Birding Festival celebrates newly named Grenada Wren “hidden in plain sight” 

by Dr Nicola Koper

Grenada’s annual Birding Festival returns from 4–9 May 2025, offering an exciting week of activities for nature lovers, students, families, and tourism stakeholders.

This year’s festival is especially significant, as it celebrates the official recognition of a “new” endemic bird species, the Grenada Wren.

Wrens in Grenada were formerly considered to be members of the House Wren species, “but as soon as I saw and heard the wrens on Grenada, I said to my students, that’s not a House Wren,” said Dr Nicola Koper, Dean of the Faculty of Environment at the University of Northern British Columbia, who has been studying birds in Grenada since 2011. “Since then, I’ve wanted to make sure the world recognises how special these wrens are.”

The Grenada Wren is larger, has a longer beak, and richer brown colouring than House Wrens. Eventually, research by Dr Koper’s team and other scientific teams around the world resulted in the Grenada Wren being recognised by the American Ornithological Society as a distinct species in 2024. Despite being found only in Grenada, the Grenada Wren is locally abundant and is often known as the House Bird.

Once the species was formally recognised, Grenadian scientist and former graduate student of Dr Koper, Zoya Buckmire, led a team of authors in writing the academic account describing the species for the official record in Birds of the World. Canadian and Grenadian scientists are now collaborating with Belmont Estate, Gaea Conservation Network, and the Grenada Fund for Conservation to celebrate the new species with a series of festival events.

Many of the festival activities are focused on celebrating the Grenada Wren with children. Belmont Estate will host a story time for families and children at 1 pm on Sunday, 4 May. This event will feature a reading of the children’s story “Wrennie Takes Flight,” the opportunity to meet the authors, and scientific experts, and educational activities and games about the Grenada Wren. Belmont Estate is also hosting a Grenada Wren educational festival for schools, grades 2–5, on Friday, 9 May, while the Grenada Fund for Conservation is hosting an educational festival for schools at Camerhogne Park in Grand Anse on Tuesday, 6 May.

Tourism providers, operators, and guides are invited to attend a learning session about the Grenada Wren at Belmont Estate on Thursday, 8 May at 8:30 am. “Distinguishing the Grenada Wren as a separate species will lead to more opportunities,” said Dr Koper. These include conservation funding for endemic or island-dependent species, and attracting birder tourists who want to see this unique species to Grenada.

“Sharing this unique species with the Grenadian public is the best part of this project,” said Dr Koper. “I hope the kids come away from the events loving the Grenada Wren as much as I do.” We are excitedly looking forward to this year’s Birding Festival and the opportunity to celebrate the unique biodiversity of Grenada.