Help Restore The Bahama's Devastated Islands
A nonprofit fundraiser supporting
BirdscaribbeanEmergency funding to help birds and restore habitats on the islands devastated by Hurricane Dorian
$29,460
raised by 169 people
$50,000 goal
Hurricane Dorian Recovery Update #2
As we close in on the two-month anniversary of Hurricane Dorian that completely devastated the islands of Grand Bahama and Abaco, we wanted to give you a short update on the results of your funding and the status of wildlife on the island.
Media reports have made it clear: life has by known means returned to normal on the islands. Many lives have been lost. Many residents have lost everything and are homeless. A large number have left the islands to seek a new life elsewhere.
Meanwhile, what needs to be taken into consideration, as rebuilding starts? This is up for debate. At BirdsCaribbean, when the time comes we hope that reconstruction will take place on an equitable basis, taking into account the need for coastal resiliency and habitat restoration. In other words, the environment takes priority.
We are pleased to report that your contributions are going directly to restoration and long-term planning efforts across both islands. As we reported in our first update, more than 2,000 pounds of bird seed, 300 tube feeders, 400 nectar feeders, and nectar concentrate, arrived to Grand Bahama and is being distributed across the island. We will be sharing an update on which communities received supplies and the results of the feeding effort shortly.
Thanks to your generosity, we have also been able to provide our colleagues at the Bahamas National Trust (BNT) with essential new equipment for their recovery work. This includes cameras, drone, iPad, binoculars, GPS units, compasses, backpacks, and other equipment vital for field surveys.
New field equipment for BNT.Armed with the equipment they received from BirdsCaribbean, our colleagues at BNT did not waste any time. They went straight out into the field to assess the impacts of the storm on wildlife. Your support is helping to cover the cost of Rapid Assessment Field studies. A team from BNT and Audubon Florida just completed an initial 5-day survey of Abaco focused on the Bahama Parrot and its habitat.
The team found conditions on the island varied widely. Southern Abaco seemed mostly intact including the people, their homes and their spirits. People gathered at bars, walked through food stores and came to the fuel station in Sandy Point. Common bird species, such as House Sparrows and Cuban Pewees appeared unaffected by the storm’s impacts.
The northern part of the island painted a very different and sad picture. Many trees and buildings were destroyed. Older trees had lost their leaves or were severely damaged, losing limbs and bark. They were just beginning to sprout small leaves and shoots.
The team divided up tasks in order to get as much done as possible in a short span of time. Bahama Parrot researcher Caroline Stahala (Audubon) and Bradley Watson (BNT) worked on vegetation surveys together. Occasionally, they were joined by David Knowles (BNT), who lost his own home in the hurricane, but is still working as the park warden along with Marcus Davis, the BNT deputy warden, whose home further south remained intact.
Giselle Deane (BNT) and Ancilleno Davis collected the bird survey data using the binoculars BirdsCaribbean was able to provide thanks to the emergency funds raised. Bradley Watson used his new camera provided by BirdsCaribbean to take plenty of photos of birds, plants, and habitat throughout.
It was disturbing to see the birds foraging in the dirt for fallen fruit at a resort development in central Abaco, while a cat prowled around nearby. The parrots’ usual habit is to only eat the freshest fruit directly from the trees, dropping small portions on the ground. Abaco’s population of the Bahama Parrot is also especially vulnerable since they nest in rock cavities on the ground.
But all is not lost. The team found small flocks of parrots falling around Abaco. They are making themselves heard again across the island. The team put out supplemental food stations, to help the parrots survive during this critical period of food shortages.
It's not clear, however, whether prospects for the parrots are encouraging in the long term. This is because the destruction of large parts of the birds’ habitat in central and northern Abaco means that food will remain in short supply. While the researchers remain cautiously optimistic, it is clear that a much wider effort to restore foraging habitat will be needed to help sustain the parrot population year-round and outside of the breeding season, which is May/June.
The survey team will soon be releasing a full report on their findings on both Grand Bahama and Abaco. There is much more work to be done, and the post-hurricane period is critical for the welfare of the birds and indeed all wildlife on these devastated islands.
Meanwhile, human residents are still picking up the pieces - in some cases literally - and many challenges remain.
Thanks again for your concern and generous support, which has made this work possible!!!
Bahama Parrot foraging on the ground.
Giselle Dean tries out her new field equipment
Scott Johns
After more than two days of constant battering from Hurricane Dorian, the Bahamian conservation community desperately needs your support. The birds need your support.
The images and videos showing Dorian's devastation are heartbreaking. We are in touch with our colleagues at the Bahamas National Trust (BNT) and are relieved to hear that their staff are safe. The full extent of the damage to communities, wildlife and habitats is still unknown.
What we do know is that the ferocity and duration of this Category 5 storm has caused immense destruction on the islands of Abaco and Grand Bahama in the northern Bahamas. On the human side, the Red Cross reports that as many as 13,000 homes may have been destroyed and there have been at least 30 confirmed deaths. Some of our friends at BNT have lost their homes.
For more than 48 hours the islands suffered winds of 185 to 220 mph and storm surges in excess of 23 feet. By Sunday, September 1st, Bahamian Prime Minister, Hubert A. Minnis, was reporting that the streets of Abaco Island were “indistinguishable from the ocean,” and that parts of Marsh Harbor, the main city on Abaco with a population of 6,000, were “underwater.” On Grand Bahama, Freeport International Airport is still completely inundated.
The two islands are a stronghold for 4 threatened birds endemic to the Bahamas: the Bahama Parrot (Abaco, also in Inagua), Bahama Nuthatch (only occurs on Grand Bahama, extremely rare), Bahama Warbler (only occurs on these 2 islands) and the Bahama Swallow (GB and Abaco comprise 2 of its 3-island range).
Four threatened endemic species on Grand Bahama and Abaco (clockwise from upper left): Bahama Parrot, Bahama Swallow, Bahama Warbler, Bahama Nuthatch. (photos by Lynn Gape, Melanie Rose Wells, Erika Gates, Bruce Hallett)These northern islands also provide vital habitat to many other birds, including the endemic Bahama Woodstar and Bahama Yellowthroat and dozens of resident and migratory waterbirds and shorebirds like the near-threatened Reddish Egret, endangered Piping Plover, Red Knots, Ruddy Turnstones and sandpipers. Migratory warblers arrive in droves this time of year. White-crowned Pigeons are normally still nesting, mostly in mangroves on these islands’ offshore cays, but also in pineland and coppice habitats.
Although many animals, including birds, can sense changes in weather patterns, and can fly away or hunker down to survive, a storm of this power and duration likely caused a lot of direct mortality. Worse still, after a devastating storm many species will be struggling to survive as fruits, nuts, flowers, insects and sheltering habitat will be scarce. After Hurricanes Irma and Maria, we saw that birds were literally starving to death due to the complete destruction of their habitats.
The humanitarian crisis is immense and heart-wrenching. Residents on these northern islands urgently need the basics: food, clean water and a safe shelter. It will take months to rebuild their homes and lives. We are gratified to see that many aid groups, both in the Bahamas and the US, are collecting donations of cash and supplies to help islanders recover. We strongly encourage you to support these groups.
Now our job is to focus on how we can help the birds and their habitats.
You can help us to provide funds and equipment to help our long-time BNT partner and volunteers carry out vital work on behalf of nature. Our goal is to help them restore their islands and national parks, so once again they can be thriving habitats for magnificent island endemics like the Bahama Parrot, and many other birds and wildlife. By doing so, we also accelerate the rate at which ecotourism — and livelihoods dependent upon it — are able to be restored.
We have volunteers ready to help with surveys and clean-ups. We are sending bird feeders and seed to help birds struggling to survive.
You and I can help restore the birds, their habitats and the local communities. We have done it before when the BirdsCaribbean’s Hurricane Relief Fund raised over $100,000 to support restoration efforts on multiple islands hit by Maria and Irma in 2017.
By acting today, you can help ensure immediate needs will be met and be part of the conservation and science that will guide the recovery efforts in the Bahamas.
Please be as generous as you can and donate today.
Thank you!!!
P.S. If you prefer to send a donation via check, please make it out to BirdsCaribbean and mail to: BirdsCaribbean, 841 Worcester St. #130, Natick, MA, 01760-2076.
If you have any questions or concerns, contact me at Lisa.Sorenson@BirdsCaribbean.org