Many of the pacific islands are pigeon free. I heard somewhere there were no pigeons in the DR until some jackass imported some from NYC. Luckily, there are still plenty of raptors in the DR that can keep their numbers in check.
- Thread starter Xavier_Onassis
- Start date
Where are the seagulls?
Many of the pacific islands are pigeon free. I heard somewhere there were no pigeons in the DR until some jackass imported some from NYC. Luckily, there are still plenty of raptors in the DR that can keep their numbers in check.
Seaguls are going the easy life today
Seaguls trend to move from coastal area to mainland accross the globe.
Escpecially the like garbish dumbs.
For example, in Puerto Plate you will see lots of them over on the local dumbs.
Good page out of many:
Loafing at the landfill: dumps offer seagulls the easy life. - Free Online Library
Alexander
Seaguls trend to move from coastal area to mainland accross the globe.
Escpecially the like garbish dumbs.
For example, in Puerto Plate you will see lots of them over on the local dumbs.
Good page out of many:
Loafing at the landfill: dumps offer seagulls the easy life. - Free Online Library
Alexander
If birds get propagated from one island to another by storms, then there's not much reason to think that birds in Cuba would be propagated to the island of Santo Domingo. Remember that except for the occasional cold front (the DR usually gets the most southern clips of this and most of the time only the northern part of the country is truly affected), in these latitudes storms go from east to west year round.
Slightly further north is where the transition zone from tropical to not tropical begins and (think of Florida) in places in that area during the summer months they usually experience storms arriving from the east and in the winter from the west.
Further north of the transition zones storms almost always arrive from the west.
So, there might be sea gulls in Cuba, but that's no guarantee they should had made it to Santo Domingo if your claim that birds are propagated by storms is true.
On the other hand, things simply change. According to the writings of Columbus, when he was sailing along the north coast of the island, he witnessed so many parrots flying around that at times they appeared to be giant clouds moving in the air, even completely blocking the sunlight. Try seeing that now. lol Funny in a sad sort of way.
Saman? was an island, Lake Enriquillo was a bay with manatees swimming around... things change.
Yes, but that's Haiti you're talking about. There's plenty that has gone missing on that side of the island and natural selection isn't quite the best excuse.
Take, for example, the Hispaniolan Hutia or the Hispaniolan Solenodon. I've seen maps that show the territory these animals are currently found and lets just say that they should change the "Hispaniolan" part of their name to simply "Dominican." From the border west, they have become extinct all in the last 30 or so years. I wouldn't be surprised is many more animals have gone that same route and their survival in the DR, even if threatened, is sort of proof that human impact is to blame for this.
Heck, as Haiti is losing the 1% of land area that is still covered in forest, the DR has recently reverted the trend and is now one of only four countries in the Americas that is seeing a grown in forest cover. We went from a forest cover of 30% to almost 40% in just ten years; based on a study done using satellite images from various years and excluding plantation forests such as the African Palms in Monte Plata or the coffee plantations in many mountainous areas.
The DR is the one American country that has the largest percentage of its territory under legal protection (national parks, scientific reserves, etc.) Roughly 25% of the country is protected.
Last edited:
"It was my dream to see these birds wild and free before I left the D.R. It never happened.
There were always rumours that there were some around certain areas of Bavaro, but I never did see them.
Can you actually see them up there in those trees or is it just heresay?"
There are green parrots in Bavaro. With yellow and red around their tails. The security guys tell me there used to be a lot more (of course). Development reduces the number of these birds and others. (To be nice about it.) Also, I notice there are way fewer pelicans this year and last than there were before. These may go somewhere else not. I am pretty sure the parrots don't. I think they are just gone.
There were always rumours that there were some around certain areas of Bavaro, but I never did see them.
Can you actually see them up there in those trees or is it just heresay?"
There are green parrots in Bavaro. With yellow and red around their tails. The security guys tell me there used to be a lot more (of course). Development reduces the number of these birds and others. (To be nice about it.) Also, I notice there are way fewer pelicans this year and last than there were before. These may go somewhere else not. I am pretty sure the parrots don't. I think they are just gone.
To finally answer the question, the reason is because the kids kill them with rocks when they follow the fishing boats into the beach.
The wise fishermen use the birds as a tool. Where there are birds, there are fish. The unwise feel that the birds are eating their lunch, and when they follow the boats back to the island, they smash their brains in with rocks. I have seen it in Samana.
But like everything else little if any enforcement!!!! Reference the problems in Las Hatisis, and bayha Agulas sorry spelling
As far as I know the two abovementioned areas are as protected as the capabilities of the country allow. It's the forests at the Bahoruco mountain range and the ones at the borderline (specially the ones on Hondo Valle, Elias Pi?a) the ones that need the most protection at the moment.
There's also a perception issue with what people think is happening being much worst than reality.
I've met plenty of people (most actually) that think the DR will have no rivers in the near future. According to them, rivers such as the Cam? are carrying now much less water than before. To these people (and education has nothing to do with this perception, because people from all walks of life believe this) the evidence is in looking at the rivers themselves and compare them to how they used to be.
Not many people think of the effect all the dams that have been built since Balaguer's time is having on these rivers. Most of the major dams are in the cordillera Central and many of the largest rivers have multiple dams. This is what explains why as you drive along the Duarte highway you will see (except during rainy season) that many of the large rivers have much less water and much of the riverbed is exposed. The same can't be said of every river that the autov?a del Este crosses, despite that in the east there are some very large rivers (Hig?amo, Soco, etc), but none of them have gigantic dams at any place in their trajectory. The few eastern rivers that do have dams, the dams are so small they are hardly noticeable (think of the Chav?n river with its small dam visible from the bridge as one crosses from La Romana province to La Altagracia.
I think the only area where there are no only rivers with much less water than before, but actual dry riverbeds due to the heavy deforestation is in the border region, especially in the Jimani area (remember the floods from a few years ago? Much of that was caused by dry riverbeds that were flooded with water, but those riverbeds had dried up such a long time ago that most people built houses in them.) Many of those rivers that have dried up actually had their origin on the Haitian side or very near the Haitian border.
Most people think alike and never really make an effort to think outside the box, then they say you are the weird one for doing such! They think that if you don't think and see the world as they do, that there's something wrong with you, especially if to them it seems that most people agree with them! LOL
To this day, only a handful of people believe me that the dams are responsible for the "drying up" of the rivers that originate in the cordillera Central.
They are still building huge dams in those mountains, so people should expect more large rivers that originate there to lessen the volume of water they carry most of the time.
Most people don't believe, but it doesn't bother me. I simply find this comical.
I've met plenty of people (most actually) that think the DR will have no rivers in the near future. According to them, rivers such as the Cam? are carrying now much less water than before. To these people (and education has nothing to do with this perception, because people from all walks of life believe this) the evidence is in looking at the rivers themselves and compare them to how they used to be.
Not many people think of the effect all the dams that have been built since Balaguer's time is having on these rivers. Most of the major dams are in the cordillera Central and many of the largest rivers have multiple dams. This is what explains why as you drive along the Duarte highway you will see (except during rainy season) that many of the large rivers have much less water and much of the riverbed is exposed. The same can't be said of every river that the autov?a del Este crosses, despite that in the east there are some very large rivers (Hig?amo, Soco, etc), but none of them have gigantic dams at any place in their trajectory. The few eastern rivers that do have dams, the dams are so small they are hardly noticeable (think of the Chav?n river with its small dam visible from the bridge as one crosses from La Romana province to La Altagracia.
I think the only area where there are no only rivers with much less water than before, but actual dry riverbeds due to the heavy deforestation is in the border region, especially in the Jimani area (remember the floods from a few years ago? Much of that was caused by dry riverbeds that were flooded with water, but those riverbeds had dried up such a long time ago that most people built houses in them.) Many of those rivers that have dried up actually had their origin on the Haitian side or very near the Haitian border.
Most people think alike and never really make an effort to think outside the box, then they say you are the weird one for doing such! They think that if you don't think and see the world as they do, that there's something wrong with you, especially if to them it seems that most people agree with them! LOL
To this day, only a handful of people believe me that the dams are responsible for the "drying up" of the rivers that originate in the cordillera Central.
They are still building huge dams in those mountains, so people should expect more large rivers that originate there to lessen the volume of water they carry most of the time.
Most people don't believe, but it doesn't bother me. I simply find this comical.
Last edited:
You are kidding! That is really hard to believe and very sad..
If the seagull disappears.. well.. really.. NYC will probably have no waterfowl at all! *I exaggerate.. but SEAGULLS? endangered...
I just figured that they did not like the heat.
And there are still crocodiles in Enriquillo, aren't there? I think that is one of the big concerns about the flooding down there. That it is changing the salinity of the Lago and the crocs are endangered.. Not to mention all the plantain farmers who have been displaced... but normally, the entry of fresh water would be hailed as a good thing but there are ecologists who are on the side of the crocs.
There should be a lot of boobies here , but I have yet to see any
Masked Booby Sula dactylatra
Red-footed Booby Sula sula
Brown Booby Sula leucogaster
Masked Booby Sula dactylatra
Red-footed Booby Sula sula
Brown Booby Sula leucogaster
I have to say that I was surprised to see so few seagulls, well none really, here in Bavaro. There are a few pigeons (thanks to the Carabella), there were many more pelicans a few years ago but the trees that they nest in are slowly being eroded away by the sea. I could have sworn I saw one seagull the other day but I can't be sure. There are far fewer parrots too.