EPIC’s ongoing joint efforts to find new Black-capped Petrel nesting locations was aided by a sniffer dog named Africa and her handler in early 2023. Sniffer dogs can be trained to find many different things, including burrow-nesting birds like petrels. The Diablotin (aka Black-capped Petrel) is one of the Caribbean’s rarest seabird species. Historically known to nest on many islands in the Caribbean, the only current confirmed nesting areas are on the island of Hispaniola. Ironically, two hundred years ago in Dominica, pet dogs used by colonialists led to the disappearance of petrels who were hunted for food which ultimately contribued their near extinction.

Fast forward to modern day, in 2015 and 2020, teams used marine radar to identify flying petrels at night, and noted numerous potential petrel-like targets with their equipment. Another team, using a powerful thermal spotting scope, also observed a single petrel flying near Morne Micotrin in 2022. This evidence led to the use of a sniffer dog named Africa to search for nests in the dense understory at possible nesting locations in Dominica in 2023. Africa and her handler Dr. Jacob Ganzalez-Solis had much luck on other islands around the world in locating burrow-nesting seabirds, and hoped this luck would also follow them to Dominica.

The team brought Africa to numerous places on the island to “sniff out” where good potential Diablotin nesting habitat existed. She can identify the smell of petrels and, when done, acts in a specific manner that indicates an area is worth additional inspection by the human team members. Africa and the team worked very hard during their expedition but did not locate any nesting petrels on this trip. Africa did indicate, however, that some areas were worth further exploration. Based on this, plans were made to deploy listening devices and remote cameras in the areas identified with the highest potential. This is the next step in the process of research and discovery.

This EPIC expedition was co-led by Yvan Satgé, an EPIC Board member and a force for the conservation of Caribbean seabirds, who brought Africa and her human handler Dr. Jacob Ganzalez-Solis. Additionally, Stephen Durand, the Dominica Forestry Division, BirdsCaribbean, and the American Bird Conservancy were present and led different aspects of the mission. Additonal Thank you for support on this project goes to the expedition partners Seabird Ecology, American Bird Conservancy, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, WildDominique, Dominica Forestry, Wildlife & Parks Division, BirdsCaribbean, Universitat de Barcelona, and the International Black-capped Petrel Working Group.