Migratory Birds Report 2

Catherina, I and others are keeping our eyes peeled for migratory birds and so building on my first report (posted on October 5th) and in addition to the normal large numbers of whimbrel and turnstone, we have the following to report.

Ringed Plover (Charadrius hiaticula): a single bird seen in the hotel gardens, and on the east coast reef flats.

Grey Plover (Pluvialis squatarola): total numbers of wading birds of any particular species round the island are very difficult to estimate as the birds are often dispersed around the coast and are of course much more mobile than your average observer. It is clear however we have several grey plovers (5-6) on the island at this time.

Crab Plover (Dromas ardeola): there are at least 2 and possibly as many as 4 of these elegant birds on the island being most commonly seen around Pointe l’Est

Gull-billed tern (Gelochelidon nilotica): During the 9th and 10th of October I observed 1 bird on three separate occasions flying quite low over the coast, twice around Pte Mme Guichard and once on the west coast by the runway.

Catherina has two interesting records of a European turtle dove (Streptopelia picturata) on the 5th of October and a Common pratincole (Glareola pratincola) on the 6th.

Finally Mr Mickey Mason, an island resident, spotted mid-month an unusual visitor along the coast and was able to take some photos from a distance (see sidebar), as per his own description:

“I found a tern last weekend flying over the beach and diving for food amongst weed and debris. It has graceful flight but quite agile, turns sharply to dive and hover above the beach when it has noticed something of interest. Looks like a type of Marsh tern[1]… sorry about the photo quality.”

This information and the photos of the bird have been forwarded to Mr. Adrian Skerrett of the Seychelles Bird Record Committee (see link in sidebar) in the hope that it may be possible to make a verified identification.

[1] (a) Chlidonias hybridus: whiskered or marsh tern; (b) Chlidonias leucopterus: white-winged or marsh tern