Biology: Leucism in the animal world

In nature, various colour abnormalities can occur in animals, including birds. Albinism is one of them, but an even more common abnormality is so-called leucism; an abnormality in the pigment cells that leads to reduced pigmentation and can affect all types of pigments.

Special visitors: Black skimmers

Black skimmers are regular visitors to the islands of Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao and can be spotted as early as May.

Global Big Day – Counting birds together around the world

On Saturday, May 9, it’s that time again. Global Big Day will be held worldwide. An international day, organized by Cornell Ornithology Lab, on which thousands of people go out into gardens and nature reserves to search for land and water birds to count them. This takes a snapshot of bird diversity and density around the world with everyone active on the same day. All counting data is entered on the eBird website, www.ebird.org, creating a massive database of bird diversity.

Bird behavior: A work of art with 2 legs

When a bird is producing the next generation, several factors play a role in achieving a successful cycle, resulting in healthy adult chicks.

Help wildlife with a bowl of water

More and more nature is being destroyed on the islands of Aruba, Curaçao, and Bonaire for so-called development purposes. As a result, the habitat for many animals is shrinking, and birds, reptiles, and other animal species are increasingly coming to gardens to survive.

A little dance for Mrs. Carib grackle

Carib Grackles (Quiscalus lugubris) are a relatively new bird species on the islands of Aruba, Curaçao, and Bonaire. Anyone visiting the ABC islands now will see that the black birds can now be spotted practically everywhere in human-influenced environments.

Black Birds on the ABC Islands – Save & share!

There are birds on our islands that still cause a lot of confusion when people ask for their identification. Despite the abundance of books, online information, and social media, some bird species are apparently so similar that they are consistently misnamed, practically creating online wars over who wants to be right. In practice, this usually involves the group of small yellow birds and the group of medium-sized black birds. In this article, we focus on the black breeding birds found on the islands, with comparative photos. To save and share whenever the discussion starts again.

Birdwatching on Curaçao in February

Of course the migration season is very interesting for watching bird species that would otherwise not be found on the island. Both the fall migration (mid August to Mid November) and the spring migration (mid April to mid June) are great for watching these unexpected species. However in all the other calendar months things can get interesting for sure, with some species from North America overwintering on the island, and South American and Caribbean species to suddenly appear and disappear.

Birds | Pelicans’ Colors

The Brown pelicans (Pelecanus occidentalis) we have on the island are always fascinating animals. Their fishing lifestyle, relaxed demeanour, and especially the way they look at you when you approach—always with one eye on you, yet at the same time, they seem to be looking down on us.

Download nature posters for educational purposes!

The former Museum of Natural History Curaçao designed a total of 3 educational posters for schools in 2019-2020 about the wildlife of the island. These digital posters were designed as PDF documents in A3 formats that could be downloaded and printed for uses in educational settings. These 3 posters are now also available for download on the Caribbean Footprint website.

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