{"id":9911,"date":"2020-06-17T17:47:21","date_gmt":"2020-06-17T21:47:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.birdscaribbean.org\/?page_id=9911"},"modified":"2025-03-18T12:30:07","modified_gmt":"2025-03-18T16:30:07","slug":"seabird-resources","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.birdscaribbean.org\/caribbean-birds\/seabirds\/seabird-resources\/","title":{"rendered":"Seabird Resources"},"content":{"rendered":"

Seabird Resources<\/b><\/h2>\n
\"Magnificent<\/a>
Magnificent Frigatebird female in Barbuda (Photo by Ted Eubanks)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Books<\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/a> Breeding Seabirds of the Caribbean<\/strong>; edited by P.E. Bradley and R.L. Norton (2009). This book is an island-by-island inventory of Caribbean seabirds, including colony locations, population estimates, threats to seabirds, and research and conservation actions and needs. The book is currently \u2018out of print\u2019, but BirdsCaribbean has an inventory of\u00a0hard copies that are available for sale online<\/a>\u00a0at a greatly reduced price.<\/p>\n

Status and Conservation of West Indian Seabirds<\/strong>; edited by B.A. Schreiber and D. Lee (2000). This book provides information on breeding seabird species of the Caribbean, and has dedicated chapters on associated conservation needs and tools. A classic reference that has received excellent reviews. A PDF can be downloaded here.<\/a><\/p>\n

Seabird Breeding Atlas of the Lesser Antilles<\/strong>;\u00a0 K. Lowrie, D. Lowrie, and N. Collier (2012). This book provides species profiles and distribution ranges of seabirds in the Lesser Antilles, and outlines methodologies for monitoring these populations. The Atlas gives information on islands with breeding seabirds, outlines the nations supporting globally and regionally important populations, and discusses the significance of the Caribbean for seabirds. For more information visit\u00a0Environmental Protection In the Caribbean\u2019s (EPIC)<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Important Bird <\/strong>Areas in the Caribbean: Key Sites for Conservation<\/strong>; edited by D.C. Wege and Anadon-Irizarry V. (2008). This book provides information on the network of designated Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBAs) in the Caribbean. This IBA program in the Caribbean started in early 2001, and has continued following the publication of this inventory in 2008. For more information visit\u00a0Birdlife International<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Databases and Repositories<\/h3>\n

The West Indian Breeding Seabird Atlas<\/strong><\/a> This Atlas provides a comprehensive overview of breeding seabirds in the Caribbean. While this resource has not been updated in recent years, our working group hope to continue with this task in the future. Therefore, if you have observed breeding seabirds in the region or have updated information please visit\u00a0www.wicbirds.net<\/a>, or contact Atlas creator and manager Will Mackin.<\/p>\n

Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) Program in the Caribbean<\/strong><\/a> Birdlife International\u2019s IBA program aims to identify and protect a network of sites crucial to the long-term viability of naturally occurring bird populations across their distribution ranges (see\u00a0Lascelles et al. 2016<\/a>). Many seabird populations that inhabit the Caribbean meet the criteria for IBA designation (see links in\u00a0Active Seabird Projects<\/strong><\/a>). The\u00a0Important Bird Areas of the Caribbean Inventory<\/a>\u00a0presents detailed information on identified IBAs for seabirds in this region.<\/p>\n

OBIS-SEAMAP (Ocean Biogeographic Information System \u2013 Spatial Ecological Analysis of Megavertebrate Populations)<\/strong><\/a> This global program, hosted at Duke University, seeks to organize seabird, marine mammal and sea turtle spatial data to advance conservation and collaboration. In the Caribbean,\u00a0Environmental Protection in the Caribbean (EPIC)<\/a>\u00a0(a contributor to OBIS-SEAMAP) have now updated the \u2018Seabird Breeding Atlas of the Lesser Antilles<\/em>\u2019 based on standardized colony surveys undertaken between 2001\u20132010 (see\u00a0epicislands<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0seamap<\/a>\u00a0for information).<\/p>\n

Movebank<\/strong><\/a> Movebank is a free, online database of animal tracking data hosted by the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behaviour, which helps animal tracking researchers to manage, share, protect, analyse and archive their data. Links to many existing tracking datasets in the Caribbean, and the groups that hold them, can be found through this repository.<\/p>\n

2023 Caribbean Seabird Census. <\/a>The Seabird Working Group intends to reference the data collected during the Caribbean Regional Seabird Census into the\u00a0Global Biodiversity Information Facility<\/a> (GBIF). GBIF is a free online, publicly available open-source repository of datasets that will ensure that you remain the full owner of your datasets. You can find our\u00a0standardized reporting datasheets <\/b>for the 2023 Caribbean Seabird Census in our shared Google Drive folder:\u00a0https:\/\/drive.google.com\/drive\/folders\/1PVU7hdPy0gjotO2lA86EMmDPioqjLRUi<\/a><\/p>\n

Tools for Managing Invasive Species<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Invasive Species are a major threat to seabirds in the Caribbean, as they are worldwide. The Caribbean has dedicated Invasive Species Working Groups that aim to support and share information amongst those working to address this threat (see the\u00a0BirdsCaribbean Invasive Species Working Group<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Caribbean Invasive Species Working Group<\/a>\u00a0pages).<\/p>\n

Monitoring\u00a0 Manuals\/ Handbooks<\/h3>\n

\"Caribbean<\/a>Haynes-Sutton A. et al. (2018)\u00a0Caribbean Seabirds Monitoring Manual: Promoting Conservation of Seabirds and their Marine Habitats through Monitoring<\/em>. BirdsCaribbean, 85 pp. (PDF:\u00a0English<\/a>,\u00a0Spanish<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0French<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Steinkamp M. et al. (2003)\u00a0Breeding Season Population Census Techniques for Seabirds and Colonial Waterbirds Throughout North America<\/em>. Unpublished report, 81 pp. (PDF<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Chardine J.W. (2002)\u00a0Basic guidelines for setting up a breeding seabird monitoring program for Caribbean countries<\/em>. Unpublished report, 17 pp. (PDF<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Reports and Publications of Interest<\/h3>\n

Final NFWF Seabird Support Project report (PDF<\/a>): This report was an output of a three-year project, awarded to BirdsCaribbean and funded by the US National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, which aimed to raise capacity for seabird conservation in the Caribbean.<\/p>\n

Coffey J. & Collier N. (2020)\u00a0Community-based Conservation Management Plan for the Seabirds of the Transboundary Grenadines Archipelago<\/em>. Environmental Protection in the Caribbean (EPIC), 66 pp. (PDF<\/a>).<\/p>\n

See\u00a0https:\/\/epicislands.org\/publications.html <\/a>for a list of other publications highlighting EPIC\u2019s seabird activities.<\/p>\n

Local organisations and Government Departments throughout UK Overseas Territories, in collaboration with Universities in the UK, are involved in a number of seabird projects funded by the UK Government\u2019s Darwin Initiative scheme. Past and present reports from this work can be found on the\u00a0Darwin Initiative<\/a>\u00a0website.<\/p>\n

Colony Management & Monitoring<\/h5>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Desecheo Island (Photo by Claudio Uribe)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n