Centre Hills is a forest reserve on the island of

Montserrat Montserrat ( ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean. It is part of the Leeward Islands, the northern portion of the Lesser Antilles chain of the West Indies. Montserrat is about long and wide, with r ...

, a

British Overseas Territory The British Overseas Territories (BOTs), also known as the United Kingdom Overseas Territories (UKOTs), are fourteen dependent territory, territories with a constitutional and historical link with the United Kingdom. They are the last remna ...

in the

Leeward Islands french: Îles-Sous-le-Vent , image_name = , image_caption = ''Political'' Leeward Islands. Clockwise: Antigua and Barbuda, Guadeloupe, Saint kitts and Nevis. , image_alt = , locator_map = , location = Caribbean SeaNorth Atlantic Ocean , coor ...

of the

Caribbean Sea The Caribbean Sea ( es, Mar Caribe; french: Mer des Caraïbes; ht, Lanmè Karayib; jam, Kiaribiyan Sii; nl, Caraïbische Zee; pap, Laman Karibe) is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere. It is bounded by Mexico ...

. It forms one of the territory's

Important Bird Area An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations. IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Int ...

s (IBAs), which encompasses the forest reserve as well as additional habitat for the

Montserrat oriole The Montserrat oriole (''Icterus oberi'') is a medium-sized black-and-yellow icterid (the same family as many blackbirds, meadowlarks, cowbirds, grackles, and others, including the New World orioles). It inhabits the Centre Hills and South So ...

, the territory's

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

, and critically endangered,

national bird This is a list of national birds, including official birds of overseas territories and other states described as nations. Most species in the list are officially designated. Some species hold only an "unofficial" status. National birds See al ...

Description

The 1112 ha IBA comprises the largest remnant of Montserrat's native forest. It encompasses the highlands of the northern half of the island from an elevation of 150 m up to the 741 m summit of Katy Hill. The terrain is steep, largely trackless, and riven by the ‘ghauts’, or ravines, that radiate into the islands's northern lowlands. Rainfall increases with altitude, and the vegetation changes from

tropical dry forest The tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forest is a habitat type defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature and is located at tropical and subtropical latitudes. Though these forests occur in climates that are warm year-round, and may receive ...

at the lower elevations, through

tropical evergreen forest Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests (TSMF), also known as tropical moist forest, is a subtropical and tropical forest habitat type defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature. Description TSMF is generally found in large, discont ...

elfin forest Dwarf forest, elfin forest, or pygmy forest is an uncommon ecosystem featuring miniature trees, inhabited by small species of fauna such as rodents and lizards. They are usually located at high elevations, under conditions of sufficient air humi ...

at the summit. Most of the forest is

secondary Secondary may refer to: Science and nature * Secondary emission, of particles ** Secondary electrons, electrons generated as ionization products * The secondary winding, or the electrical or electronic circuit connected to the secondary winding i ...

or regrowth, following historic land clearance for

plantation A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...

agriculture, and at a variety of successional stages because of damage from frequent

hurricane A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depend ...

s. Other IBAs on the island are the

Northern Forested Ghauts The Northern Forested Ghauts constitute a tract of land on the island of Montserrat, a British Overseas Territory in the Leeward Islands of the Caribbean Sea. It forms one of the territory's Important Bird Areas (IBAs). Description The 498 ...

and South Soufriere Hills.

Birds

The IBA was identified as such by

BirdLife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding ...

because it supports, as well as Montserrat orioles, populations of

bridled quail-dove The bridled quail-dove (''Geotrygon mystacea'') is a species of bird in the family Columbidae. It is found from Saint Lucia in the Lesser Antilles north and west to Puerto Rico.Boal, C. W. (2020). Bridled Quail-Dove (''Geotrygon mystacea''), ve ...

purple-throated carib The purple-throated carib (''Eulampis jugularis'') is a species of hummingbird in the subfamily Polytminae. It is resident on most of the islands of the Lesser Antilles and has occurred as a vagrant both further north and south.HBW and BirdLife ...

green-throated carib The green-throated carib (''Eulampis holosericeus'') is a species of hummingbird in the subfamily Polytminae. It is found in Puerto Rico and most of the Lesser Antilles.HBW and BirdLife International (2020) ''Handbook of the Birds of the World ...

Antillean crested hummingbird The Antillean crested hummingbird (''Orthorhyncus cristatus'') is a species of hummingbird in the family Trochilidae. Found across Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Montserrat, north-east Puerto Ri ...

Caribbean elaenia The Caribbean elaenia (''Elaenia martinica'') is a species of bird in the family Tyrannidae found in the West Indies and parts of Central America. Its natural habitats are tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forest, subtropical or tropical moi ...

scaly-breasted thrasher The scaly-breasted thrasher (''Allenia fusca'') is a species of bird in the family Mimidae. It is found throughout much of the Lesser Antilles of the Caribbean Sea. Taxonomy and systematics The scaly-breasted thrasher was originally placed ...

pearly-eyed thrasher The pearly-eyed thrasher (''Margarops fuscatus'') is a bird in the thrasher family Mimidae. It is found on many Caribbean islands, from the Bahamas in the north to the Grenadines in the south, with an isolated subspecies on Bonaire. Descriptio ...

brown trembler The brown trembler (''Cinclocerthia ruficauda'') is a species of bird in the family Mimidae, the mockingbirds and thrashers. It is found on the islands of Saba, St. Kitts, Nevis, Montserrat, Guadeloupe, Dominica and St. Vincent in the Lesser A ...

forest thrush The forest thrush (''Turdus lherminieri'') is a species of bird in the family Turdidae. It was historically the sole species within the genus ''Cichlherminia'', however the AOU reclassified the species to the genus ''Turdus'' in 2009. This ...

es and

Lesser Antillean bullfinch The lesser Antillean bullfinch (''Loxigilla noctis'') is a species of bird in the family Thraupidae. It is found in Saint Barth, Saint Martin, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Montserrat, Netherland ...

es.

References

Important Bird Areas of Montserrat {{Montserrat-geo-stub

Description

Birds

See also

References