During September 2017, the island of Puerto Rico was impacted by two major hurricanes — Irma (September 7) and Maria (September 20). These two storms, especially Maria, devastated infrastructure and natural areas throughout the island.
FIF’s 2018 grant to the Sociedad Ornitológica Puertorriqueña, Inc. (SOPI) and Vermont Center for Ecostudies (VCE) helped to fund an island-wide bird census to assess the impact of these two hurricanes on Puerto Rican birds. In this project, data from the 2018 bird census will be compared with baseline data collected in 2015 to assess the impact of these hurricanes on Puerto Rican bird life. The results of this work will be shared with state and federal agencies involved with bird conservation, as well as the general public. The total cost of this project was $30,750, of which $15,000 was provided by the Farallon Islands Foundation.
- Year of grant: 2018
- Amount: $15,000
- Grantees: Sociedad Ornitológica Puertorriqueña, Inc. (SOPI) and Vermont Center for Ecostudies (VCE)
Photo gallery
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- Adelaide’s Warbler, endemic to Puerto Rico. Photo credit: Jose Salguero.
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- Antillean Mango, an endemic hummingbird from Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. Photo credit: Jose Salguero.
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- Jose Salguero and Jose Colón conduct a bird count during this project in Puerto Rico. Photo credit: Pedro William Santana.
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- A group of field technicians during the project’s preliminary survey (from left to right, Julio Salgado, Gabriel Lugo and Luis Ramos). Photo credit: Pedro William Santana.
