The Department of Life Sciences

Phylum: Chordata   Class: Aves 

There are over 10,000 bird species worldwide, inhabiting a broad range of ecosystems from hot deserts to humid jungles. They range in size from 5cm to 3 metres. Birds are social, communicating through visual displays and songs and feeding, hunting and migrating in flocks. Their light skeletons are among the many features that make them highly adapted to flight.

For more information on birds in general click here

Trinidad & Tobago Birds

These islands have a rich diversity of birds, with over 470 resident, migrant and accidental species havng been recorded here. They include tiny hummingbirds, cave dwelling oilbirds, many seabirds around the coasts and the ubiquitous black vulture or corbeaux. Despite this diversity there are only two endemic birds found here: the Trinidad Piping Guan or Pawi (Aburria pipile) and the Trinidad Motmot (Momotus bahamensis). 

For more information on the birds of T&T click here 

For profiles on selected bird species click here 

UWIZM Collections

The collection has over 550 bird related specimens from 57 families. These include bird skins, bones, eggs, nests and feathers. Most of the bird skins in the museum came from the Caribbean Epidemiology Centre (CAREC) and the National Museum of Trinidad & Tobago collections which were transferred to UWIZM for curation and storage. 

Families in the collections include: 

Accipitridae, Alcedinidae, Anatidae, Apodidae, Ardeidae, Caprimulgidae, Cardinalidae, Cathartidae, Charadriidae, Coerebidae, Columbidae, Cotingidae, Cuculidae, Dendrocolaptidae, Donacobiidae, Emberizidae, Euphoniinae, Formicariidae, Furnariidae, Galbulidae, Hirundinidae, Hydrobatidae, Icteridae, Jacanidae, Laridae, Mimidae, Momotidae, Myiarchus, Nyctibiidae, Pandionidae, Parulidae, Phaethontidae, Phalacrocoracidae, Picidae, Pipridae, Polioptilidae, Procellariidae, Psittacidae, Rallidae, Ramphastidae, Scolopacidae, Steatornithidae, Sternidae, Strigidae, Sylviidae, Thamnophilidae, Thraupidae, Threskiornithidae, Tinamidae, Tityridae, Trochilidae, Troglodytidae, Trogonidae, Turdidae, Tyrannidae, Tytonidae, Vireonidae

Highlights

Dried skin of an Osprey (Pandion haliaetus) from the CAREC collection 

Scarlet ibis eggs collected in the 1960s by Richard ffrench

Wings and tails from an orange winged parrot (Amazona amazonica)

Wet preserved oilbird chick (Steatornis caripensis) from Cumaca Cave

Last updated 20 June 2018