We are pleased to share with you the new edition of the Annotated Checklist of the Birds of Cuba, number 7, 2024, by Nils Navarro Pacheco.
The Annotated Checklist of the Birds of Cuba is an annual publication that constitutes the most complete and updated official list of Cuban avifauna. It is the result of a deep and thorough bibliographic review and updating from the field. It serves as a basis for generating regional and global listings and is standardized for use with eBird.
The main objective is to provide up-to-date annual listings of Cuban birds, including reference information on each new report and general statistics about Cuban birdlife, and to serve as a reference platform for ornithological studies in the country. The increasing number of bird-watching tourists on the island as well as more bird monitoring by Cuban biologists and the rapidly-growing Cuban birding community are contributing to an increase in the number of previously unrecorded species entering the list every year. Furthermore, the influence of climate change is producing altered patterns of migratory movements in many species.
The new list has been enriched with 6 new records—3 of these were added to Cuba’s main list to bring the new Cuban total to 404 species. The other three records comprised two exotic species, and another which is currently classified as ‘dubious.’ Beyond the numbers though, splits announced in the American Ornithological Society 64th Supplement to the Checklist of North American Birds means that Cuba now boasts 3 more Cuban, rather than West Indian, endemic species! Cuba welcomes the Cuban Nightjar ( Greater Antillean Nightjar split to Cuban Nightjar and Hispaniolan Nightjar), the Cuban Palm-Crow (Palm Crow split to Cuban Palm-Crow and Hispaniolan Palm-Crow) and the Cuban Bullfinch (split from the Cuban Bullfinch into the Grand Cayman and Cuban Bullfinches, making the Cuban Bullfinch a true Cuban endemic!).
This year’s cover features a captivating photo of the beautifully plumaged Western Spindalis, Cuban subspecies (Spindalis zena pretrei), taken by Yadiel Veunes, in the Parque Nacional Alejandro de Humboldt. The Western Spindalis belongs to the Spindalidae family which is a recognized family of songbirds endemic to the Caribbean. Spindalises were formerly classified as members of Thraupidae (or “tanagers”) but have since been reclassified as a separate family based on genetic studies. There are five subspecies of Western Spindalis one of which is the Cuban subspecies!
The 2024 checklist is now available in PDF for free download from the BirdsCaribbean website (see below). The printed version is available on Amazon at a good price. It is not intended to be a field identification guide but is a checklist, updated in accordance with the 64th supplement of AOS. Nils and the publisher, Ediciones Nuevos Mundos, hope this publication fulfills its role and is useful to all persons interested in Cuban birds and ornithology. Nils welcomes questions or suggestions about the checklist (Nils Navarro).
This checklist edition is dedicated to the memory of Jim Wiley, a great friend, extraordinary person and scientist, a guiding light of Caribbean ornithology. He crossed many troubled waters in pursuit of expanding our knowledge of Cuban birds.
If you are looking for a Field Guide to the Birds of Cuba, you can purchase it here or on Amazon.
Past checklists are all available for download, click on the images below to download a pdf of each.
Our 2024 Caribbean Waterbird Census (CWC) marked 15 years of data collection about birds at Caribbean Wetlands—a fantastic milestone! As always, many of our partners, friends, and colleagues took the chance to contribute to this amazing long-term dataset by heading out to their local wetlands to count waterbirds!
Read on for some 2024 CWC highlights featuring just a few of the wonderful birds seen, and exciting events held in celebration of our wetlands. Every single survey makes an important contribution—we are so grateful to everyone who took part in our 2024 CWC!
Kicking off the Count in Antigua and Barbuda
Over on Antigua and Barbuda, our wonderful partners, the Environmental Awareness Group (EAG) adapted our colorful 2024 CWC graphic and took to social media to start off this year’s CWC! They encouraged birders to be citizen scientists and head out to their local wetlands—a great way to spread the word about this year’s count!
People Power in Puerto Rico
As always, we had great participation for the CWC regional count in Puerto Rico. The information that has been gathered there on shorebirds and other waterbirds as part of ongoing CWC efforts is an excellent resource!
This year, Daylene T. Quiñones Pérez, Favián D. Acevedo Caro, and Gabriela Hernández Torres teamed up to take part. They headed out on an impressive three CWC surveys looking especially for our coastal waterbirds! The group carried out two surveys to monitor the Brown Pelican population in Puerto Rico—one in Rompeola, Aguadilla, and the other at Parque Colon in Aguada. Their third count was on the cliffs of Parque Los Merenderos in Quebradillas, where they were monitoring the White-tailed Tropicbird population.
Surveying Puerto Rico’s coastline. (Photo by Daylene T. Quiñones Pérez)
A Magnificent Frigatebird. (Photo by Daylene T. Quiñones Pérez) T. Quiñones Pérez
Meanwhile, Dayamiris Candelario, of local nonprofit Organización Pro Ambiente Sustentable (OPAS), shared with us about the event that her organization coordinated. Teachers, students, and parents from Escuela Brígida Alvarez, led by staff of OPAS, completed their waterbird census in Puerto Nuevo Beach on February 2, World Wetlands Day. This beach is next to Cibuco Wetland Nature Reserve, a wetland in which the Cibuco river meets the sea.
Dayamiris says they headed out on a cloudy, damp, and slightly windy morning ready with their binoculars, bird guides, and ponchos. Undeterred by the weather, they counted 137 birds representing 14 different species! Students learned about CWC protocols, the importance of the CWC to further the conservation of wetlands, different techniques to use when carrying out surveys, and how to spot birds with binoculars. This exercise taught them first-hand about the vast biodiversity that can be found in coastal environments. These areas are highly regarded by locals and visitors to Puerto Rico for their recreational value.
Getting to grips with shorebirds. (Photo by Dayamiris Candelario OPAS)
Celebrating World Wetlands Day! (Photo by Dayamiris Candelario OPAS)
Puerto Nuevo is a public beach awarded with a Blue Flag, an international program that recognizes beaches for, among other things, their environmental management and education efforts. You can find more out more about the work of OPAS on their Instagram or on LinkedIn pages. Learn more about Blue Flag certification here.
Volunteers of Cabo Rojo National Wildlife Refuge continued their participation in the CWC with counts at Las Salinas and Laguna Cartagena. Check out their exciting Facebook posts about these visits!
Glorious Glossy Ibis
Jackie Cestero, the founder of Nature Explorers Anguilla, visited salt ponds and beaches all across Anguilla. This small island has an amazing 16 important bird areas (IBAs), most of which are wetlands or highly coastal areas. Jackie recorded an impressive 63 different species of birds during her CWC efforts! This included a Little Blue Heron, some smart looking Lesser Scaups, and a few very cute grebe chicks!
Another highlight was sightings of the Glossy Ibis at two different locations! You can read more about Jackie’s CWC counts in her blog post. Enjoy her video of Glossy Ibises below!
Shorebirds in St. Eustatius
Jethro van’t Hul, from St. Eustatius National Parks Foundation (STENAPA), told us about his team’s ‘big census day’. The group headed out and about in St. Eustatius and covered a whopping 14 sites with their CWC efforts! Jethro says they had quite a few interesting sightings including the Belted Kingfisher, Green Heron, Juvenile Yellow-crowned Night-Heron, Osprey, Great Egret, 11 Pelicans in one flock, and four different shorebirds in one group! Jethro says they actually encountered quite a few shorebirds, including some they weren’t expecting. Their shorebird sightings included Semipalmated Plovers, Ruddy Turnstones, a Spotted Sandpiper, as well as Killdeer. He also let us know that, “This was a first survey for us, and the group generally felt very positive about it.” Let’s hope that this is the first of many CWC outings for the team!
Tourism meets science in Cuba
Participants in BirdsCaribbean’s January Bird Tour to Cuba combined ecotourism with citizen science! The group conducted CWC counts in many of the wetlands and coastal areas in the western half of Cuba! Yet again, shorebirds were stars of the show! The group had their best counts at Las Salinas De Brito where shorebird counts included 800 Black-bellied Plovers, 200 Short-billed Dowitchers, 52 Willets, and 15 Red Knots!
American Flamingos at Las Salinas De Brito, Cuba (Photo Andrew Dobson)
Reddish Egret at Las Salinas De Brito, Cuba (Photo Andrew Dobson)
A rare Great ‘White’ Heron, the Great Blue Heron white morph at Las Salinas De Brito, Cuba (Photo Andrew Dobson)
Connecting with an ‘old friend’ in Jamaica
BirdLife Jamaica members visited the historic fishing village of Port Royal, where waterbirds enjoy a friendly relationship with fishermen, often begging scraps. Amongst the birds seen was a Sanderling wearing some bands! This bird, ‘X19,’ is well-known in Jamaica now—it has been spotted in 2021, 2022, and now in 2024! This Sanderling was banded in Saskatchewan, Canada, which is over 4000 km from Jamaica! When birds get their bands, researchers estimate their age based on their plumage characteristics, species, and age at first breeding. When this Sanderling got banded in 2019, it was estimated that it hatched in 2017 or earlier, so we know that X19 is at least seven years old! Here’s hoping it makes many more winter trips to Jamaica in the future.
At a World Wetlands Day event organized by the Caribbean Coastal Area Management Foundation (C-CAM), local residents and students were taken on tours, by boat and on foot, of the pristine mangrove forest surrounding the Discovery Centre in Salt River. Although the wetlands were enduring a drought period, larger waterbirds, including flocks of White Ibises and Tricolored Herons, were observed. At another World Wetlands Day event at the Mason River Nature Reserve, a host of youngsters from local schools (kindergarten age upwards) learned about wetland birds and Jamaica’s endemic birds, engaged in bird bingo, and received posters.
Enjoy some photo highlights from CWC in Jamaica!
Students with posters of seabirds and endemic birds at Mason River. (Photo by NHMJ)
Brandon Hay, Science Officer at Caribbean Coastal Area Management Foundation, explains wetland birds to a group of students at Mason River Nature Reserve, Clarendon. (Photo by NHMJ)
Snowy Egret looks for scraps at Port Royal. (Photo by Damany Calder)
Lesser Scaup at Bushy Park (Photo by Wayne Sutherland)
Magnificent Frigatebirds at Whitehouse, Westmoreland Jamaica. (Photo by Wolde Kristos)
Blue-winged Teal and Common Gallinules spotted at Bushy Park, Jamaica. (Photo by Wayne Sutherland)
A Blue-winged Teal show us its ‘Blue-wings’, Bushy Park Jamaica. (Photo by Wayne Sutherland)
Spot the Northern Shoveler! (Photo by Wayne Sutherland)
Kids learning about wetlands and waterbirds at Mason River. (Photo by NHMJ)
Rare Sandpiper Spotted in Guadeloupe
Saving the best till last? Anthony Levesque tells us that on Saturday 3rd February, the last day of the CWC regional count, he was with a group of people at Gaschet reservoir in Guadeloupe. Here they had quite the surprise from a very unexpected visitor—a Baird’s Sandpiper!
Anthony says that the bird was “completely unexpected at this date—it is supposed to be far away in South America.” This shorebird is also very rare in the Caribbean, and Anthony notes that it was only the 2nd record of this species for Guadeloupe!
This lovely long-winged, long-distance migrant normally takes a more westerly route on its trip south for the winter. It also has one of the longest and fastest migrations of all bird species! The Baird’s Sandpiper breeds in the high-arctic and winters in South America. On their epic journeys south, they normally travel via Mexico and Central America, bypassing the Caribbean completely, making them a rare sight in our region! You can find out more about their migration in Birds of the World.
The Caribbean Waterbird Census is an ongoing, long-term survey effort that provides important data that helps us keep track of the birds using Caribbean wetlands, understand the threats they face, and raise awareness. We appreciate every single CWC count that gets done during the annual 3-week regional census in January and February. 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! CWC counts at Caribbean wetlands are valuable year-round and add to our knowledge of the resident and migratory birds that use them. Just be sure to use a CWC protocol in eBird Caribbean when entering your data every time you do a count at a Caribbean wetland, 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 practising for next year’s annual census!
The Journal of Caribbean Ornithology publishes peer-reviewed science on Caribbean birds and their environment that is critical to informing conservation work. In this annual blog feature, JCO’s staff is proud to show off the amazing research from scientific teams around the Caribbean. Volume 36 demonstrates the wide range of research conducted by our authors; from population and habitat use studies, to documentations of behavior, to methods-centered papers on bird monitoring. About ten articles focus on land birds, while three concentrate on waterbirds.
The JCO is immensely grateful for its dedicated team of editors, reviewers, copyeditors, translators, proofreaders, and production specialists that have worked together so well again this past year to produce high-quality publications. We also thank the 57 authors behind the 16 Research Articles and Notes for their trust in the JCO to publish their open-source work in the best form. The JCO and our non-profit publisher, BirdsCaribbean, continue to emphasize support for early-career researchers, trilingual content, open access, and a comprehensive archive going back to the very first volume from 1988.
A few glimpses behind the scenes of JCO’s operations in 2023:
JCO has welcomed Dr. Susana Aguilar, our Birds of the World (BOW) Coordinator for Cuba. Susana has an intimate knowledge of Cuban ornithology and we are very happy that we could recruit her to facilitate the revision of BOW accounts from the largest Caribbean island. Our Production Assistant and Designer since 2019, Diane Tessaglia-Hymes is pursuing another professional opportunity. She has tremendously helped with typesetting and, being an Adobe InDesign wizard, has optimized several “under the hood” features. Our Associate Editor team expanded with Yvan Satgé of Clemson University and Dr. Kathryn Peiman, from Ontario, Canada joining the team. Sadly, we learned that one of our Associate Editors, Dr. Virginia Sanz D’Angelo (Centro de Ecología, IVIC, Caracas, Venezuela) has passed away. Her dedication to JCO leaves a big gap.
It took a little longer than hoped, but our (all part-time!) staff finally pulled together a voluminous (94 pages) Special Issue with Caribbean-themed conference contributions from the AOS-BC conference in San Juan in 2022. Because it sometimes takes authors a while to fully publish research, these conference presentations and poster abstracts provide a more timely glimpse into what’s happening in Caribbean bird research and conservation.
We hope to see many of our readers, authors, editors, and team members in July at the BirdsCaribbean 2024 Conference in the Dominican Republic!
— Joseph M. Wunderle, Jr., JCO Editor-in-Chief,
— Stefan Gleissberg, JCO Managing Editor
— Zoya Buckmire, JCO Lead Copyeditor
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 a monthly contribution of $5 or more!
Like humans, birds are susceptible to parasitic infections, including avian malaria, and similarly, variations in hemoglobin structure may influence their susceptibility to these infections. Using one of the most widespread West Indian species, the Bananaquit (Coereba flaveola), Humphries and Ricklefs aimed to relate variation in hemoglobin structure and avian malaria infection across several islands. In this paper, they present the results of this fascinating study, with suggestions for appropriate markers for further biogeographic analyses.
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 century, with a whopping 68 species, 3 of which are Bahamian endemics.
As human influence over the environment increases, so too does the distribution of artificial materials in natural spaces. More and more birds are encountering human debris in their habitat and interacting with these materials in various ways—whether mistaking them for food or becoming entangled in them. In this research note, Madden and Danielson-Owczynsky document landbirds in St. Eustatius using human debris in an interesting but dangerous way, a fascinating discovery that hints at the pervasiveness of our impact on the world around us.
Anderson Jean, Maxon Fildor, Marta Curti, Eladio Fernandez, Christine D. Hayes, and Thomas I. Hayes
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 Hispaniolan endemic was once well-distributed across the island, but had not been recorded in Haiti since 1962. A chance encounter in 2019 prompted hope and follow-up studies in subsequent years as the authors sought to confirm sightings of the species. In this research note, Jean et al. document their rediscovery of this unique hawk in Haiti.
Joshua LaPergola, C. Justin Proctor, Hodali Almonte, and Kate J. Wallace
Birds eat bugs—or at least, that is how it’s supposed to go. The roles are sometimes reversed in the natural world, with one noteworthy example being parasitism. Philornis sp. larvae are a well-known parasite for birds, but we are still figuring out which species are affected by these parasites. In this paper, LaPergola et al. document the first record of Philornis sp. larvae parasitizing a swift, in this case an Antillean Palm-Swift (Tachornis phoenicobia) in the Dominican Republic. This expands our understanding of parasitism by this genus and adds to the ever-growing list of threats to Caribbean birds, especially aerial insectivores like swifts.
Nicholas Bergen, Christopher C. De Ruyck, and Nicola Koper
Citizen science provides a seemingly obvious solution to the various logistical and resource challenges of data collection in the Caribbean, but it is not without its own challenges. How does observer experience affect detectability of birds in the field? And do observers perform differently depending on who they are paired with? Bergen et al. conducted an experiment in Grenada to answer these questions and more, involving 34 different observers in over 400 surveys across the island. In this paper, the authors present the results of their study, along with several practical recommendations for the design and implementation of citizen science-based monitoring programs in the region.
Louise M. Soanes, Devon Carter, Laurel B. Symes, Jennifer C. Daltry, Holger Klinck, Clarissa Lloyd, and Farah Mukhida
If we as scientists had unlimited time and money, then long-term monitoring of bird populations would be a breeze. In the real world, however, monitoring efforts are limited by funding, access, and personnel, especially on remote islands and cays. Passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) is an emerging tool with the potential to significantly increase the efficiency of monitoring efforts, and a recent pilot project in Anguilla aimed to test the utility of this tool in the Caribbean context. In this paper, Soanes et al. describe the results of their pilot, with recommendations for the best use of PAM throughout the region.
Samantha J. Hagler, Kara Abbott, Christine D. Hayes, Thomas I. Hayes, and André A. Dhondt
The Critically Endangered Ridgway’s Hawk (Buteo ridgwayi) is a charismatic species that has received lots of conservation attention in recent years, but there still remain major gaps in knowledge about this species’ life history and behavior, especially pre-breeding. In this research article, Hagler et al. present their results from tracking 3 established breeding pairs of Ridgway’s Hawks in the Dominican Republic, adding critical information to the body of knowledge about this endangered and endemic species.
Yaroddys Rodríguez Castaneda y Nils Navarro Pacheco
The wild bird trade is a growing threat to Caribbean birds, with species targeted for their bright plumages and/or beautiful songs. This industry is especially prevalent in Cuba, with over 3,000 birds trapped in one month (October 2021). Dozens of species are trapped and sold, including species that may not have been previously recorded for the island. In this Spanish-language paper, Rodríguez Castaneda and Navarro Pacheco document a new species for Cuba, discovered through the ongoing bird trade, suggesting that Cuba’s true avian diversity may be even higher than estimated.
El tráfico de aves silvestres es una amenaza creciente a las aves del Caribe, con las aves elegidas para sus plumajes brillantes y/o sus bonitos cantos. Esta industria es especialmente frecuente en Cuba, con más que 3000 aves capturadas en un mes (octubre 2021). Docenas de especies son capturadas y vendidas, incluyendo unas especies que quizás no eran reportadas para la isla. En este artículo español, Rodríguez Castaneda y Navarro Pacheco documentan una especie nueva para Cuba, descubierta por el tráfico continuado de aves, sugiriendo que la verdadera diversidad de aves de Cuba puede ser aún más alta que la estimada anteriormente.
Ramon J.T. Williams, Miyako H. Warrington, and Nicola Koper
Small Island Developing States (SIDS) are subject to unique ecological pressures, and the bird populations on these islands are no different. How are birds using and responding to natural and anthropogenic habitats on these islands? In what ways does this use differ from the well-studied continental regions? And importantly, how does this inform conservation and management measures here, in the Caribbean? In this paper, Williams et al. explore all these questions and more using resident landbird species in Grenada.
Kara L. Lefevre, Elizabeth Forys, Adam DiNuovo, and Adam D. Smith
Black Skimmers (Rynchops niger) are a charismatic—and admittedly odd-looking—colonial seabird distributed throughout the coastal Americas. Populations in Florida (R. niger niger) are under threat, and to inform conservation measures, Lefevre et al. set out to track the dispersal and movements of skimmer chicks from breeding colonies in Florida. In this paper, the authors describe their use of various tracking methods, some more successful than others, and present important recommendations on how to design future studies.
Parrots and parakeets (Psittaciformes) are some of the most widely introduced species in the Caribbean, and Puerto Rico is no exception. There, the White-winged Parakeet (Brotogeris versicolurus) was introduced in the late 1960s and has since become “the most successful invasive psittacine species on the island”. However, until now, not much was known about their life history or population status in Puerto Rico. In this article, Falcón and Tremblay report on the status of two breeding populations with estimates of their growth rates, as well as other critical information including the species’ diet and nesting habits on the island.
Paige A. Byerly, Susan Zaluski, Daniel Nellis, Judy Pierce, and Paul L. Leberg
Effective management of bird populations requires quality data, but quality data is often difficult to come by. Where studies do exist, methods may vary greatly based on differing research questions, objectives, and priorities, but as Byerly et al. demonstrate here, it is not impossible to form a cohesive picture from various disparate surveys. Comparing data from surveys in the early 2000s with their own in 2016-2018, the authors produce up-to-date trends on the populations of 7 seabirds in the Virgin Islands—and none of them are good. In this paper, Byerly et al. present these timely population status updates, a call for action, and a great example of how to make the best of the limited data we have in the Caribbean to conserve and manage our birds.
Nils Navarro Pacheco, Roberto Jovel Lara, Wisdenilde Navarro Méndez, Juan Carlos Lobaina Montero, Noel Coutín Lobaina, and Carlos Hernández
The Cuban subspecies of the Sharp-shinned Hawk (Accipiter striatus fringilloides) is relatively understudied, with no documented nesting records for Cuba—until now. In this Spanish-language article, Navarro Pacheco et al. present the first record of a nest found in Guantanamo, Cuba, with detailed descriptions of the nest, eggs, breeding behavior, and other aspects of the reproductive biology of this endemic subspecies.
El Gavilancito Cubano (Accipiter striatus fringilloides) es relativamente poco estudiado, con ningunos registros de nidificación documentados para Cuba—hasta ahora. En este artículo español, Navarro Pacheco y otros presentan el primer registro de un nido encontrado en Guantánamo, Cuba, con descripciones detalladas del nido, los huevos, el comportamiento de reproducción, y otros aspectos de la biología reproductiva de esta subespecie endémica.
Avery Young, David Aborn, Steven C. Latta, and Jennifer Nagel Boyd
The way wildlife interacts with food systems is an increasingly important topic as food production expands and encroaches upon habitat. In the Dominican Republic, a major driver of habitat loss is the conversion of forests to avocado farms to meet demand. How does habitat differ between the natural forests and these farm systems? How are birds responding to these differences? And does avian response vary depending on whether the birds are endemic, resident, or migratory? In this research article, Young et al. answer these questions and more, and offer recommendations to balance habitat preservation with our food production needs.
Malo Braquier, Anthony Levesque, Jérémy Delolme, and Charlotte Francesiaz
How long do birds live in the wild? Lifespan of course differs by family and species, and even within species as birds face varying threats within their habitats, migration routes, and from the humans they encounter. Shorebirds like plovers can live into their teens, and for the Wilson’s Plover (Charadrius wilsonia), the previous longevity record was 10 years. In this research note, Braquier et al. report a new longevity record for this species from their resightings of a previously banded Wilson’s Plover in Guadeloupe.
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 Editor JCO
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.
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)
In winter Willets can be found on beaches and mudflats, where they use their long bills to probe for food. (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!
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.
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.
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!
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.
Every year thousands of migratory birds make epic journeys south. Many stop over in the Caribbean to rest and refuel; others arrive and spend the entire winter with us. Throughout Fall 2023 and on World Migratory Bird Day, we celebrated these beautiful visitors. We recognized and highlighted the amazing ways in which they adapt to endure such lengthy and dangerous journeys, and called attention to the importance of water to the survival of these birds. Check out the fun and creative ways in which Caribbean organizations got involved. Laura Baboolal, Caribbean Coordinator of World Migratory Bird Day for Environment for the Americas (EFTA), tells the story…
Water conservation for migratory birds and people
Every year we eagerly await the arrival of migratory birds as they flock to our shores, wetlands, forests, parks, gardens, and even backyards! This year’s theme was “Water: Sustaining Bird Life”; “Agua: vital para las aves” in Spanish;and in French, “L’eau: Source de vie pour les oiseaux.”
Birds need water as much as we do! They need to drink water to help them regulate body processes and use water to keep themselves clean and cool. And many migratory birds depend on healthy wetland habitats such as ponds, marshes, mangroves, rivers and coastal areas to safely rest during their long journeys south and to feed and replenish their energy.
This year’s theme highlighted the the impact of the growing water crisis on migratory birds. This theme resonated in the Caribbean, where islands have been enduring longer-lasting and more severe droughts. It is not only farmers and householders who are feeling the effects of lower than normal rainfall patterns. Birds are, too! Drought causes wetland habitats such as ponds, salinas, marshes, and rivers to shrink and dry up, thus impacting the amount of water available for birds to drink, feed and bathe, particularly those that rely on wetland habitats. Water scarcity also impacts people— we need clean water to drink, bathe, and grow our food.
The good news is that there are easy, everyday ways for us to reduce our water use and keep our natural supply of water flowing. Find out how our dedicated and passionate Caribbean educators throughout the islands used WMBD events to build and support coalitions of people to advocate for the protection of critical wetland habitats and water conservation.
Here are some highlights from this year’s WMBD events held in The Bahamas, Jamaica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, St. Martin, Sint Maarten, Antigua and Barbuda, Guadeloupe and Trinidad and Tobago. Many more islands are still hosting events, activities and celebrating this special time for migratory birds!
The Bahamas
EARTHCARE, an environmental education NGO that works across the islands of The Bahamas, celebrated WMBD by hosting a birdwatching trip for children at Princess Park on Grand Bahama Island. The children were excited to see and learn about the different birds at the Park. For many it was their first time using binoculars (provided by EFTA) and they were eager to find the birds using this fundamental tool for birders. Children love using binoculars and the first time using them is always a revelation! Gail Woon and Jill Cooper (EARTHCARE representatives) also visited the Eco School at Bishop Michael Eldon School (BMES) and made a presentation on the importance of water to birds, with special emphasis on migratory birds, and people.
EARTHCARE celebrates WMBD with a birdwatching trip for children at Princess Park, Grand Bahama. (photo by EARTHCARE)
Common Gallinule at Princess Park, Grand Bahama. (photo by EARTHCARE)
Getting the hang of using binoculars to look at birds. A child adjusts her binoculars while birdwatching at Princess-Park, Grand Bahama. (photo by EARTHCARE)
Yellow-crowned Night Heron at Princess Park. (photo by EARTHCARE)
Children birdwatching during EARTHCARE’s WMBD event at Princess Park, Grand Bahama. (photo by EARTHCARE)
An immature Common Gallinule makes its way to the pond at Princess Park, Grand Bahama. (photo by EARTHCARE)
Celebrating migratory birds with the Eco School at Bishop Michael Eldon School, Grand Bahama. (photo by EARTHCARE)
Students making bird masks during WMBD activities at the Eco School at BMES. (photo by EARTHCARE)
Students enjoying art and craft activities during EARTHCARE’s WMBD event at the Eco School BMES, Grand Bahama. (photo by EARTHCARE)
Jamaica
The Natural History Museum of Jamaica moved its popular “An Afternoon with a Scientist” from online and into nature at Hope Botanical Gardens, with the esteemed speaker being Ricardo Miller. Ricardo is a longtime member of BirdsCaribbean, veteran Jamaican birder, and Environmental Coordinator at the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA). Following this talk, students of Mona Preparatory School, Rollington Town Primary School and Sts. Peter and Paul Preparatory School in Kingston were treated to a birdwatching trip across the Gardens. Out in the field the youngsters had great fun using binoculars and bird ID cards to find and identify any birds they could spot!
Ricardo Miller speaks to students about migratory birds and water conservation at Hope Gardens, Jamaica. (photo by Natural History Museum of Jamaica)
Ricardo Miller leads students and teachers on a birding trip around Hope Gardens, Jamaica. (photo by Natural History Museum of Jamaica)
Students learn to use binoculars and a spotting scope to look at birds at Hope Gardens, Jamaica.(photo by Natural History Museum of Jamaica)
The session was a collaborative effort among the Hope Botanical Gardens, NEPA and Jamaica Environment Trust to commemorate this year’s World Migratory Day under the theme “Water and its Importance for Migratory Birds”.
Cuba
In Cuba, Biblioteca Municipal de Bauta (Bauta Municipal Library) in collaboration with the Bauta Birdwatchers Club, Faculty of Geography and Bird Ecology Group (University of Havana) hosted a migratory bird watching activity with 4th and 5th grade school students. The children learned about bird identification and the importance of protecting birds in their country.
Bird ID cards in hand and they are excited to go birdwatching. (photo by Bauta Municipal Library)
Students of 4th and 5th grades head outside to watch birds. (photo by Bauta Municipal Library)
Group photo with library staff and students at the library. (photo by Bauta Municipal Library)
Dominican Republic
During the month of October, Grupo Acción Ecológica (GAE) (Ecological Action Group) carried out several activities to celebrate migratory birds. The group ventured to different birding spots in the Dominican Republic to carry out bird counts, and uploaded their birding checklists to the eBird Caribbean online database.
GAE also partnered with the Department of Education to assist students with planting trees at the National Botanical Garden, thus increasing the number of endemic plants at the Garden. These plants will no doubt provide shelter and food for birds, and other wildlife for many years to come! The man-made lagoons at the Garden were the perfect setting for a live demonstration of the importance of water to birds.
A young girl models her bird mask. (photo by GAE)
Group of students birdwatching at one of the man-made lagoons in the National Botanical Gardens. (photo by GAE)
‘What’s that bird?’ Two girls use a field guide to Identify birds at the National Botanical Gardens. (photo by GAE)
In Jarabacoa the hands-on approach to learning, birding, and conservation continued. Students of the Doulos School went on bird walks and learned about different methods to survey bird abundance and species diversity. They also drew and painted the birds they saw and submitted their artwork to a WMBD contest organized by GAE. The festivities ended in the Colonial Zone of Santo Domingo with a talk, tree planting activity, and birdwatching, where they had the opportunity to see more migratory birds!
Lecturer at Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo (Autonomous University of Santo Domingo), and long-time member of BirdsCaribbean,Simón Guerrero, introduced primary school students to migratory birds through a riveting presentation on common migrants. They learned about ‘Moonbird,’ a male Red Knot celebrated for its epic 10,000 mile annual migrations and for being the oldest known member of its species! Simón told us, “I always plant some trees to be sure birds will know we are doing something real for them, not just talking.” After the presentation and WMBD activities, firebush or hummingbird bush (Hamelia patens), a plant whose flowers and fruits are very attractive to native, endemic, and some migratory birds, was planted on the school’s compound.
Students captivated by the birds and art on the WMBD 2023 brochure. (photo by Simón Guerrero)
The students were especially excited to learn about the Red Knot called ‘Moonbird.’ (photo by Simón Guerrero)
Students plant the firebush plant in their school’s garden. (photo by Simón Guerrero)
Puerto Rico
Conservation Opportunity got their hands dirty to help migratory birds! The NGO celebrated World Migratory Bird Day by cleaning the waterways in Charco Dos Bocas, Ciales, Puerto Rico. Approximately 150 pounds of trash were collected in one day. Over 50 people showed up to lend a hand and learn about birds. They also installed a new sign, reminding their fellow Puerto Ricans and visitors to the river to keep the environment clean.
River in Charco Dos Bocas Ciales after spectacular cleanup effort by volunteers. (photo by Conservation Opportunity)
Approximately 150 pounds of trash were collected. (photo by Conservation Opportunity)
A community representative speaks about actions taken by residents of Toro Negro to preserve the area.(photo by Conservation Opportunity)
A volunteer ensures no trash is left behind. (photo by Conservation Opportunity)
‘Job well done!’ Conservation Opportunity members and volunteers after the amazing cleanup effort.(photo by Conservation Opportunity)
Members of Conservation Opportunity take a photo by their newly installed sign. (photo by Conservation Opportunity)
Volunteers receive instructions before the start of the clean-up. (photo by Conservation Opportunity)
River cleanups provide a-safe spot for migratory birds and help intercept garbage before it reaches our oceans. (photo by Conservation Opportunity)
WMBD pins, stickers, bracelets, and more were distributed at Conservation Opportunity’s event. (photo by Conservation Opportunity)
Meanwhile, Sociedad Ornitológica Puertorriqueña Inc. (SOPI) headed to EcoExploratorio (Science Museum of Puerto Rico) to talk about water conservation for birds and how to identify some of the more common winter migrants on the island.
‘Let’s talk Birds!’ Visitors to the museum learns about Puerto Rico’s feathered migrants. (photo by SOPI)
SOPI’s booth at EcoExploratorio.
St. Martin / Sint Maarten
This year Laura was able to visit St. Martin to attend a WMBD event hosted by Les Fruits de Mer and to share educational materials with both Les Fruits de Mer and Nature Foundation Sint Maarten.
WMBD Caribbean Coordinator, Laura-Baboolal with Mark Yokoyama and Jennifer Yerkes of Les Fruits de Mer.
Educational books on the wildlife of St Martin written by Jenn and Mark, were given to children during the event. (photo by Laura Baboolal)
‘Hi Mark!’ Mark eagerly awaits the arrival of participants. (photo by Laura Baboolal)
This Migratory Bird Festival included art activities for children, educational activity books developed by the organization, and nature walks.
Guadeloupe
Our partner, outstanding guide, and skilled biologist Anthony Levesque gave a talk on the on the birds of La Désirade. It is one of the islands of Guadeloupe and is better known for its white sand beaches and coral reef. It is also a sanctuary for birds looking to rest and refuel during migration. The following day Anthony led a birdwatching tour with 20 participants, who recorded some notable species such as the Greater Yellowlegs, Lesser Yellowlegs, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, and Bobolink.
Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs (Photo by Anthony VanSchoor)
Male Rose-breasted Grosbeak (Photo by Jesse Gordon)
Female Rose-breasted Grosbeak (Photo by Linda Petersen)
Male Bobolink in breeding plumage. (Photo by Ryan Sanderson- Macaulay Library-ML342377131)
Bobolink females. Male and female Bobolinks have similar plumage in the non-breeding season. Look out for flocks of these sparrow-like birds during migration. (Photo by Karalyn Lamb-Macaulay-ML4702854910)
Trinidad and Tobago
WMBD was celebrated in May on the same day as Global Big Day and the Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival (CEBF), at the ARC Conservation Field Station in Brasso Seco in Trinidad. You can read about the “Protect the Rivers, Save the Birds” event in our CEBF wrap-up blog.
In October, local school teacher Sabira Ali, who hosts private birding activities for children, celebrated WMBD with her students. The activity included a presentation on migratory birds—by the students themselves! Students were asked to select a migratory bird and give a short presentation on the bird to their classmates. This was followed by decorating bird masks and a fun quiz to recap all the feathery facts learned.
One of Sabira’s-students puts her personal touches on her bird mask. (photo by Sabira Ali)
‘It’s time for a WMBD quiz!’ Sabira tests the participants knowledge of migratory birds in a fun and short quiz.
Sabira’s students stops to take a photo with the colorful WMBD 2023 brochures. (photo by Sabira Ali)
We applaud the tremendous efforts of our educators who plan and execute educational and fun activities to ensure an unforgettable WMBD and inspire a love for birds and birdwatching. We extend a massive thank you to our ambassadors, who selflessly deliver educational materials to Caribbean islands. Environment for the Americas and BirdsCaribbean extend our greatest thanks to all of you and we look forward to seeing what you have planned for WMBD 2024!
Birds Connect our World—Fifteen new species shared on BirdsCaribbean’s website
BirdsCaribbean recognized WMBD by featuring new migratory birds in our virtual campaign– Birds Connect Our World. Each migratory bird profile was accompanied by a beautifully drawn coloring page by Christine Elder, stunning high quality photos and videos, online puzzles tailored for different levels (between six and 1,024 pieces), and bird calls. Fun, free and engaging activities were also provided for both kids and adults, including downloadable coloring pages, experiments, up-cycle crafts, and more. We also created short videos to help birders identify shorebirds that show up every fall in the Caribbean—for example, the Least Sandpiper, Lesser Yellowlegs, Short-billed Dowitcher and Stilt Sandpiper,Black-bellied and American Golden Plovers and the small and adorable, but confusing, plovers too!
Flying, hopping, wiggling, and crawling towards WMBD 2024
The WMBD theme for 2024 is Insects! While some people may shriek at the sight of these tiny creatures (and rightfully so because our brains confuse fear with disgust, and some insects are actually harmful to us) they are an important delicacy for birds. In fact, insects are so important to birds that migratory birds will literally fly halfway around the globe just to have an ample supply of insects to eat! Insects and bugs are a high protein food. Protein is essential to birds for keeping up energy and body mass and for growing baby birds.
A study published in the Journal of Biological Conservation reported that 40% of all insect species are declining globally. Loss of natural areas like forests and grasslands that have been converted or degraded by intensive agriculture and urban development, and climate change, have all contributed to this downward population trend. A scarcity of this protein-rich food source can hinder bird migration and breeding, leading to weakened immune systems, reduced reproductive success, and increased mortality rates for both adult birds and their offspring.
The WMBD campaign in 2024 will thus stress the need for proactive conservation measures like reducing the use of pesticides and fertilizers, switching to organic farming, and maintaining and connecting areas of natural vegetation in agricultural landscapes.
If you are interested in celebrating WMBD in your country, or if you can deliver materials to a Caribbean country, we encourage you to visit the WMBD website for more information; or contact the Caribbean Regional Coordinator, Laura Baboolal, at lbaboolal@environmentamericas.org. If you have an event planned, you can register it and put the Caribbean on the global events map.
Celebrate World Migratory Bird Day (WMBD) with us in 2023! This year’s theme is “Water: Sustaining Bird Life”. Have fun learning about a new migratory bird every day. We have coloring pages, puzzles, activities, and more. Download for free and enjoy nature with your family at home.
Migratory Bird of the Day: Short-billed Dowitcher
Sometimes bird names can be confusing—and in the case of the Short-billed Dowitcher, frankly, misleading! This medium size migratory shorebird most definitely has a LONG bill. So how did it get its odd name?
Dealing with the “Short-billed” part first, this bird has a closely related and very similar looking relative—the Long-billed Dowitcher. They have a very slightly longer bill than the Short-billed Dowitcher—a difference so subtle that it is hard to spot. Yet, these names were meant to distinguish between the two birds! In fact, the calls of these two cousins are actually the best way to tell them apart, especially when in non-breeding plumage. The Short-billed Dowitcher gives a soft “tu-tu-tu” call in contrast to the strident “keek” of the Long-billed. But it seems that the “Tu tu Dowitcher” wasn’t considered a suitable name.
Moving on to the “Dowitcher” part of the name, this is also a bit of a mystery—what does Dowitcher even mean? In the late 19th century, this bird was being hunted in North America. It seems as if Dutch and German immigrant hunters perhaps referred to them as “Deutscher” or “Duitsch” snipe (i.e. “German” or “Dutch” snipe). This may have then become “dowitcher” or “dowitch”.
Short-billed Dowitchers do have a snipe-like appearance with long straight bills, short-ish legs and a somewhat plump appearance. In breeding plumage they have mottled brown snipe-like plumage above, with pale cinnamon-brown below. In non-breeding plumage they are brownish-gray above, with a paler belly and greenish yellow legs.
Short-billed Dowitchers breed in boggy areas at the margins of boreal forests in northern Canada. They travel thousands of kilometers in Fall, stopping along the way to molt and mainly sticking to the coastline as they head south. In the Caribbean, they can be spotted in a wide range of habitats from beaches, to tidal mudflats, to flooded agricultural areas. Look out for their distinctive “sewing-machine” feeding motion, as small groups of dowitchers with their heads down plunge their bills up and down into the water and mud looking for worms and mollusks.
Short-billed Dowitcher populations are declining and the species is on the USFWS list of “Birds of Conservation Concern”. Protecting our Caribbean wetland habitats and reducing the use of insecticides (which will reduce their food sources) can help us provide places for this oddly-named bird to thrive during its migration. Learn more about this species, including its range, photos, and calls here.
Thanks to Alex Sansom for the text and Christine Elder for the lovely illustration!
Color in the Short-billed Dowitcher
Download the Migratory Birds of the Day Coloring Page! Use the picture above and the photos on this page as your guide, or look up pictures of the bird online or in a bird field guide if you have one. Share your colored-in page with us by posting it online and tagging us @BirdsCaribbean #WMBD2023Carib
Listen to the calls of the Short-billed Dowitcher
Short-billed Dowitchers make a soft “tu-tu-tu” call, often as a contact call when flying together.
Puzzles of the Day
Click on the images below to do the puzzle. You can make the puzzle as easy or as hard as you like—for example, 6, 8, or 12 pieces for young children, all the way up to 1,024 pieces for those that are up for a challenge!
Activity of the Day
FOR KIDS: What facts can you remember about today’s migratory bird—the Short-billed Dowitcher? Test your knowledge by filling in the missing words in our Short-billed Dowitcher facts! We have given you all the correct words to use but can you put them into the right places in these fact-filled sentences?
You can re-read the information about this bird above, or search on the BirdsCaribbean webpages or online for more information about the Short-billed Dowitcher! You can also look at the photos, illustration and videos on this page to help you. When you have completed all the sentences, you can check your answers here.
FOR KIDS AND ADULTS: Enjoy these videos of Short-billed Dowitchers in the wild! The first video shows bird feeding with their typical “sewing machine” foraging action, plunging their bills into the mud for worms. In the second video, you can see a flock of Short-billed Dowitchers in flight.
Learn all about how to tell a Short-billed Dowitcher from a Willet: Shorebirds can be tricky to identify, especially as they migrate through the Caribbean in their non-breeding plumage (which is often less distinctive than their breeding plumage). Short-billed Dowitchers and Willets are both commonly seen in the Caribbean in Fall, and both are long-billed and gray-ish brown—so how can we tell them apart? Find out in this blog post from bird guide Allison Caton from Grenada, who got the low-down whilst attending a week-long BirdsCaribbean, Caribbean Birding Trail (CBT) Interpretive Guide Training Workshop on Union Island in St. Vincent & the Grenadines.
Celebrate World Migratory Bird Day (WMBD) with us in 2023! This year’s theme is “Water: Sustaining Bird Life”. Have fun learning about a new migratory bird every day. We have coloring pages, puzzles, activities, and more. Download for free and enjoy nature with your family at home.
Migratory Bird of the Day: Wilson’s Phalarope
Each summer, west of the Mississippi, the Wilson’s Phalarope gathers in enormous flocks on the salt lakes of the western United States. Birders and conservationists are captivated by the species’ distinctive field marks, habitat preferences, feeding habits, and interesting natural history—including a departure from normal breeding habits!
The Wilson’s Phalarope is a small (22–24 cm in length), aquatic shorebird, with a needle-like bill and a white rump and underparts. Wilson’s Phalaropes exhibit sexual dimorphism (where males and females look very different from each other). Interestingly, females are larger and much more colorful than their male counterparts. In breeding plumage, females display a beautiful reddish-brown neck and back, contrasting with a white belly. Males, on the other hand, are more subdued in appearance, featuring a drabber overall coloration. Regardless of sex, both genders boast a distinctive white stripe running down the center of their long necks and black eye masks. During the non-breeding season, both males and females sport a more subdued plumage, of pale gray above and white below.
The Wilson’s Phalarope has a diverse and widespread distribution; its breeding range spans from western Canada down to the western United States. They breed in a range of wetland habitats, including lakes, ponds, and marshes. After laying eggs, the female typically departs, leaving the male to incubate the eggs and care for the young. This unique reversal of traditional gender roles, called “polyandry,” is an intriguing aspect of their breeding biology.
During the non-breeding season, these remarkable birds undertake impressive migrations that lead them to coastal areas of South America, particularly along the western coast. As part of their migratory route, they may also travel through the Caribbean. Our islands thus provide essential stopover points where these birds can rest and feed before continuing their long migrations.
One of the most remarkable aspects of the Wilson’s Phalarope is its feeding behavior. They are adept at foraging in shallow waters, using their long, slender bills to peck at the surface. One can observe them swimming in small, rapid, circular motions. This unique swimming behavior creates a small vortex, or a whirlpool, that brings up aquatic invertebrates from the depths, providing a rich food source. Terrestrial invertebrates are also consumed.
Currently, Wilson’s Phalaropes are classified as a species of Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, indicating that they are not currently facing significant conservation threats. However, like many bird species, they are not immune to potential threats. Habitat loss due to urban development and agricultural expansion remains a concern. Additionally, disturbances to breeding and foraging areas, pollution of wetlands, and climate change induced shifts in their preferred habitats could potentially impact their populations.
You can help conserve Wilson’s Phalaropes and other wetland-dependent bird species by:
Supporting wetland protection and sustainable land use in your region.
Participating in citizen science by joining eBird! The more information that is available to researchers, the better they can help protect these precious birds.
Helping raise awareness and let people know about the importance of wetlands for birds and people!
Thanks to Susan Davis for the text and Christine Elder for the lovely illustration!
Color in the Wilson’s Phalarope
Download the Migratory Birds of the Day Coloring Page! Use the picture above and the photos on this page as your guide, or look up pictures of the bird online or in a bird field guide if you have one. Share your colored-in page with us by posting it online and tagging us @BirdsCaribbean #WMBD2023Carib
Listen to the calls of the Wilson’s Phalarope
Wilson’s Phalaropes make abrupt nasal-sounding calls to each other. These are made both as courtship and contact calls.
Puzzles of the Day
Click on the images below to do the puzzle. You can make the puzzle as easy or as hard as you like—for example, 6, 8, or 12 pieces for young children, and all the way up to 1,024 pieces for those that are up for a challenge!
Activity of the Day
FOR KIDS: Wilson’s Phalaropes make epic journeys south every year on migration! They start heading towards the Caribbean and South America in July, before the weather gets too cold and food becomes hard to find. They don’t make this trip all in one go; they make some stops along the way to rest, molt out of their breeding plumage, and take on more food. They can eat so much on some of these stops that they double their body weight!
Why not ‘Follow the Phalarope’ in our fun activity? You will learn how to map the migration routes of three Wilson’s Phalaropes all the way from North America to islands in the Caribbean! You can find the instructions and worksheet here.
FOR KIDS AND ADULTS: Enjoy these videos, by Don DesJardin, of Wilson’s Phalaropes foraging in the Wild! In the first video you can see the different plumages of the brightly colored female and duller male. In the second can see the ‘spinning’ technique these birds often use when feeding.
Celebrate World Migratory Bird Day (WMBD) with us in 2023! This year’s theme is “Water: Sustaining Bird Life”. Have fun learning about a new migratory bird every day. We have coloring pages, puzzles, activities, and more. Download for free and enjoy nature with your family at home.
Migratory Bird of the Day: Lesser Yellowlegs
With their long bright-yellow legs, you might spot these elegant shorebirds at the water’s edge searching the shallows for food. Lesser Yellowlegs are mottled grayish-brown above, with pale underparts. These slender-looking, long-billed birds can be easy to pick out from the crowd with their distinctive leg color. However, take care as this shorebird has a ‘cousin’—the Greater Yellowlegs!
Greater Yellowlegs are much larger and more heavily built. If you spot the two together, you’ll be in no doubt as to who is who. But you can also pick out Lesser Yellowlegs from its relatively shorter bill-length compared to Greater Yellowlegs. Lesser Yellowlegs also have a distinctive whistled “tu-tu” call, typically one or two notes, while the Greater Yellowlegs call is a stronger “tu-tu-tu!” of 3 to 4 notes. You can find more ID tips in our video here.
Lesser Yellowlegs breed in the Boreal forests in the far north of North America. They head south after breeding, making amazing migratory journeys of thousands of kilometers. They can start to arrive in the Caribbean from July and August. Some Lesser Yellowlegs will continue on to South America, but others will spend the winter here. Lesser Yellowlegs can be found in wetlands, both freshwater and on the coast. They show up on mud flats, ponds, lagoons, and on mangrove edges. They will also use agricultural areas, with flocks of thousands of individuals sometimes using flooded rice fields.
Lesser Yellowlegs are one of the most common shorebirds using the Atlantic Flyway. They are currently listed as “Least Concern” by the IUCN. Sadly, however, Lesser Yellowlegs populations have declined by a shocking 63-70% since the 1970s! Loss of habitat, climate change, and unsustainable hunting and trapping at several non-breeding locations have all contributed to this decline. Conserving our Caribbean wetlands will help Lesser Yellowlegs and many other species. They provide food-rich havens for birds to refuel on migration or to spend the winter.Learn more about this species, including its range, photos, and calls here.
Color in the Lesser Yellowlegs
Download the Migratory Birds of the Day Coloring Page! Use the picture above and the photos on this page as your guide, or you can look up pictures of the bird online or in a bird field guide if you have one. Share your colored-in page with us by posting it online and tagging us @BirdsCaribbean #WMBD2023Carib
Listen to the calls of the Lesser Yellowlegs
The calls of the Lesser Yellowlegs are a whistled “tu-tu” with one or two notes, often repeated rapidly.
Puzzles of the Day
Click on the images below to do the puzzle. You can make the puzzle as easy or as hard as you like – for example, 6, 8, or 12 pieces for young children, all the way up to 1,024 pieces for those that are up for a challenge!
Activity of the Day
FOR KIDS: Birds, like the Lesser Yellowlegs, that are typically found at the shore and other coastal habitats like mudflats and lagoons are called shorebirds.
These birds come in different sizes and shapes. They are always on the move, checking the shoreline for food. They have special bills that help them poke into the mud or sand and in between rocks. Their bills and leg lengths are different depending on what they eat and where they find their food. All of this can help us to identify them!
Why not go Birding at the beach? Or at any other wetland! We have made some suggestions of who you can look out for whilst you’re there. You can also download and print out our handy guide to help you identify the different types of shorebirds we find in the Caribbean. You can find more helpful tips, activities and video on our Shorebird Resources page.
FOR KIDS AND ADULTS: Enjoy these videos of Lesser Yellowlegs
Read all about the fascinating work tracking Lesser Yellowlegs: Biologist Laura McDuffie has tracked the movements of these long distance migrants as they travelled to and from their breeding areas. Find out more about Laura’s work, the amazing journeys that Lesser Yellowlegs make each year and the threats they face along the way!
Calling all Caribbean bird lovers! Let’s be on the alert, and scan the skies for our migrating birds!
October 14th, 2023 marks the official date for World Migratory Bird Day (WMBD) in the Caribbean and Central and South America; it’s celebrated in May in North America. It’s one of the most exciting times of year for birdwatchers and reflects the awesome nature of bird migration—the exact timing of which varies between the northern and southern hemispheres. It’s the time when migratory birds appear, as if by magic, in Caribbean gardens, forests, coastlines, and hillsides—returning to their favorite spots where food and shelter are plentiful.
While we welcome our wonderful warblers, shorebirds, landbirds, hawks and others back “home” to spend the winter months on our islands, we also recognise that WMBD is a global campaign. It is a platform for citizens worldwide to learn more about migratory birds, to realize their value—and, most importantly, to understand the need to conserve them.
This year’s WMBD theme highlights the impact of the growing water crisis on migratory birds. This theme resonates in the Caribbean, where islands have been enduring longer-lasting and more severe droughts. It is not only farmers and householders who are feeling the effects of lower than normal rainfall patterns. Birds are, too! This October, 2023, the Caribbean will be a part of the worldwide campaign—adopting the theme “Water: Sustaining Bird Life.”
Here is the WMBD 2023 theme in other regional languages:
Agua: vital para las aves
L’eau: Source de vie pour les oiseaux
As the saying goes, “Water is life.”
Water is essential for the survival of all living organisms on this “Blue Planet.” Migratory birds depend on watery places for resting, breeding and feeding. These include rivers and streams, swamps and wetlands, ponds and gullies; and of course, coastal waters.
The wetlands of Monte Cristi are a fantastic place for waterbirds, including many migratory shorebirds. (photo by Maria Paulino)
Zapata Swamp in Cuba is an incredibly important place for waterbirds and people. (photo by Garry Donaldson)
The world famous Bonaire salt ponds support large numbers of many species of migratory shorebirds, including the Semipalmated Sandpiper, Least Sandpiper, Stilt Sandpiper, Red Knot, Lesser Yellowlegs, Semipalmated Plover, and Sanderling.
The Layou River in St. Vincent is an important freshwater site. (Photo by Lisa Sorenson)
The Anasco River in Puerto Rico provides 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)
Wetlands are wonderful places for birds, recreation and learning. View of the Twin Bridges, Ashton Lagoon, Union Island, St Vincent and the Grenadines. (Photo by Sustainable Grenadines, Inc.)
As Caribbean residents may have noticed during this intensely hot summer, birds have flocked to bird baths, drains, and water sources of all kinds to quench their thirst and preen their feathers, especially in more urban areas. However, the extreme heat and drought, fueled by climate change, are not the only challenges facing migratory birds. The quantity and quality of freshwater supplies are declining. Pollution (pesticides, chemicals, sewage, and plastic pollution) threatens many bird habitats. With ongoing tourism and housing developments, especially along the coast, the demand for freshwater for human use is growing.
We can all help our migratory birds
This WMBD join us in spreading the message that water conservation is important for all life on Earth, including birds! You can also help birds by planting native trees that require less watering and provide food and habitat, disposing of your garbage properly, lending a hand to clean up critical bird habitats, and making water conservation part of your daily routine by taking shorter showers, immediately fixing leaking faucets and pipes, and washing full loads only.
A homemade birdbath is another great way to provide birds with a reliable source of clean water. Every bird-friendly garden needs a spot for birds to drink from, clean themselves, or to just cool down on a hot day! These are so easy to put together and can be made from materials around your house and yard. This is also a great way to attract birds that don’t eat seeds or drink nectar to your garden—talk about a win-win!
Clear the runway because coming in for landing is..
Every year, Environment for the Americas focuses on ten “special” species to feature in promotions. For this year’s WMBD the ten focal species selected are:
Northern Shoveler*
American White Pelican*
Wilson’s Phalarope*
Northern Waterthrush*
Yellow-billed Cuckoo*
Barn Swallow*
Rufous Hummingbird
Dickcissel*
Magellanic Penguin
Osprey*
Some of these birds are quite familiar to us in the Caribbean; at least eight of them—those with an asterisk—occur on Caribbean islands, though they are not all common. The region is significant for these traveling birds who move to, from, across, and through the region.
WMBD celebrations would not be complete without some spectacular artwork!
This year’s artist, Augusto Silva of Nicaragua, is well known for his geometric and colorful style. In aquatic blues and greens, Augusto’s art perfectly captures the WMBD 2023 theme. His work is influenced by the traditional life of the Afro-Caribbean indigenous community and pre-Columbian petroglyphs—and inspired by Nature.
Free WMBD resources for educators and conservationists
So, how can we continue to raise awareness on the importance of water (agua, l’eau) for our migrating birds? The good news is that you, our Caribbean educators, are helping to do just that. As you join the WMBD campaign, you may request WMBD educational materials by contacting Laura Baboolal, the WMBD Caribbean coordinator at lbaboolal@environmentamericas.org.
If you are planning a WMBD event or two (and we hope you are!), you will find useful digital educational resources at: https://trello.com/b/mmiiYE3A/wmbd-2023
BirdsCaribbean will also be featuring WMBD bird species that occur in the Caribbean on our Migratory Bird of the Day webpages (Birds Connect Our World). Our drawings this fall are featuring the art of Christine Elder – naturalist, educator and biological illustrator extraordinaire! Be sure to check out her website and follower on social media!
As in past years, we will provide free downloadable resources, including coloring pages, natural history information, puzzles, photos, videos and activity sheets—we invite you to check it out!
We also encourage you to add your events to the interactive map, so we can see where WMBD activities are taking place throughout the Caribbean: https://www.worldmigratorybirdday.org/events-map
How you can celebrate and help migratory birds . . . & we want to see your bird baths!
Celebrate WMBD this fall!
Go birding with your family and friends and see how many migratory birds you can spot. If you’re at a wetland or beach, do a Caribbean Waterbird Census (CWC) Count. Don’t forget to upload your checklists to eBird or eBird Caribbean!
Learn more! Look for a WMBD event happening near you and try to attend. Enjoy and download the many free online resources about migratory birds – see above links. Share what you learn with your friends and family.
Thank about the ways that you can help conserve water – see the handy infographic above and do your part by taking shorter showers, fixing leaky faucets and running toilets, planting a drought-friendly native plant garden, supporting conservation of wetlands, and much more.
Finally, since this year’s theme is Water: Sustaining Bird Life we want to see the best bird baths in your backyards! We’re looking for pretty, funky, fun, and functional watery oases. Bird baths may be ready-made or DIY.
Snap a pic or record a short video and email it to Laura at lbaboolal@environmentamericas.org and/or tag us, @birdscaribbean and @environmentamericas, on social media.
Be sure to include your name, country, and a few sentences about your bird bath—for example, the household materials that were reused to make it, and the variety of birds that visit the bird bath!
All suitable submissions will be shared on the BirdsCaribbean and Environment For The Americas websites and social media accounts.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
Illegal dumping of trash is a problem at some of Antigua’s wetlands, including those that are Important Bird Areas (IBAs). These places are vitally important for migratory shorebirds, who, after traveling thousands of kilometers, need a winter home that is safe and clean, not full of trash! Wildlife Officer, Joshel Wilson from the NGO ‘The Environmental Awareness Group’ (EAG) tells us about efforts by EAG and the ‘Wadadli Warblers’ Birding Club to use shorebird themed signs to reduce this problem and make these important wetlands havens for wildlife as well as more enjoyable for people to visit.
The Environmental Awareness Group (EAG) is Antigua and Barbuda’s oldest non-governmental environmental organization and has been at the forefront of conservation work for over 30 years. From restoring offshore islands and saving species from extinction to education, community engagement, and influencing environmental policy, the EAG works collaboratively to enact environmental change in Antigua and Barbuda.
Core to our work is our aspiration to have “a society with individual and collective responsibility to care for and value biodiversity and ecosystems for the long-term benefit of people and wildlife.” To do that, we stand strongly on integrity and the belief that environmental work should not only be worthwhile but also interesting and satisfying, with a hint of adventure.
Silver Linings During the Pandemic
During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the EAG promoted a virtual bird identification training that would allow participants, specifically Antiguans and Barbudans, to enjoy birding in their backyards. Following the six intense training sessions, the ‘Wadadli Warblers’ Birding Club was formed in May 2020. The club now has 35 members who participate in monthly birding expeditions across the island, regularly sharing bird photos, bird calls, and videos in their WhatsApp group. Once fully trained in Bird ID and survey methods we thought that the Wadadli Warblers would be the perfect partners to assist with conducting the Caribbean Waterbird Census (CWC) surveys. As such, they have collaborated with the EAG in 2021 and 2022, assisting with monitoring and data collection and allowing individuals from the club to contribute to citizen science, which will lead to better management of IBAs on the island.
Wetlands with a Problem
During the EAG’s Caribbean Waterbird Census survey and Trash Challenge initiative (our country-wide wetland clean-up days), it had been noted that there is significant illegal dumping at IBAs in Antigua, despite potential fines of EC$3000-$15,000 for littering. This issue poses threats to the resident and migratory birds that live in and visit these important areas.
But what could be done to reduce this illegal dumping of trash? During this project we aimed to tackle the issue by raising awareness about the importance of shorebird protection in Antigua and Barbuda, thereby increasing public participation in conservation efforts. We also aimed to reduce illegal dumping at IBAs through the development of informative shorebird signs, working with the Wadadli Warblers to make this happen!
Shorebird Signs Show the Way
I am excited to share with you the success of this project, led by the Wadadli Warblers Birding Club and supported by the Environmental Awareness Group (EAG), aimed at improving shorebird habitats and discouraging illegal dumping in Antigua and Barbuda. As part of the project, six signs were designed and installed at Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas where shorebirds are found and illegal dumping is an issue.
We successfully achieved our project objectives by implementing several activities, starting with selecting suitable sites that met specific criteria. Data collected during previous Caribbean Waterbird Censuses (CWC) was used to identify sites with high shorebird presence, illegal dumping issues, and easy public access. The Wadadli Warblers formed a sign committee comprised of eight members, five men and three women, to assess the areas and select the six major site locations that met the criteria.
During the sign-planning process engaging with landowners was a crucial aspect of the project to ensure that the signs were in maximum view of the public. We also developed a plan that outlined the benefits of installing the signs for landowners, such as increased awareness of the importance of shorebirds and their habitats and reduced illegal dumping in the area. The landowners were visited to discuss the benefits of the signs and address any concerns that they had.
Once the sites were identified and landowners were on board, the Wadadli Warblers’ Sign Committee was tasked with developing the content for the signs. They worked with a graphic designer, Patrick Joseph, principal of Stooge Co., to create unique signs. Once the designs were finalized they were created by sign printer, Select Signs and Graphix, using high-quality materials. This is important as these new signs need to withstand the high winds and salty conditions at the sites where they are installed.
Cleaning Up and Raising Awareness
In addition to installing the signs, we conducted clean-ups at some of our target wetlands, including Darkwood Beach, Shell Beach, Ffryes Beach, Fitches Creek Mangrove, and Johnson’s Point. Our clean-ups were a collaboration between the Wadadli Warblers Birding Club, EAG members, the National Solid Waste Management Authority, Youth Today, and the Parham Alliance for the Beautification and Revitalization Organization (PABRO), in a local effort to reduce waste along our coasts. This activity helped raise awareness of the impact of illegal dumping on shorebird habitats while also keeping the areas clean and free of waste.
To ensure the public was aware of the newly erected signs, an unveiling was held at Shell Beach on February 6, 2023, accompanied by a birding session with the Department of Environment, the Ministry of Tourism, members of the Wadadli Warblers Birding Club, EAG Board members, the National Solid Waste Management Authority, and media personnel from Antigua/Barbuda Broadcasting Services and Wadadli Unplugged.
A Brighter Future for Wetlands and Shorebirds
The project’s success was further cemented by partnering with the Ministry of Tourism’s Sustainable Tourism Unit to promote avi-tourism as a viable option in Antigua and Barbuda. Bird tourism could potentially be used by the EAG as sustainable financing, increasing our ability to manage more areas for shorebird protection in the future!
I am thrilled to have been part of a project that successfully achieved its objectives, and I commend the Wadadli Warblers Sign Committee, the Ministry of Tourism, and all those involved in making it a reality. This project’s success shows that with dedication, hard work, and collaboration, we can make a positive impact on our environment and promote sustainable tourism.
This project was made possible with funding from Environment and Climate Change Canada via a BirdsCaribbean grant to EAG.
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.
Reddish Egrets – Adult being followed by two juveniles. (Photo by Susan Davis)
The magnificent white morph of the Great Blue Heron (photo by Susan Davis)
Flamboyant flamingos displaying during the breeding season on Bonaire. (Photo by Susan Davis)
Birders enjoying their waterbird experience on Bonaire. (Photo by Susan Davis).
Hover over photos for captions & click to enlarge the images
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!
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 Sanderling taking a rest. (Photo by Stuart Reeves)
White Ibis spotted near the mangroves in Jamaica. (photo by Vaughan Turland)
A pair of Least Sandpipers in Jamaica. (Photo by Stuart Reeves)
A Brown Pelican has a stretch. (Photo by Emma Lewis)
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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!
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!
On the island of St. Martin, the Les Fruits de Mer association recently released the book Suddenly, Sargassum! The book digs into the sudden arrival of this floating seaweed, which is a threat to ecosystems and livelihoods. But sargassum is also a resource and habitat for many kinds of life both in the sea and on the land. The book, full of beautiful photos and informative text, is available in English and French on the association’s website as a free download – check it out and feel free to share with others.
Birds and Sargassum
Wherever there’s sargassum, you will probably find birds. Many different kinds of birds look for food in and near sargassum. The sargassum can help them find food in several ways.
When sargassum is floating in the water, schools of small fish hide underneath it. Birds like the Royal Tern and Brown Pelican dive into the water near sargassum patches to catch these fish.
When sargassum collects in shallow bays, long-legged birds like the Great Egret stand in the water and pick food out of the sargassum. Sargassum Swimming Crabs are probably one of the things they hunt this way.
When sargassum is on the shore, shorebirds are often picking through it to find amphipods and other small animals to eat. Most of the shorebirds in the Caribbean are long-distance travelers that spend the fall and winter months here, and the summers in North America.
There are even a few land birds that use sargassum. Barn Swallows are small birds that eat flying insects. When sargassum is rotting on the beach, it often has clouds of flies above it. Barn Swallows will fly just above the sargassum to catch them. The Gray Kingbird, which usually isn’t near the beach, will sometimes catch flying insects by sargassum, too.
A Feast for Guests
Migratory birds spend their summers up in North America, sometimes as far north as the Arctic Circle. That’s where they nest and raise their chicks. When it gets colder up there, they fly south to the Caribbean and South America. Most begin to arrive between August and October.
Shorebirds usually live near beaches and ponds. They mainly eat little animals living in water, mud or sand. They often have long legs for standing in mud or water. They have long bills for digging around to find insects, crabs, snails and other foods. After the long flight to the Caribbean, they must rest and eat. They seek out coastal areas and shallow ponds where they can live and find food until they fly back north in the spring.
Spring is usually our hottest and driest time of the year, and it usually gets rainier over the summer. This makes the ponds healthy and full of food by the time these birds arrive. However, in recent years summers have been very dry. Some ponds have been drying out completely and don’t refill until rain comes in the fall. When the shorebirds arrive, they are empty.
Over these same years, sargassum has been arriving in the spring and summer. It piles up on the beach and is full of tiny creatures these shorebirds can eat. If the ponds are dry, these birds go to the beach to find food in the sargassum.
Migratory shorebirds have found amazing ways to live their lives. They travel thousands of kilometers north each year to find a safe place to raise their chicks. They cross seas and avoid hurricanes to travel back south. They know which places make the best stops in between. As climate change has made the summer drier, they have adapted again, finding food in the sargassum when the ponds are dry.
Sargassum Bird Guide
Wherever you see sargassum, you will probably see birds. There are more than 30 kinds of birds that hunt for food in sargassum. Many of them are birds we normally see at sea or on the beach. Others are usually found inland or on ponds. In just a few years, all of these birds have learned to use the sargassum.
In this guide there are sixteen kinds of birds that are commonly seen around sargassum on the island of St. Martin. Scientists are still learning which birds use sargassum and how. If you write down your observations of birds using sargassum, you can contribute to this research.
A mixed group of shorebirds forages for food on a sargassum-covered beach. In this photo there are dowitchers, plovers, sandpipers and turnstones.
Seabirds
Some seabirds hunt for fish near sargassum in the open ocean like the Sargasso Sea. The sargassum attracts fish because it provides food and shelter for them.
The Royal Tern and the Laughing Gull are birds that hunt near sargassum in the open ocean. The Brown Pelican is a bird that stays near land. It learned to fish near sargassum when the seaweed started arriving.
Royal Tern (Thalasseus maximus) – This tern (below) hunts near sargassum in the open ocean and near the shore. It dives for fish around the edges of sargassum mats in the water. It catches one fish at a time in its bill, so it doesn’t accidentally eat sargassum.
Brown Pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis) – Diving into the sea, Brown Pelicans catch fish in their giant throat pouch. They drain water from the pouch before swallowing, but they may also eat a lot of sargassum. We don’t know if this is bad for them.
Laughing Gull (Leucophaeus atricilla) – These gulls migrate. They live here from April to October. They feed in sargassum on shore and in the water. On land, they stomp on sargassum, perhaps to expose small animals that they can eat.
Herons
Herons are birds with long legs and pointed bills. White-colored herons are often called egrets. Most herons live near water. On St. Martin, they are usually found by ponds and mangroves.
Herons are very smart and quick to adapt. When fish are trapped in a drying pond, they will gather to eat them all. If their pond dries up, they will hunt for lizards and insects.
Herons and egrets hunt in the sargassum in the water and on shore. It can be an important place for them to find food when ponds are dry.
Great Egret (Ardea alba) – With its very long legs, this egret often wades out to hunt for fish and crabs in the sargassum mats floating near the shore.
Snowy Egret (Egretta thula) – Flocks of Snowy Egrets (below) are common around beached sargassum. They pick through fresh sargassum to find crabs and shrimp that have washed up with the seaweed.
Green Heron (Butorides virescens) – Normally seen around ponds or streams, the Green Heron will go to the beach to forage around sargassum.
Land Birds
Most land birds are not attracted to sargassum. For birds that eat seeds, nectar or fruits, sargassum has nothing to offer.
A few insect-eating birds can be found around sargassum. They don’t spend most of their time there, but it is a reliable place to find insects.
Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica) – Barn Swallows fly around catching tiny insects. When there are piles of sargassum on shore, swallows fly low over them to catch the flies and midges that are there.
Gray Kingbird (Tyrannus dominicensis) – The Gray Kingbird usually sits on a high branch, flitting off to snap up insects that fly nearby. One with a broken upper bill (photo below) was seen catching insects in sargassum, perhaps because it couldn’t do it the normal way.
House Sparrow (Passer domesticus) – House Sparrows mostly eat seeds, but they are also very adaptable. These House Sparrows were probably eating insects or sand fleas in the sargassum.
Shorebirds
There are many kinds of shorebirds. They usually live around ponds, wetlands or beaches. They often have long legs and long bills. They eat foods like crabs, snails, fish and insects.
They have flown hundreds of kilometers or more and they are hungry! When they arrive, the beaches are often covered with sargassum, and full of small animals for them to eat.
Black-necked Stilt (Himantopus mexicanus) – The Black-necked Stilt lives on many islands in the Caribbean all year. Usually it is found on ponds, but when there is a lot of sargassum, it will go to the beach to look for food.
Killdeer (Charadrius vociferus) – The Killdeer lives on many Caribbean islands year-round. It is most common on sandy areas near ponds, but it also lives on beaches.
Semipalmated Plover (Charadrius semipalmatus) – This plover is a migrant. Unlike many shorebirds, it has a short bill. It picks insects and amphipods off the surface of the sargassum.
Semipalmated Sandpiper (Calidris pusilla) – This small sandpiper picks through sargassum on shore. It is also light enough to land on sargassum mats in the sea and hunt through them for shrimp and crabs.
Lesser Yellowlegs (Tringa flavipes) – This migratory shorebird is usually seen picking through sargassum on the beach. It will also walk on floating mats of nearshore sargassum and feed.
Short-billed Dowitcher (Limnodromus griseus) – The Short-billed Dowitcher has a long bill designed for probing into the mud. It can also use this bill to dip into sargassum mounds and remove small animals to eat.
Ruddy Turnstone (Arenaria interpres) – This bird flips stones to find insects and other food underneath. It does something similar in sargassum. It sticks its bill in, flips a clump of sargassum over, and then eats what it has uncovered.
Les Fruits de Mer is a non-profit French association based in Grand Case, Saint Martin co-founded by Mark Yokoyama and Jenn Yerkes. Their mission is to promote awareness of ecology and culture through discovery, inspiration and education.
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.
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!
With bird migration in full swing September was the perfect time for BirdsCaribbean to head to Barbados for a Wetlands Education Training Workshop! From September 27-28, 2022 30 participants took part in this ‘train the trainers’ event at Walkers Reserve, where they learned all about the wondrous wetlands and wetland birds on Barbados.During the two daysof fun-filled and hands-on learning, participants were armed with tools, resources, andinspirationto help them share what they learned with others. Read all about what the workshop was like from the perspective of workshop participant Meike Joseph.
In September I completed a two-day Wetlands and Bird Education Training Workshop held by BirdsCaribbean at Walkers Reserve, Barbados. Initially, when I found out about this workshop, I got excited. I see birds on a regular basis but have not been able to identify them. So now you know why I joined this workshop – I wanted to learn how to identify birds. As it turned out I learnt so much more than that! Considering that this workshop was just two days, the information was extremely useful for my field of work. I did not feel overwhelmed at any point. The facilitators made learning easy, explaining all aspects of each topic in its simplest form so we could easily understand and absorb the information.
Talking about wetlands
On the first day of the workshop we were given a substantial amount of learning materials including bird identification charts, colouring books, and a book, Wondrous West Indian Wetlands: Teachers’ Resource Book, which is packed with information on Caribbean wetlands and birds, including many educational activities that can be done with kids and communities. We were also given a pop quiz as soon as registration was completed. Needless to say, I panicked as I didn’t know much about birds or wetlands! However, this quiz was helpful. As we did the same quiz at the end of the two-day period, it allowed the facilitators and myself to see how much we had learned, and it was a lot!
Marvelous mangroves
We gained a significant amount of knowledge on wetlands, including definitions of wetlands and what we would find within these amazing ecosystems, with a focus on mangroves. This intrigued me as I am very passionate about them. We received a booklet on Mangroves of the Caribbean which assisted in mangrove identification, and also learnt about how important they are as homes and protection for all kinds of birds, fish, crustaceans and other organisms.
Pouring a pond!
We then participated in a demonstration titled Pour-a-Pond (Activity 2-C in Wondrous West Indian Wetlands). This was the highlight of the first day for me. We made a small pond-like structure from a sheet of plastic which was filled with water from the ponds at Walkers Reserve. We were then asked to catch and identify the various organisms that we spotted in the water, using an identification chart that was given to us by Dr. Sorenson and Ms. Kading. This activity resulted in lots of interaction between the students who were all fascinated by the many organisms they found. After this demonstration, we learned a lot about the importance and value of our wetlands, the ongoing destruction of these unique ecosystems, and why we should make efforts to save them.
Next, John Webster, an experienced birder and bird guide in Barbados gave an excellent presentation on Wetlands in Barbados and the many resident and migratory birds that use these sites. I found this riveting! I am a local person, but I had never seen or heard about some of these locations. John pointed out that many of these wetland areas were once used for bird shooting but some are now becoming conservation areas.
Time to get active
At noon, we separated into six groups to partake in different activities from the workbook. We then demonstrated them to the other participants. The title of my group’s activity was ‘Salty Currents’ where we gathered materials and used them to show what occurs when fresh and saltwater meet, as they do in swamps. We also discussed how water temperature and salinity influence plant and animal habitats in wetlands. All activities were wetland-and bird-focused and resulted in extensive discussions, and even heated debates!
One such activity, called ‘Difficult Decisions,’ was a role-play where participants in the group discussed real-life environmental issues in a Town Hall setting. Each person took on the role of a different stakeholder, all with different interests in the outcome, for example, debating the fate of a mangrove slated for destruction to make way for a new hotel. The development company, environmental minister, tourism minister, fisherman, eco-tourism guide, local restaurant owner, environmentalist, etc. all have different opinions about whether or not the development should move forward. Each passionately argued their case and voiced their opinion, sometimes sounding like well-known local public figures in similar situations! This brought on laughs but the exercise is valuable in that it places students in the position of decision-makers and challenges them to make up their own minds about what to do.
Another important activity, ‘A Hunter’s Tale,‘ addressed the issue of hunting. This was another role play intended to stimulate students to think about the issue of hunting and make up their own minds about it. Barbados provides important stopover habitats for many migratory shorebirds, however, many of these wetlands are private “shooting swamps” managed for hunting. Hunting has a long history in Barbados and in the past, tens of thousands of shorebirds were killed each fall. Thankfully, some of the “shooting swamps” have been converted into shorebird refuges in recent years, now providing vital habitat for birds like the Lesser Yellowlegs that need a place to rest and feed on their long migrations. These refuges are now wonderful places to see hundreds of shorebirds and waterbirds up close – we were grateful to the hunting clubs that allowed us to visit and enjoy the birds on the field trip the next day!
“There were many highlights to my learning experience at the workshop. It was exciting gaining knowledge on birds but also thrilling to learn about wetlands, particularly the mangroves within them.” – Meike Joseph
Birding 101
Following the peer-teaching activities was a presentation on bird identification. Prior to this presentation, many of us had limited knowledge on identifying birds. We learnt about how to identify birds, including observing size and shape, beak size and curvature, color patterns, behavior, habitat, and more. I found it very interesting that birds change their feather colors or plumage, based on the season – the breeding or non-breeding season. This would sometimes make it tricky to identify some birds! This lesson added to my eagerness to observe birds on Day Two.
After this presentation, the day ended and we were on our way home, armed with a range of learning materials and a significant amount of knowledge on wetlands and birds.
Day two: On the road we go
Day Two was one of adventure and learning. We headed off to two wetlands to observe and identify the various birds that we saw with our binoculars which had been given, compliments of BirdCaribbean, to be used for continued outreach and education at Walkers Reserve.
That relaxing feeling when bird watching
Our first site was Congo Road Private Bird Sanctuary, a former shorebird shooting swamp. We focused on observing and identifying all the birds that we saw. Ms. Kading first led an activity called Sound Mapping (Activity 6-J), which I thought was quite calming. It was a highlight for me at this location. We were asked to sit quietly, to listen to all the sounds around us and also to note the direction of these sounds. This made me realize how long it had been since I quieted down and really tuned in to nature’s beautiful sounds. As I was sitting and listening, I also noticed a bird hunting for food in the water, diving to catch its prey – a fascinating sight.
The second place we went to was one that was unfamiliar to me – a beautiful wetland on the north of the island called Foster’s Swamp, another former shooting swamp, turned bird sanctuary, filled with a great variety of birds. It’s here that I was able to observe a unique bird for me, a juvenile American Golden Plover resting on the grass. This was a beautiful and informative day. We used the knowledge gained from Day One to assist in identifying different wetland birds.
Later at Foster’s Swamp the group also took part in several of the fun games and activities from the Wetlands Workbook about migration and food webs. Games played included “Migration Headache” which involved ‘migrating’ (running) from breeding areas to increasingly limited wetland habitat (paper plates), learning about the threats faced by migrant birds from habitat loss, pollution, hunting and hurricanes. In “Deadly Links” the participants playing the role of ‘Ospreys’ caused havoc amongst their hapless ‘prey’ – only to discover that they had consumed so many pesticides (accumulated in the food-chain) that their next clutch of eggs wouldn’t hatch. Another intriguing activity was Mangrove Metaphors—learning about the functions and values of mangroves from everyday household objects (e.g., sponge, sieve, cereal box, etc.). Other games involved making a ‘human food web’ and then untangling it, as well as learning about how limited food and habitat resources affect migrating birds in a game called “Habitat Havoc.” Thankfully the weather had cooled during the afternoon and these games got everyone up and active!
Got that Certificate!
The second day of the birding workshop ended with us receiving our certificates stating that we successfully completed the Wondrous West Indian Wetlands Education Training Workshop. Gaining this knowledge on birds was personally satisfying and also assisted me in creating birding tours.
Meieke Joseph is a Project Officer and Tour Manager for Walkers Institute for Regeneration Research Education and Design (WIRRED) and environmental non-profit based at Walkers. Whilst studying at UWI Cave Hill she completed a research project on Remnant Wetlands on the West Coast of Barbados. This has fueled her passion to work on mangrove restoration on the island and has also motivated her to work towards more regenerative practices for Barbados.
This workshop was made possible with funding from Environment and Climate Change Canada, and additional support from Walkers Reserve, WIRRED, CPRI Barbados, Vortex Optics, US Forest Service International Programs, and Southeastern Printing. Thanks also to Congo Road and Fosters Swamp Private Bird Sanctuaries for kindly hosting us on the field trip. You can learn more about the Wonderful West Indian Wetlands project here.
If you want to learn more about shorebirds in the Caribbean check out our shorebird resources page here, which has downloadable ID resources, outreach materials, videos and information pages.
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!
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.
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!
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):
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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!
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:
Following the publication of BirdsCaribbean’s new graphic novel, “Sami the Snowy Plover: Stories of Survival,” its author and illustrator Josmar Esteban Márquez learned how Sami’s story has inspired one Puerto Rican boy! Keep reading to find out more.
The creative arts reach people in different ways, lighting a spark among adults and children of all ages. They can also take children on a voyage of discovery – including birds. Recently, Josmar Márquez received this delightful message from Antoni Arce Quiñones in Puerto Rico:
“Hi Josmar! My child was inspired by Sami’s story. He made a plover for his school presentation and named it Sami. Thanks for your drawings.”
Supported and published by BirdsCaribbean, Marquez’ graphic novel “Sami the Snowy Plover,” (available in English and Spanish), had inspired Quiñones’ young son, Alonso. So much so that he, with help from his Dad, had created a beautiful sculpture of another member of the plover family, the Wilson’s Plover! This shorebird is more common than the Snowy Plover in Puerto Rico where Alonso lives, but faces many of the same conservation challenges as ‘Sami’. He presented this beautiful and detailed model to his classmates at the Montessori School EENUAM (Ecological School for Children Uniting the World), sharing the message of plovers as an example of shorebird migration.
Sharing a love for shorebirds
Quiñones recounted that his son has always been an animal lover, but his particular love for birds grew from around the age of six. More recently, he has become fascinated by plovers and other shorebirds. His father has encouraged his interest, buying books for him and taking him on regular birdwatching and shorebird counting trips. Alonso printed out and read Sami’s story, and decided to name his Wilson’s Plover creation after him.
Alonso’s interest in animals and birds was fostered at his school, in his fauna and flora class. José Salguero-Faría, a biologist and ornithologist at the University of Puerto Rico and and member of the local birdwatching organization SOPI (Sociedad Ornitológica Puertorriqueña), encouraged Alonso and his classmates’ interest in birds in general during a shore-birding field trip.
Further fun, facts, and activities to be had
According to his Papa, Alonso has been enjoying the drawing tutorials video series, also from Josmar Esteban Márquez , on the BirdsCaribbean YouTube channel and the coloring books and other online activities. from BirdsCaribbean. This includes our Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival’s “From the Nest” series, which features fun facts about our endemic birds, as well as coloring pages, puzzles, and activities for kids! These products are all available free of cost; we encourage our members and followers to share them with younger family members and the young at heart!
Recently, plovers have become Alonso’s passion. We hope that the love of a child will help raise awareness and bring hope for Sami and other endangered shorebirds!
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)
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
Celebrate World Migratory Bird Day (WMBD) with us in 2022! This year’s theme is “Dim The Lights for Birds at Night”. Have fun learning about a new migratory bird every day. We have colouring pages, puzzles, activities, and more. Download for free and enjoy nature with your family at home.
Migratory Bird of the Day: Willet
Willets are large shorebirds with long gray legs and a dark straight, slightly heavy bill, which is sometimes pale at the base. Overall, Willets can look quite nondescript and dull-colored in their winter plumage, with plain gray-brown plumage above and pale feathers below. However, when they take flight look out for the bold white-and-black striped pattern on their wings. This is a give away that you’ve seen a Willet, as none of the other similar-sized shorebirds have this wing-pattern. You can also listen out for their “kip-kip-kip” call which they might make if alarmed or agitated.
Most of the Willets that we see in the Caribbean are long-distance migrants, coming south from their in-land breeding and coastal breeding areas in North America. During fall and winter they can be found on our beaches, mudflats, and other coastal wetland areas. Here they feed on small crabs, worms, clams, and other invertebrates. Willets are often found feeding together in small flocks.
A very small number of Willets actually breed in some parts of the Caribbean including on Puerto Rico, Cuba and Anguilla. During the breeding season they are still overwhelmingly gray-brown in appearance, however their feathers become more streaked, mottled and slightly darker.
As with so many shorebirds, Willets are likely to be negatively affected by habitat loss and degradation across their breeding, migration, and wintering ranges. These changes are occurring through increased agriculture, commercial fishing, shrimp aquaculture, and tourism development. Willets are also hunted in parts of their range. Although currently listed as “Least Concern” by the IUCN it is important that wetland habitats are conserved for Willets and all of our shorebirds. Learn more about this species, including its range, photos, and calls here.
Colour in the Willet
Download the Migratory Birds of the Day Colouring Page! Use the picture above and the photos on this page as your guide, or you can look up pictures of the bird online or in a bird field guide if you have one. Share your coloured-in page with us by posting it online and tagging us @BirdsCaribbean #WMBD2022Carib
Listen to the calls of the Willet
During migration and in winter you might hear Willets make a “kyah-yah” often in flight or as they take flight.
Photos of the Day
Activity of the Day
FOR KIDS: Shorebirds, like Willets, make long migratory journeys in the Fall and Spring between their breeding areas and the places where they will spend the winter. Often their migrations can cover 1000s of kilometres and might involved several re-fuelling stop-offs on the way! Shorebirds ‘wintering grounds’ are often far to the south of where the birds breed. This is so that Shorebirds can survive through the winter in warmer climates, away from the freezing conditions further north. Warmer weather on the wintering grounds also means that food is more abundant and easier to find for these hungry shorebirds. Can you help this Willet find its way on its long migratory journey? Can you help this Willet find its way on its long migratory journey? Find the route through the maze to guide it to warm weather and plenty of food on its wintering grounds. You can find the solution here.
FOR KIDS AND ADULTS: Need some help with your Shorebird ID? We know that these long-legged, long billed, gray-brown birds can be confusing sometimes! If you struggle to pick out Willets from the somewhat similar Short-billed Dowitcher take a read of this blog post by Allison Caton who has some handy tips for you.
Finally enjoy this video of Willets, moulting into winter plumage, feeding on the beach! Notice how they probe the sand with their long bills, in search of tasty bivalves and crabs.
Celebrate World Migratory Bird Day (WMBD) with us in 2022! This year’s theme is “Dim The Lights for Birds at Night”. Have fun learning about a new migratory bird every day. We have colouring pages, puzzles, activities, and more. Download for free and enjoy nature with your family at home.
Migratory Bird of the Day: Sanderling
These striking pale-coloured sandpipers are easy to pick-out from other ‘peeps’ (small sandpipers). In their winter colors they have an almost black and white appearance, with black legs and bill and plumage that is pale gray above and white below. You can also look out for a distinctive black shoulder bar, which helps you to be sure you’re seeing a Sanderling. However, perhaps it is their behavior that really gives them away. These ‘wave-catchers’ are constantly running into and out of the surf edge in search of food. Often you’ll see small flocks of them, dashing back and forth along the sand in a blur of black legs and white feathers.
During the breeding season the Sanderlings gray plumage becomes a striking brick-red. They nest in the far north, in high-arctic tundra. But in winter, these ultra long-distance migrants become one of the most wide-spread shorebirds in the world! At this time of year they can be found on almost any temperate or tropical sandy beach, anywhere across the globe. Of course, with our beautiful beaches, this includes the Caribbean.
During each year a proportion of juvenile Sanderling, who are not ready to breed, choose to take a beach holiday. Rather than making the long journey back to the arctic to breed they stay on their wintering grounds. This means they get an extra long rest, and have a better chance to build up their energy reserves before their long migration north the next year.
As a very wide-spread bird, Sanderling populations are not considered to be under threat. However, because Sanderlings love to hang out at beaches, just like people, in some places they are losing access to their habitat. This is from both coast development and increased disturbance by humans at beaches. It’s important that we remember to make space for our birds and share the shore with these beautiful wave-catchers.Learn more about this species, including its range, photos, and calls here.
Colour in the Sanderling
Download the Migratory Birds of the Day Colouring Page! Use the picture above and the photos on this page as your guide, or you can look up pictures of the bird online or in a bird field guide if you have one. Share your coloured-in page with us by posting it online and tagging us @BirdsCaribbean #WMBD2022Carib
Listen to the calls of the Sanderling
Sanderling call softly to each other within a flock with a squeaky “wick wick” call.
Puzzles of the Day
Click on the images below to do the puzzle. You can make the puzzle as easy or as hard as you like – for example, 6, 8, or 12 pieces for young children, all the way up to 1,024 pieces for those that are up for a challenge!
Activity of the Day
FOR KIDS: Many migratory shorebirds have special features that mean they are perfectly adapted for life on on the mud and sand. These adaptations can range from the shape of their bill and the position of eyes, to the length of their legs and the colours of their feathers. Of course Sanderlings spend a lot of time at the beach. Can you match the Sanderling adaptations to their functions ?
There are four ways in which Sanderlings are adapted for a beach life given, all you need to do is match them up to the correct body part on the Sanderling. You can find the correct answers here. Sanderlings are often seen feeding and flying together in groups. When you download our Sanderling adaptations answer sheet you can also read all about some of the reasons why Sanderlings like to feed together in flocks, and about how this helps protect them from predators, like birds of prey.
FOR KIDS AND ADULTS: Enjoy this video of a flock of Sanderlings feeding together at a the beach! You can see them running back and forth into and out of the waves in search of food. This is typical Sanderling behaviour and is why some people call them ‘wave-catchers’.
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.
“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.”
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!
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.
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.
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).
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.
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.
Celebrate World Migratory Bird Day (WMBD) with us in 2022! This year’s theme is “Dim The Lights for Birds at Night”. Have fun learning about a new migratory bird every day. We have colouring pages, puzzles, activities, and more. Download for free and enjoy nature with your family at home.
Migratory Bird of the Day: American Oystercatcher
With their large size, striking black and white plumage, pink legs and carrot-like orange bills, American Oystercatchers are truly unmistakable! Males and females look the same, and in addition to their distinctive plumage they have yellow eyes with a red eye ring. If their size and coloring don’t make them conspicuous enough American Oystercatchers will be sure to alert you to their presence with their loud, excited, high-pitched “hueep hueep hueep!” calls.
American Oystercatchers can be found year-round and breed in some islands of the Caribbean, including Cuba, the Bahamas, Virgin Islands, Hispaniola, and some Lesser Antilles islands. Outside of the breeding season they can be found across most of the West Indies, with birds migrating south in Fall from breeding areas on the Atlantic coast of the U.S.
Oystercatchers are true coast-lovers, and can be found in areas of rocky shoreline and on beaches and offshore cays. Their orange bills might look comical but they serve a serious purpose. These shorebirds specialize on feeding on bivalve mollusks. Their bills are powerful with razor-sharp edges for breaking into tightly closed clams, oysters and mussels.
The diet of American Oystercatchers means they are restricted to coastal areas. Although they are not currently considered to be of conservation concern by the IUCN, they are on the Partners in Flight’s Yellow Watch List. This is because their population size was estimated at only 10,000 birds in 2000. This led to a flurry of research on the species and conservation actions by the “American Oystercatcher Working Group.”
Biologists learned that American Oystercatchers are threatened by direct loss of their breeding habitat from coastal development and the impacts of human disturbance. They are less likely to breed successfully on beaches with high levels of human activity. Management actions such as raising public awareness and protecting breeding sites from disturbance are helping the population to recover. Undisturbed coastal areas are vital to help them thrive throughout the year in the Caribbean too. Learn more about this species, including its range, photos, and calls here.
Colour in the American Oystercatcher
Download the Migratory Birds of the Day Colouring Page! Use the picture above and the photos on this page as your guide, or you can look up pictures of the bird online or in a bird field guide if you have one. Share your coloured-in page with us by posting it online and tagging us @BirdsCaribbean #WMBD2022Carib
Listen to the calls of the American Oystercatcher
American Oystercatchers have loud high-pitched ” hueep” or “weeer” calls, which they can repeat in rapid succession (often with increasing rapidity and volume).
Puzzles of the Day
Click on the images below to do the puzzle. You can make the puzzle as easy or as hard as you like – for example, 6, 8, or 12 pieces for young children, all the way up to 1,024 pieces for those that are up for a challenge!
FOR KIDS AND ADULTS: Don’t forget that you still have time to take part in this year’s Global Shorebird Count. This takes place between September 1 – 7! To take part all you need to do is visit your local wetland and count all the shorebirds (and other birds) that you see there. Then share your eBird Caribbean list with ‘worldshorebirdsday’. You can find out more about how to take part in our handy blog post. This is full of tips and hints for carrying out a successful survey, including links to help out with shorebird ID.
Enjoy this video of an American Oystercatcher. In the video you can see it using it’s bill as it forages on the rocky shore on some tasty mollusks!
Celebrate World Migratory Bird Day (WMBD) with us in 2022! This year’s theme is “Dim The Lights for Birds at Night”. Have fun learning about a new migratory bird every day. We have colouring pages, puzzles, activities, and more. Download for free and enjoy nature with your family at home.
Migratory Bird of the Day: Least Sandpiper
Meet our smallest Caribbean shorebird, the Least Sandpiper! Even the second part of their scientific name “Calidris minutilla” means “very small” in medieval latin. In fact, these tiny sandpipers, part of the group of shorebirds known as ‘peeps’ are not much bigger than a sparrow. These diminutive wetland inhabitants have a compact body, with brown or reddish-brown plumage above and white below. They have a thin slightly down-curved bill, which is black.
Their legs are quite short for a shorebird, and are a distinctive yellowish green color. Look out for these yellow-colored legs, they are a great way to tell Least Sandpipers apart from other very similar looking peeps, such as Western and Semipalmated Sandpipers, who have black legs. Take care though—their legs are sometimes covered in dark mud making the yellow difficult to spot! In addition to their slightly smaller size, yellowish legs and thin, slightly down-curved bill, another way to tell them apart from other peeps is to look for a warmer, browner tone to their plumage. Listen also for their distinctive cheep call.
Least Sandpipers might be small but that doesn’t stop them from making an amazing long-distance migration in the Fall. These birds head south from breeding grounds in subarctic regions in the far north of North America. They travel 1000s of km to winter in the Caribbean, Central and South America. Least Sandpipers will migrate in groups and once they arrive in their winter areas they also like to stay in a flock. They can be found in muddy areas of wetlands, both on the coast and inland. Here they can be seen in a typical ‘hunched over’ posture feeding on tiny invertebrates on the mud surface.
Least Sandpipers are listed as “Least Concern” by the IUCN. However, like all shorebirds they are threatened by disturbance from humans and habitat loss. During migration and overwinter these tiny birds rely on the food that wetlands provide for their survival. Protecting our wetlands is vital to helping conserve shorebirds like the Least Sandpiper! Learn more about this species, including its range, photos, and calls here.
Colour in the Least Sandpiper
Download the Migratory Birds of the Day Colouring Page! Use the picture above and the photos on this page as your guide, or you can look up pictures of the bird online or in a bird field guide if you have one. Share your coloured-in page with us by posting it online and tagging us @BirdsCaribbean #WMBD2022Carib
Listen to the calls of the Least Sandpiper
Least Sandpipers make a distinctive high-pitched “greeep!” call. You might heard this as a small flock takes flight.
Puzzle of the Day
Click on the images below to do the puzzle. You can make the puzzle as easy or as hard as you like – for example, 6, 8, or 12 pieces for young children, all the way up to 1,024 pieces for those that are up for a challenge!
Activity of the Day
FOR KIDS: Test your shorebird ID skills with our “Spot the Least Sandpiper” challenge! Small sandpipers or ‘peeps’ as they are known can look very similar to each other. As well as their small size they share other features such plumage that is brown or grey above and white below, pointed black-coloured bills and a habit of feeding in muddy wetland areas. But Least Sandpiper so have things that help you pick them out from the crowd, read the text above and look closely at the pictures of Least Sandpipers we have shared. Once you’ve done this take a look and see if you can pick out the Least Sandpiper! (there are some extra tips for you on the second page if you get stuck). You can find the correct answer here.
FOR KIDS AND ADULTS: Don’t forget that from September 1 – 7 it is the Global Shorebird Count – with World Shorebirds Day taking place on September 6. Take part by heading to your local wetland and counting all the shorebirds that you see, then making sure to share your list with ‘worldshorebirdsday’ on eBird Caribbean. Need some extra help with your shorebird ID? No worries, we have you covered, check out our shorebird resources page here. Find out more about the Global Shorebird Count and World Shorebirds day below.
As September draws closer and migratory shorebirds are making their way south, we are getting ready to celebrate World Shorebirds Day 2022! This year, why not show up and take part in the Global Shorebird Count? From help with bird ID to counting tips, BirdsCaribbean has everything you need to make your survey a success.
Mark your calendars for Tuesday September 6, 2022 – World Shorebirds Day. A reminder, though, that Global Shorebird Count can take place anytime from September 1 to 7. You will be part of an army of recorders worldwide! Across the Caribbean, 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. Whoever you are with, or even if you are on your own – why not join the counters and make your contribution to citizen science?
Well, you may ask: why should I? Why is this important? 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. Recording how many birds are around during migration – as well as where you find them – can help us conserve where they live and where they stop over.
Where to find shorebirds
Where should you be searching for shorebirds? That’s a big question. 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, and at brackish marshes and ponds. Shorebirds will also gather on mud flats, in mangrove areas, and on tidal flats.
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 website, and find ‘Explore Hotspots.’ You can open hotspots in a map and then click on a hotspot to see what types of birds have been seen there recently.
Everything you need to count shorebirds
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.
You can also brush up on your CWC survey skills, waterbird ID, and shorebird ID before you go out on your surveys by watching our fantastic CWC and Shorebird ID webinars on YouTube. Go to our shorebird resources page to find everything you need. Of course, don’t forget to take your favorite bird ID guide with you when you do your shorebird counts.
Now, sometimes there’s a trick to these things. 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?)
Make your Counts Count
We encourage you to register to participate in the count and be sure to share your eBird Caribbean checklist(s) with worldshorebirdsday – the eBird username of World Shorebirds Day. You can find guidelines for sharing checklists here. 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. 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. EBird is a good habit to get into!
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 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”. To increase the value of your count to science, be sure to count ALL birds at your site, including seabirds, herons and egrets, land birds, etc.
Spotted a Banded Bird?
Banded birds are special! If you spot a bird with a band on its leg, do your best to record the band colors and any numbers or letters. Binoculars or zoom photography may allow you to clearly see the band colors and the numbers engraved onto the band. Look out for bands especially on Piping Plovers, Red Knots, Semipalmated Sandpipers, Semipalmated Plovers, Ruddy Turnstones, and Sanderlings. Scientists use this information to track bird populations and migrations and have made some exciting findings from records of banded birds.
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.
Share your Shorebird Stories
Why not take photos of the birds you see, your local wetland, or of you and your survey crew and share them on social media? Don’t forget to use the hashtags #worldshorebirdsday and #ShowUpForShorebirds
We’d love to hear all about your surveys and find out about some of the birds that you see, so remember to tag us @birdscaribbean when you post on social media! Thanks in advance for your participation in this important citizen science initiative to understand and conserve our beautiful shorebirds!
Get out there, Show up for Shorebirds, take part and have fun!
If you would like you use our graphic to promote World Shorebirds Day & the Global Shorebird Count, you can follow the links below to work with a template in Canva. You can add your own logos and extra information if needed. The templates include the graphic in English, Spanish and French for you to use. Please don’t forget to credit the photographers !
Once again, it was that time of year when we ask you to head out to your wetlands and take stock of our amazing waterbirds! For the 13th year in a row many of you did just that, so a huge thank you goes out to everyone who contributed to the Caribbean Waterbird Census (CWC) in 2022.
As always, we had people participating from all across the region, exploring many of our beaches, mangroves, salt ponds, and other fantastic wetlands – both large and small. Here are just some of the highlights from our partners taking part in this year’s CWC. Be sure to click on the photos in each section below to see them larger and view them as a slide show – ENJOY!
On St. Eustatius, Hannah Madden and Oliver Jones did their CWC survey on Zeelandia Beach, counting over 20 Red-billed Tropicbirds as they glided gracefully through the air, their long tail feathers streaming behind. Hannah tells us that it’s not unusual to see tropicbirds during the CWC as St. Eustatius supports a globally significant breeding population of an estimated 300-500 pairs! During their survey, they also spotted Brown Pelicans, Yellow-crowned Night Herons, and a Spotted Sandpiper.
Ducks a plenty – but not for everyone!
Brown Pelicans and herons also featured in the surveys carried out on Antigua. 2022 was the Environmental Awareness Group (EAG) Wadadli Warblers Bird Club’s second year of participating in the CWC. This year they covered eight wetland sites across Antigua! At McKinnon’s Salt Pond, the group were equally thrilled and dumbfounded by the number of ducks that were present. With their trusty bird guides to help with ID they were undaunted by the challenge! The Wadadli Warblers say that they can’t wait for CWC 2023!
Another duck-filled day was had by Daniela Ventura on Cuba. She told us the CWC this year involved traveling 30 km by bike to La Coronela Dam in Artemisa. Here, they saw more than 300 Lesser Scaups (which was a lifer for Daniela!). This was then surpassed by the 1,000 Lesser Scaups in the Niña Bonita Dam on the way back! Daniela says it was, “A really enjoyable birding and biking day.” At Playa Las Cañas in the South of Pinar del Río, Cuba, there was a report of some banded Black Skimmers (see photo). These were reported and photographed by Zaimiuri Hernández Gonzalez.
Anthony Levesque, on Guadeloupe, had less luck with ducks during his CWC surveys this year. He tells us that the number of Blue-winged Teals was very low – 56 in 2022 vs. 498 in 2021. Did others find Blue-winged Teal numbers were lower than expected? Or were these ducks somewhere else this year?
Shorebird highlights
Over on Turks and Caicos Islands, shorebirds were the stars of the show. With funding from Environment Canada, a team of four birders carried out waterbird monitoring at several sites. Highlights included counting over 1% of the flyway population for Short-billed Dowitchers on the Caicos Middle Banks (2,200 individuals were counted!). In the same area, 100 Red Knots were counted and at Sand Bore Cay, near South Caicos, 77 Piping Plovers were seen!
As the CWC 2022 rolled around, BirdLife Jamaica members were galvanized into action. The group set out in search of waterbirds at a particularly odorous place, the Soapberry Wastewater Treatment Plant in St. Catherine – where there was, as expected, additional wildlife to be found in the form of American Crocodiles! Everyone was checking off new finds. Blue-winged Teal, Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, Green Heron, Black-crowned Night-heron, Glossy Ibis, Black-necked Stilt, and more! One fantastic ‘new’ bird for everyone was a Pacific Golden Plover. This shorebird sighting is a first record for Jamaica! This bird must have seriously veered off its usual, more westerly route along the Pacific Flyway.
CWC in Puerto Rico – Remembering Shirley Droz & ongoing efforts
Several groups headed out to wetlands in Puerto Rico in search of waterbirds as part of ongoing surveys using the CWC protocol. The San Juan Bay Estuary Program carried out a CWC survey at Blassina Canal in Carolina. This is part of a program that plans to conduct quarterly waterbird censuses during 2022. Eliezer Nieves from the program says, “We are ready to carry on counting water birds at the CWC for the well-being of our estuarine ecosystems.” This is a fantastic initiative, and we wish them well in the rest of their CWC surveys this year!
Roots and Shoots, Puerto Rico, did their CWC to celebrate the life of their late friend, partner and mentor Shirley Droz. They chose to do their survey at the Natural Reserve Punta Cucharas in Ponce. Shirley Droz was a bird lover and science teacher who inspired others about conserving wildlife, including birds, reptiles, butterflies, and how to be strong and fight for what you love. Carla Montalvo Martinez says, “She inspired us every day and that’s why we wanted to remember her in her favorite place with her family, students, and friends. It was a lovely experience and we enjoyed every moment we spent together remembering all the good times we had with her and learning more about the different species we can find in that place.” The group plans to go back to conduct monthly surveys in an effort to continue Shirley’s work. They have also named their Christmas Bird Census after her, as a tribute.
Heading South
Down in Trinidad and Tobago, CWC surveys were carried out at a wide variety of different wetlands, including Caroni Swamp, Caroni Rice Fields, two sites along Trinidad’s west coast mudflats, Bon Accord Sewage Treatment Ponds, Bon Accord Canals, Magdalena Golf Course and Ponds and Canaan Sewage Ponds. Waterbirds seen and counted included shorebirds, herons, egrets, and ducks – a reminder that man-made wetlands can also support a diversity of wetland birds.
Birders on Bonaire were waiting with bated breath as they watched the final nest preparations of two amorous Least Grebes. Throughout the CWC, the two grebes completed their nest, then produced and incubated eggs. For the birders watching this wonderful process, it was almost like they were the expecting parents! Today, there are two very young Least Grebes swimming in a freshwater pond on Bonaire!
January always heralds the main breeding season of Bonaire’s iconic bird, the American Flamingo. Hundreds, if not thousands, of flamingos can congregate in the protected area of the flamingo sanctuary, deep in the heart of the Cargill Salt Ponds. Birders are looking forward to seeing the next generation of Bonaire’s famous flamingos soon.
In Venezuela, as in previous years, Josmar Esteban Marques, with Ave Zona, continued to monitor offshore islands and cays during the CWC. This year Josmar and his team counted approximately 500 breeding pairs of Brown Booby on Los Roques. All nesting on a single cay!
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.
Enjoy more photos from CWc around the caribbean in 2022!
White Ibis seen a Blassina, Puerto Rico. (Photo by Eliezer Nieves)
Common Gallinule chicks seen during CWC surveys at Blassina Canal, Puerto Rico. (Photo by Eliezer Nieves)
Students carry out CWC surveys Puerto Rico’s northwest coast
Students carry out CWC surveys Puerto Rico’s northwest coast
Celebrating the life of Shirley Droz during CWC2022. (Photo by Miguel Angel Rivera)
Birds in flight during Roots & Shoots CWC surveys in Puerto Rico. (Photo by Miguel Angel Rivera)
Cayman Birding post about CWC on Instagram
Roots & Shoots bird watching and celebrating the life of Shirely Droz during CWC2022. (Photo by Miguel Angel Rivera)
A Jacana spotted during CWC2022 on Jamaica. (Photo by Stuart Reeves)
White-cheeked Pintails spotted in Anguilla. (Photo by Nature Explorers Anguilla)
Northern Waterthrush spotted in Antigua. (Photo by EAG/ Wadadli Warblers)
Ducks a plenty, the Wadadli Warblers on Antigua saw these White-Cheeked Pintails. (Photo EAG/ Wadadli Warblers)
Least Grebe adult feeds a damselfly to its chick, Bonaire. (Photo Susan Davis)
A mixed shorebird flock seen during Roots & Shoots CWC survey, Puerto Rico. (Photo by Miguel Angel Rivera)
This Peregrine was seen on Antigua. (Photo by EAG/ Wadadli Warblers)
Cayman Birding post about CWC on Instagram
Green Heron spotted during CWC at Blassina, Puerto Rico. (Photo by Eliezer Nieves)
A Mangrove Cuckoo spotted during CWC2022 on Antigua. (Photo by EAG/ Wadadli Warblers)
Brown Pelican. (Photo by EAG/ Wadadli Warblers)
Roots & Shoots did their CWC survey at Punta Cucharas, Puerto Rico. (Photo by Miguel Angel Rivera)
Some of the 1000s of Short-billed Dowitchers seen during CWC counts on Turks and Caicos. (Photo by Simon Busuttil)
Shorebirds in flight during CWC survey in Puerto Rico. (Photo by Miguel Angel Rivera)
Harold Manrique, the Water Monitor coordinator, looking at the water oxygen levels during a CWC survey, Blassina Puerto Rico. (Photo by Eliezer Nieves)
Roots & Shoots did their CWC survey at Punta Cucharas, Puerto Rico. (Photo by Miguel Angel Rivera)
Wilson’s Plovers in flight, spotted during Roots & Shoots CWC survey Puerto Rico. (Photo by Miguel Angel Rivera)
Great Blue Heron, Blassina Puerto Rico. (Photo by Eliezer Nieves)
Least Grebe Chick, Bonaire. (Photo by Susan Davis)
A Mangrove Cuckoo spotted during CWC2022 on Antigua. (Photo by EAG/ Wadadli Warblers)
It’s tiny stature and yellow legs are a give away that this is a Least Sandpiper, seen on Jamaica during CWC. (Photo by Stuart Reeves)
Greater Yellowlegs seen in the rice fields of Trinidad during CWC. (Photo by Mark Hulme)
Sometimes you have to get wet feet on surveys! (Photo by EAG/ Wadadli Warblers)
Brown Pelican. (Photo by EAG/ Wadadli Warblers)
Yellow-crowned Night Heron on Tobago. (Photo by Matt Kelly)
Juvenile Little Blue Heron seen during CWC on Tobago. (Photo by Matt Heron)
Out on a CWC survey in Antigua. (Photo by EAG/ Wadadli Warblers)
Filling in a CWC site description form on Antigua. (Photo by EAG/ Wadadli Warblers)
Cayman Birding post about CWC on Instagram
Black-whiskered Vireo spotted on Antigua. (Photo by EAG/ Wadadli Warblers)
Yellow-crowned Night Heron, Blassina Canal, Puerto Rico. (Photo by Eliezer Nieves)
Greater Yellowlegs foraging on Tobago. (Photo by Matt Kelly)
A Pacific Golden Plover (in the foreground- Black-bellied Plover behind), spotted on Jamaica during CWC. (Photo by Ricardo Miller)
A Whimbrel flies over a salt salt pond on Antigua. (Photo by EAG/ Wadadli Warblers)
A Great Egret preening. (Photo by EAG/ Wadadli Warblers)
Lovely colors catching the light on this Glossy Ibis, seen on Jamaica. (Photo by Stuart Reeves)
Least Grebe adult with its chick, Bonaire. (Photo by Susan Davis)
Wilson’s Plover, Antigua. (Photo by EAG/ Wadadli Warblers)
San Juan Bay Program Staff and the captain of the boat ready for the CWC at the Blassina Canal. (Photo by Eliezer Nieves)
Lots of black-and-white birds! A Black-crowned Nigh Heron joined by two Black-necked Stilts on Jamaica. (Photo by Stuart Reeves)
A Pacific Golden Plover, spotted on during CWC, this is the 1st record of this species on Jamaica! (Photo by Ricardo Miller)
Semipalmated Sandpiper spotted during Roots & Shoots CWC survey in Puerto Rico. (Photo by Miguel Angel Rivera)
Least Grebe adult ready to feed a damselfly to its chick, Bonaire. (Photo Susan Davis)
A small flock of Ruddy Turnstones seen in Jamaica. (Photo by Stuart Reeves)
Perched Pelican seen during CWC2022 on Antigua. (Photo by EAG/ Wadadli Warblers)
A majestic Great Blue Heron spotted on Jamaica. (Photo by Stuart Reeves)
Cattle and Great Egrets seen on Tobago during CWC. (Photo by Matt Kelly)
Caroni rice fields at sunrise during CWC in Trinidad. (Photo by Mark Hulme)
Wilson’s Plovers on Antigua. (Photo by EAG/ Wadadli Warblers)
A Pacific Golden Plover, spotted on during CWC, this is the 1st record of this species on Jamaica! (Photo by Ricardo Miller)
Least Grebe adult with its chick, Bonaire. (Photo by Susan Davis)
Grenada Fund for Conservation encourage people to take part in CWC2022
Members of Roots & Shoots during their CWC survey. (Photo by Miguel Angel Rivera)
A Black-necked Stilt spotted preening during CWC2022 on Antigua. (Photo by EAG/ Wadadli Warblers)
A Hooded Warbler. (Photo by EAG/ Wadadli Warblers)
Students carry out CWC surveys Puerto Rico’s northwest coast
Roots & Shoots did their CWC survey at Punta Cucharas, Puerto Rico. (Photo by Miguel Angel Rivera)
Reddish Egret searches for food, Bonaire. (Photo by Susan Davis)
Common Gallinules. (Photo by EAG/ Wadadli Warblers)
Birding by bike in Cuba. (Photo by Lourdes Mugica)
A Gray Kingbird. (Photo by EAG/ Wadadli Warblers)
Students carry out CWC surveys Puerto Rico’s northwest coast
Black-whiskered Vireo spotted on Antigua. (Photo by EAG/ Wadadli Warblers)
Roots & Shoots remembering Shirley Droz during CWC. (Photo by Miguel Angel Rivera)
A distant view of a Spotted Sandpiper on Antigua. (Photo by EAG/ Wadadli Warblers)
A mixed flock of shorebirds seen on Jamaica during CWC2022. (Photo by Stuart Reeves)
Black-necked Stilts and American Avocets in Anguilla. (Photo by Nature Explorers Anguilla)
Common Gallinule. (Photo by EAG/ Wadadli Warblers)
A group of Egrets (mainly Cattle) spotted during CWC surveys on Antigua. (Photo by EAG/ Wadadli Warblers)
Least Grebe Chick, Bonaire. (Photo by Susan Davis)
Students carry out CWC surveys Puerto Rico’s northwest coast
Members of Roots & Shoots counting birds during their CWC survey. (Photo by Miguel Angel Rivera)
Some of the ducks spotted during CWC2022 on Antigua. (Photo by EAG/ Wadadli Warblers)
Least Grebes build a nest on Bonaire. (Photo by Susan Davis)
The salt ponds on Antigua are home to many waterbirds, Wadadli Warblers did a great job doing CWC surveys in these habitats. (Photo by EAG/ Wadadli Warblers)
The Wadadli Warblers on Antigua saw both White-cheeked and Northern Pintails on their surveys. (Photo by EAG/ Wadadli Warblers)
This fish loving Osprey was seen by the Wadadli Warblers during their surveys. (Photo by EAG/ Wadadli Warblers)
Conservian is setting sail again this May for important shorebird and seabird conservation and research – join us! The mission is a continuation of on-the-ground protection and restoration measures at key shorebird and seabird sites in The Bahamas with support from Conservian, BirdsCaribbean, Bahamas National Trust, and partners.
Volunteers Needed for Shorebird Habitat Conservation & Restoration!
We need your help to protect beach-nesting birds, nests and young. Conservian is seeking a weekly crew of 10 enthusiastic volunteers for our Bahamas Shorebird Habitat Conservation Program in May 2022 aboard our 75ft research schooner. Crews fly to The Bahamas each week to designated airports for shuttle transport to the schooner. All trips include bunk, onboard meals, drinks, and ground transportation associated with the project. A valid passport is required. Airfare and health travel insurance are not included. Trip cost is $1875 per person/week. Please go to Coastalbird.org for more info!
This is a wonderful opportunity to gain field experience and shorebird ID skills or simply a once-in-a-lifetime experience! In 2018, BirdsCaribbean’s own Jennifer Wheeler joined the trip. Read all about her amazing adventures here. And check out an article by Margo about one of the past expeditions.
Conservian, BirdsCaribbean, Bahamas National Trust, and partners continue on-the-ground protective measures to limit human-caused disturbance and restore coastal habitats at key shorebird/seabird sites.
May 2022 Expedition Dates & Locations:
Choose one week or more! Each week includes 7 nights aboard the schooner.
Week 1: May 1-8 – Joulter Cays & S. Andros (Nassau Int Apt)
Week 2: May 8-15 – Exumas & Great Exuma (Nassau Int Apt/Exuma Int. Apt)
Week 3: May 15-22 – Cat Island & Eleuthera (Exuma Int. Apt/Nassau Int. Apt)
To join our conservation pirate crew please contact Margo Zdravkovic at MargoZ@Coastalbird.org Watch the short video below, and visit Coastalbird.org for more information on our 2022 expedition itinerary and Conservian’s coastal bird conservation work.
IMPORTANT: Applicants must be responsible, adventurous, in good physical condition, enjoy working in teams, and be capable of walking several miles during warm weather on Bahamas beaches. Applicants must be comfortable living communally onboard a schooner for a week and riding in small boats to access survey sites.