Overview:
Haiti’s nationwide chook, Kanson Wouj or Cacos, is a vibrant image of magnificence and resistance—however is it vanishing? Under, The Haitian Instances highlights seven key info concerning the colourful chook and why they matter.
From guerrilla resistance to ecological rarity, the colourful chook, identified in Haiti as Kanson Wouj, Haitian Creole for “crimson underpants,” is greater than a splash of coloration within the cover. It’s a dwelling image of Haiti’s cultural id, resilience and pressing want for conservation.
Whereas this hanging and endemic chook stays comparatively frequent in elements of the Dominican Republic, its inhabitants in Haiti has shrunk dramatically, ecologists and conservationists say.Exterior of residents within the north, south, southeast and southwest, many Haitians are unfamiliar with the species. Confined primarily to the diminishing forests of the Massif de la Hotte and Chaîne de la Selle, Kanson Wouj faces rising threats from habitat loss and deforestation. Regardless of being categorised as a “least concern” species by the Worldwide Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), consultants warn that its numbers are declining and its survival in Haiti might quickly be in danger with out stronger environmental protections.
The next are seven info concerning the Hispaniolan Trogon—Haiti’s symbolic but threatened nationwide chook:
1. Its native identify means “crimson underpants”
Haitians affectionately name the chook Okanson Wouj, referring to its vivid crimson stomach resembling a pair of shorts. The identify displays the artistic methods many Haitians join with their pure environment. It’s scientifically categorised as a species within the trogon household, or Trogonidae, which is Greek for “nibbling” and refers to the truth that these birds gnaw holes in bushes to make their nests.
2. It’s solely discovered on one island on this planet
The Haitian Trogon—additionally identified by the exterior world because the Hispaniolan Trogon or Priotelus roseigaster, that are two Greek phrases that means genus of trogons and rosy stomach—is endemic to this a part of the Caribbean, making it a uncommon and regionally distinctive species. It’s present in each Haiti and the Dominican Republic, however it’s rather more ample on the latter facet of the border.
Kanson Wouj is certainly one of solely two trogon species recognized within the Caribbean by ecologists and conservationists, alongside the Cuban trogon.
3. It helped outline a nationwide resistance motion referred to as Cacos
Throughout the U.S. occupation of Haiti from 1915 to 1934, peasant fighters organized a guerrilla resistance in opposition to the American Marines, often known as Cacos. That is one other identify given to the chook by some locals, which is after the Haitian trogon. Just like the chook, they moved stealthily by means of the forest and attacked their enemies unexpectedly. Resistance leaders resembling Rosalvo Bobo, Charlemagne Péralte and Benoît Batraville drew inspiration from the Cacos’ legacy of their battle for Haitian sovereignty.
4. It thrives in old-growth forests, however these are vanishing
This chook is determined by massive, decayed bushes with pure cavities for nesting. It’s mostly discovered between 500 and three,000 meters in elevation, inhabiting moist montane, broadleaf, pine, and even dry forests. In Haiti, its habitat has been severely degraded, limiting its presence to just some protected zones like La Visite and Pic Macaya nationwide parks. Occasional sightings in mangrove swamps west of Miragoâne, about 60 miles southwest of Port-au-Prince, stay unconfirmed as everlasting populations.
5. It’s categorised as “least concern,” however consultants say that’s deceptive
In line with the IUCN, the trogon is at present listed as a species of “least concern,” that means it’s not instantly liable to extinction. Nevertheless, this designation is predicated on international inhabitants figures that don’t mirror the drastic habitat loss occurring in Haiti. In actuality, conservationists have documented a reasonably fast inhabitants decline as a consequence of deforestation.
6. Its weight loss program is various, and its foraging methodology is aerial
Kanson Wouj feeds totally on bugs but additionally consumes small vertebrates like anoles and fruits, notably these from the West Indian sumac (Brunellia comocladifolia). Like different trogons, it forages largely in mid-level forest canopies, utilizing agile flight to grab meals from branches or fruit in midair.
7. It nonetheless flies with combined flocks—simply not typically
Though the chook is often solitary or seen in pairs, it has often been noticed foraging in mixed-species flocks, particularly within the humid pine forests of the island shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic. These interactions, recorded in a 2011 research by researchers Cañizares Morera, Jeff Gerbracht, and C. C. Rimmer for Cornell Lab of Ornithology and printed in 2024 in Birds of the World, provide insights into its ecological function and the interdependence of tropical chook communities.
“Its foraging conduct is presumed to be just like that of different species of trogon: most meals is taken in aerial sallies to fruit or surrounding vegetation,” the researchers observe.
Why the Kanson Wouj issues
As Haiti’s nationwide chook, the Hispaniolan Trogon is not only a logo—it’s a warning. Its decline mirrors the broader environmental degradation affecting Haiti, the place forest cowl has dropped beneath 2% of its unique extent. Conservationists like Haitian ecologist Anderson Jean emphasize that defending the Kanson Wouj additionally means safeguarding the way forward for biodiversity, together with Haiti’s fauna and flora, local weather resilience and even nationwide satisfaction.“At a time when a lot is being misplaced, the survival of this brilliantly feathered chook stands as a check of Haiti’s will to guard what’s left—and to reclaim its legacy of power and sovereignty in each kind, feathered or not,” Jean instructed The Haitian Instances.