DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Tenants of the Trees
By Mikaela B. and Eshana S.
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
It’s no mystery how the palmchat got its name. These little birds love palm trees, and they never seem to stop chattering. High above the ground, they fill the air with their chirps, squeaks, and whistles, a soundtrack heard all across the Dominican Republic. They’re also known in Spanish as cigua palmera, which means “palm bird.”
Their nests are just as remarkable as their noise. Instead of roosting alone, palmchats team up to build sprawling, shared homes in the treetops. As many as 30 pairs or more unite to create a tangled ball of twigs and vines about three feet (one meter) wide. Each pair has its own little chamber inside the communal nest. With so many birds living side by side, the tree becomes a busy, boisterous neighborhood.
In spring, palmchats lay their eggs, which are grayish purple with dark speckles. One mother bird can lay up to four eggs. Both parents help out by taking turns keeping the eggs warm and flying back and forth to feed berries and insects to their chicks.
More Than Just a Bird
The palmchat is a distinctive species found only in the Caribbean. They’re the national bird of the Dominican Republic and the only bird in the genus Dulus and family Dulidae worldwide. Palmchats are about eight inches (20 centimeters) long, with olive-brown feathers, creamy white streaks on their bellies, and short beaks. Protecting them helps maintain biodiversity and the health of the environment.
Palmchats are part of culture and history. People grow up hearing their sounds, seeing them in schoolbooks, and learning about nature from them. The birds gather in parks, gardens, and even on telephone poles, making them a familiar sight for both city and country dwellers.
A palmchat in its nest. Adaptation of “Palmchat” by Ron Savage. Licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.
Why Palmchats Matter
Palmchats are special for other reasons, too.
- They help ecosystems by spreading seeds and pollinating plants. While they flutter around building nests, they’re also promoting the growth of trees and flowers.
- They support the economy because birdwatchers and ecotourists come to see them.
- They contribute to environmental education, increasing awareness about the significance of wildlife conservation and the interconnectedness of species.
- Other birds depend on them too. The Ridgway’s Hawk, an endangered species, sometimes builds its nest right on top of a palmchat’s. It’s like a two-story birdhouse!
That’s why it’s important to protect the cigua palmera. They’re not just birds. They’re builders, helpers, symbols, and neighbors.
Have a suggestion for this story? We’d love for you to submit it!
Blank
Blank
Math Resources
Sample Problems:
- Palmchat parents take turns bringing food to the nest. If one bird makes a round trip to gather berries every five minutes, how many trips can it make in an hour? If each trip delivers three berries, how many berries arrive at the nest in that time?
- The Ridgway’s Hawk sometimes builds a nest on top of a palmchat nest. If the palmchat nest is three feet tall and the hawk adds another 2.5 feet on top, what is the total height? How would that compare to the height of an average five-foot person?
- Suppose a palmchat gathers twigs for 15 minutes, rests for 5 minutes, then starts again. If this pattern continues for two hours, how many minutes were spent gathering? What fraction or percentage of the time did the bird spend resting?
- Palmchats build their nests high in palm trees, usually about 10 meters above the ground. If it takes one bird six seconds to fly straight up from the ground to the nest, what is the bird’s average speed in meters per second? If another bird is slower and flies at 1.25 meters per second, how long will it take that bird?
- If a typical palmchat nest has a diameter of three feet, use π to estimate the nest’s circumference and area. Then imagine the birds expand the nest to four feet wide. How much do the circumference and area grow? Use a table or sketch to compare the two nests.
- Palmchats typically lay between two and four eggs per nest. Suppose 18 pairs lay eggs this season. If half lay two eggs, and the rest lay four, how many eggs are there in total? How many eggs are there if one-third lay two, one-third lay three, and one-third lay four? Compare your totals.
Extension Questions
The Dominican Republic is home to more than 300 diverse bird species. In 1987 the country chose the palmchat, a small, brown creature seen almost everywhere, as its national bird. Why do you think this familiar choice was made instead of something more exotic? What might that decision reveal about what the country values?
Explore Further
- More information about palmchats here and here
- Palmchat coloring page
- Words of appreciation for the palmchat (in Spanish)
- Watch and listen to a group of palmchats
Share Your Story
Write your own Global Math Story and send it to us!
English 
Spanish
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.