9th Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival to be celebrated April 22 - May 22, 2010
We invite you to celebrate the 9th edition of the Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival (CEBF) from 22 April to 22 May of 2009. The purpose of the festival is to raise public awareness and appreciation of our region’s high endemism and rich and beauitful bird life. Activities during the CEBF include talks, nature and birdwatching walks, photographic exhibitions, art and essay competitions,radio quizzes, presentations at schools, bird calling contests, articles in the media, forums at universities, beach clean-ups, tree plantins, preparation and distribution of educational materials about birds to the general public and many more. Your celebration might be a morning bird walk, a day of activities for all ages, or a multi-day festival.
Theme for 2010: "The Power of Partnerships"
In 2010, the theme will be The Power of Partnerships, following the same theme adopted by the International Migratory Bird Day (IMBD) for this year. This is an opportunity to celebrate the partnerships that make your bird conservation programs a success!
Twenty species of birds (~5 are common or occur in most Caribbean islands) illustrate the conservation theme and represent species that benefit from partnerships and depend on our support to help their populations in the years to come.
There are numerous examples of partnerships in the Caribbean (national, regional and international) that have helped conserve species such as the Cahow (Bermuda Petrel), White-crowned Pigeon, Grenada Hook-billed Kite, Puerto Rican Nightjar, Bicknell’s Thrush, Rose-throated Parrot, Hispaniolan Parrot, Puerto Rican Parrot, Black-capped Petrel, Kirtland’s Warbler, Grenada Dove, Ridgeway’s Hawk, Montserrat Oriole, Piping Plover, Trinidad Piping Guan, West Indian Whistling-Duck, and many more. This is an opportunity to recognize these conservation successes and the organizations, institutions, agencies, and individuals that worked together to make the conservation happen. Many ideas for celebrating this theme are available at the IMBD website: www.birdday.org. We encourage you to adopt this theme if it works for you and adapt it to celebrate your own partnerships and conservation achievements.
Materials available for 2010
CEBF Press Release for 2010 - click here
Thanks to Sue Bonfield, IMBD Coordinator, for help with the following materials:
The above materials are free but you will need to pay shipping costs. (Coordinators: please set aside some of these materials if you plan to also celebrate IMBD in October!). Visit www.birdday.org for more downloadable fact sheets and ideas about this theme (English and Spanish) from International Migratory Bird Day.
T-shirts! A few t-shirts will be shipped to coordinators in participating countries, these will have the IMBD artwork (four species on the front and four on the back). The cost for extra t-shirts will be $8.50 each plus shipping. Groups can add their own logos but there will be an extra charge of $40 for this (set-up fee). You can sell the t-shirts to raise money for your organization, give them away to participants, use them as prizes, etc.
Please let Sheylda N Díaz-Méndez know if you would like to coordinate a festival activity and order materials.
Our Goal: To have 18 countries celebrate the festival this year!
Because of our large network of volunteer coordinators, the CEBF has reached more than 120,000 people in the last 2 years alone! In 2009 we held more than 530 activities in 17 countries. We are so proud of this success! Small Grants were awarded to 6 institutions and NGOs in 5 countries to help facilitate activities. Each year the festival grows and we want to have a network of volunteers, at least one in every country/island, that organizes events and encourages people to participate. Small Grants are available again this year (see below). Please join us and help us to reach more people and celebrate in more countries!
Will your country be celebrating? Please let us know!
Confirm your interest in coordinating festival activities in your country this year by e-mail and let me know as soon as possible about your plans so that a regional list of activities can be prepared. Please also share your ideas for activities to celebrate our partnerships theme. We will be posting a list of these ideas on the CEBF webpage. If your country celebrated last year and the local coordinator has changed, and you know his or her e-mail, I would appreciate your help with this information. If you know of additional groups that would like to join the festival, please send me their contact information (name and email address) so that I can communicate with them.
You can also register your festival at www.birdday.org for all the people planning to visit the Caribbean during the CEBF.
A list of country coordinators, their contact information and CEBF activities within each country is available here. If you are looking for activities in which to participate, contact the coordinator that is listed.
Funding available to help with CEBF activities
Once again we are pleased to announce that 6 or more grants (up to $400.00 each) will be available to help cover expenses of CEBF activities. To apply for a grant, please send to me (via email), no later than February 26th, 2010, the following information:
The best proposals will receive a grant of up to $400.00. Many thanks to the US Fish and Wildlife Service, Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Act Fund for supporting the festival.
Please encourage other groups and organizations in your country to celebrate the festival and/or participate in your group’s activities. We are looking forward to hearing about the many exciting activities you will be organizing this year.
For more information please contact Sheylda Díaz Méndez, CEBF Regional Coordinator, SCSCB.
Local Coordinators: please send your CEBF Report for 2010 to Sheylda Díaz Méndez. Download a copy of the CEBF Report Form: English - click here, español - click here.
Read about the 2009 CEBF here and 2009 IMBD here!
Resources and ideas for Celebrating the 2008 (Tundra to Tropics) Festival - click here
Resources and Ideas for Celebrating the 2007 Festival - click here
See the CEBF 2006 Summary Report, Full Report and Photos for more ideas - click here
