A Rigorous Assessment of the Avifauna of a Small Caribbean Island: A Case Study in Anegada, British Virgin Islands ANDREW MCGOWAN 1 *, NANCY K. WOODFIELD 2 ,GEOFF HILTON,ANNETTE C. BRODERICK, 1 AND BRENDAN J. GODLEY 1 1 Centre for Ecology and Conservation, University of Exeter, Cornwall Campus, Penryn, Cornwall TR10 9EZ UK 2 BVI National Parks Trust, P.O. Box 860, Road Town, Tortola, British Virgin Islands 3 Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, The Lodge, Sandy, Bedfordshire, UK *Corresponding Author: Andrew McGowan Centre for Ecology and Conservation, University of Exeter, Cornwall Campus, Penryn, Cornwall TR10 9EZ UK amcgowan@seaturtle.org ABSTRACT.—The avifauna of the British Virgin Islands (BVI) has received little attention from researchers. The lack of baseline information is therefore a major hindrance to the construction of management plans. Here we present detailed monitoring data on the species composition and numbers of each species for the island of Anegada, BVI. We surveyed the birds of Anegada between November 2003 and March 2005 utilising a combination of coastal transects, wetland bird counts, point counts, and species-specific survey methods for nocturnal species. A total of 99 different species were recorded, with a large increase in the number of species and number of individuals centred around peak migration in September. Although there is a depauperate terrestrial bird community consisting of predominately generalist species, it holds important populations of regional avifauna. For example, it hosts five regionally important breeding seabird colonies and its wetlands provide an important stop-over and over-wintering site for many species of shorebirds and waterbirds. In addition, the Eastern salt ponds are also the only breeding site for the greater flamingo, Phoenicopterus ruber, within the territory. We discuss our findings within the current framework of regional conservation and provide recommendations for the implementation of a territory wide monitoring program as a first step towards meeting the UK’s commitments under several multilateral environmental agreements. KEYWORDS.—birds, breeding status, conservation, salt ponds INTRODUCTION The Caribbean is among the most bio- logically diverse regions on the planet and is considered as one of the most important biodiversity “hotspots” (Myers et al. 2000). The insular Caribbean is comprised of three main island groups: Bahamas, Greater An- tilles, and Lesser Antilles. Considering its relatively small land area, it nonetheless supports large numbers of endemic plant and animal species (Conservation Interna- tional 2005). The birds of the insular Car- ibbean, represented by over 600 species and 160 of these being recorded as en- demic, are a reasonably well-known and visible taxonomic group (Conservation In- ternational 2005). Biogeographically, the British Virgin Is- lands (BVI) along with Puerto Rico and the US Virgin islands (excluding St Croix) form part of the Puerto Rican bank (Figure 1). This geographic feature is one of six pri- mary Endemic Bird Areas in the insular Caribbean and as such is a priority area for conservation (BirdLife International 2003). The birds of Puerto Rico and the US Vir- gin islands have been fairly well studied (Robertson 1962; Kepler 1978; Waide 1991; Latta et al.1995; Zwartjes 2003; Dugger et al. 2004). By comparison, the bird popula- tions of the BVI have received little atten- tion. The published literature on BVI birds is scant and consists mainly of species sightings recorded during the annual Christmas Bird Count (National Audubon Society 2002), a locally organised activity that contributes to the USA based National Audubon Society scheme. Some early work Received January 9 2006; accepted 7 October 2006. Caribbean Journal of Science, Vol. 43, No. 1, 99-116, 2007 Copyright 2007 College of Arts and Sciences University of Puerto Rico, Mayagu ¨ ez 99