WRC ACTIVITIES & CONSERVATION PROJECTS

Bird Banding is one of the activities that particularly occupies us these days, now that we have finished implementing our two Training Workshops . Training continues, however, at our monthly banding sessions (see Calendar for dates) under our Bird Banding Demonstration Laboratory Project, funded by Environmental Foundation of Jamaica.
Check out our searchable database to see which species we catch and what temporal and site usage patterns are emerging at our three sites.

Bat monitoring at Windsor Great Cave is also a monthly event and takes place on one night around the new moon (see Calendar)

Having been responsible for leading the Site Conservation Planning (SCP) process, Windsor Research Centre is particularly interested in contributing to abating threats identified by this process.
Our comparative advantages in this context are mostly in the areas of Forest Conversion and the control of Invasive Species and we have obtained funding from BirdLife International to work on the Linton Park Mountain and Barbecue Bottom/Burnt Hill areas and develop pilot projects over a three-year period (2004 - 2007) with the following components:

  • Establish sustainable forest use in identified buffer zones
  • Implement pilot projects to control invasive species and rehabilitate degraded areas in identified key conservation zones
  • Promote alternative income generation through ecotourism along Burnt Hill Road
  • Provide education on Cockpit Country biodiversity and conservation to local schools and communities .
    We are also discussing collaboration with Dr Kurt McLaren of the University of the West Indies and he was here in Windsor for the month of June to establish trial plots which we expect to be able to integrate into our project.

    We are also especially interested in measuring success of Cockpit Country conservation and to this end are actively seeking funding to obtain baseline data on the Conservation Targets identified by SCP. Specifically we have the following projects in the pipeline:

  • Conservation of the Cave Ecosystems in Jamaica: Developing & Implementing Inventory, Monitoring, and Conservation Planning Tools to Enhance Local Management Capacity (MacArthur Foundation)
  • Field surveys for Pterourus homerus (the Giant Swallowtail) together with restoration research of deforested lands and an education componont (a European zoo).
  • Ecology & Conservation of a Wild Population of Jamaican boas (Epicrates subflavus) (an American Zoo)

    While we are not yet actively monitoring the Jamaican Blackbird Nesopsar nigerrimus, which is also a Conservation Target, we continue to train Forestry Department and National Environment and Planning Agency personnel, together with other Jamaicans in the art and science of bird banding.

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