Wildlife Conservation Dominican Republic Project #5526

Conserving the Ridgway's Hawk in Punta Cana, DR

by Fundacion Grupo Puntacana

Project Report | Oct 29, 2021
A successful end of the 2021 season for the Ridgway's Hawk.

By Marta Curti / Thomas Hayes / Gabriela Diaz | Project Leaders

Ridgway's hawk ready for lunch!

After a busy nesting season, we are taking advantage of the fact that the Ridgway’s Hawks are not as active, to prepare for next season. In Punta Cana, we are making occasional observations of the pairs as we look forward to the beginning of the next nesting season, which promises to be successful. This year 25 young fledged from the 18 actively nesting pairs, making this season the best breeding season so far in Puntacana.

Some exciting news is that we’re planning on having two ambassador birds in Puntacana as well. These individuals were rescued from the field in terrible condition and rehabilitated back into health. Unfortunately, they can’t be released back into the wild and that’s why they’ll be part of our amazing educational work.

In Aniana Vargas, the newest release site, 23 of the 24 young released have fledged successfully. We have been monitoring them daily to make sure they’re adjusting to their new habitat. Other amazing things that have been happening in the community is that our local team is continuing the education work near this release site as well as building more chicken coops to distribute to locals.

In Los Haitises National Park we monitored 148 pairs of hawks, which fledged 126 young this season. This is a major success, especially when compared to 2011, when we monitored only 37 pairs and only 18 young fledged. We are proud that we have achieved this huge success in the growth of this population. All achieved by the hard work of a group of people that believe in this species’ recovery.

This month we participated in the Raptor Research Foundation and Neotropical Raptor Network Conference. We presented a talk on our project’s holistic approach to conservation and how the locals play a major role in the success and sustainability of the project. It was an amazing experience to be able to share what we do with people from all around the world.

As the world is going back to normal slowly we expect to begin again with the door to door visits and the teacher training workshops.

Exciting things await us in the next few months!

These net houses protect the farm chicks!

Ridgway's hawk (Buteo ridgwayi) Pigeons

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Jun 23, 2021
2021 Ridgway's Hawk nesting season eyeing to be the most successful thus far!

By Gabriela Diaz / Marta Curti / Toni Barletta | Project Leaders

Baby Buteo ridgwayi

We are happy to report that 2021 is shaping up to be the most successful year so far for the Ridgway's Hawk population in Puntacana. Last year we ended the season with 21 wild fledged young recruited and this year we have surpassed that number with 21 nestlings already fledged so far and we are monitoring 4 more nestlings that are still in the nest! Isn’t that just amazing?! But ofcourse, other exciting things happened this season... We found a new pair of hawks, two male hawks that were alone found their forever love, we finally found one pair that we spent all season searching for - and the good news is they are currently incubating eggs. Also a pair just laid a second clutch of eggs after already raising two beautiful nestlings this breeding season. This year we are monitoring 20 pairs of hawks in Puntacana.

Puntacana isn’t the only place where amazing things occurred this season. In Aniana Vargas National Park 24 nestlings were released with the help of 8 volunteers that live in the community near the release site. Great things await for this new site. We have high hopes regarding this new population that we are creating. Throughout the year, our local team will continue to search for new pairs and continue doing environmental education work in the communities nearby.

In Los Haitises National Park, the last stronghold for the species, our team of local biologists is monitoring close to 140 pairs of Ridgway’s Hawk. At the same time, we have all continued working hard to provide environmental education programs about the hawk to adults and children in Dominican Republic. During the height of Covid-19, we conducted online conferences and presentations with different schools in Dominican Republic, as well as for the general public. Now that the pandemic is a bit more under control, we have slowly started venturing into the communities again, going door to door to talk with people about the importance of the hawk and its conservation. This is the best way for us to complete the important work of reaching those who live near Ridgway's Hawk territory and who do not have access to technology. On May 25th we celebrated Ridgway's Hawk Day with an online conference that just went great! Times are changing and we are definitely changing with it. Finally, with our local partners, we began a virtual campaign, sharing news, stories, and images of the hawks on social media, in newspapers, and through radio messages. All in all we have reached over 4,000 people this year.

Another successful season on the Ridgway’s Hawk Project.

Project Staff in action

A couple of newborns

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Feb 24, 2021
The Start of the Ridgway's Hawk 2021 Nesting Season

By Gabriela Diaz / Thomas Hayes / Toni Barletta | Project Leaders

Ridgway's hawk - Photo by Alejandro Rosendo

It’s February 18th and Ridgway’s Hawks nesting season has just begun. We are beyond excited to witness what this new season is going to bring. Every year we find ourselves more and more grateful to continue preserving this Critically Endangered species.

Last nesting season in Puntacana was our most successful to date with a total of 21 wild fledged young recruited into the population. We have great expectations for 2021. As usual, we are now in full swing as we prepare for the next six months of hard work monitoring Ridgway’s Hawks in our three sites. During this season we will also search for new nesting pairs and individuals, as well as continue with environmental education activities. The season just started and we already have four pairs of hawks incubating and 3 new pairs of hawks in the area. Isn’t this just wonderful!

In Aniana Vargas, our newest release site, we have documented the first pair of Ridgway’s Hawks in the area. This marks the beginning of this new population as we are hoping to be able to release twenty five new nestlings there in 2021. We hope these ambassadors will eventually become part of a new pair and contribute to the growth of the population.

In Los Haitises National Park, the hard work has also begun and our teams are busy monitoring Ridgway’s Hawk in three key areas of the park.

Meanwhile, we are also focusing on environmental education projects. We will soon be starting a new education campaign for the Puntacana area. This campaign will focus on the importance of the Ridgway’s Hawk and includes radio messages, posters, and social media presence. We keep making progress on our raptor-based environmental education guide and for this year we are planning a few zoom meetings with different schools around the country.

We are always grateful for all of the support you’ve given us through the years. Let the new nesting season begin!

Ridgway's hawk @ Puntacana Photo by Gabriela Diaz

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