The Complete Checklist of THE BIRDS of the West Indies Jeff Gerbracht Anthony Levesque THE COMPLETE CHECKLIST OF THE BIRDS OF THE WEST INDIES 2019 Version 1.1 Jeff Gerbracht Anthony Levesque Cover Photos: Anthony Levesque: Ruddy Turnstone Jeff Gerbracht: Barbuda Warbler; Hispaniolan Trogon; Lesser Antillean Bullfinch Frantz Delcroix: Bananaquit; Broad-billed Tody; Black-and-white Warbler Recommended Citation Gerbracht, J., and A. Levesque. 2019. The complete checklist of the birds of the West Indies: v1.1. BirdsCaribbean Checklist Committee. www.birdscaribbean.org/caribbean-birds/ Introduction The Complete Checklist of the Birds of the West Indies aims to document all of the species of birds observed in the West Indies along with the species status in a number of different categories, including abundance, seasonality, breeding status, endemism and establishment. It will provide a source of information on the abundance and diversity of West Indian avifauna. Its goal is to provide consistent, accurate and up to date information for use by researchers, conservationists and policy makers. The type of questions we often hear are: How many species of birds have been seen in the West Indies? How many species are endemic to the Lesser Antilles? What is the diversity of breeding birds? How many introduced species are established in a region? These questions sound simple but can be very difficult to accurately answer without sifting through numerous recently published sources of information covering the entire West Indies region. Sadly, there are few publications covering the West Indies and they are traditionally books or journal articles which are often out of date shortly after they are published. One of the goals for this checklist is to provide a single source of up-to-date information about the status of birds in the West Indies. Table 1 includes a variety of statistics that can be easily retrieved from this checklist. “Living” is the number of species currently living in the West Indies, you may notice that the numbers for Established Introduced Species are different between “Living” and “Total” and there are no Extinct species, this is due to 4 species which were previously established in the region which have subsequently become extirpated from the region. Table 1 Category Living Extinct Total Species Total - West Indies (Bahama Islands, Turks and Caicos, the Greater 738 13 749 Antilles, the Lesser Antilles, Providencia and San Andres) Endemics - West Indies 171 9 180 Endemics - Lucayan Archipelago (Bahamas and Turks & Caicos) 6 1 7 Endemics - Greater Antilles (Cuba, Hispaniola, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, 109 4 113 Virgin Islands, and the Cayman Islands) Endemics - Lesser Antilles (Islands south of the Anegada Passage, from 23 4 27 Anguilla to Grenada) Endemics - Western Caribbean (Colombian islands of San Andres and 1 - 1 Providencia) Species Breeding - West Indies 362 10 372 Residents 347 10 357 Visitors 334 3 337 Vagrants (Very Rare,Visitors) 145 1 146 Extirpated 6 - 6 Extinct - 13 13 1 Established Introduced Species 45 - 49 Non-established Introduced Species 55 - 55 This initial version of the Checklist is CERTAINLY not the end point, rather it is the starting point. Birds do not stay in one place, nor are their populations static. By the time this checklist is printed, it will also be out of date with new species added, new breeding populations discovered and sadly, some species will become extirpated from the region. Updates to the checklist will be published annually and a ‘living’ version, updated throughout the year, will be available on the BirdsCaribbean website. Additionally, we plan to enhance and make additions to these checklists over time, by adding additional categorizations that are useful to the ornithology and bird community in the Caribbean and by detailing similar information for subspecies. In addition to the single, overarching West Indies checklist, there are/will be checklists specific to the countries of the Caribbean. These checklists will provide broader coverage for the larger Caribbean region and will include checklists for Bermuda, Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao. Each checklist will include a comprehensive species list for the region and associated information using the categorizations developed for this checklist. Several regional checklists adopting these methods are already available, e.g. the Annotated Checklist of the Birds of Cuba, or will soon be available. Checklist Methods and Definitions The checklist takes the format of tables in an Excel spreadsheet and include each ‘Listed Species’ and relevant data in the categories defined below. Worksheet 1 within the spreadsheet includes a complete list of species which are naturally occurring or have an established, self-sustaining population. Worksheet 2 provides a list of species which have been observed free flying in the region yet are not established. Hypothetical records in the region, meaning there isn’t enough information about the record to conclusively include a species on the checklist, are detailed in worksheet 3. We have provided the checklist in an Excel spreadsheet so the lists can be easily sorted based on categories of interest to each individual. In addition to the Excel spreadsheet, these three tables are included below. It is important to review the definitions detailed below to be able to understand and interpret the different values associated with each species. For example, a seasonality of Year-round is not the same as a Resident. Some species are Year-round Visitors meaning they occur in the West Indies throughout the year, yet do not spend their entire life cycle within the West Indies, this applies to many shorebirds which are seen year-round but breed exclusively in the Arctic. The following bold headings align with the different columns of data within the checklist itself. Underlined headings below are a list of possible values for each species for the associated bold heading. The spreadsheet format itself allows for the sorting and aggregation of species based on the values in these columns. Criteria for Inclusion For a species to be included as a ‘Listed Species’ in the main checklist (Worksheet 1) or the ‘Non- established’ list (Worksheet 2), it must meet a minimum set of criteria. A species is added to the West Indies checklist when there is a specimen, clearly distinctive sound recording, diagnostic 2 photograph or a precise description which fits distinctive field marks and clearly distinguishes this species from similar species. Geographic Coverage or ‘What is included in the West Indies?’ The West Indies Area is defined, following Raffaele et al. (1998) A Guide to the Birds of the West Indies as including the Bahama Islands, Turks and Caicos, the Greater Antilles, the Lesser Antilles (ending with Grenada in the south), Providencia and San Andres. It does not include Bermuda, Trinidad and Tobago, Aruba, Curaçao, Bonaire, and Swan Islands. Taxonomic Sort The order in which taxa are sorted. This is based on the most current version of the Clements Checklist of birds of the world. This column can be used to sort the spreadsheets taxonomically. Common Name The English common name for each species as defined by the most current version of the Clements Checklist of birds of the world. Scientific Name The scientific name for each species as defined by the most current version of the Clements Checklist of birds of the world. Endemic This details the type of endemism for each of the endemic species in the West Indies. For this checklist, we have added several new categorizations of ‘endemism’ as we felt that the single endemic definition failed to capture the interesting subtleties within a list of endemic species. Note: this column will remain empty for species not considered as endemics within the West Indies region. Resident Endemic: A species that is native to a limited geographical region and which occurs naturally nowhere else, i.e., Inagua Woodstar in Great and Little Inagua, Bahamas. Thus, a West Indies Resident Endemic both breeds and resides entirely within the West Indies. The vast majority of Endemics fall into this category. Breeding Endemic: A species that is native to, and its breeding is completely restricted to a specific geographical region within the West Indies. In the current checklist only three species fall in this category: Cuban Martin and Caribbean Martin which breed only in Cuba and the Greater Antilles respectively, and whose winter ranges are unknown, and Black-capped Petrel which breeds in Hispaniola and possibly Dominica but ranges through the western Atlantic and much of the Caribbean Sea. Non-breeding Endemic: A species that is native to, and its non-breeding range is completely restricted to a specific geographical region within the West Indies. In the current checklist only three species fall in this category: i.e., Kirtland’s Warbler which winters in the Bahamas, Bicknell’s 3 Thrush which winters in the eastern Greater Antilles and the extinct Bachman’s Warbler which wintered in Cuba. Near Endemic: A species where the population is native and almost entirely restricted to a specific geographical region within the West Indies, but which can occur in small numbers in surrounding regions, i.e., Western Spindalis in the Greater Antilles (also occurs on Cozumel) Endemic Region The endemic region is the most restrictive overarching region of endemism for each endemic species. For example, a species that occurs in both the Greater and Lesser Antilles is considered a West Indian endemic whereas a species which is endemic to Cuba and Hispaniola is considered a Greater Antilles endemic. West Indies: A species that is not restricted to a single region listed below but is restricted to islands in the West Indies as defined above. Greater Antilles: A species that is restricted to islands in the Greater Antilles: Cuba, Hispaniola, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, and the Cayman Islands. Lesser Antilles: A species that is restricted to islands in the Lesser Antilles: The islands south of the Anegada Passage, from Anguilla to Grenada.