The Caribbean Birding Trail is being developed to help residents as well as travelers connect to the rich cultural and natural history of the Caribbean islands through birds.
We use birds as our platform for one primary reason: birds are arguably the most visible wildlife on any Caribbean island. They are also colorful, active and display all sorts of interesting behavior. Birds are therefore an excellent portal to the natural world and are a starting point to engage audiences in their surrounding environment. In so doing, we hope to put individuals on a path that leads from awareness to appreciation, and ultimately, to conservation.
More than 560 species of bird have been recorded in the Caribbean Islands Hotspot. Of these, 148 species are endemic to the hotspot with 105 of them confined to single islands. Click here to see a list of the endemic species. Although endemism is most notable at the species level, a remarkable 36 genera of birds are endemic to the hotspot, as well as two endemic families.
More than 120 bird species (one of which is globally threatened) migrate from their breeding grounds in North America to winter in the Caribbean, and thus constitute a high proportion of the birds present in many habitats, especially in the Bahamas and the Greater Antilles.
Nine percent are classified as globally threatened, and 17 species are considered Critically Endangered or Endangered by the International Union of Conservation. Click here to see the list.
Below is a gallery of photos from the BirdsCaribbean Flickr groups. Visit that page for more pictures.
