Leo Douglas, Media Co-ordinator of BirdLife Jamaica, with the Audubon's Shearwater which was discovered three years ago by a team from BirdLife Jamaica and the University of the West Indies. - ContributedBy Merrick Andrews,
Staff Reporter
WITHOUT BIRDS there would be no fruits or trees. And imagine what it would be like without the songs of the birds or their colourful bodies gliding beautifully across the blue sky.
For almost 50 years, BirdLife Jamaica, an organisation dedicated to saving the island's bird population, has been working to ensure that Jamaicans never have to face that scenario. Three of the island's 30 endemic birds -- the Jamaican Macaw, Petrel and Poorwill -- have gone extinct. Another 10 are on the endangered species list.
Leo Douglas, the group's media relations officer, says
birds in Jamaica were endangered because of two main factors -- loss of vegetation/habitat, and the introduction of predators (rats, cats, dogs and mongooses).
"Hunting is a problem -- a minor one, but it cannot compare with those two," he said.
Birds help to pollinate plants and to spread fruit seeds, plus they are predators that help to keep the insect population in check, he noted.
"It would have cost us a lot of money (if there were no birds) to pollinate plants. Some of us take it for granted but our birds are doing great," Douglas said.
BirdLife, one of the country's oldest environmental organisations, has launched several projects over the years to increase awareness of the importance of birds to the environment. For example, it has published "Teacher's Guide to the Birds of Jamaica", and distributed it to schools -- primary to the tertiary level throughout the island along with a package of guidebooks and posters.
"This has had a main impact on education," said Douglas. "We open people's eyes, showing them these things are important."
BirdLife Jamaica also encourages research on local birds and their habitats and supports research projects guided by its project policy document.
"A number of persons at the University of West Indies, in the Department of Life Sciences are now studying birds because of BirdLife Jamaica," added Douglas who also is pursuing a Master's degree in that area at the University of the West Indies (UWI).
About three years ago a research team from BirdLife and the UWI discovered the newest species of bird in Jamaica's territorial waters -- the Audubon's Shearwater which was spotted 40 miles south east of the island on the Morant Cays.
The Audubon's Shearwater is a Caribbean seabird; it has webbed feet, is dark-brown and white, has a rounded tail and is 12 inches long from beak to tail. The project has already revealed that nesting cavities and the scarcity of large trees in Jamaica are the two main problems that are affecting the Audubon's Shearwater, one of the most poorly known Western Atlantic nesting seabirds.
These birds are threatened, but BirdLife Jamaica is keeping an eye on them. "Knowing that we have the species we will try to protect them," Douglas said.
BirdLife Jamaica has almost completed another major project to conserve Jamaica's two endemic parrots -- the Black Bill and Yellow Bill. The two are among the 10 endangered bird species.
Based in Windsor, Trelawny, the field work aspect of the project took almost four years to complete. Douglas says analysis of data was the only area being worked on. The project was funded by the Environmental Foundation of Jamaica (EFG) and the Wildlife Preservation Trust International to the tune of more than $2 million.
There are other projects under way because saving Jamaica's birds is worth more than just a song.
