaire in October and November, so being able to see one in early September was definitely a treat!” She had previously given a group of ten birders instructions on how to use eBird Caribbean, where species are recorded. Susan was also thrilled to see that one migrating Hudsonian Godwit, first observed in August with another, was still present to be counted during the Global Shorebird Count!
The lone Hudsonian Godwit spotted on Bonaire. (Photo by Susan Davis)
The stunning White-tailed Kite, a first for Bonaire! (Photo by Susan Davis)
Buff-breasted Sandpiper- an early arrival for Bonaire. (Photo by Susan Davis)
During the Global Shorebird Count, nearby non-shorebird species are also recorded on eBird. It was a particular thrill for Susan when she spotted a mysterious, small raptor in her rear-view mirror, while driving home along the shore. She stopped, and identified this elegant bird as a White-tailed Kite – a new bird for Bonaire!
It was a trip to the wetlands of Trinidad on September 4 for Alex Sansom, Mark Hulme, and Laura Baboolal. Again, this was a beautiful evening sunset trip, to Orange Valley and Temple by the Sea on the island’s west coast. Hundreds of Semipalmated and Western Sandpipers were seen, joined by Lesser Yellowlegs. All were hungrily feasting on microorganisms (biofilm). Willets, Whimbrels, and Black-bellied Plovers were also seen.
A mixture of different shorebirds feeding in the Caroni rice fields, Trinidad. (Photo by Mark Hulme)
Wrapping up a shorebird count at sunset on Trinidad’s west coast. (Photo by Mark Hulme)
Lesser Yellowlegs at Caroni Rice fields. (Photo by Mark Hulme)
On World Shorebirds Day itself, the same group visited Trinidad’s Caroni Rice Fields. Despite the extreme heat, the shorebirds showed up. It was a good test of shorebird ID skills for the birders as a variety of shorebirds were spotted: Short-billed Dowitchers, several species of Sandpipers, besides American Golden Plovers and Lesser and Greater Yellowlegs.
As always, the Global Shorebird Count brought pleasant surprises – and a deeper appreciation of the region’s charming shorebirds. Participants came away all the more determined to help protect these vulnerable beauties and the habitats that are so important to them.
A huge thank to you all who participated in the 2022 Global Shorebird Count! If you have not yet submitted your checklist(s) to eBird Caribbean, it is not too late. Be sure to choose the CWC Point Count or CWC Traveling Count as your protocol and share your checklists with username “WorldShorebirdsDay” to ensure that your counts are included in any analyses of shorebirds from this community science effort. For additional information on the CWC (Caribbean Waterbird Census) and for free downloadable shorebird ID resources, click here and here. If you have any questions, please contact our Waterbird Program Manager, Alex Sansom.
BirdsCaribbean is delighted to announce the publication of a new graphic novel, just in time for World Shorebirds Day (September 6, 2022). “Sami the Snowy Plover: Stories of Survival” focuses on the vulnerability of these charming little shorebirds, which overwinter and nest on sandy beaches and salt flats on some islands throughout the Caribbean. You can leaf through this beautifully illustrated book here below or online in English or Spanish.
Josmar E. Márquez, the author and illustrator of the book, is passionate about these fragile shorebirds, whose IUCN status is Near Threatened. As he leads monitoring projects on Coche Island in his native Venezuela, his observations have made him come to love these round-bodied, pale brown plovers as they hurry across the sand. He also recognized the Snowy Plover’s susceptibility to human impacts and disturbances. He decided that he wanted to use his skills as an artist to tell stories that the reading public could empathize with, as he does. Hence little Sami’s story was born.
A naturalist and shorebird researcher and member of BirdsCaribbean and local NGO AveZona, Josmar is Coordinator of the Snowy Plover Monitoring Project in the offshore islands and cays of Venezuela. He explained that the idea of the novel grew in 2020 from a colouring book he created on the Snowy Plover. He worked with BirdsCaribbean’s Executive Director Lisa Sorenson and her team to make it a reality.
The Snowy Plover is a small, plump ground-nesting shorebird. In the Caribbean, they are primarily found in open, sandy areas near water like beaches, salt ponds, sand and mud flats, and barrier islands. (Photo by Hemant Kishan)
“Getting people to understand the risks faced by many shorebirds, especially Snowy Plover, is a personal goal. I have seen how Snowy Plovers are affected by human activity in their habitat,” says Márquez. To him, the book is “beautiful, tragic and hopeful.”
One of the pages from the book, highlighting the disturbance posed by driving vehicles on the beach causing stress and harm to the Snowy Plover and other ground-nesting shorebirds.
Please take a read through the poignant stories of little Sami, which also have a message for all of us to take to heart. We would also welcome your feedback!
Josmar Esteban Marquez in the field.
You can read the graphic novel online in both English and Spanish on our Flipsnack account where it is also available for free download. Please share with your networks!
Thanks to Josmar for creating this heart-warming but impactful resource!
Josmar Marquez, from AveZona, has lead bird monitoring projects on Coche Island in Venezuela since 2018. In addition to data collection, his work involves mentoring young conservationists and promoting nature-friendly behavior changes in the local community of the island.
Naturalist, illustrator, and shorebird researcher Josmar Márquez, who has just produced an online graphic novel “Sami The Snowy Plover: Stories of Survival” shares some encouraging news from the offshore islands and cays of his native Venezuela. His research and field work on Coche Island and Margarita Island for AveZona was supported by BirdsCaribbean through the David S. Lee Fund for Conservation.
Snowy Plover chick on salt crystals at Saline San Pedro de Coche, Coche Island. (photo by Sabino Silva)
The Snowy Plover is a special bird, in so many ways. Known in Venezuela as Frailecito it runs across the sand, pauses, and quickly catches its food (flies are its favorite) from the surface. Listed as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List, its population is decreasing. It needs our protection! Let’s take care and share the beach, which is home to these and other shorebirds. Many have migrated long distances, and others use the beach as a breeding area. The Snowy Plovers breed from January to March on these islands. They build their nests by making a small depression in the sand, where they lay three to four eggs. The pair take turns incubating the eggs.
AveZona’s work in monitoring the Snowy Plover population began on Coche Island in 2018. During this year and into 2019, we were able to establish a positive relationship with people in the community. This has helped us to continue periodic counts of this wonderful species in the Saltpans of San Pedro de Coche, despite the restrictions of the Covid-19 pandemic. All the results of these years of research will be published shortly in The Journal Caribbean Ornithology.
Sabino Rafael Silva, resident of Coche Island, has faithfully monitored the Snowy Plovers and other birds on the salt pans and salinas of Coche Island.
Buff-breasted Sandpiper locally called Playerito dorado (Calidris subruficollis). (Photo by Sabino Silva)
Working under tough conditions…
Coche Island resident, Sabino Rafael Silva, was a major supporter of this project. Due to the travel limitations during the pandemic, when others were not able to visit the island, he was the one who spent many hours walking under the burning sun and extreme conditions on the salt flats. He managed to observe and count the population of Snowy Plovers, and also observe other species of shorebirds in this study area. In other areas of the Isla de Coche, he also observed species not previously reported for the island and for this region of Venezuela.
Anahy and Sabino walking in the Restinga Lagoon National Park, Margarita Island. (Photo by Josmar Marquez)
Josmar, Sabino and other members of his team in the Restinga National Park, Margarita Island. (Photo by Josmar Marquez)
Additional important members of the team were Anahy Marcano, Guilberto Figueroa, Carlos Amundarain and Zenaida Martinez. They are “Margariteños” who were able to record the Snowy Plover on several occasions in the Marites Lagoon Natural Monument, a protected area on Margarita island, near Coche Island. These observations were made in conjunction with the Caribbean Flamingo Monitoring Project.
…and involving local residents through volunteerism
Just like Sabino, Anahy, Guilberto, Carlos and Zenaida are volunteers and friends of AveZona who have carried out valuable work on Coche and Margarita Islands. This is a growing group of community members who are now paying greater attention to their birds and the conservation of the islands’ biodiversity. This is an example of “participatory science,” engaging local communities in a conservation project.
Group of young birders in the Marites Lagoon National Monument, Margarita Island. (Photo by AveZona)
AveZona’s programs offer a great learning and bonding opportunity for children, youth and adults in the island region of Venezuela, establishing a sincere and respectful relationship with local communities. These groups will be able to observe, share information, and protect the birds and biodiversity of the islands of Venezuela.
The Snowy Plover, traveling between islands
One of these seven “Frailecito,” tagged with the black band, which can be read from a distance, is individual 6A, banded on Coche Island in February 2020 by Josmar Márquez and Antonio Ros.
6A has since been observed and photographed three times on Margarita island, flying 14 km one way and 14 km back, over the Caribbean Sea. This tagged Snowy Plover has shown us that the plovers that breed in the salt flats of Coche Island may travel between nearby islands and possibly to the coast of mainland Venezuela.
It is possible that all the populations on the Island of Coche are closely related to those observed in the Marites Lagoon Natural Monument and other areas of Margarita Island. We estimated there were 96 (95% CI: 46-201) and 116 (95% CI = 61-220) Snowy Plovers in the Coche Island salt flats in February and December, respectively.
As shown in the table, several of the individuals were seen frequently in the Coche Island salt pan, while others have not been seen since the day of banding. This raises several questions about the survival rates, migration, or dispersal of many of the individuals. As explained above, a population of 96-116 individuals is estimated in the Coche Island salt flats, thus, it may not be possible to observe all the banded individuals.
We hope to hear soon from some individual birds, such as the 4A, 5A, 6A, and 7A that have not been resighted often or at all. We wish 6A the best of luck in his travels to Margarita Island. Perhaps 6A may decide to settle on this Island. In the future, we hope to be able to use other monitoring methods such as Motus nanotags in this population and in the entire population of Snowy Plovers on different islands of Venezuela.
Snowy Plover banded with tag ‘6A’ on Coche Island in February 2020 seen again walking on the mud flat at Margarita Island on September 9, 2021. (photo by Josmar Marquez)
Another photo of ‘6A’ on September 9, 2021 at Las Marites Lagoon, Margarita Island. (Photo by Josmar Marquez)
Snowy Plover ‘3A’ tagged on Coche Island and photographed on July 17th, 2021. (Photo by Sabino Silva)
Exciting news! Two new protected areas on Coche Island may shelter shorebirds
A great victory for the shorebirds of the island of Coche is the recent creation of the first two areas protecting the biodiversity of this island. Under Official Decree No. 4,550, a Reserve of Wild Fauna was declared for Bahía El Saco, with an area of Four hundred and Eighty-Nine hectares (489 ha).
Map showing the new Bahía el Saco Wildlife Reserve (green polygon), 489 hectares, and in orange the towns. Map by the Ministry of Ecosocialism of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.
Under Official Decree No. 4,551, a Reserve of Wild Fauna in Punta El Palo was declared, with an area of Two thousand Nine Hundred Sixteen hectares (2,916 ha). These two areas are of utmost importance for the population of shorebirds and seabirds on the island of Coche.
The new Punta de Palo Wildlife Reserve, in green the polygon of the Protected Area (2,916 hectares, in orange the towns and in yellow the tourist hotels. Map by the Ministry of Ecosocialism of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.
If you spot any of these Snowy Plovers or other shorebirds banded with black flags and white code, please report it to www.paave.net (website of the Bird Banding Program in Venezuela) or at https://www.pwrc.usgs.gov/BBL/bblretrv/
Acknowledgments: I greatly appreciate support from IDEA WILD for providing equipment for the execution of this project, and to the David S. Lee Fund for the Conservation of Caribbean Birds for funding for the field work.
Josmar Esteban Marquez, from AveZona, has lead bird monitoring projects on Coche Island in Venezuela since 2018. In addition to data collection, his work involves mentoring young conservationists, creating artwork to educate about birds, and promoting nature-friendly behavior changes in the local community of the island.
