Tag: conference

April 5, 2024

Join us on May 11th for Global Big Day 2024—to Empower Caribbean Conservationists and Protect Birds!

December 27, 2021

American Ornithological Society and BirdsCaribbean will be Meeting in Puerto Rico in 2022—Join Us!

Our conference theme refers to our optimism that we can revitalize our science and community. Our meeting location, Puerto Rico, is a symbol of perseverance and revival. We gather together to support and reconnect after our shared struggles during the global pandemic and to forge a path towards recovery.

We will be flying together! For the first time, the American Ornithological Society (AOS) and BirdsCaribbean will host a joint conference in San Juan, Puerto Rico, from 27 June to 2 July, 2022, partnering with local hosts Para la Naturaleza and Sociedad Ornitológica Puertorriqueña. Held under the theme, “On the Wings of Recovery: Resilience and Action,” the conference will mark the 140th Annual Meeting of the AOS and the 23rd International Conference of BirdsCaribbean.

The conference will bring together ornithologists, wildlife professionals, educators, community leaders, students, and others to share information and learn about the latest research and innovative initiatives to conserve birds and their habitats. There will be exciting keynote and plenary speakers, symposia, workshops, roundtable discussions, contributed papers, and posters. In addition, we will have a variety of exhibitors from the commercial, non-profit, and government sectors. We will also host a series of daily, fun networking events for you to make new connections and reconnect with colleagues. Finally, numerous field trips will be offered to give you a chance to explore and bird in fabulous Puerto Rico. We are looking forward to meeting in person!*

Latest News and Updates

Registration is now open: You can register for the conference at this link!

The call for abstracts for oral presentations and posters has closed.

Workshops and Training Opportunities: See the list of full list of exciting and invaluable learning opportunities here. Most workshops will be held on Monday, 27 June, the day before the conference paper sessions begin, however, two workshops will be held during the conference, and one on Saturday, July 2nd, after the conference ends on July 1st.

Symposia: Check this link to see the symposia that have been accepted for the conference – there are 4 symposia that are focussed on the Caribbean and many others that will be of interest to all. If you’ve been invited to give a talk in a symposia, be sure to submit your abstract by the March 8th deadline.

Travel Support: Thanks to generous donors and sponsors, some funding will be available to assist students, post-docs, early career professionals, and Caribbean nationals with travel costs to the conference. There is also a category in support of D&I (Diversity and Inclusion) participation and participation by Puerto Ricans. Click here to learn about the Travel Awards and submit an application! Note that although you don’t have to give a paper or poster at the conference to apply for travel support, those persons who are giving a paper or poster or contributing in some way to the conference program will be strongly favored for award selection.

Round-tables: Check out the interesting Round-tables on the conference schedule here.

Silent Auction: This event is a tradition at our BirdsCaribbean conferences. Learn more about it at this link! Please bring at least one awesome item to donate to the auction and bring some money to shop. It’s all for a great cause – supporting travel of Caribbean nationals and students to attend our conference!!!

All of BirdsCaribbean’s Working Groups (Endangered and Threatened Species, Seabirds, Waterbirds, West Indian Duck and Wetlands, Diablotin/ Black-capped Petrel, Monitoring, Bird Education, Checklist, Media, Caribbean Parrots, etc.) will be meeting at the conference – we need everyone there to share your work and plan activities!!! Travel Visa Application Letter of Invitation – If you are a resident of a country outside of the United States and need a letter of invitation to the AOS & BC 2022 conference for a travel visa application, please fill out the form on this page. Please allow up to five business days for your request to be processed. Mark your calendars and plan to join us on the beautiful tropical island of Puerto Rico, one of the four islands of the Greater Antilles, in a region which is one of the top five hotspots of endemism in plant and vertebrate species globally. Puerto Rico is home to 370 bird species, with 17 out of the 171 endemic species of the region. Its intriguing landscapes – from mangrove wetlands to beaches to rainforests – are there to be enjoyed.

Field Trips: Conference partners and local hosts, Para la Naturaleza (PLN) and the Sociedad Ornitológica Puertorriqueña, Inc. (SOPI), have organized field trips across the island. Field trips are available before, during and after the conference. Learn more here. Note that registration for field trips is separate from conference registration.

**Conference logo celebrates theme: “On the Wings of Recovery: Resilience and Action”**

Now let us take a closer look at the conference logo. Designed by the super-talented young artist and biologist Josmar Esteban Marquez, the logo reflects the theme, depicting six of Puerto Rico’s 17 endemic species or subspecies and one regional endemic. These include the Puerto Rican Parrot (Iguaca) which has made a remarkable recovery since 1975, when only a handful remained in the wild. There are now over 500, thanks to captive breeding and the release of individuals into their forest habitat, with more than half now reproducing in the wild. What an example of resiliency!

Here are the species so beautifully depicted in our logo, from left to right:

The Elfin-woods Warbler (Setophaga angelae) is a dainty, mostly black and white warbler, endemic to a few forested areas on the island such as the El Yunque. It was first discovered by ornithologists in 1969! Its call is not as musical as you might expect, but territorial pairs do sing duets while defending territory – and they apparently mate for life.

The Puerto Rican Nightjar (Antrostomus noctitherus) is an Endangered endemic species. The males sing throughout the year and during the breeding season they incubate young on the ground in the daytime. They are more abundant in the upland forest in and around the Guánica Biosphere Reserve, where they feed on insects under the canopy during the night.

The Yellow-shouldered Blackbird, (Agelaius xanthomus), locally named “Mariquita,” is another Endangered endemic species mainly to be found in the mangrove zone of southwestern Puerto Rico and on Mona Island. It has suffered greatly from brood parasitism by the invasive Shiny Cowbird, which lays its eggs in the Blackbird’s nests. The blackbird has many displays and vocalizations and usually walks on the ground.

The elegant West Indian Whistling-Duck (Dendrocygna arborea) is endemic to the Caribbean region and one of the rarest ducks in the Americas – despite being down-listed to Vulnerable status in 2019 by BirdLife International. It can be found in freshwater and saline wetlands, including coastal mangroves, lagoons, and tidal flats, and forages for berries, seeds and grain, mostly at night.

The Critically Endangered Puerto Rican Parrot (Amazona vittata) is a beautiful endemic species threatened by predation, the caged bird trade, and natural disasters such as hurricanes; but is benefiting greatly from the ongoing recovery program. It is almost entirely green, with blue-edged wings and a bright red frontal band.

An endemic species, the Puerto Rican Tody (Todus mexicanus) is called San Pedrito, Medio peso, and Papagayo locally. This bright gem of a bird lives in wooded areas from the coast to mountainous areas and often makes itself heard. It nests in burrows in earth banks.

The Puerto Rican Sharp-shinned Hawk, (Accipiter striatus venator), an endemic subspecies, is a rare sight, best spotted in the Toro Negro and Maricao forests. A solitary, rather secretive hawk with a small head and large eyes, it usually launches surprise attacks on its prey from the air, but will also pursue prey on the ground.

As we have already noted, habitat destruction for urban developments and agriculture has been a contributing factor to the declining numbers of these species, as well as predation by invasive species. In recent years, the increased frequency and severity of tropical storms (such as Hurricanes Irma and María in 2017) and other impacts of climate change have also created problems for humans and wildlife in general. Puerto Rico’s endemics and other bird species face many challenges.

At our joint conference in San Juan, we will discuss actions to be taken to boost the resilience of these and other birds, and to give them “wings of recovery!” We look forward to having you join us, as we strategize for a better tomorrow – not only for the island’s wonderful birds, but for those across the Americas!

*NOTE: We are closely monitoring current pandemic conditions and will follow guidance and ordinances provided by local health authorities regarding travel, masking, and social-distancing requirements during the conference. All attendees of AOS & BC 2022 will be required to be fully vaccinated, as defined by U.S. Centers for Disease and Control Prevention (CDC) guidelines. Conference hashtag: #AOS_BC_22 https://youtu.be/5YsUEviRYiw

January 11, 2021

Trinidad Conference Postponed, but Unique Opportunity with AOS Arises for 2022

Trinidad Conference Postponed

Scarlet Ibis in Trinidad will be worth the wait! (Photo by Lisa Sorenson)

After A LOT of lengthy discussions over the previous month with our Board, staff, and partners, BirdsCaribbean has made the difficult decision to officially postpone our conference in Trinidad slated for late July, 2021.

2020 has been a devastating year for our Caribbean community, emotionally, physically, and financially. Many of our partners and community members have suffered extensive setbacks in their research, work, and personal lives. Recuperating from these losses will take considerable time. We feel it would be unwise to plan an in-person conference for 2021, during what promises to be a period of slow and difficult recovery. We owe it to our community to acknowledge their most pressing needs, and to dedicate our time and resources to helping them during this period of recovery.

Additionally, although vaccines are on the horizon, we do not know at this time how quickly they will be distributed. It seems unlikely that everyone will be able to receive a vaccine in time to safely attend the conference. The uncertainty makes planning nearly impossible.

We extend our immense gratitude to all of the Local Organizing Committee in Trinidad, a group that has already invested a significant amount of time, energy, and enthusiasm into early preparations for the conference. Thank you! But your efforts have not been in vain. We look forward to picking up where we left off in the coming years when an in-person conference in Trinidad is feasible.

Conference in Puerto Rico 2022

Get excited about seeing Puerto Rican Bullfinches in Puerto Rico in the summer, 2022! (Photo by Hemant Keshan)

While discussing the possibility of moving the Trinidad conference back one full calendar year (to the summer of 2022), we became aware that the American Ornithological Society (AOS) had already scheduled their next annual meeting for June 27 to July 1 in San Juan, Puerto Rico. AOS kindly invited us to co-host this meeting, along with the local host in Puerto Rico and our non-profit partner Para La Naturaleza (PLN). Since it does not make sense to hold two major ornithological conferences back-to-back in the Caribbean, we have decided to join AOS and PLN and hold a joint conference in 2022. We are very grateful to their organizing committee for welcoming us and being as excited about these plans as we are!

Joining forces with AOS for their Puerto Rican conference will be a unique experience for our BirdsCaribbean community. Although it will be a larger conference and not focused exclusively on Caribbean birds, it will give all of us an opportunity to engage with a much larger network of scientists and conservationists. This will encourage knowledge sharing, collaborations, and much more! We are confident that it will be a fun, productive, and rewarding experience for all of us. And we will be sure to create many opportunities for our BirdsCaribbean community to connect with each other throughout the event.

Possible Virtual Mini-Conference this Summer

We are also entertaining the idea of conducting a small virtual “mini-conference” this coming summer that would consist of a series of talks and possibly some workshops and/or Working Group meetings, all online. We’ll be exploring this possibility over the coming months and will inform our community in the Spring.

August 30, 2020

NAOC 2020: An Extraordinary Online Experience for the Caribbean and Beyond

It was a bit of a gamble. The speakers were all ready to speak. The agenda was set.

But…would anyone show up?

Well, they did, in the thousands. The North American Ornithological Conference (NAOC) 2020, originally scheduled to take place in San Juan, Puerto Rico from August 10 to 15, had switched gears. It took the brave decision to go virtual in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was a tremendous, complex undertaking – and the organizers pulled it off, in style. Hundreds of live, oral presentations took place in general sessions and in symposia, while 80 “lightning talks” and 3 minute poster presentations added excitement. Round tables, workshops and networking opportunities were all well attended by participants from far and wide, under the appropriate theme: “Flight paths addressing global challenges.”

The Caribbean Presence: Island Treasures

NAOC 2020 commented on its website: “The virtual format of the conference attracted particularly high attendance from students and colleagues in Mexico, Central and South America, and Caribbean countries.” In total, nearly 3,000 attended the conference from countries as far-flung as Australia and China.

BirdsCaribbean hosted a symposium called “Island Treasures: Lessons learned from 30 years of avian research, education, and conservation,” which drew a substantial audience from the region and beyond. Sixteen outstanding presentations showcased the exciting conservation work being carried out across the islands, ranging from restoration of key habitats to saving endangered species to wildlife trafficking (see list of talks and presenters in the image gallery below). We had a stimulating panel discussion at the end of the symposia where presenters answered questions from the audience and shared their opinions and expertise on a range of challenging conservation issues.

Island Treasures Symposium Panel discussion on Zoom at the end of the Symposium where presenters answered questions from the audience and shared their opinions on conservation challenges facing the Caribbean region.

An additional symposium organized by Dr. Joseph M. Wunderle, Jr. (the new Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Caribbean Ornithology) focused on the impact of hurricanes on birds called “Birds and hurricanes: effects, responses, resilience, and conservation.”

If you missed the conference or wish to view any of the talks in the above symposia, stay tuned, we will be posting the presentations on our YouTube channel!

The Socializing Side: Virtual Cocktails or a Cup of Tea

The “Caribbean Meet and Greet” session on August 12 was a resounding success. Around sixty guests gathered, cocktails in hand (or in some cases a cup of tea), to chat and get to know each other. It was a time to reconnect with old friends and to make new ones. We answered fun trivia questions about Caribbean birds and gathered in smaller chat rooms for 10 minutes at a time for more intimate chats.

BirdsCaribbean Meet and Greet – some of the folks that stopped by for our Zoom cocktail hour. It was great fun to catch up with old friends and meet some new ones!

Of course, there was no final banquet – and was it really necessary, one participant wondered, when one could just go to the kitchen and fix oneself a peanut butter sandwich? Perhaps virtual banquet menus could be submitted next time, she suggested.

Could Virtual Conferencing be the Way of the Future?

Conference goers, including BirdsCaribbean members and partners, were impressed not only by the quality of the presentations, but also by the fact that the technology smoothly facilitated them. For some, like conservation ecologist Ann Sutton Haynes in Jamaica, it was a new experience:

“This was my first experience of an online conference and I was surprised how well it went. The good things were the low cost, the flexibility to attend when it was convenient and even the online questions and responses went well. There was even a weird pleasure in attending real time sessions…If it’s affordable I think it would be great if all our conferences in future could be both in person and virtual.”

Science Officer at the Bahamas National Trust Scott Johnson was also enthusiastic about the benefits of virtual conferencing:

“My experience participating in the NAOC online symposium was most enjoyable. I had the opportunity to meet up with old friends and some of my mentors as well as listen to some amazing talks including bird smuggling, hurricanes and its effects on birds, and more. I think this is a great alternative to expensive travelling and the logistics associated with it and would like for an online conference like this to continue moving forward.”

3 panelists island treasures Symposium NAOC 2020 — Scott Johnson (bottom), Science Officer at the Bahamas National Trust, talking with 2 fellow panelists, Stephen Durand (left), Forestry Officer, Dominica, and Dr. Ancilleno Davis (right), Science and Perspective, at the BirdsCaribbean Island Treasures Symposium.

Biologist Quincy Augustine, staff at the Windward Islands Research & Education Foundation (WINDREF), St. George’s University in Grenada was also pleased with his experience:

“Despite the unforeseen challenges we are currently experiencing, I must commend the organizers for putting together such a great conference – hats off to you! It was one of the best conferences I’ve ever attended with a twist and additional perks – could you imagine what it would have been like if this conference was face to face! The topics, presentations, and the opportunity to build a network are so needed, especially for researchers like myself.”

A Key Focus on Diversity and Inclusion

Colombian ornithologist and Professor Andres Cuervo stressed the significance of the conference, enthusing on the conference Slack channel: “I want to highlight the diversity, quality, and great composition of the keynote plenary speakers of NAOC 2020. I’ve loved every single one of them, and they have been so different in approaches and people. Thank you for that. Today’s Daniel Cadena’s plenary was truly outstanding. His closing remarks are important messages for ornithology and for this meeting.”

Diversity and inclusion was a particularly important aspect of the conference for BirdsCaribbean. The Diversity and Inclusion Committee – including BirdsCaribbean’s Jessica Cañizares and Environment of the Americas’ Sheylda DÍaz-Méndez – worked hard to help “increase the awareness of the importance of diversity and inclusion in ornithology and to help cultivate an ornithological community that is committed to the recruitment, retention, and support of all of its members at and beyond NAOC 2020.”

Participants also expressed appreciation for the English and Spanish translations and subtitles in presentations. The organizers were pleased to note: “Many people who would not otherwise have been able to attend were able to do so, due to a grant from the U.S. National Science Foundation and sponsorships from the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology and other partnering organizations, through generous underwriting for free registration for students and greatly reduced registration fees for everyone else.” BirdsCaribbean thanks the US Forest Service International Programs for providing scholarships for Caribbean nationals to attend the conference.

Hope for the Future…and Trinidad?

twitter post about CBT — Social media and our @BirdsCaribbean twitter feed were hoppin’ during the 5 days of the conference as people shared what they were learning. #NAOC2020

BirdsCaribbean Executive Director Lisa Sorenson concluded that the online event filled her with optimism.

“We were thrilled to make such a substantial contribution to what is one of the largest ornithological conferences in the world,” she noted. “We were happy with the positive feedback we have received; this encourages us and our partners, who are doing really worthwhile and inspiring work in the region.”

“Yes, challenges and threats are unrelenting, but we have many more active projects, with people and partners working on research, monitoring, engaging with the public to change the culture, and carrying out successful conservation initiatives to save and restore species and habitats.”

Registered attendees will have access to all recorded presentations through the EventPilot app through Wednesday, September 9.

Meanwhile, we are keeping our fingers crossed for our planned International Conference in Trinidad. We hope to see all our friends and collaborators, old and new, in late July 2021! If you are a new friend of BirdsCaribbean, don’t forget to sign up to our monthly newsletter here for further updates.

BirdsCaribbean was one of nine partner organizations hosting the NAOC 2020 Conference. We thank the US Forest Service International Programs and other sponsors for providing generous support to allow our Caribbean delegates and others to attend the virtual conference at no cost or a reduced fee. #NAOC2020

The gallery below shows the 16 presentations in our Island Treasures Symposium. No worries if you missed the talks, we will be uploading them to our YouTube Channel.