Only one month remains for students to submit posters to the EPIC Seabird Poster Competition, Why are Seabirds Important?. The prizes for the three winning pupils include a pair of binoculars, the book Birds of the West Indies and their poster being displayed in the media. The winning school also receives the book Birds of the West Indies, a pair of binoculars and $300EC to purchase books on nature conservation.

The poster competition is aimed at raising awareness of the importance of seabirds to the Caribbean. Most seabird species are declining within the Caribbean, it is believed that seabird populations are at least 10 times fewer than when man first colonised these islands. The Jamaican Petrel is believed extinct and the Black-capped Petrel endangered. Seabirds require conservation to ensure they do not disappear from their last remaining breeding strongholds within the Lesser Antilles. The EPIC Seabird Breeding Atlas of the Lesser Antilles is creating a baseline of seabird breeding data so that the number and location of breeding seabirds is established for every island within the study area. This will allow prioritisation for future seabird conservation.

Posters should be eye catching, they can be any size or media, purely image based or include words and should clearly depict why seabirds are so important to man and/or in their own right. Entries are welcome from children between the age of 6 and 18. The poster must be photographed or scanned and the signature of the Principle of the entrant’s school attached and sent via email to:klowrie@epicislands.org. The address, telephone number, email and contact information for the school and student should also be included.

The poster competition is a part of the Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival celebrations which occur every year during April and May. To find out about events happening on your island visit Society for the Conservation and Study of Caribbean Birds (SCSCB). For more info, email Katharine Lowrie, klowrie@epicislands.org, or visit www.listalight.co.uk and www.epicislands.org