Researchers in Dominica search for the Diablotin bird

Thought to be extinct during most of the 20th century the birds were rediscovered in Haiti in 1963 and more recently they have been found in the Dominican Republic.

Dominica’s highest mountain Morne Diablotin as well as More Aux Diables both take their names from the bird last observed on the island over 150 years ago.

The team of researchers is trying to establish whether the birds are still nesting in their former habitat at over 4 700 feet, in one of the tallest mountains in the Caribbean.

Diablotin bird is a nocturnal sea-bird which spends its days feeding at sea and nests in burrows three feet deep on the highest and steepest mountain peaks at night.

According to Adam Brown , Senoir Biologist with EPIC, “almost the entire population of birds feeds off the United States so they’ll fly up to a few thousand miles to feed and then come back to places like Dominica to nest. They require a pristine habitat which is why they’re not found on most islands in the Caribbean; they require very steep and undisturbed forest habitat. Dominica has that so the places where we’re looking and they places where they were historically are the highest areas.”