Visiting the Audubon Center

To make your visit to the Audubon Center in Les Cayes even easier, Bradt recently released its travel guide for Haiti, by Paul Clammer.  Follow this link to facebook to find out more about the guide.

The Audubon Center is located on the campus of the American University of the Caribbean (AUC).  AUC is located in Haiti's 3rd largest city, Les Cayes, on the southern coast of Haiti.  AUC is on Route Nationale #2, on the right just past the 'arch' as one enters Les Cayes coming from the east.  Buses run to and from Port au Prince daily.  Charted flights can be arranged into the Antoine-Simon Airport just north of town.  AUC's address is B.P. 3, Route Nationale #2 Charpentier Les Cayes, Haiti, (509) 3444-0997

Société Audubon Haiti

Société Audubon Haiti has a new website!  If you are in Haiti, there are many birding resources you can purchase at their office at Quisqueya University in Port au Prince (Campus Université Quisqueya, Jean Paul II, Haut Turgeau, PaP, 509-2949-9000).  Or stop by the Audubon Center at the American University of the Caribbean in Les Cayes to preview these books.


       

2012 Christmas Bird Count

Wilson's Plover.

We had a successful Christmas Bird Count yesterday around Les Cayes.  This 3rd annual event started with a talk Friday by the Haiti Audubon Society, lead by AUC graduate Anderson Jean.  Saturday four groups and about 18 participants saw  63 species in our 15 mile circle.  See the 2013 posting for results.

Anderson Jean and Sean Christensen organized this year's count.  (Photos by Debbie Baker and Sean Christensen). 

The Les Cayes bird count circle.

Seminar by the Haiti Audubon Society.

At mangroves east of Les Cayes.

Birding at 300m at Picot.

At sea level at Gelee Beach.

Counting the shore birds at Gelee Beach.

Student and teacher seminars

A teacher demonstrating visual aids.

Last week James and I held two bird conservation seminars at the school MEBSH de Simon.  Twenty-five high school students from 4 local schools attended the Friday afternoon seminar.  Saturday afternoon, 16 primary school teachers from 9 schools came to learn about the importance of birds.  One came from a school 1 hour away.  An AUC student assisted us that day.  We gave each teacher 2 posters donated by the Audubon Society of Haiti.  Several invited us to their schools to teach their students.  Stay tuned for an upcoming post about teaching in these schools with AUC student volunteers.

MEBSH de Simon

James teaching the high schoolers.

Bird identification training with IFTA

We had our last Institution Formation en Technique Agronomie (IFTA) lecture on Monday in which I spoke about conservation.  The finale was today in which we took the class birding west of Torbeck.  Thanks to the teacher Decossard for making the arrangements, and James for translating.  I taught the students about which features to pay attention to on the birds to help them more quickly identify birds.  We also talked about the logistics of being a bird guide.  We saw only about 7 species, and it was overcast and rainy.  But it was still a great teaching experience. 

Talk at AUC Wednesday 3pm

At 3pm on Wednesday Nov. 14 ecology Professor Debbie Baker will speak about the goals of the Audubon Center.  The forum will take place in the chapel on the 3rd floor of the American University of the Caribbean in Les Cayes.  Please join us if you would like to find out more about the environmental education we can bring to your organization!

Warblers at AUC

This morning I saw 3 warbler (ti tchit) species in the same clump of trees next to the pavilion.  It was raining, so the pavilion made excellent cover.

• Black-and-white Warbler (Mniotilta varia)
• Black-throated Blue Warbler (Dendroica caerulescens) – male
• American Redstart (Setophaga ruticilla) – immature male