Aruba Birdlife Conservation Bird wildlife of Aruba We are proud to present the first pages of our new prestigious book on the Bird Wildlife of Aruba. This hardcover book will contain 432 pages with beautiful photographs of almost every bird specie that has been spotted on Aruba. We are planning to present the book early November this year, but we still need some additional funding. Perhaps sponsoring this book might be an interesting opportunity for you. We can offer you the following proposal: For naf 10,000 you will receive 50 copies of the book and the logo of your company will be printed in the colophon For naf 5,000 you will receive 25 copies of the book and the logo of your company will be printed in the colophon For naf 2,500 you will receive 15 copies of the book and your name or the name of your company will be mentioned in the book To meet the deadlines, the book will have to go in print on September 1st, so this has to be the deadline for our sponsoring campaign. I hope you will give me a positive reaction, Best wishes, Greg Peterson Aruba Birdlife Conservation Bird Wildlife of Aruba “It is easy to understand why so many of us are so fond of LM Publishers birds. They are lively; they are Parallelweg 37 lovely; and they are everywhere. 1131 DM Volendam They have characters with which 030-3035550 we can easily identify – cheeky [email protected] and shy, gentle and vicious, www.lmpublishers.nl faithful – and faithless. Many enact the dramas of their © Februari 2016 – LM Publishers, Volendam lives in full view for all to see. They are part of our world yet, text Gregory M. Peterson and Annette H. Peterson-Bredie at a clap of our hands, they lift photography Gregory M. Peterson and Albert A. Peterson into the air and vanish into their editing Gregory M. Peterson own with a facility that we can graphic design Ad van Helmond, Amsterdam only envy. And they are an production Hightrade bv, Zwolle ever-present link with the natural world that lies beyond isbn 978-94-6022-373-0 our brick walls. It is hardly surprising that human beings have studied birds with a greater dedication and intensity than they have lavished on any other group of animal.” This book is dedicated to Gerald Daniel Peterson [1920 – 1992] David Attenborough Known in San Nicolas as The Life of Birds. BBC ‘The Teacher’ Contents Foreword 9 American Wigeon 48 Snowy Egret 112 Crested Caracara Cheriway 174 Solitary Sandpiper 236 Cayenne Tern 290 Hummingbirds American Redstart 390 Cinnamom Teal 52 Little Egret 114 American Kestrel 176 Spotted Sandpiper 237 Common Tern 298 Blue-tailed Emerald 347 Northern Waterthrush 392 Introduction 13 Green-winged Teal 54 Great Egret 118 Merlin 180 Willet 241 Least Tern 302 Ruby-topaz Hummingbird 352 Bananaquit 394 Imagine Aruba! 13 Blue-winged Teal 55 Reddish Egret 122 Peregrine Falcon 182 Whimbrel 242 Roseate Tern 308 Threats 13 White-cheecked Pintail 60 Tricoloured Heron 129 Hudsonian Godwit 246 Sooty Tern 310 Flycatchers, Swifts, Martins, Sparrows, Buntings, Grassquits & Finches Aruba Birdlife Conservation 16 Lesser Scaup 66 Little Blue Heron 132 Rails, Gallinules & Coots Buff-breasted Sandpiper 248 Bridled Tern 316 Swallows and Mockingbirds House Sparrow 396 Conservation efforts 17 Ring-necked Duck 70 Whistling Heron 136 Sora 189 Upland Sandpiper 249 Black Noddy 317 Caribbean Elaenia 359 Indigo Bunting 398 Intentions and framework of this book 18 Muscovy Duck 72 Black-crowned Night Heron 138 Purple Gallinule 190 Ruddy Turnstone 250 Brown Noddy 318 Northern Scrub-Flycatcher 360 Saffron Finch 402 Contributors to this book 20 Yellow-crowned Night Heron 142 Common Gallinule 194 Western Sandpiper 255 Black Skimmer 324 Cattle Tyrant 367 Black-faced Grassquit 406 Aruba and its important bird wildlife Cormorants, Pelicans & Flamingoes Least Grebe 144 Caribbean Coot 201 Least Sandpiper 256 Brown-crested Flycatcher 368 Bobolink 408 areas 21 Neotropic Cormorant 74 Pied-billed Grebe 146 American Coot 207 White-rumped Sandpiper 260 Pigeons & Doves Tropical Kingbird 370 Dickcissel 410 Brown Pelican 78 Pectoral Sandpiper 262 Rock Pigeon 329 Grey Kingbird 372 Aruba’s Endemic Subspecies • Arubensis American Flamingo 84 Ibises & Spoonbills Shorebirds Sanderling 264 Eared Dove 330 Fork-tailed Flycatcher 374 Blackbirds Burrowing Owl 27 White Ibis 151 Southern Lapwing 209 Stilt Sandpiper 268 Bare-eyed Pigeon 332 Barn Swallow 376 Great-tailed Grackle 413 Brown-throated Parakeet 32 Frigatebirds & Boobies Scarlet Ibis 152 Killdeer 212 Short-billed Dowitcher 270 Common Ground Dove 334 Tropical Mockingbird 378 Carib Grackle 414 Magnificent Frigatebird 89 Glossy Ibis 156 American Golden Plover 214 Wilson’s Snipe 272 White-tipped Dove 336 Shiny Cowbird 416 New World Quails • Odontophoridae Brown Booby 92 Roseate Spoonbill 158 Black-bellied Plover 217 Warblers & Bananaquit Venezuelan Troupial 418 Crested Bobwhite 37 Semipalmated Plover 218 Gulls, Terns and Skimmers Cuckoos, Ani and Nightjars Northern Parula 381 Yellow Oriole 420 Bitterns, Herons, Egrets & Grebes Raptors & Vultures Collared Plover 220 Laughing Gull 275 Yellow-billed Cuckoo 339 Yellow Warbler 383 Ducks & Geese • Anatidae Least Bittern 97 Turkey Vulture 163 Black-necked Stilt 223 Lesser Black-backed Gull 280 Groove-billed Ani 342 Prothonotary Warbler 384 Aruba Birdlife Conservation Black-bellied Whisling Duck 41 Green Heron 100 Osprey 164 American Oystercatcher 228 Franklin Gull 282 Smooth-billed Ani 343 Black-and-white Warbler 385 bird checklist 2016 422 Comb Duck 43 Great Blue Heron 105 White-tailed Hawk 168 Greater Yellowlegs 232 Royal Tern 284 White-tailed Nightjar 345 Blackpoll Warbler 386 Literature 430 Northern Shoveler 44 Cattle Egret 108 Swallow-tailed Kite 170 Lesser Yellowlegs 234 Gull-billed Tern 288 Cape May Warbler 388 Gratitude and recognition 431 By Adrian Delnevo, Ph.D. Foreword Dr. Adrian Delnevo grew up in rural Oxfordshire, England where as a very young boy he was fortunate to have England’s first Ph.D. in ornithology (Dr. Bruce Campbell), as a birding, and bird banding tutor. Adrian went on to become director of two British Bird Observatories, where he spent the late Many people are rightly concerned about the state of the world’s natural resources. It would be 1970’s/early 1980’s conducting bird research, population studies, biodiversity true to say that never before has there been such widespread awareness of the environment and ecology, and banding many thousands its diverse habitats and the species that inhabit them. To a very great extent this global awareness of birds. He gained his Ph.D. in avian ecology in 1990. Adrian later became a has been possible through the publication of many books, wildlife films, documentaries, and research biologist for the world’s largest ornithology conservation organization photographs. This book beautifully contributes to the education and awareness of Aruba’s glorious (rspb) and guided seabird and other bird wildlife, and in particular it’s resident and migratory birds. research throughout Europe, Africa and the Caribbean. He first studied birds and biodiversity in the Caribbean in 1984, and started his first project on Aruba in 1997. Of course there have been other books on Aruba’s birds, and some of these include attractive He has been coming back ever since. His photographs. But never before has such a comprehensive photographic guide to Aruba’s post-doctoral studies included being the European coordinator for the threatened birdlife been compiled. A total of 129 species, all photographed on Aruba, has been carefully and roseate tern, and thus it was natural that unobtrusively photographed and lovingly assembled. his first studies on Aruba involved the globally unique tern colonies within San Nicolas Bay. These studies, involving ten species of nesting terns have contributed Aruba sits in the southern Caribbean and thus combines its ‘local’ bird population, with other to several internationally recognized Caribbean bird species, migrants from South and Central America, and migrants from North sites on Aruba being proclaimed an Important Bird Area (iba). He also has America. Aruba sits on an important migratory crossroads, and yet relatively little is known been monitoring land-birds on Aruba since 2002, and in particular how land- about the status and conservation of its bird species. Within the last few years great advances bird populations and their habitats in the identification of important habitats and sites for birds on Aruba have been made. The have changed over time. Adrian has led many training courses, including bird Bubali wetlands is an important nesting and resting place for multiple species of waterbirds. Its identification, census studies, statistics, and biodiversity and ecology for the surrounding vegetation attracts a broad range of non-waterbird species. The unique Bubali habitat Dutch Caribbean Nature Alliance (dcna), and three other locations were proclaimed Important Bird Area (iba) by BirdLife International in for whom he is an informal science advisor. Adrian continues to conduct 2008. Indeed, one of these iba’s, the San Nicholas Bay Reef Islands, is one of the most important research and monitoring throughout locations for nesting terns in the world. The Spanish Lagoon is a ramsar site another form of the Caribbean, and particularly within the Dutch islands. For the last twenty internationally recognized site. The mangroves and other vegetation surrounding the Spanish two years, Adrian has provided scientific support to legal counsel regarding Lagoon is an important resting spot for migratory birds. But with an increasing knowledge of alleged injury to natural resources and the ecological needs of the birds and other wildlife, and an expanding human population, it has biodiversity, and is an adjunct professor at two us universities. become clear that more areas are needed to maintain sustainable wildlife. For this reason, Aruba Birdlife Conservation with assistance of experts, has identified an additional sixteen (16) sites as well as a marine park that need conservation and legally-binding protection.