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Cuba Coloring Book Project

Several members of HRA traveled to Cuba in 2014 and were captivated by the people that they met as well as the birds that they saw. A portion of the proceeds from the tour were made available to our club and it was decided to use that money for an educational project for students in both Cuba and the USA. The Birds of Cuba Coloring Book was the result in both an English and Spanish versions. The Spanish books are distributed freely in Cuba to nature centers and students by eco-tour groups visiting the country.

The book is beautifully illustrated by Reinier Munguia, a Cuban-born naturalist and accomplished photographer. He conducts educational programs about nature and conservation. He also guides expeditions to many destinations including the Galapagos Islands, and the rainforests of Costa Rica, Panama and Puerto Rico.

The English version is sold by Halifax River Audubon to continue funding for the project at $5.00 per copy.

Order online on our secure payment page

Discounts are available for orders of 30 or more. To arrange for a large order at the discounted price, please contact David Hartgrove at editor@halifaxriveras.org.

Sierra Club International Outings

went to Cuba in February, 2018 and took along some books. Here’s their story.
Our Cuban ornithologist and guide, Maikel Canizares, located a school for our group to visit and distribute the coloring book. The school is in Tunas de Zaza, a small fishing village on the southern coast. We arrived to find that the school kids had prepared skits for us. One was a boy who likes watching birds and shares his enthusiasm with his friends, which inspires them to learn the bird’s names and to protect them. The second was a child displaying a migration map, explaining Cuba's importance in providing resting and feeding habitat for birds along the flyway- a lesson in conservation.
The director of the Tunas de Zaza Natural Preserve accompanied us to the school and kept a few of the books to use with her environmental education in schools even more rural than Tunas de Zaza.
We were impressed and delighted that the teachers, the naturalist and the students had put together such a warm welcome and skits for us. Maikel (a Ph.D candidate and graduate student advisor at the Instituto de Ecologia y Sistematica) gave the kids a brief lesson in bird anatomy highlighting features such as the color and shape of the beak. He pointed out the inside covers of the coloring book to learn the correct colors and promised to return and give a pair of binoculars to the child with the best artwork.