Strong Fledgling Numbers and a Milestone in Haiti Mark a Big Year for Ridgway's Hawk Conservation

In the forests of Aniana Vargas National Park in the Dominican Republic, this year's field season closed out with plenty to celebrate. The Peregrine Fund's work with Ridgway's Hawk conservation has spent years working to bring this Caribbean-endemic species back from the edge, and this season delivered strong numbers on nearly every front, along with one small, recurring detail that never stops being remarkable.

A Strong Release Season at Aniana Vargas National Park

This year's release season is winding down, and the results are encouraging: 25 young hawks were released at Aniana Vargas National Park, and all 25 fledged successfully. Most have since dispersed on their own, with only five or six birds still returning regularly to feed at the release site.

For the third year running, an adult male from a previous release cohort has taken it upon himself to help out. He spent much of his time at the release site again this year, bringing food to this year's young hawks, feeding some of them directly and modeling hunting behavior for the rest to learn from. It's a small thing, but it makes a real difference. Having an experienced adult present gives young hawks a model to learn from during the riskiest weeks of their lives, and it makes the team's job a little easier too.

Population Monitoring Across the Dominican Republic

Beyond the release site, the broader monitoring effort continues to show a species on the rebound. This season, the team monitored more than 195 breeding pairs across the Dominican Republic and documented over 135 fledglings, numbers that reflect years of steady, on-the-ground work with local communities and landowners.

A Record Year on Les Cayemites, Haiti

Across the border in Haiti, the news was just as good. The team documented a record 44 hawks on Les Cayemites this year, the highest count since monitoring began there. Six nestlings were banded during the season, adding valuable data to a population that has been a key piece of the species' recovery picture.

Education and Outreach: Measuring Impact and Multiplying Reach

This year also brought a new push to better understand how the program's education work is actually landing. The team began conducting surveys in local communities to measure the real-world effects of its education programming, data that will directly shape an upcoming social marketing campaign.

That education work got a serious boost this year from the program's Women in Conservation Fellow Environmental Educators, whose efforts have helped at least triple the program's outreach capacity.

The program's influence is also reaching beyond its own borders. Sarah Mann, who runs the Belize Raptor Center and took part in an environmental education workshop in Belize last year, is running a raptor camp for children this week, built entirely around The Peregrine Fund's Raptors of the Caribbean: Education and Conservation Resource Guide. Seeing a resource built for Caribbean raptor conservation put directly into the hands of the next generation, in another country, is exactly the kind of ripple effect the team hopes for.

From a record count in Haiti to a mentoring male who keeps showing up year after year, this season is a reminder of how far patient, community-rooted work can carry a species. It's the kind of steady, long-term evidence that guides Ridgway's Hawk conservation, not just this year, but for raptors across the Caribbean and beyond.