Important Bird Areas of the Caribbean - St. Eustatius

Statia’s two IBAs—the island’s international priority sites for bird conservation—cover 41% of the island’s land area. Both IBAs are formally designated as protected areas—the terrestrial components are covered within the Quill–Boven National Park, and the marine component within the St Eustatius Marine Park. The IBAs have been identified on the basis of nine species that variously trigger the IBA criteria for restricted-range birds and congregatory birds. The Quill IBA (AN008) embraces the island’s forest-dependent species (the restricted-range species), while Boven IBA (AN007) supports nesting habitat for P. aethereus.

Resolving the land dispute within Boven IBA appears to be critical to enabling effective management of grazing and thus the successful recovery of vegetation within the park. It would also facilitate the potential control of goats, cats and rats that almost certainly represent limiting factors for the breeding population of P. aethereus. Enforcement of an animal registry program within the Quill IBA should decrease the incidence of grazing in the park, but both goats and chickens are often present around and within the volcano and presumably impact the native fauna. Surveys to assess the population of each of the IBA trigger species should be a priority. Such surveys should be combined with annual monitoring of state, pressure and response variables at each IBA to provide an objective status assessment and highlight management interventions that might be required to maintain these internationally important biodiversity sites.

Retrieved from Birdlife International