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Rare Birds in the Caribbean
seen during FONT Birding & Nature Tours


followed by a List of Regional Birds 
that have become Extinct 


The following list, and data, were compiled by Armas Hill, 
using classifications designated by Birdlife International. 
Criteria for the classifications follows the listing.
A St. Vincent Parrot
photographed during the Dec 2007 FONT tout
In the Lesser Antilles.
Another photo of this species in the wild
follows below.
(Photo by Marie Gardner) 

Code:

(e): endemic to particular island.
 Birds noted as endemic for Dominican Republic are actually endemic to the island of
 Hispaniola. A number of these also occur in Haiti.


Links: 

Upcoming FONT Birding & Nature Tours in the Caribbean

Birds found during FONT Tours in:

the West Indies (with photos) 

Cayman Islands      Jamaica      Lesser Antilles    Puerto Rico
Dominican Republic



 Islands where birds have been seen during FONT tours are noted in the list.




Regarding SPECIES:

Category #1: Species classified as CRITICALLY THREATENED:

* Ridgway's Hawk ______ Dominican Republic (e)
  Buteo ridgwayi

Endemic to Hispaniola (mostly the Dominican Republic), the RIDGWAY'S HAWK is said to have once been widespread throughout the island, and certainly it was more common than it is today. Now, in fact, it is very rare, with a total population estimate of only from 50 to 250 birds.
Most recent records have been in the northeastern Dominican Republic in the area of the Los Haitises National Park. But a few birds have also been recorded, in recent years, in the southwestern Dominican Republic, in the area of the Sierra de Baoruco (Baoruco Mountains). A nest was found there in 1997.
3 individuals were seen during the FONT Dominican Republic tour in March 2003, in the southwestern part of the island. They were not far from us, as they were seen in the air circling low above a valley.
   

* Grenada Dove ______ Grenada (e)
  Leptotila wellsi (closely related to the Gray-fronted Dove of Central & South America, Leptotila rufaxilla. Has been said by some to 
  be  conspecific.) 

* Puerto Rican Amazon ______ Puerto Rico (e)
  Amazona v. vittata (a second subspecies on Culebra Island, A. v. gracilipes, is now extinct)

The PUERTO RICAN AMAZON is now the rarest of the Caribbean island amazons. The bird has been critically endangered for years. Formerly occurring in various areas of Puerto Rico, it has become very localized in a small, hilly area of northeastern Puerto Rico. 
In 1975, there were only 13 PUERTO RICAN AMAZONS in the wild. From that unlucky low, the number about 10 years later was 30. In the late 1990s, the global population was 44 in the wild and 87 in captivity.
During our March 2004 tour in that part of Puerto Rico, we saw 1 wild PUERTO RICAN AMAZON. It was in the area of the facility with the birds in the captive breeding program. The bird apparently was drawn to the noise of the caged birds' calls in the afternoon. It appeared to be a bird preferring to forfeit its lonely wildness for companionship in captivity (Parrots are social birds). 
The PUERTO RICAN AMAZON has been seen during 11 FONT tours since 1990. The most seen were 12 individuals in March 1996. The most-recent sighting, prior to March 2004, was in March 2000.

The PUERTO RICAN AMAZON has come close to following the fate of the amazon parrots that once were in Guadeloupe and Martinique, and the macaws that were in Cuba and elsewhere in the Caribbean - see the listing of "EXTINCT BIRD SPECIES" that follows.   
            

* Puerto Rican Nightjar ______ Puerto Rico (e)
  Caprimulgus noctitherus 

 On Puerto Rico, the endemic PUERTO RICAN NIGHTJAR has a very limited range in just the southwestern part of the island. And there it is only found in dry, semi-deciduous forest habitat, mostly in and around the Guanica Forest, and sparingly along the southwest coast from Guaniquilla to El Combate.        
The PUERTO RICAN NIGHTJAR was thought by ornithologists to have been extinct for 70 years, prior to its rediscovery in 1961. That rediscovery came about after the taping of an unknown call, Prior to that, the bird was only known from a specimen taken in 1888 and some subfossil cave deposits. Despite the unawareness of the bird by scientists, over the years, it was known by the local people in that part of Puerto Rico.
But the bird is secretive. It becomes active after dark, sallying beneath the canopy of the forest in pursuit of nocturnal flying insects. It calls mostly at dusk and before dawn, throughout the year, but most actively from November to May.
It's interesting that in the bird field-guide that was used throughout much of the latter half of the 20th Century, the "Birds of the West Indies" by James Bond, the species of Caprimulgus in Puerto Rico was referred to as the WHIP-POOR-WILL, Caprimulgus vociferus, which is, of course, the species in parts of North & Central America, and which winters, uncommonly to rarely, on the Caribbean islands of Cuba and Jamaica.     
        

* Yellow-shouldered Blackbird ______ Puerto Rico (e)
  Agelaius x. xanthomus  (a second Puerto Rican subspecies is on Mona Island)

 The YELLOW-SHOULDERED BLACKBIRD was formerly widespread on the island of Puerto Rico, but now it is restricted to the extreme southwest portion of the island. 
Another subspecies, Agelaius xanthomus monensis, occurs only on Mona Island, and the smaller adjacent Monito Island, about half-way between Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic.
It is the nominate race that is on the island of Puerto Rico. There was also a population along the far-eastern coast of Puerto Rico, But it has presumably vanished with no breeding recorded there since 1986.
The southwest population declined by about 80 per cent between 1975 and 1981, to a low of 300 individuals in 1982. Subsequently, roost counts during the decade from 1985 to 1995 showed an average annual increase of 14 per cent.
In early 1998, the total population was estimated at 1,250 individuals.

Formerly, the YELLOW-SHOULDERED BLACKBIRD occurred in mangroves, pastures, coconut and palm stands, cactus scrub, coastal cliffs, and rarely in woodland. It has always been found to be most common near the coast. Many birds nest on offshore cays. 
The bird forages both on the ground and in trees, feeding on insects (especially moths and crickets), seeds, and nectar.
Birds gather communally at feeding sites, with flocks forming in the non-breeding season.
The breeding season is from May to September, with nests are often low in mangrove trees, or in large deciduous trees near mangroves. On Mona Island, nests are in crevices or on ledges on high, vertical sea-cliffs.  

A Yellow-shouldered Blackbird photographed during a FONT Puerto Rico tour.
The rare species has been seen during all 27 of the FONT tours on the island. 

Category #2: Species classified as ENDANGERED:

* Black-capped Petrel ______ Puerto Rico (pelagic)
  Pterodroma h. hasitata

 The BLACK-CAPPED PETREL has a very small, fragmented, and declining breeding range that's only in the Caribbean.
It is now known to nest in Haiti and the adjacent Dominican Republic, where there are an estimated 1,000 breeding pairs, mostly on the Massifs de la Selle and de la Hotte in southern Haiti.
In the Dominican Republic, where nesting occurs in the Sierra de Baoruco (Baoruco Mountains), nests are in cliffs only at a high altitude of almost 7,000 feet above sea level.

In the Lesser Antilles, small numbers have recently been recorded on Dominica, and over nearby offshore waters, suggesting that the species may nest on that island.
The bird is now believed to be extinct on Guadeloupe, where it was common in the 19th Century. It may have bred, in the past, on Martinque.

Even during the breeding season, the BLACK-CAPPED PETREL is highly pelagic, occurring at that time as far from Caribbean islands as in the area of the Gulf Stream off North Carolina, USA. Birds disperse over the Caribbean Sea and Atlantic Ocean from that area (off North Carolina) to waters off northeast Brazil, but the at-sea range is said to have recently contracted.     

As noted, nests are in burrows in cliffs, in montane forest, at about 1,500 to 2,300 meters (4,500 to nearly 7,000 feet) above sea level. Nesting is colonial, and begins in December.    
As also noted, birds often commute long distances between breeding sites in the mountains and foraging sites at sea. When doing so, the BLACK-CAPPED PETREL is primarily nocturnal and crepuscular. It feeds on fish, invertebrate swarms, fauna associated with Sargassum seaweed, and squid. Birds are attracted to localized upwellings, where the mixing of oceanic waters produces patches of the sea that are rich in nutrients.     

 A single BLACK-CAPPED PETREL was seen during the first FONT Caribbean pelagic trip, on February 8, 1996, off the west coast of Puerto Rico. The sighting was late in the day. 



A Black-capped Petrel
photographed during a FONT tour


Closely related to the BLACK-CAPPED PETREL, Pterodroma hasitata, has been (or was) the JAMAICA PETREL, Pterodroma caribbaea, that has now been presumed, for years, to be extinct. It was last collected in 1879. 
The bird has been said by some to be an all-dark subspecies of the BLACK-CAPPED PETREL, but it has now been most often been said to be a separate species. (See notes that follow under "Extinct Bird Species in the West Indies".) 
  

* Imperial Amazon  (the "Sisserou") ______ Dominica (e)
  Amazona imperialis
The IMPERIAL AMAZON is one of two amazon parrots on the little island of Dominica. It is the rarest of the two. And it is one of the largest parrots in the world today. 
The "Sisserou", as the IMPERIAL AMAZON is locally called, is a dark, iridescent purple and green bird that now dwells only in the wet forests on the volcanic peak of Morne Diablotin, Dominica's biggest mountain. The parrots retreated to higher and higher altitudes as their native forest habitat was claimed by banana plantations and as continued persecution took its toll.
In 1975, the population was estimated to be 250 birds. By 1983, its numbers had dropped to barely 60.
The other amazon that inhabits the same area of Dominica is the RED-NECKED AMAZON. (See notes regarding it below, under "vulnerable species".)  
  

* Bay-breasted Cuckoo ______ Dominican Republic (e)
  Coccyzus (formerly Hyetornis) rufigularis

The BAY-BREASTED CUCKOO has been a rare bird since it was described in 1852, but throughout the 20th century it became even more so. In recent decades, unfortunately, the decline has continued, in both range and numbers.
This Hispaniolan endemic is now believed to be restricted to only one limited portion of that island, in the northern portion of the Sierra de Baoruco, a range that spills into the southwest Domincian Republic from Haiti. Even in that part of the Dominican Republic, the species is scarce. In Haiti, if it still exists, it is extremely rare.
The BAY-BREASTED CUCKOO occurred formerly in four areas in the Dominican Republic, but recent records have only been in the Sierra de Baoruco National Park. The decline of the species has been associated with deforestation for agriculture, high levels of grazing, hunting for supposed medicinal purposes, and probably the use of agrochemicals.  
The bird seems to prefer dry, deciduous environments, but its choice of habitat can range from arid lowland through patchy broadleaf woodland to montane rainforest. 
It is found from the lowlands to 900 meters above sea level, some times higher. 
The bird feeds mostly on lizards and insects, but also on some small mammals that may be present (not many are).
Nesting is from February to May.
 

* LaSelle Thrush ______ Dominican Republic (e)
  Turdus swalesi

 The shy LA SELLE THRUSH was discovered in mountains in southern Haiti, known as the Massif de la Selle, in 1927. It was not recorded elsewhere until 1971, when it was found  to be in the Bahoruco Mountains in the southwest Dominican Republic.
In 1986, it was determined that the LA SELLE THRUSH population that had just recently been found in the Central Mountains of the Dominican Republic was a different subspecies, T. w. dodae.
The LA SELLE THRUSH occurs above 1300 meters above sea level in dense understory of moist montane broadleaf forest. It is occasionally in pine forest, but only where there is a well-grown broadleaf understory (which is rare in the pine woods habitat of the Dominican Republic).
Even though many of the thrushes in the world in the Turdus genus are obvious, and easy to see, the LA SELLE THRUSH, Turdus swalesi, is not. As noted, it is a shy, very reclusive bird. 
The bird mainly forages on the ground for earthworms, insects, and fruit.
In the mountainous Sierra de Baoruco, in the southwestern Dominican Republic, close to Haiti, the LA SELLE THRUSH is restricted to isolated patches of its preferred habitat. 
In Haiti, all suitable forest may have disappeared from the species's range, and thus the bird may be extirpated from that entire country where it was first discovered less than 100 years ago. The LA SELLE THRUSH was formerly common at the La Visite National Park in Haiti, but now its status there is unclear.
The recently-discovered race, T. w. dodae, in the western and central Dominican Republic, occurs in the Sierra de Neiba and the Cordillera Central. 
The LA SELLE THRUSH has been found during FONT tours in the Sierra de Baoruco (near Haiti, and unfortunately near an area of increased human disturbance). But, to date, it has not been found during a FONT tour in the Cordillera Central.         
 

* White-breasted Thrasher ______ Saint Lucia
  Ramphocinclus brachyurus
   
 The WHITE-BREASTED THRASHER has an extremely small range and population on the two Lesser Antillean islands of Saint Lucia and Martinque. On each island, there is a different subspecies.
On Saint Lucia, the race R. b. santaeluciae inhabits low scrubby woodland in ravine bottoms with dense stands of thin-trunked riparian trees. It forages on the ground for small invertebrates, and sometimes small frogs and lizards. But the bird only occurs in Saint Lucia on a small portion of that island (that itself is not big!). The range on Saint Lucia is on the drier (Atlantic) side of the island between the Marquis river valley and the Frigate Island Refuge.
In 1992, the population on Saint Lucia was said to be 46 pairs. That indicated an annual decline of over 4 per cent in the 5 years since 1987. In 1997, the Saint Lucian population was estimated to be just over a hundred individuals.
During that year, 1997, on Saint Lucia, nesting success was 44 per cent, suggesting a rather normal level of nest-predation for a tropical passerine.   
However, due to predation of flightless young (on the ground) and habitat loss, the sad decline of this very rare bird may well be continuing on Saint Lucia and Martinque.
On Martinque, the population has been about 40 pairs on the Caravelle Peninsula.
The WHITE-BREASTED THRASHER has been seen during nearly all of the 15 FONT tours on Saint Lucia.     

* Whistling Warbler ______ Saint Vincent (e)
  Catharopeza bishopi
The WHISTLING WARBLER is an attractive little bird that exists only on the one little island of Saint Vincent. And on that island, it occurs just in three areas, where the favored habitat of the bird has been declining. The 3 areas are the Colonaire and the Perserence Valleys, and Richmond Peak. 
A total of about 2,000 singing males was estimated in 1986. Regarding the decline of suitable habitat, just noted, it diminished from 140 square kilometers in the early 1900's to about 80 square kilometers in 1986.
The habitat favored by the WHISTLING WARBLER is dense undergrowth and vine-tangles in primary rainforest, and also: palm brake, elfin forest, secondary growth and borders. But the primary rainforest and palm brake is the most important, holding 80 per cent of the population.
The bird is found at elevations of 300 to 1,100 meters above sea level, but mostly below 600 meters. 
Eggs are laid between April and July.
A central part of Saint Vincent was designated as a wildlife reserve in 1987, and this protection of habitat can be a benefit to the WHISTLING WARBLER.        

The Whistling Warbler of Saint Vincent

 

* Saint Lucia Black Finch ______ Saint Lucia (e)
  Melanospiza richardsoni

There is a connection between the SAINT LUCIA BLACK FINCH and the "DARWIN'S FINCHES" of the Galapagos. At one time, it was thought that the Saint Lucia bird was one of them.
Here's the story, taken in part from the book "Far Afield in the Caribbean" written by Mary Wickham Bond, the wife of the ornithologist James Bond, who specialized in West Indian birds. The just-mentioned book was published in 1971, and in the anecdote Mrs. Bond refers to her husband, Jim.

The story (of the SAINT LUCIA BLACK FINCH) began in 1835 when Charles Darwin collected his black finches in the Galapagos Islands, a group of birds peculiar to that archipelago. His study of them occupied him for the next 15 years, and helped lay the basis for his "Origin of the Species". 
About 50 years later, the Smithsonian Institution sent out an expedition to the Galapagos on the steamer, the "Albatross". On the way, the expedition stopped at several islands including Saint Lucia (in the Caribbean), where a collection of birds was bought from a local man. Among them was a black finch that was strikingly like the Darwin's Galapagos Finch. When asked where he got the bird, the local man waved his hand in a vague way and said "Up in the mountains".
However, later, it was erroneously assumed that the unusual specimen had probably been collected in the Galapagos, and was mistakenly labeled as having come from Saint Lucia.

In 1927, before Jim (Bond) set out on his first trip to the West Indies, he stopped at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. Mr. De Witt Miller, one of the older curators, said to him there, "If you get as far as Saint Lucia be sure to look for MELANOSPIZA (the genus of "the black finch"). We're still not convinced that the Albatross specimen was collected there."

Jim spent 6 weeks on Saint Lucia and looked "everywhere" for the finch, but didn't find it. However, later, during his second trip to the Caribbean, he returned to Saint Lucia during the month of May, a better time to find rare birds as it's the breeding season and they're in song. 
That time, he did find it, collecting several, including the first females known to science, from the mountainous country Soufriere.

On his return to New York, he (Bond) stopped in again at the American Museum. He got the word of his find to Mr. Frank Chapman, the head of the museum's bird department.

The DARWIN'S FINCHES, the most primitive of the Galapagos landbirds, have been, over the years, the subject of many studies and publications by naturalists from all over the world, including the eminent English ornithologist, David Lack. He examined specimens of all the finches of North, South, and Central America, and finding nothing like the DARWIN'S FINCHES among them, he decided they were a distinct family. But he did not include in his studies the Antillean finches. Had he done so, he would have noted how closely MELANOSPIZA resembled the GALAPAGOS FINCHES. 

The discovery by Jim (Bond) established the fact that MELANOSPIZA was indigenous to Saint Lucia, which strongly indicated taht the DARWIN'S FINCHES and MELANOSPIZA which invaded the Galapagos Islands and the West Indies, where they survive (but in the West Indies only in Saint Lucia), through the lack of competition with mainland species and the absence of significant predators.

Now, introduced mongooses and rats predate eggs, nestlings, and adults. A survey in 1987 failed to find any large population, and noted that much suitable habitat was unoccupied. At present, the species occurs mostly in the mountains.                                          


* Jamaican Blackbird ______ Jamaica (e)
  Nesopsar nigerrimus

* Hispaniolan Crossbill ______ Dominican Republic (e)
  Loxia megaplaga
  
The HISPANIOLAN CROSSBILL has been considered conspecific with the TWO-BARRED or WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILL. The bird, in the pine forests high in the mountains of Hispaniola, has been there a long time, as far back as the Glacial Age in Pleistocene times, about 85,000,000 years ago.
In that sense its history is long. In another, it's short. The bird was discovered in the 20th Century, in 1916. Only 4 other species of birds on Hispaniola were discovered in the 20th Century: the LEAST POORWILL, the LA SELLE THRUSH, the WESTERN CHAT-TANAGER, and the HISPANIOLAN HIGHLAND TANAGER, that's been known as the WHITE-WINGED WARBLER. (All of these species are included in this listing or rare birds in the Caribbean.)
Most birds, of course, not just on Hispaniola, but throughout the World, were known to science before the beginning of the 20th Century.  
The HISPANIOLAN CROSSBILL has a very small population (with at least 4 subpopulations). Numbers fluctuate naturally.
In the Dominican Republic, the species was not recorded from about 1930 to 1970. In that country, now, it is most often found in the Sierra de Baoruco mountains, with occasional records in the Cordillera Central.
It is believed that numbers declined during much of the 20th Century due to habitat loss, but by 1980 the bird was thought to be recovering. A population of less than 1,000 individuals was estimated in 1994, but, as noted, numbers fluctuate, depending on food supply.
In Haiti, the bird has been known from the mountainous areas of Massifs de la Selle and de la Hotte, and a flock of 30 was noted in January 2000 at La Visite.
Interestingly, away from Hispaniola, several birds were found in the Blue Mountains of Jamaica in the early 1970's, but never subsequently. Were they blown there by a hurricane? So many birds of the Caribbean have to cope with such a strong force of nature. And birds with fragile, low populations can therefore, at times, be all the more in jeopardy.              


* Eastern Chat-Tanager ______ Endemic to Hispaniola. See notes, below, under Western Chat-Tanager. 
  Calyptophilus frugivorus

Category #3: Species classified as VULNERABLE:

* West Indian Whistling Duck ______ Cayman Islands, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Puerto Rico
  Dendrocygna arborea

* Ring-tailed Pigeon ______ Jamaica (e)
  Patagioenas (formerly Columba) caribaea

* Plain Pigeon ______ Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico
  Patagioenas (formerly Columba) inornata

* White-fronted Quail-Dove ______ Dominican Republic (e)
  Geotrygon leucometopius
  (was considered conspecific with the Gray-headed Quail-Dove in Cuba, Geotrygon caniceps)

* Hispaniolan Parakeet  ______ Dominican Republic (e)
  Aratinga chloroptera

 The HISPANIOLAN PARAKEET has a small and fragmented range and population, which continues to decline due to persecution. 
Overall on the island of Hispaniola, the bird is rare with isolated populations in the Dominican Republic, in the Cordillera Central, the Sierra de Baoruco, and in some neighborhoods on the western side of the city of Santo Domingo. The current status of the bird in Haiti is unclear. It has been suggested that it is extinct there, there have been claims that it is in the Massif de la Selle and la Citadelle area of the Massif du Nord. (It should be noted that the JAMAICAN (formerly OLIVE-THROATED) PARAKEET occurs now in western Hispaniola.)
A race of the HISPANIOLAN PARAKEET, Aratinga chloroptera maugei, has become extinct. It formerly occurred on Mona Island, Puerto Rico (about halfway between the Dominican Republic and the island of Puerto Rico).
There is a feral population of the HISPANIOLAN PARAKEET in Puerto Rico, and possibly on the Lesser Antillean island of Guadeloupe.
       

* Hispaniolan Amazon  ______ Dominican Republic (e)
  Amazona ventralis
The HISPANIOLAN AMAZON was common on the island of Hispaniola, but it declined seriously during the 20th Century. By the 1930's. it was mainly restricted to the mountains in the central and southwestern Dominican Republic and in western Haiti, where it still remains locally common. Recent evidence, however, has suggested that there has been, as of late, a rapid population reduction. But the current extent of the decline, and the present population of the species is unclear.  
The bird inhabits a variety of wooded habitats, from arid palm-savannas to pine and montane humid forests, occurring as high as 1500 meters (4500 feet) above sea level. It frequently forages in cultivated lands, such as banana plantations and corn fields. Nesting is known to take place from February to May, maybe later,

Introduced HISPANIOLAN AMAZONS are established in Puerto Rico, and in the Virgin Islands on St. Croix and St, Thomas. The population in Puerto Rico is several hundred birds, and is apparently increasing.
    

* Yellow-billed Amazon  ______ Jamaica (e)
  Amazona collaria

* Black-billed Amazon ______ Jamaica (e)
  Amazona agilis

* Red-necked Amazon (the "Jaco") ______ Dominica (e)
  Amazona arausiaca
During recent decades, the RED-NECKED AMAZON has done a bit better than the other amazon that inhabits the same area of Domincia, the IMPERIAL AMAZON (see above, under "endangered").
The population of the RED-NECKED AMAZON is a few hundred birds. 
Both the RED-NECKED and IMPERIAL AMAZONS, however, are quite vulnerable to disasters such a direct hit by a powerful hurricane. Actually, the number of RED-NECKED AMAZONS was halved by such events in 1979 and 1980.
    

* Saint Lucia Amazon (the "Jacquot") ______ Saint Lucia (e)
  Amazona versicolor

The SAINT LUCIA AMAZON, when seen well, is a beautiful parrot. It is an overall green bird, with a iridescent blue face and a scalloped black and red breast. In 1950, its population was believed to be about 1,000 birds. A survey in 1978 estimated that only about 100 birds continued to exist. During those 25 or so years, suitable habitat reduced rapidly. 
After the 1970's, diligent conservation efforts saved the species from extinction. A survey in 1996 estimated the wild population to be between 350 and 500 individuals, and it noted some slight range expansion.
However, the human population on the island of Saint Lucia is growing at a considerable rate, and there is increasing pressure on the forest resulting lately in some habitat loss. So, the area of apparently suitable habitat (unoccupied by parrots) may now be decreasing, and if this begins to affect the suitable habitat that is currently occupied by parrots, the status of the bird would need to be changed from "vulnerable" to "endangered", as the species does have such a small range in which an appropriate habitat is required.      


* Saint Vincent Amazon ______ Saint Vincent (e)
  Amazona guildingii

 The SAINT VINCENT AMAZON is really quite a bird. It occurs in two general color schemes, brownish or greenish. Both are striking birds with white on their heads, blue on their faces, and bright yellow in their wings and tails.
In the early 1970's, there were an estimated 1,000 of these birds. By the late 1980's, the total population was said to be about half of that. 

A Saint Vincent Amazon in the wild,
photographed during the Dec 2007 FONT Tour in the Lesser Antilles.
 (photo by Marie Gardner)

* Least Poorwill ______ Dominican Republic (e)
  Siphonorhis brewsteri
The LEAST POORWILL had, for a while, a scanty history, after the first specimen was collected in 1917. At that time, the small nightjar, that has also been called the LEAST PAURAQUE , was given the scientific name MICROSIPHONORHIS BREWSTERI. The genus was changed in 1928 to SIPHONORHIS.
From that year, until 1969, there were very few, if any, reports of this bird, that locally is called "EL TORICO". 
The nice thing is that today this species of SIPHONORHIS can still be found (as it is during our tours). The only other member of the genus, SIPHONORHIS AMERICANA, the JAMAICAN POORWILL (or "JAMAICAN PAURAQUE"), is now believed to be extinct. 
The LEAST POORWILL is a small bird, with a length as little as just over 6 inches. In western North America, the COMMON POORWILL is about an inch to two inches loner. And, as a frame of reference, the familiar AMERICAN ROBIN has a length of about 10 inches.
Reasons why this small nightjar escaped detection for almost 50 years in the 20th Century are that the bird is entirely nocturnal, and that it lives in dense vegetation in areas of cactus and thorn scrub where, in general, not many people penetrate. Its distribution is local. Where it occurs, it may be relatively common, but overall it is not.
We have found that during FONT tours, at an appropriate place, the LEAST POORWILL can begin calling at dusk, and that when (if) it responds to a tape, it can fly by quickly, close to the ground, like a 6-inch dart.

It's written that the downy young of the LEAST POORWILL looks like a fluffy ball of white cotton, and that it appears to mimic a round whitish cactus which grows where the bird nests. Actually, the first nestling was discovered by a botanist collecting cacti. The bird was thought to be a cactus until it moved. 
     

* Hispaniolan Trogon ______ Dominican Republic (e)
  Priotelus roseigaster

 

A Hispaniolan Trogon photographed during a FONT tour in the Dominican Republic.
The species has been seen during all 17 FONT tours on that island.
 

* Golden Swallow ______ Dominican Republic (e)
  Tachycineta euchrysea sclateri
The endemic subspecies of the GOLDEN SWALLOW on the island of Hispaniola, Tachycineta euchrysea sclateri, has a small, fragmented, and declining population. It may now be that the population on Hispaniola is an endemic species, as the nominate subspecies in Jamaica has not been recorded there in years.
In Jamaica, the GOLDEN SWALLOW has been (or was) very rare and local, where it has been observed from the Cockpit Country east across the central highlands to the Blue Mountains. The Jamaican population was said to be common in the 19th Century. 
In Hispaniola, it occurs in the Cordillera Central and the Sierra de Baoruco in the Dominican Republic, and in the Massif de la Selle in Haiti.
Overall, the species suffered a massive decline during much of the 20th Century.
The GOLDEN SWALLOW in Hispaniola favors montane humid and pine forests, from about 800 to 2,000 meters (2,400 to 6,000 feet) above sea level. Nests are in old woodpecker and other holes in dead pines, and have also been noted in caves, boulders in an old bauxite mine, and in the eaves of buildings. It flies about, either singly or in small groups, feeding on small insects.  

The common English name, GOLDEN SWALLOW, comes from the sheen on its back, when the bird is seen in good sunlight from above (sometimes hard to do with a swallow).    
          

* Forest Thrush ______ Dominica (e)
  Cichlherminia iherminieri dominicensis
The FOREST THRUSH is the single member of its genus. There are 4 subspecies. In addition to the subspecies endemic to the island of Dominica, there are other endemic subspecies on the islands of Guadeloupe and Montserrat, and possibly still on Saint Lucia, where, if it still occurs, it is very rare.

Throughout its range, this species has declined significantly in recent years, due in part to deforestation and introduced predators. The bird can be exceedingly shy where it has been hunted (another factor in its decline).
In Montserrat, its population was reduced by two-thirds in 1995-1997 due to effects from a major volcanic eruption, but since then, on that island, there has been an increase. In December 1999, on Montserrat, the population was estimated to be just over 3,000 birds.
Threats, throughout its range, have been brood-parasitism by SHINY COWBIRDS and competition with the AMERICAN BARE-EYED THRUSH. 
On the French island of Guadeloupe, the FOREST THRUSH still continues to be legally hunted. On Dominica, it occurs in the Morne Diablotin National Park, and in other similar forested locations.
On Saint Lucia, the bird is said to have formerly gathered in large numbers in autumn to feed on berries.
 

* Western Chat-Tanager ______  Domincian Republic (e)
  Calyptophilus tertius
   
The bird currently called the WESTERN CHAT-TANAGER has been considered a subspecies of the EASTERN CHAT-TANAGER, Calyptophilus frugivorus, but now it is usually considered as a distinct species. 
The WESTERN CHAT-TANAGER, with a length of 8 inches, is just over an inch larger than the EASTERN CHAT-TANAGER at 6.75 inches, and it lacks the bare yellow eye-ring of the EASTERN CHAT-TANAGER. The voices of the two CHAT-TANAGERS are noticeably different.
The local name of the WESTERN CHAT-TANAGER is "El Chirri". That of the EASTERN CHAT-TANAGER (the race in the central Dominican Republic) is "El Patico".  
The WESTERN CHAT-TANAGER, Calyptophilus tertius, occurs in southwestern Hispaniola in Haiti and the adjacent Dominican Republic, where it is local in the Sierra de Baoruco mountains
The EASTERN CHAT-TANAGER, Calyptophilus frugivorus neibei, occurs uncommonly and locally in the Cordillera Central and Sierra de Neiba mountains in the central Dominican Republic. Two other subspecies have occurred, on the Semana Peninsula in the northeastern Dominican Republic and on Gonave Island in Haiti, but neither of them have not been found in decades. Those subspecies are respectively, C. f. frugivorus & C. f. abbotti.    
In the 2000 edition of Birdlife International's "Threatened Birds of the World" it was written the "much needed redefinition of the taxonomic status of the CHAT-TANAGER would almost certainly result in a significant change of the bird's 'vulnerable' classification". Since then (and reflected here), that taxonomic revision has been done, and the EASTERN CHAT-TANAGER is now classified as 'endangered', while the WESTERN CHAT-TANAGER remains 'vulnerable'.   
The nominate of the EASTERN CHAT-TANAGER was described back in the 19th Century, in 1883. The race on Gonave Island was described in 1924. And, most recently, the subspecies that is still known to exist today, C. f. neibei, was described only as recently as 1977.
What is now the WESTERN CHAT-TANAGER was described in 1929 (first as a subspecies), making it now the last of the birds of the Dominican Republic (at least, to date) to be described. As noted here elsewhere, 4 other species of birds in the Dominican Republic were described in the 20th Century: the HISPANIOLAN CROSSBILL in 1916, the LEAST POORWILL and the HISPANIOLAN HIGHLAND TANAGER in 1971, and the LA SELLE THRUSH in 1927. A second subspecies of the last of these, the thrush, was found in the Central Mountains of the Dominican Republic as recently as 1986.
The speciation of the two CHAT-TANAGERS is said to have most likely occurred when present-day Hispaniola consisted of two separate islands. 

The CHAT-TANAGERS are largely terrestrial in broadleaf forests and dense thickets, and they particularly favor ravines. The two species, C. tertius & C. frugivorus neibei, are primarily montane. They feed chiefly, near the ground, on invertebrates, rather than on fruits as implied by the scientific name "frugivorus".
Even though the WESTERN CHAT-TANAGER is one of the finest of Hispaniola's avian songsters, the bird can be notoriously hard to see, being an adept skulker. That notwithstanding, during the FONT Dominican Republic tour in April 2008, the WESTERN CHAT-TANAGER was both heard & seen very well - so much so, that it was voted the "top bird" of the tour! (And it might well be noted that the bird was seen well because of its own activity, and not due to a response to a tape. Apparently, in the remote area where we were, the birds had a nest near the road. One of them, at least, was seen repeatedly flying across the road, and perching, not high, on a nearby branch. So many times, in the past, we only had a glimpse of the bird. After all, there is a reason why it was described as late as 1929.               


* Elfin Woods Warbler ______ Puerto Rico (e)
  Dendroica angelae

It was as recently as 1971 that the ELFIN WOODS WARBLER was discovered. Endemic to Puerto Rico, it is uncommon and local in 4 disjunct areas of the island. In the east, it is in the Sierra de Luquillo (in the Caribbean National Forest) and in the Sierra de Cayey (in the Carite Forest). In the west, in the Cordillera Central (in the Maricao & Toro Negro Forests). The total population, at these localities where the bird is known, has been estimated at no more than 300 pairs.
As indicated by its name, the bird inhabits elfin, or montane dwarf, forest on ridges and summits, and montane wet forest. Preferred areas have a dense canopy with vines, high subcanopy and sparse understory. Although it has been found in secondary habitats, it occurs most in undisturbed forest. Breeding takes place from March to June.

By the late 1940's, the natural vegetation of Puerto Rico had been reduced to about 6 per cent of the island's land surface, but a later regeneration of forest increased the figure to about 30 per cent in the early 1980's.
         

* Hispaniolan Highland Tanager (has been called White-winged Warbler) ______ Dominican Republic (e)
  Xenoligea montana
The HISPANIOLAN HIGHLAND TANAGER (formerly the WHITE-WINGED WARBLER) was one of the four Hispaniolan birds discovered in the 20th Century. When it was described, in 1917, it was given the scientific name MICROLGEA MONTANA. It occurs high in the "montanas" (or mountains). In 1967, the bird became the single member of its genus, and the new scientific name given to it at that time was XENOLIGEA MONTANA.
      

* White-necked Crow ______ Dominican Republic (e)
  Corvus leucognaphalus
The WHITE-NECKED CROW is now endemic to Hispaniola. It formerly occurred on Puerto Rico, bur it was last recorded there in 1963.

Category #4: Species classified as NEAR-THREATENED:

* Caribbean Coot ______ Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Saint Lucia  
  Fulica caribaea
  (Has been said by some to be conspecific with the American Coot, F. americana)

* Crested Quail Dove (the "Mountain Witch") ______ Jamaica (e)
  Geotrygon versicolor

* Rose-throated Amazon ______ Cayman Islands
  Amazona leucocephala

  This species has various names on different Caribbean islands.
  It's known as the Bahama, the Cuban and the Cayman Islands Amazon, or Parrot
  There are 5 subspecies, 2 in Cuba, 1 in the Bahamas, and 2 in the Caymans:
  A. l. caymanensis, ______ Grand Cayman Cayman Islands (e)
  A. 1. hesterna, ______ Cayman Brac Is.

 

The Rose-throated Amazon, or the Cayman Islands Amazon,
a species always seen during FONT tours on those islands.

* Hispaniolan Palm Crow ______ Dominican Republic (e)
  Corvus palmarum
   (Has been considered conspecific with Cuban Palm Crow)

* Blue Mountain Vireo ______ Jamaica (e)
  Vireo osburni

* Vitelline Warbler ______ Cayman Islands
  Dendroica vitellina
  (There are 3 subspecies, 1 on Swan Is., the others in the Caymans:
  D. v. vitellina ______ Grand Cayman Island (e)
  D. v. crawfordi ______ Little Cayman Island (e)

* Saint Lucia Oriole ______ Saint Lucia (e)
  Icterus laudabilis


Regarding SUBSPECIES:

Category #2: Subspecies classified as ENDANGERED:

Sharp-shinned Hawk ______ Puerto Rico (e)
Accipiter striatus venator

"Saint Lucia" Rufous Nightjar ______ Saint Lucia (e)
Caprimulgus rufus otiosus 


Category #3: Subspecies classified as VULNERABLE:

Sharp-shinned Hawk ______ Dominican Republic (e)
Accipiter s. striatus  
Broad-winged Hawk ______ Puerto Rico (e)
Buteo platypterus brunnescens

Limpkin ______ Dominican Republic (now e, as extirpated in Puerto Rico)
Aramus guarauna elucus
Snowy Plover ______ Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico
Charadrius alexandrinus nivosus
Roseate Tern ______ Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, St. Lucia
Sterna d. dougallii
"Saint Lucia Wren" ______ Saint Lucia (e)
Troglodytes aedon mesoleucus
The subspecies of the House Wren on nearby Martinique has been extirpated. 
"Saint Vincent Wren" ______ Saint Vincent (e)
 Troglodytes aedon musicus 




Extinct Bird Species in the West Indies: 
(including some either probably or possibly so) 
(Approximate years of some last sightings are noted below, following the scientific names )



Jamaica Petrel ______ Jamaica (e?), possibly Dominca & Guadeloupe
Pterodroma caribbaea  (1879)

 The JAMAICA PETREL has now been presumed for years to be extinct. It was last collected in 1879.
The bird has been said by some to be an all-dark subspecies of the BLACK-CAPPED PETREL, but it has now most often been said to be a separate species.  

Until the middle of the 19th Century, the JAMAICA PETREL was plentiful, but it then suffered a drastic decline in numbers. When the bird was last collected in 1879, 22 individuals were taken. 
The only proven nesting area was in eastern Jamaica, in the Blue Mountains and the John Crow Mountains. Possibly, the bird may also have nested on the northern Lesser Antillean islands of Dominica and Guadeloupe.   
The bird's demise was probably due to predation by introduced rats (eating eggs) and mongooses (capable of taking incubating adults). Also detrimental to the bird was that it was hunted until the mid-19th Century.    


Eskimo Curlew ______ a migrant in the West Indies
Numenius borealis  
 (The last sighting (unconfirmed) in North America was in the 1980s; the last in South America was in 1939.)
That last specimen of an ESKIMO CURLEW was a bird shot in Barbados, in the West Indies, in 1964. By the 1970's, it was assumed that the species was gone, but there was a sighting (only) of a flock of 23 birds in Texas in 1981.

In the area of the Caribbean, the ESKIMO CURLEW was perhaps a rare migrant from late August to early November, except on the island of Barbados where it occurred regularly in AMERICAN GOLDEN PLOVER flocks during their southbound migration.
Formerly, the ESKIMO CURLEW was an abundant breeder in northwestern Canada, and it undertook a long migration south to central Argentina and back each year. 
It was hunted by the thousands for food and sport on the western plains of the United States (during its northbound, spring migration), primarily from 1870 to 1900. By the beginning of the 20th Century, the bird had become relatively scarce. 


Hispaniolan, or Cuban Red, Macaw ______ Cuba (from where specimens were obtained) & Hispaniola (no specimens)
 Ara tricolor

The last known occurrence of a HISPANIOLAN (or CUBAN RED) MACAW, Ara tricolor, was when a single wild bird was shot in the area of the Zapata Swamp in Cuba in 1864. Probably a few birds survived beyond that, until about 1885. Cory, at about that time, wrote: "Dr. Gundlach writes me that he believes it still occurs in the swamps of southern Cuba". A few years earlier, Gundlach noted that in 1849 it could easily be found. In the 1850s, the last flock came regularly to feed in a small group of trees at Zarabanda, also in the Zapata Swamp area of Cuba.

The HISPANIOLAN (or CUBAN RED) MACAW was similar to the SCARLET MACAW of Central & South America, but smaller (about 20 inches in length). It had a red breast and brow, a yellow crown and neck, dark blue wings, and a long tail that was blue above and red below.

The bird nested in holes and clefts in palm trees, and favored those palms and the flowering Melia trees for their diet of fruit, seeds, sprouts, and buds.

It's been noted that on occasion the Cuban people killed the macaws for food, and that they captured them, usually in their nests, to be pets.

There is historical reference to a red macaw, also, on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola (thought now to be the same species as in Cuba). In a recent study (in 1985), it was concluded that the origins of Ara tricolor were on Hispaniola, not Cuba. On the basis of old descriptions, it's said that the macaws on Hispaniola could have been a separate subspecies, with a smaller bill, and some minor plumage differences such as a white forehead, rather than red as on the Cuban bird.

No specimens now exist from Hispaniola, but there are still, throughout the world, 19 specimens of the macaws from Cuba, in various museums including those in: Havana, New York, Washington, Cambridge, Mass., London, Liverpool, Paris, Vienna, Berlin, Dresden, Leyden, Stockholm, and Tring. 

This species of macaw may also have occurred, historically, on Jamaica, as "a red macaw" was reportedly shot there in 1765. Unfortunately, that skin was lost. That bird is the first of those listed below.

There seems also to have been some other such macaws, without remaining evidence, on some other West Indian islands: Guadeloupe, St. Croix, and St. Vincent.  
             

"Yellow-headed Macaw" ______ Jamaica (endemic?, as either a subspecies or a species )
Ara (tricolor) gossei  (1765)
Green-and-Yellow Macaw ______ Jamaica (e)
Ara erythrocephala  (1842)
 (1842)
Dominican Macaw ______ Dominica (e)
Ara atwoodi  (1800)
 (1800)
Labat's Parakeet (or Conure) ______ Guadeloupe (e)
Aratinga labati  (1722)
 (1722)
Guadeloupe Amazon (or Parrot)  ______ Guadeloupe (e)
Amazona violacea  (1750)
 (1750)
Martinique Parrot/Amazon ______ Martinique (e)
Amazona martinica  (1750)
Jamaican Poorwill ______ Jamaica (e)
Siphonorhis americanus  (1859)
(has also been called Jamaican Pauraque) 
Brace's Hummingbird ______ Bahamas 
Chlorostilbon bracei
 (known only from one specimen collected in 1877)

"Cuban Ivory-billed Woodpecker" ______ Cuba 
Campephilus (principalis) bairdii (endemic to Cuba)
Recent DNA evidence (published in 2006) indicates that what has been said to be a subspecies of the IVORY-BILLED WOODPECKER in Cuba, Campephilus (principalis) bairdii, is (was) not. 
First described in 1863 as a separate species, the Cuban bird has been shown to be a species more closely related to the IMPERIAL WOODPECKER of Mexico than to the IVORY-BILLED WOODPECKER of the southeastern United States. 
By that year (2006), it may well be that all 3 of those woodpeckers had become extinct.

As to habitat, the IVORY-BILLED WOODEPCKER of the US has been (or was) in mature lowland hardwood forest, usually by water. The CUBAN IVORY-BILLED WOODPECKER has been (was) in mature lowland hardwood and hill pine forests. The IMPERIAL WOODPECKER in Mexico occurred in pine forests in hills and mountains.

In recent study, dating analyses reveal that the American & the Cuban IVORY-BILLED WOODPECKERS and the IMPERIAL WOODPECKER diverged sometime in the mid-Pleistocene. A sea-level difference at that time of more than 30 meters (90 feet) would have increased the size of the Yucatan Peninsula and reduced the current distance between the Yucatan Peninsula and Cuba, and thus, could possibly, have favored colonization of Cuba by a woodpecker presumably averse to flying over water.
          

Grand Cayman Thrush ______ Cayman Islands (Grand Cayman Is.) (e)
Turdus ravidus
Bachman's Warbler ______ Cuba
Vermivora bachmanii 
 (was a winter visitor from North America, last recorded 1964)

Semper's Warbler ______ St. Lucia (e) 
 Leucopeza semperi

Also:

Evidence suggests that there was formerly a "Giant Barn Owl" on Hispaniola.
The Barn Owl (Tyto alba pratincola) and the closely-related Ashy-faced Owl (Tyto glaucops) continue on the island today.

Fossils in the Cayman Islands indicate that historically there were, on those islands, some birds now extinct:
2 raptors (a large hawk and a caracara), and a second species of bullfinch (an endemic subspecies of the Cuban Bullfinch occurs there today). 

   
EXTINCT BIRD SUBSPECIES IN THE WEST INDIES:
of the Uniform Crake:
"Jamaican Wood Rail" ______ Jamaica (e)
Aramides c. concolor  (1881)
of the Hispaniolan Parakeet (or Conure) 
"Puerto Rican Conure" ______ Mona Island & mainland Puerto Rico
Aratinga chloroptera maugei  (1892)
of the Puerto Rican Amazon (or Parrot):
"Culebra Island Amazon" ______ Culebra Is. PR (e) 
Amazona vittata gracileps
of the Burrowing Owl:
1) Speotyto cunicularia amaura ______ Antigua, Nevis, St. Kitts (1900)
 2) "Guadeloupe Burrowing Owl" ______ Guadeloupe (e)
Speotyto cunicularia guadeloupensis  (1900)
of the Golden Swallow:
Tachycineta e. euchrysea ______ Jamaica (e)
(last seen 1989, but maybe since)
of the House Wren: 
Troglodytes aedon guadeloupensis ______ Guadeloupe (e)
Troglodytes aedon martinicensis ______ Martinique (e)
 (The subspecies of the House Wren on St. Lucia, the "St. Lucia Wren" was, about 1970, thought to be extinct, but was subsequently rediscovered.)
of the Forest Thrush:
Cichlherminia lherminiieri sanctaeluciae ______ St. Lucia (e)

of the Puerto Rican Bullfinch
Loxigilla portoricensis grandis ______ St. Kitts (e) (1900)

of the Jamaican Oriole
Icterus leucopteryx bardi ______ Cayman Islands (Grand Cayman) (e) (1967) 


References:

Threatened Birds of the World (a Birdlife International publication), Lynx Edicions, 2000