Bird Bulletin 6

• Sunbird sighting: in my post of August 23rd I wrote about the uncertain status of the sunbird (Nectarinia dussumieri) on Denis and the limited records we have on the occurrence of the bird on the island - well Catherina has been able to add to these records. On August 19th Catherina heard and later saw a single male bird singing in a Tortoise tree (Morinda citrifolia) near the hotel laundry. Interestingly, unlike the bird spotted by Professor Feare and myself in June 2007, this bird was ringed suggesting it likely well came from our neighbour Bird Island which had a population of sunbirds introduced a couple of years ago. Catherina was not able to ascertain the colour of the rings, however, before the bird flew south in the direction of the tennis court. I do not know if sunbirds on Aride Island, our second nearest neighbour 56km to the south, are ringed but will follow up on this. In the meantime I have updated our sunbird sighting map – see sidebar.
• Warbler chicks: during my rounds of the island I have noticed recently quite a few begging warbler (Acrocephalus sechellensis) chicks, as can be expected at this time of year. A couple in particular are well positioned (at the tortoise park and southern point) to provide a welcome and reliable addition to the guest nature walks. We were unable to have a survey of the warbler population this year due to the other initiatives being undertaken but I hope very much that we can have a through population assessment in 2009. I will post in the future on the story of the Seychelles warbler and its introduction to Denis.
• Seychelles Magpie Robin Update: talking of tourist attractions, magpie robins (Copsychus sechellarum) are now a common sight along the islands paths and provide a thrilling glimpse of such a rare bird to hotel guests on the nature walk. I have both good and bad news regarding the Seychelles magpie robin population on the island – so keep checking back for the 4th edition of SMR news which I will post in the coming days.
• Crested Terns (Thalasseus bergii): are again a frequent sight around the island. They can most commonly be seen in the mornings at Pte Madame Guichard – the sand spit just west of the main hotel complex - and in the afternoons they appear to favour the sandstone rocks of the southern point. There are approximately 8 -10 birds currently resident on the island.
• Migrant Bird watch: I will be adding a new feature to the blog in the coming weeks. Aside from flocks of Turnstone (Arenaria interpres) and Whimbrel (Numenius phaeopus) which are present year round on the island we have recently been joined by a Greater Sandplover (Charadrius leschenaultii). We also had a single Crab plover (Dromas ardeola) in July but I haven't seen it since. As the northern winter draws in, Denis can expect a large influx of migratory birds and with Catherina now full time on the island we should be able to properly monitor the birds visiting the island and begin to develop an authoritative list of our annual visitors.