GBD2025 Recap: Big Wins for Birds and Birders in the Caribbean by Bird Caribbean

From dawn choruses to birding by the last cool sliver of moonlight—the BirdsCaribbean community took flight on Saturday, May 10, for an electric 24 hours of non-stop citizen science, friendly rivalry, and collective action for birds! Oh—and they only broke almost every Caribbean Global Big Day record along the way!

Twice a year, during peak migration (once in spring and once in fall) birders across the globe spring into action to record as many different bird species as they can in 24 hours. Every eBird checklist powers research—tracking habitat use, revealing global population trends, and ensuring that conservation efforts are directed where they’re needed most. 

And what better way to strive to record every bird using the Caribbean’s lush forests, serene wetlands, city parks, and even backyards, than to unite—for some friendly competition of course! Every year, the BirdsCaribbean GBD Teams Competition pits island and multinational teams against each other—all vying to spot the most overall species and the most West Indian birds on Global Big Day! Teams get bragging rights, funds are raised to execute vital bird conservation work, and Caribbean biodiversity wins. 

Our birding community gave it their all…and then some! The numbers don’t lie—we’ve got the stats to prove how epic #GlobalBigDayBirdsCarib 2025 was...
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Global Big Day results for our BirdsCaribbean Teams. The numbers in red show which team

had the highest number for each category. 

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The Yearly Return of the Black Swifts

A Black Swift at Bell Point, St. Philip

April and May are spring migration months.  This annual journey to breeding grounds in North America can be clearly seen as the number of migratory birds on the island steadily declines. There are some exceptions to the norm, as is the case with Black Swifts (Cypseloides niger).  These birds, instead of heading north, fly to breeding sites in the West Indies.  One such nesting site can be found on the east coast of our island, nestled in a hard-to-reach sea cave in the sea cliffs of Bell Point, St. Philip.  Black Swifts are listed as “Vulnerable” on the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species. This is because the species is undergoing a rapid decline throughout its North American range. The reasons for the decline are uncertain, but one of the biggest dangers to migratory birds, animals in general is the loss of habitat.  It is even more so a problem for bird species like Black Swifts, which are known to have a high nest-site loyalty (Collins and Foerster 1995), which means that these birds will return to the same site for nesting every breeding cycle. That is why I am encouraged by the Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) Plan, drafted by the Coastal Zone Management Unit.  Some of the directives within the plan can inadvertently protect the sea caves at Bell Point, thus protecting the nesting site of this vulnerable species, and trust me, migratory birds need all the help they can get.   So if you’re out and about in the Skeet’s Bay Area, or along the East Coast Road, or gazing over the vista at Melvin’s Hill, St. Joseph, you just may see them, these masters of flight – the Black Swifts.