Dominica, along with several other Caribbean islands, are observing the ninth edition of the Caribbean Endemic Birds Festival with a number of activities ongoing today.
The Caribbean Endemic Birds Festival has been celebrated annually across the region since 2002, and this will be the seventh consecutive year that Dominica will participate in event.
Forest Officer Arlington James says the purpose of this festival is to raise public awareness and appreciation of our region’s exceptionally rich and threatened birdlife, using the Caribbean’s celebrated endemic birds as flagships for conservation.
He said the festival is an opportunity to celebrate partnerships that make our bird conservation programs a success.
“In Dominica our conservation programs have been strengthened through technical, financial and other support from several local, regional and conservation partners,” James noted.
“Activities for this year’s Festival will include field trips on Birding and presentations with two secondary and three primary schools; Radio Quizzes; a television programme; live radio discussions on the subject of birds on all four major local radio stations; interviews; a Bird Art exhibition and contest with the Goodwill Secondary School; a public presentation on Caribbean Endemic Birds on Dominica in partnership with the University of the West Indies Open Campus; publishing of a newspaper article, and a boat trip to Pointe des Foux to view several species of nesting seabirds and a colony of yellow-crowned Night Herons,” he added.
– DNO Correspondent
Gone are the days of the bow and the arrow and the catapult and the bird traps and the twines and glue. Yeah, it was fun when I was a little kid during the summers and the mangoes and the sugar apples were getting ripe and the birds were abundant around that time. These birds today should not be endangered species ’cause kids don’t indulge in such anymore. They are out there fighting one another without respite.
It is the result of our wanton killing of those birds that caused them to be endangered. We were not educated about the possible consequences of our actions at that time. Now that I know better I would wish that there are laws banning the hunting of birds.
We have also engaged in the reckless destruction of trees, the habitat of those birds that they have difficulty finding food as well. Two birds come to mind that seem to be on the verge of extinction; the cow-bird is hardly seen any more. The other one locally named “Kookoo-Manioc” is hardly heard. I remember my grand parents saying that whenever you hear the kookoo-manioc it was going to rain.
It is no wonder that we don’t hear them anymore because we hardly have rain nowadays because we have destroyed the trees that provide us with rain and provide the birds with a sanctuary.