Bird watchers come to St. Maarten for the opportunity to lay eyes on the island’s nearly 150 diverse species.
PHILIPSBURG--St. Maarten’s first bird guide training course was successfully held in April, thanks to a collaboration between St. Maarten Nature Foundation, BirdsCaribbean, and Resources for Community Resilience (R4CR). Eleven participants were certified as bird guides through the foundation.
The five-day course took place in class and on the field. The training was led by naturalist Binkie van Es, a certified BirdsCaribbean trail guide and the coordinator of the island’s BirdSleuth program, an initiative out of Cornell University’s Lab of Ornithology.
During the course, participants received training on how to use birding equipment like binoculars and spotting scopes, proper birding etiquette, and how to identify bird species through field marking, size and vocalization.
Participants came from a diverse range of backgrounds but shared a common interest in wildlife and habitat conservation in St. Maarten. With this training, the newly-certified bird guides will be able to give accurate, in-depth tours and presentations to local students, policy makers, interested residents and birding tourists.
Birdwatching is a hobby enjoyed internationally by bird enthusiasts, some of whom travel to islands like St. Maarten for the opportunity to lay eyes on the island’s nearly 150 diverse species.
The bird guide training course was organised by the Nature Foundation as part of its new ecotourism and birding project, funded by R4CR. The initiative is meant to spread appreciation and awareness of the conservation value and the economic importance of birds and their habitats.
Along with the bird guide training, the project includes active outreach to local schools. After his guide certification, project coordinator Kevin Sammy developed a bird-focused educational curriculum that he presents to classrooms weekly, with terrestrial ranger Eusebio Richardson.
“This event has had a lasting effect on me, as I no longer see a bird passing without trying to identify it,” said Richardson, who participated in the course. “I have also carried this knowledge over to my 11-year-old daughter, who has also found a love and appreciation for our local birds, and we are proud to say we are avid bird-watchers.”
Additional support received from BirdsCaribbean provided the equipment needed to carry out this training through the Betty Peterson grant.
The R4CR programme is financed by the Government of the Netherlands via the St. Maarten Trust Fund.
