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Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

Rufous-vented Chachalaca Ortalis ruficauda ©Fernando Flores - Wikimedia

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines is an island country in the eastern Caribbean. It is located in the southeast Windward Islands of the Lesser Antilles, which lie in the West Indies, at the southern end of the eastern border between the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. To the north lies Saint Lucia, to the east is Barbados, and to the south lies Grenada. Spanning a land area of just 369 km2 (142 square miles), most of its territory consists of the northernmost island of Saint Vincent, which includes the capital and largest city, Kingstown. The main island of Saint Vincent measures 26 km long, 15 km wide and covers 344 km2. To the south lie two-thirds of the northern part of the Grenadines, a chain of 32 smaller islands and cays; the remaining southern third make up Grenada. Seven of those islands are inhabited, of which the largest and most populous are Bequia, Mustique, Canouan, and Union Island. The others are Mayreau, Petit St Vincent and Palm Island.

Mustique – Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons

With an estimated population of 110,000, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines has a population density of over 300 inhabitants/km2 (700 per square mile). The majority of its people are descendants of African slaves brought by France and later Great Britain, which contested the islands during the 18th century. SVG remained a colony of the British Empire from 1783 until 1979, when it peacefully achieved independence; the country’s culture, language, government, and legal system reflect the long legacy of British rule, and it is part of the Commonwealth of Nations, with the United Kingdom’s monarch as its head of state.

The island of Saint Vincent is volcanic and heavily forested and includes little level ground. The windward side of the island is very rocky and steep, while the leeward side has more sandy beaches and bays. Saint Vincent’s highest peak is La Soufrière volcano at 4,049 feet.

Soufriere Volcano, St. Vincent – Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons

Other major mountains on St Vincent are (from north to south) Richmond Peak, Mount Brisbane, Colonarie Mountain, Grand Bonhomme, Petit Bonhomme and Mount St Andrew. The country is has two terrestrial ecoregions: Windward Islands moist forests and the Lesser Antillean dry forests.  Agriculture is an important sector, especially bananas.

Birding Saint Vincent & the Grenadines

The country has 24 wildlife reserves, 6 marine conservation areas, 3 forest reserves, and 1 marine park and 1 marine reserve, which account for 47.2% of the country’s total marine habitat, 42% of terrestrial habitat and 38.4% of freshwater habitat.

St Vincent – ©P.khiao CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons

The country has 17 mammal species, but 12 of them are species of bat. There are 21 species of reptiles, including 5 that are endemic – four lizards including Bequia Dwarf Gecko Sphaerodactylus kirbyi (endemic to Bequia and Mustique), and endangered Union Island Gecko Gonatodes daudini and one snake – the Black Snake (Chironius vincentii) which is critically endangered. There are four amphibians including the endemic Whistling Frog Eleuthrodactylus shrevei.

Almost 200 bird species have been recorded including 3 island endemics, the St. Vincent Parrot Amazona guildingii, Whistling Warbler Catharopeza bishopi and St Vincent Wren Troglodytes aedon and two endemic subspecies that some regard as a full species Rufous-throated Solitaire Myadestes genibarbis sibilans as St Vincent Solitaire and the Lesser Antillean Tanager Stilpnia cucullate versicolor as St Vincent Tanager splitting it from the nominate race found in Grenada.  The Grenada Flycatcher Myiarchus nugator is shared only with Grenada. Moreover, there are at least 14 regional endemics to be found including Purple-throated Carib, Antillean Crested Hummingbird and the Brown Trembler.

Contributors
Number of Species

  • Number of bird species: 196

    (As at March 2025)

    National Bird: St. Vincent Amazon Amazona guildingii

Endemics

  • Number of endemics: 3

    St. Vincent Amazon Amazona guildingii
    Whistling Warbler Catharopeza bishopi
    St Vincent Wren Troglodytes aedon

    Grenada Flycatcher Myiarchus nugator (Shared only with Grenada)

Checklist

  • Avibase

    PDF Checklist
    This checklist includes all bird species found in St.Vincent and Grenadines , based on the best information available at this time. It is based on a wide variety of sources that I collated over many years. I am pleased to offer these checklists as a service to birdwatchers. If you find any error, please do not hesitate to report them.

  • E-Bird

    PDF Checklist
    This checklist is generated with data from eBird (ebird.org), a global database of bird sightings from birders like you. If you enjoy this checklist, please consider contributing your sightings to eBird. It is 100% free to take part, and your observations will help support birders, researchers, and conservationists worldwide.

  • Wikipedia

    Annotated List
    This is a list of the bird species recorded in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. The avifauna of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines included a total of 193 species according to Bird Checklists of the World as of July 2022.[1] Of them, two are endemic, four have been introduced by humans, and 115 are rare or accidental. Four species are globally threatened, one of which is possibly extinct.
Useful Reading

  • Birds of the Lesser Antilles

    | A Photographic Guide | By Ryan Chenery | Helm | 2022 | Paperback | 224 pages, 400 colour photos | ISBN: 9781472989611 Buy this book from NHBS.com

  • The Birds of St Vincent, the Grenadines and Grenada

    | An Annotated Checklist | By James W Wiley | BOC | 2021 | Paperback | 384 pages, 32 plates with 78 colour photos and 1 colour map | ISBN: 9780952288688 Buy this book from NHBS.com

  • The Birds of the West Indies

    | By Guy M Kirwan, Anthony Levesque, Mark W Oberle & Christopher J Sharpe | Lynx Edicions | 2019 | Flexibound | 400 pages, 1600+ colour illustrations, 650+ colour distribution maps | ISBN: 9788416728176 Buy this book from NHBS.com
Birding Aps

  • Birds of the West Indies

    Android
    This bilingual, mobile field guide for the West Indies includes all 415 bird species of Puerto Rico and the northeastern Lesser Antilles: Virgin Islands, Anguilla, Saint Martin (Sint Maarten), Antigua and Barbuda, Montserrat, Sint Eustatius, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Barthélemy (St. Barts), and Saba.

  • Birds of the West Indies

    Apple iOS |
    Explore the vibrant Caribbean islands with Birds of the West Indies – your pocket guide to Caribbean birdwatching!

Organisations

  • BirdsCaribbean

    Webpage
    BirdsCaribbean, formerly the Society for the Conservation and Study of Caribbean Birds, is the largest regional organization dedicated to the conservation of wild birds and their habitats in the insular Caribbean (including Bermuda, the Bahamas and all islands within the Caribbean basin).

  • St. Vincent National Trust

    Facebook Page
    St. Vincent National Trust P.O. Box 1538 Kingstown, St. Vincent Tel: (784) 451-2921 - svgntrust@gmail.com - Established in 1969, The National Trust is charged with the preservation of the natural, historic, cultural and built heritage of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, on behalf of its people.
Reserves

Abbreviations Key

  • NR Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Botanic Gardens

    InformationSatellite View
    The gardens have been designated an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International because they support significant populations of local birds, including lesser Antillean swifts, purple-throated and green-throated caribs, Antillean crested hummingbirds, Caribbean elaenias, Grenada flycatchers, Saint Vincent tanagers and lesser Antillean bullfinches

  • National Parks, Rivers & Beaches

    WebsiteSatellite View
    The Eastern Caribbean nation of St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) consists of the main island of St. Vincent (345 km2), and the Grenadines (44 km2) which includes the islands of Bequia, Mustique, Canouan, Mayreau, Union Island, Palm Island, Petit St. Vincent, and 28 uninhabited islets.
Sightings, News & Forums
Guides & Tour Operators

  • BirdFinders

    Tour Operator
    Visit ten small Caribbean islands with around thirty endemic species and forty-five Caribbean specialties on this adventurous new tour.

  • BirdQuest

    Tour Operator
    The island of Saint Vincent is home to the endemic St Vincent Amazon and the delightful endemic Whistling Warbler, as well as Grenada Flycatcher, Lesser Antillean Tanager and the (split by some) Barbados Grackle.

  • Birding The Islands

    Tour Operator
    Our tour sees us travel to three of the most spectacular islands in the Lesser Antillean chain in search of several endemics (including each island's critically endangered species of Amazona parrot)

  • Eagle-Eye Tours

    Tour Operator
    Our birding tour will concentrate on three of the best, Dominica, St. Vincent and St. Lucia; each island has its own unique character and charm, and each has its own special complement of wildlife.

  • HeatherLea

    Tour Operator
    On this holiday of a lifetime, we visit six of these islands – St Lucia, St Vincent, Martinique, Dominica, Guadeloupe and Grenada in search of key, single island and Lesser Antillean endemics...

  • Naturalist Journeys

    Tour Operator
    Naturalist Journeys offers personalized St. Vincent birding tours and St. Vincent nature tours. See stunning endemic and regionally endemic birds, and enjoy the Caribbean away from the typical tourist hype on St. Vincent, where you can enjoy pleasant lodgings, birding, snorkeling, and hiking.

  • NatureTrek

    Tour Operator
    An exciting 11-day tour in search of endemic Caribbean birdlife, cetaceans and other wildlife on the stunning islands of St. Lucia, St. Vincent and Dominica.

  • Sunrise Birding

    Tour Operator
    ...10 magical islands: Antigua, Barbados, Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Montserrat, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent...

  • WINGS

    Tour Operator
    ...we’ll travel south along the island chain in search of often critically endangered single-island and regional endemics like the Whistling Warbler on St. Vincent...

  • William Suarez Birding Tours

    Tour Operator
    The Windward Islands are in the southern section, including Grenada, The Grenadines, St. Vincent, Barbados, St. Lucia, and Martinique...
Trip Reports

  • 2016 [04 April] - Jesse Fagan - Lesser Antilles

    Report
    10 islands, 14 days, 14 flights, 8 hotels, 1 visit to the emergency room, drive on the right, drive on the left,...you get the picture. It requires a lot of action and movement to see these birds! And see them we did. It was another successful island-hopping adventure this year, and the logistics worked out fine on this logistically complicated tour.

  • 2017 [06 June] - Mark Van Beirs

    PDF Report
    Antigua, Barbuda, Montserrat, Dominica, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Santa Lucia, Saint Vincent, Barbados and Grenada were the ten islands we visited on our recent Lesser Antilles tour. Some are independent countries in their own right, while others are Overseas Territories. All these islands exude a quite different flavour, as some are rich and well developed and some are obviously quite poor with pothole-riddled roads and limited infrastructure.

  • 2020 [03 March] - David Ascanio

    PDF Report
    ...This island hosts another parrot species—the only one we were still missing—the St. Vincent Parrot...

  • 2023 [01 January] - Ryan Chenery

    PDF Report
    ...we make straight for the mountainous north and are soon hiking the La Soufriere Trail in search of the very difficult endemic Whistling Warbler. This is the site known to harbor the greatest number of this now critically endangered species.

  • 2023 [06 June] - David Hollie

    PDF Report
    ...We saw St. Vincent Parrots flying by the visitor center and Grenada Flycatchers were calling along the river. On the road up to the trail, both Short-tailed and Lesser Antillean Swifts were flying around and dipping into the ponds. Cocoa Thrushes were singing and calling soon after we entered the forest (make sure to learn the call, initially I thought it was a weird Whistling Warbler). The parrots were quite common throughout the hike, and we had great views of them as well as Common Black Hawks flying by at the viewing platform. I also flushed a Ruddy Quail-Dove from the trail near the viewing platform. Whistling Warblers are perhaps the toughest bird on St. Vincent, but we had two singing from the viewing platform...

  • 2023 [12 December] - Chris Harbard

    PDF Report
    ...our final island, St Vincent delivered its endemic parrot and a lucky few saw the Whistling Warbler. The final day was spent swimming and snorkeling on the Grenadines, and even managed a couple of boobies and a tropicbird for good measure.

  • 2024 [03 March] - Peg Abbott

    PDF Report
    ...spying a St. Vincent Parrot checking out a nest site in a palm, and having a Southern Opossum waddle up the road towards our vehicle in plain sight...
Other Links

  • Caribbean Birding Trails

    Information
    St. Vincent and the Grenadines Sites

  • St. Vincent Parrot Amazona guildingii

    Information
    The Saint Vincent amazon (Amazona guildingii) also known as Saint Vincent parrot, is a large, approximately 40 cm long, coloured amazon parrot with a yellowish white, blue and green head, greenish-bronze upper parts plumage, and violet blue-green wings.

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