Caribbean Birding Trail

Know the Caribbean, Bird by Bird

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    • Countries A-I
      • Anguilla
        • Cove Pond
        • Dog Island
        • East End Pond
        • Forest Bay Pond
        • Katouche Canyon
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        • Meads Bay Pond
        • Merrywing Pond System
        • Prickly Pear Cays
        • Road Salt Pond
        • Scrub Island
        • Sombrero
        • West End By-the-Sea Ponds
        • West End Pond
      • Antigua and Barbuda
        • Bethesda Dam
        • Christian Valley
        • Codrington Lagoon
        • McKinnon’s Salt Pond
        • Two Foot Bay National Park
      • Aruba
        • Spaans Lagoon
      • Bahamas
        • Abaco
        • Andros
        • Cat Island
        • Crooked Island and Acklins
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      • British Virgin Islands
        • Josiahs Bay Salt Pond
        • Sandy Cay
      • Cuba
        • Guanahacabibes
        • Humboldt National Park
        • Mensura-Piloto National Park
        • Viñales
        • Zapata Swamp
      • Curaçao
        • Christoffel National Park
        • Salt Pans of Jan Thiel
      • Dominica
      • Dominican Republic
        • Central Mountain Range
          • Constanza and Valle Nuevo
          • Ebano Verde Reserve
          • Hatillo
          • Jarabacoa with Armando Bermúdez and José del Carmen Ramírez National Parks
          • La Joya de San Francisco
          • Loma Quita Espuela
          • Pico Diego de Ocampo, Santiago
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          • Bávaro
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          • Del Este National Park
            • Del Este National Park: Boca de Yuma
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            • Del Este National Park: Padre Nuestro Trail
            • Del Este National Park: Saona Island
          • Ecological Foundation Trail, Punta Cana
          • Limón Lagoon
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            • Los Haitises National Park: Caño Hondo
            • Los Haitises National Park: Los Limones
          • Monte Plata
        • Southwest
          • Aguacate and Zapotén
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          • Cabral Lagoon
          • Cachote, Eastern Bahoruco
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          • Lake Enriquillo
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          • Oviedo Lagoon, Jaragua National Park
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          • Sierra de Bahoruco National Park
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        • Antoine Lake
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        • Grand Etang National Park
        • Levera National Park
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        • Telescope Pond
        • Woburn Bay MPA
      • Guadeloupe
        • Mountain Road
        • Pointe des Chateaux
    • Countries J-Z
      • Jamaica
        • Ahhh…Ras Natango Gallery and Garden
        • Barbecue Bottom Road
        • Black River Great Morass
        • Cockpit Country
        • Ecclesdown Road
        • Flagstaff
        • Green Hills Field Station
        • Hardwar Gap
        • Hope Gardens
        • Portland Bight Protected Area
        • Stewart Town
      • Martinique
        • Rocher du Diamant
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      • Puerto Rico
        • Camuy Coastal Area
        • Culebra National Wildlife Refuge
        • Laguna Cartagena National Wildlife Refuge
      • Sint Eustatius
        • Pilot Hill
        • Quill/Boven National Park
        • Zeelandia Beach
      • St. Lucia
      • Sint Maarten
        • Great Salt Pond
        • Little Bay Pond
      • St. Martin
        • Amuseum Naturalis at The Old House
        • Étang Cimetière de Grand Case
        • Étang de la Barrière
        • Pic Paradis
      • St. Vincent and the Grenadines
        • Grenadines
          • Bird Sanctuary
          • Mustique Lagoon
          • Mustique Ponds Walk
        • Saint Vincent
          • Richmond Beach
      • Trinidad and Tobago
        • Tobago
          • Kilgwyn Swamp
          • Little Tobago
        • Trinidad
          • Asa Wright Nature Centre
          • Brasso Seco Paria Village
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        • Grand Turk
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        • North Caicos
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        • Salt Cay
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Jamaica

Jamaica

Jamaica is the third largest island in the Caribbean with an area of 4,244 sq. miles and an approximate population of 3 million people.

Complex geological history, and a long history of climate change, has created a rich scope of habitats. From the coastal wetlands and the dense wet forests of the mountains with streams and waterfalls to the dry savannahs and rolling pastures, Jamaica boasts an astonishing diversity of climate, landscape and vegetation that provides the basis for the evolution of high levels of species diversity. This is reflected in many terrestrial groups of fauna and flora as well as birds. Jamaica has particularly high levels of endemism in many groups including plants, land snails, frogs and lizards.

Jamaica’s bird life is one of the most distinctive in the world. It is composed of about 307 species, including 127 breeding species and 180 migrants. Twenty-nine species are endemic—one of the highest totals in the world for oceanic islands of comparable size.

There are four endemic genera: Streamertails (Trochilus), Yellow-shouldered Grassquit (Loxipasser), Orangequit (Euneornis) andJamaican Blackbird (Nesopsar). There are also nineteen Jamaican endemic subspecies, three Caribbean endemic species, and fifteen Caribbean endemic races.

These birds are threatened by habitat loss and degradation through human activities, such as conversion of land for housing, tourism, industry and agriculture, and from hurricanes and climate change. BirdsCaribbean is aiding Caribbean nations and organizations in the conservation of these birds and their habitats. The Caribbean Birding Trail is but one of the ways we are showing residents and visitors the impacts of taking more than we save, consuming more than nature can produce. Your joining the Caribbean Birding Trail community aids us in getting this important message out.

Information for this page was sourced from A Photographic Guide to the Birds of Jamaica, by Ann Haynes-Sutton, Audrey Downer and Robert Sutton.

Birds of Jamaica

Bananaquit
Crested Quail-dove
Jamaican Euphonia
Arrowheaded Warbler
Jamaican Mango
Jamaican Owl
Jamaican Owl
Jamaican Vireo
Jamaican Woodpecker
Jamaican Woodpecker
Jamaican Oriole
Jamaican Spindalis
Jamaican Tody
Orangequit
Red-billed Streamertail
Ring-tailed Pigeon
Rufous-tailed Flycatcher
Sad Flycatcher
Stolid Flycatcher
White-chinned Thrush
Yellow-billed Parrot
Yellow-billed Parrot
Yellow-faced Grassquit

Jamaica Sites

  • Ahhh…Ras Natango Gallery and Garden
  • Barbecue Bottom Road
  • Black River Great Morass
  • Cockpit Country
  • Ecclesdown Road
  • Flagstaff
  • Green Hills Field Station
  • Hardwar Gap
  • Hope Gardens
  • Portland Bight Protected Area
  • Stewart Town

Jamaica Partners

  • Caribbean Coastal Area Management Foundation
  • Southern Trelawny Environmental Agency


Jamaica Tour Operators

  • Ann Sutton, Independent Guide
  • Arrowhead Birding Tours
  • Wildside Nature Tours

Bird Checklists

Click here for a pamphlet-sized checklist of the birds of Jamaica.

Recommended Field Guides

A Photographic Guide to the Birds of Jamaica by Ann Haynes-Sutton, Audrey Downer, and Robert Sutton

Birds of the West Indies by Herbert Raffaele, James Wiley, Orlando Garrido, Allan Keith, and Janis Raffaele

Want to know how you can be involved?

Do you know of a place that should be part of the Caribbean Birding Trail? Are you the owner of a lodge or hotel and want to attract eco-tourists? Are you a guide interested in the birdwatching market? Then, get involved with our project!

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The Latest from BirdsCaribbean.org

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Birds Caribbean
Birds Caribbean
@BirdsCaribbean

Just published in the #JournalOfCaribbeanOrnithology 🗞 (JCO) - understanding susceptibility to 🔬 #avian #malaria in Bananaquits. Learn more about this fascinating study here: bit.ly/JCO-Bananaqui… 📸 Carlos H Almeida #peerreview #openaccess #scicomm #Caribbean pic.twitter.com/BUBT…

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5:02 pm · March 24, 2023
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Birds Caribbean
Birds Caribbean
@BirdsCaribbean

The Smooth-billed #Ani is a bizarre looking #bird 🤨, with its oversized, strangely shaped bill and long tail! Anis are almost always seen in groups and do almost everything together, even incubating #eggs and raising offspring. 📸Russell Campbell ℹ️bit.ly/PhotoContest2… pic.twitter.com/zcdD…

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6:01 pm · March 23, 2023
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Birds Caribbean
Birds Caribbean
@BirdsCaribbean

Happy #WorldWaterDay💧 Just like us #birds need water. Sadly, many of their sources are #threatened by #development #pollution & #climatechange But together we can #BeTheChange we want to see & make water conservation a part of everyday life. ✨ ➡️ bit.ly/JA-Backyard-B… pic.twitter.com/xqM2…

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3:12 pm · March 22, 2023
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Birds Caribbean
Birds Caribbean
@BirdsCaribbean

Happy #InternationalDayOfForests 🌳 We're celebrating 🎉 by featuring the Bicknell’s Thrush 🤎 —a shy, subtle #bird that depends on #forests year-round. Both in the US, where they breed, & in the #Caribbean 🏝 where they migrate to for the winter. ℹ️ birdscaribbean.org/2… pic.twitter.com/eN6N…

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4:30 pm · March 21, 2023
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Birds Caribbean
Birds Caribbean
@BirdsCaribbean

Today is #WorldSparrowDay✨We are particularly excited about this celebratory day because we just can’t resist the cuteness 😊 of these little #birds- like the Grasshopper Sparrow!⁠ Learn more here: youtu.be/7M9FYsM2sxU

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7:17 pm · March 20, 2023

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