She may not be the best vocalist, but this Abaco parrot’s got a reason to sing! | shot by Christopher Johnson

Trust Notes | January 2020 Issue

Bahama warbler in Abaco National Park | shot by Christopher Johnson

REFUGEE. Before hurricane Dorian, it was a word far-removed from the Bahamian experience.  When you heard the word, it may have conjured up images of our neighbors from the south — the ones taking desperate measures to escape cruel dictators and soul-crushing poverty.  However, now, for the first time in Bahamian history, the word applies to us.  There are Bahamian refugees.

You have no doubt heard hundreds of stories of Bahamian families who have been displaced, environmental refugees, driven from their homes by the ugliest face of climate change that our country has ever seen.  But there are other refugees.

Hundreds of miles away from the national sporting complex that became the temporary home of displaced families from Abaco, you will find another refugee site.  It is one that you have been supporting with your donations for more than 20 years, the Abaco National Park.

Since hurricane Dorian, the park, established in 1994 to protect the Abaco parrot, has become even more critical to wildlife populations.

Team Abaco | [left to right]  George E. Wallace (ABC), Christopher Johnson (BNT), Bradley Watson (BNT), Daniel Lebbin (ABC), David Knowles (BNT), Scott Johnson (BNT), Elijah Sands (BNT, not pictured). 

On January 20th, a team of BNT scientists, along with two Conservation Officers from The American Bird Conservancy, began a 10-day expedition to Abaco to assess the impact that Dorian had on the environment and bird populations there.  Before your donations made this trip possible, we had not conducted post-Dorian scientific evaluations in Abaco. We knew things looked bad, but what would the science show?

The team surveyed the entire island from the northern to southern tips, recording bird species, and population sizes, evaluating food resources and forest structure, and assessing overall environmental damage.

Our team is still digesting the meatier data from this research, but one thing is evident. Most of North and Central Abaco showed little to no signs of birdlife, and the environment, including pine, coppice, and mangrove forests, has been devastated. We were not surprised to find this since Dorian made a direct, slow pass over these areas.

However, south Abaco is teeming with wildlife, and the environment looks healthy.  The clear anchor to all of this is the Abaco National Park. This park has become a 20,000-acre beacon of hope and a refuge for birds displaced after the storm.

Each day as our team conducted bird surveys in the park, the canopy of the pine forest echoed with bird songs and calls. The occasional loud chatter of the Abaco parrot energized them as they worked.  However, the most astonishing sounds they heard were the songs of the Bahama Yellowthroat and Bahama Warbler.

Equally astonishing was the large numbers of birds. With their homes in North and Central Abaco decimated, birds of all species seem to have relocated to the pine forests of the Abaco National Park for shelter and food. Our team logged record numbers of birds there.

Seeing birds in these numbers in the Abaco National Park, show us that this park has given displaced birds from North and Central Abaco a place to survive.

– Bradley Watson, BNT Avian Science Officer.

The surveys that the BNT team conducted now give us a better idea of how species and spaces were affected by the storm. Because of your support, we were able to get our teams on the ground to conduct these assessments.  Now we know what we must do to encourage recovery and build resiliency.

Your donations help with the monitoring and management of the Abaco National Park, a refuge for displaced birds.  They ensure that, in the face of natural disasters, wildlife has a chance to rebound and recover.