Urban Birdwatch Walks in Caracas!

Beginning in October of 2019 a group interested in learning about birds in their city and enjoying outside activities has held a series of birding events for the community Municipio Chacao of Caracas, Venezuela. The group, led by Rosaelena Albornoz, created workshops to identify urban birds and learn about their calls and songs. Through these workshops they wanted to discover the amazing birds they have in their own communities, and promote bird appreciation and the importance of conservation. The group organized nature walks through the city and local parks during which they identified many wonderful species and learned about them. The nature walks offered a happy and relaxing activity for participants and there was so much to learn!

After each outing lists of the birds observed by the participants were collected and the data was submitted to the eBird platform. The participants were also invited to use this platform independently to continue learning about birds and share new information with the eBird community. For the October Global Bid Day 2019 many more participants joined the activities and they all loved spending the day looking for birds in their communities with their neighbors. A marvelous day for all!

The star of the outings was the Broad Winged Hawk, known for its elegant and fascinating flight pattern! The group was able to identify 26 bird species and learned a great deal about them. After the activities participants became more excited about bird watching and gained a new appreciation for bird and environmental conservation. One of the goals of the activities was to engage and inspire more members of the community to join the birding activities in the city. This goal was met successfully! As a result they are planning more activities like this in the city with more people and in different areas. Amazing!

The different sightings made in the community were recorded. With this information the community members made a bird-watching guide to help anyone that wanted to participate in local observations in the future! The organization of these activities by the local group of interested individuals is a great example of how anyone can make a positive impact in their community and promote birds and their conservation without needing to travel long distances. A real inspiration!

By: Natalie Bonilla