Seeking Puerto Rican Birds in the Wake of Hurricane Maria January 29, 2018 | Chris Rimmer After scouring the island of Puerto Rico for Bicknell’s Thrush (BITH) with our partners from Sociedad Ornitológica Puertorriqueña (SOPI) during the winters of 2015-16 and turning up only 11 birds, VCE figured our work there was largely done. Then Hurricanes Irma and Maria struck this past September.