West Indies

Migration is a great time to be birding. Because migrating birds rarely remain in one place very long, new birds can appear in your local wetland every day. This makes migration birding a lot of fun, and it also makes it important to monitor populations frequently. Spring waterbird migration is already starting, so now is the time to start visiting your local wetlands and begin submitting Caribbean Waterbird Census (CWC) checklists again.

Thanks to everyone who participated during the main census period in January and February, the 2015 CWC has already collected a lot of data on this year’s wintering waterbird populations. However, one of the CWC’s main goals is to collect data on waterbirds throughout the whole year in order to understand not just wintering populations, but migrating and breeding ones as well. Everyone is encouraged to continue submitting CWC checklists throughout 2015 as often as possible so that we can begin to understand waterbird populations in the Caribbean throughout the entire annual cycle.

The CWC especially needs to gather data on migration. As birds travel through the region, they must stop at wetlands within the Caribbean. By conducting CWC counts during migration, we will be able to learn which wetlands are important to migrating birds and hopefully work to preserve them. As added encouragement, the goal of eBird’s worldwide eBirder of the Month Challenge this March is to document migrating populations of waterfowl (ducks, geese, and swans). To participate in the challenge (and be eligible to win the prize), 20 of your complete checklists must include waterfowl, so watch for ducks while you do your CWC counts this month. You can read more about the contest and how eBird documents waterfowl populations around the world here on the main eBird page.

Click here to learn more about the CWC.

Special thanks to Andrew Dobson for use of the photograph.