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Birding Seychelles

The islands of Seychelles lie between approximately 4ºS and 10ºS and 46ºE and 54ºE in the western Indian Ocean. A small landmass and geographic isolation limits the number of species compared to continental areas but size isn’t everything. For a start, the main islands (in terms of population and accessibility) are both the world’s only granitic ocean islands and the world’s oldest ocean islands. Antiquity means a high level of endemism while oceanic isolation means huge seabird colonies. Added to this, there is a remarkably high number of migrant species making up almost three-quarters of the species on the Seychelles list.

Most birders will only visit the inner islands of the Seychelles Bank (the granite islands including Mahe, Praslin and La Digue plus the coral cays of and Bird Island and Denis). The outer islands require more time and money with accommodation available only on Desroches and Alphonse in the Amirantes and access elsewhere only possible by joining a cruise.

There are 12 endemics in the granitic islands, seven of which can be seen on Mahé (including Seychelles White-eye and the only opportunity to see Seychelles Scops Owl). The other five can be seen by staying on Praslin (home to Seychelles Black Parrot) and arranging trips to La Digue for Seychelles Paradise Flycatcher and either Cousin or Aride (or both) to see Seychelles Magpie Robin, Seychelles Warbler and Seychelles Fody.

Trips to Cousin are very easy to arrange. They are well organized if somewhat regimented due to numbers and of fairly short duration (about 2 hours). Nevertheless all five endemics on the island are pretty well guaranteed (including Seychelles Magpie Robin, Seychelles Warbler and Seychelles Fody). Aride has the same five endemics but requires a full day trip and is often closed due to high seas in May-September. At other times it offers more time and space and more birds than Cousin; attractions include the world’s largest colonies of Lesser Noddy and Tropical Shearwater, the only breeding Red-tailed Tropicbirds east of Aldabra plus thousands of frigatebirds (mainly Greater but some Lesser). An alternative possibility is an excursion to Cousine which has the same endemics as Aride and Cousin plus Seychelles White-eye. This is sometimes possible by special arrangement, but this will only be granted when the private villas on the island are unoccupied. When available it is a superb opportunity to see birds away from the crowds of non-birders and still enjoy a cold beer at the island’s bar.

A visit to Bird Island (two nights stay) is a must for the serious birder. It is named after the enormous Sooty Tern colony present April-September but October-December is the most exciting time to see rarities, when almost any Eurasian migrant could turn up, due to the location of the island on the northern perimeter of the Seychelles Bank.

A trip to the outer islands requires joining a cruiseship or one of a few live-aboard schooners based at Mahé. However, opportunities have become more limited since the rise of Somali piracy and currently require special permission and security arrangements. Most of the outer islands are very young, only a few thousand years, so have few land birds and no endemics except in the Aldabra group, which is more ancient. Nine of the twenty IBAS of Seychelles are in the outer islands mainly due to huge seabird colonies. The World Heritage Site of Aldabra accounts for around one-third of the landmass of Seychelles, but is uninhabited except for the warden and staff of the research station. Avian attractions include 11 seabird species and nine endemic species or subspecies, including the last flightless bird of the Indian Ocean (Aldabra Rail).

When to go

Land birds are of course present year round but some are at their best during the breeding season, mainly October –March. Some seabird species are present year-round but others breed either during the southeast monsoon (May-September) or the northwest monsoon (October-April), mainly the former. October-December is the best time to see migrants, some lingering on to April (especially waders including Crab Plover). If this is a birding trip of a lifetime the best time is mid-October to end-November combining the end of the southeast seabird season with the beginning of the northwest and the height of the migration season together with calm seas and settled weather.