BirdLife Jamaica

One of the best sources of birding information in Jamaica is this organization, which started as Gosse Bird Club in the 1950s. The club, allied with BirdLife International, produces a semi-annual listing of sightings. Club activities include field trips, educational programs (the organization produces a Teachers’ Guide to the Birds of Jamaica, along with slide and sound shows for local schools) and research projects. 

Projects have included an inventory of the birds of the Blue and John Crow Mountains National Park and a study of two endemic parrots (Amazona collaria and Amazona agilis) in the Cockpit Country. Since the 1960s, the club has worked on a banding program.     

Of special interest to travelers are the monthly birding activities for club members. Recent activities have included a workshop on the Cockpit Country with a talk on the West Indian whistling duck (Dendrocygna arborea) and an overnight trip to Cranbrook Flower Forest near Ocho Rios.
Members receive the Broadsheet, a list of sightings, twice annually. (Back issues are also available.) Newsletters announce upcoming talks, slide shows and field trips. To become a member, write BirdLife Jamaica, c/o 2 Starlight Avenue, Kingston 6, Jamaica, West Indies. If you are in Jamaica, stop by the Department of Life Sciences, University of the West Indies, Mona Campus in Kingston.