Conserving the Ridgway's Hawk in Punta Cana, DR

As I write this report and look back over these past few months it amazes me how fast time goes by and how much we have accomplished until now. Just like every year around this time, the nesting season has come to an end and brings with it a whole new group of nestlings that are now part of the growing population of this species.  These young birds will eventually form pairs to continue their contribution to the growth and recovery of the Ridgway’s Hawk population in the island of Hispaniola.

In Los Haitises National Park (LHNP), where the largest population of hawks can be found, we monitored 147 pairs throughout the park and these pairs had a total of 109 nestlings that successfully fledged from the nest. Apart from our work managing the population in LHNP, we are also managing two new burgeoning populations (Punta Cana and Aniana Vargas National Park) which we established through a reintroduction project.

 It is incredible to witness how fast the population is growing in Punta Cana and how easily the hawks have adapted to the area. From zero hawks that we had in the area when we started releasing in 2009, we are now managing approximately 30 territories and 30 nestlings successfully fledged from their nests. This is the largest number of fledglings we have had so far in Punta Cana. This population fills us with hope and a lot of energy to continue with the extraordinary work that our team has been doing.

We have successfully released 25 young hawks in Aniana Vargas National Park for the fourth year in a row. These birds were brought from LHNP and released in their new home. These newly released hawks will continue to grow, learn how to hunt, and eventually disperse from the area.  The goal is for many of these individuals to form pairs in the future with the hope that they will continue contributing to the population numbers. In this area we monitored 6 pairs this year which is an incredible event.

We continue to work together with our allies to carry out the national campaign to raise awareness and general knowledge of the Ridgway’s Hawk. We have been visiting different provinces, doing surveys and measuring the Dominican population’s knowledge about this species.

So far this year, through our environmental education program we were able to reach nearly 1,800 people and we distributed roughly 30 chicken coops to community members in the different areas near where these hawks live. We also began offering tours that allow visitors to meet our ambassador birds. So far, we have received several groups and visits from influencers who were able to interact with the ambassador birds and learn about their important role in nature. All of this helps us to keep spreading the word about our work and reaching out to different people from various social backgrounds.

We are very proud of the progress we have made throughout the years and look ahead with hope. We continue to strive and improve every day to reestablish the population of the Ridgway’s Hawk and to further contribute to the local biodiversity, and therefore, to the communities and the island as well.

Thanks for all your support!