Current view: Text account
Site description (2007 baseline):
Site location and context
Bird Rock (N13° 19' 55.46", W 59° 37' 30.41") (All coordinates from Google Earth). Bird Rock is located at the extreme northern end of the island. It is a small rock stack ca. 30 metres off shore of the coastline of cliffs which extend in both directions along the boulder-strewn shore. A narrow footpath leads to a small sandy beach near Bird Rock. At the present, no human settlement encroaches on the rock. According to Dr. Lorna Inniss of CZMU there is a restriction against building within 400 metres of the cliff along this coastline.
Hughes (1750) was the first to note shearwaters at Bird Rock. In the 19th century, Fielden (1889) recorded "considerable numbers" and took specimens and eggs. Frost and Massiah estimate between 50 to 100 nesting pairs based on their counts of birds coming to the site after sunset.
Non-bird biodiversity: Not applicable.
Rock stack without vegetation.
Pressure/threats to key biodiversity
At the present the only likely threat would be coastal development that permitted security lighting along the cliff. Lighting would disturb and disorient the birds.
Conservation responses/actions for key biodiversity
Martin Frost and Edward Massiah have done irregular counts of the shearwaters between April 1996 and December 2003.
Bird Rock is situated within a “Natural Heritage Conservation Area” and an “Integrated Coastal Zone Management Plan Study Area” (Government of Barbados, 2003).
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Bird Rock (Barbados). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/bird-rock-iba-barbados on 27/12/2024.
