Uncovering life history traits and conservation strategies for the Golden Swallow, Tachycineta euchrysea, a threatened and endemic passerine on the island of Hispaniola : 2012 field season report

Abstract

In 2008, nest boxes were erected in the Cordillera Central of the Dominican Republic in an effort to attract a returning population of breeding Golden Swallows, an endemic and threatened passerine declining in numbers for unknown reasons. Four years later, with increasing return rates to the nest boxes, I proposed a life history and conservation project as a graduate thesis to Cornell University and the National Science Foundation, both of whom were receptive to the idea. In April of this year I spearheaded the effort to work intimately with this species for the first time, and with the help of an Argentinian collaborator named Marisol Mata, we spent three months in the high altitude, remote pine forests of Parque Valle Nuevo where we were able to document the reproductive strategies of the Golden Swallow and begin implementing that information into monitoring and educational outreach programs. The next three years of the project show very promising signs of Dominican student involvement, extensive collaborations with an array of conservation initiatives, and expansion into other mountain ranges.