Cousin Island. Seychellles part 2.

I must admit a bit of an ulterior motive when I booked a trip to Cousin Island on Jan's birthday. I knew sh'ed love getting close up to the Giant Tortoises but the island is also famous for its Seychelles Magpie Robins, Seychelles Fody, Seychelles Warbler and a host of seabirds such as Common (Brown) Noddy., Lesser Noddy, Fairy (Blue-billed White) Terns and the ubiquitous White-tailed Tropic Birds. 

The island is a reserve and you have to pay 400 Seychelles Rupee each on arrival. You can't wander around by yourself but are guided round by one of the wardening team. To get there requires a 20 minute boat trip from Praslin and, taking advice from Ash Howe, we booked with the excellent Angel Tours - see here. Angela, the owner, is super helpful and arranged a pick-up from our hotel with a driver who happened to be her dad Robert.

People are only allowed on Cousin between 10-12.00 am to prevent to much disturbance to the wildlife. Robert picked us up at 09.00 and drove us to the boat where our skipper, Nelson, greeted us and gave us a commentary as we cruised across the impossibly blue sea to Cousin where we then had to transfer to one of the rangers boats to land. This obviously involves quite a bit of hanging around as several boats were trying to disembark passengers at the same time. Luckily there was plenty to see with Fairy Terns. Tropicbirds all around us with Greater Frigatebirds and a couple of Lesser Frigatebirds overhead.

Landing on Cousin is quite an experience. The rangers come to pick you up and then race up the steep beach to get the boat right out the water. The rangers aren't dressed like any rangers I've ever seen in the UK and all sign up for a one year contract and live on the island. Their huts are spread along the foreshore so they can keep an eye out for unauthorised landings as, unfortunately, turtle poaching is still an issue here.

I didn't have to wait long for my 1st endemic. The drab looking Seychelles Fody. Interestingly with a beak that looks like a finch its actually insectivorous. They're rare and restricted to four of the islands (including Cousin) and had been successfully introduced into two more. Its classed as near threatened with a total population thought to be around 3,500 birds.

White Terns and White-tailed Tropicbirds were everywhere. The terns mate for life and lay a single egg on a tree branch Due to the lack of predators on the island the Tropicbirds nest on the ground and every hollow among the tree roots seemed to have an incubating bird or a downy young.

The rangers are very knowledgeable about the wildlife on the island and pointed out various plants and animals on our tour including Bronze-eyed Gecko and native trees.  We were lucky enough to come across a Hawksbill Turtle laying her eggs in the sand beneath a bush and watched quietly as she covered the eggs with sand and lumbered her way back to the  sea.  An amazing experience and one I'd always wanted to see.

One of my main targets for the trip was the endemic Seychelles Magpie Robin.  This is the most endangered endemic and in 1977 there were only 23 left in the wild on Fregate island. Through an active conservation programme coordinated by BirdLife International and later Nature Seychelles, which involved moving predators, improving habitat, providing nest boxes on Fregate, and moving birds to other predator-free islands to start new populations, the total number of birds has risen significantly, although it remains one of the rarest birds in the world. Its conservation status has greatly improved, but it still relies on conservation management and implementation of the Seychelles Magpie Recovery Team (SMART) - see here, which was formed to take conservation actions to save this species. SMART is coordinated by Nature Seychelles. The species was downlisted from being Critically Endangered to Endangered in 2005 after great efforts to increase its population.  As the population has risen to 500 birds, there’s hope for its reclassification to a lower threatened status.

I wasn't disappointed with 6 birds being seen. They're all ringed as pullus in the nest and it was interesting to see they use BTO metal rings. The red ring, on same leg as the metal ring, denotes the bird was ringed on Cousin Island.

I'd seen a few Seychelles Warblers on our tour but none photographable but whilst we were watching the magpie Robins I notice movemnt in a small bush and picked the binouclars up to see a Seychelles Warbler. Quitely moving away fro mthe main group I managed to get a few photos of this endangerd endemic. In 1968 there were only 26 individuals surviving on Cousin Island but now a population of 2500 birds survive on the granitic islands of Cousin, Cousine, Denis, Fregate and the Aride Islands.

Of course, the real reason for the trip was for Jan to get up close to the Aldabra giant tortoises that roam the island and we found a group bathing in a muddy pool. We were warned that if they stood on your foot you'd probably end up with some broken bones as they weigh up to 250 kg! 

There were a few Brown Noddys and Lesser Noddy's around but they weren't breeding at this time of the year. 

Brown (Common) Noddy

Lesser Noddy.

All too soon our 2 hours on Cousin came t oan end and we trooped bck to the beach for our transfers back t oour respective boats. Wedge-tailed Shearwaters also breed on Cousin but like most Shearwaters they're away fishing during the day and return to the nest under cover of darkness. I thought I had one as we were on our boat back to Praslin but it was distant and low over the water. Imagine my surprise when, as we were having dinner in one of the resort restuarants that evening, I saw one of the waitresses shooing something into a corner with a broom. A Wedge-tailed Shearwater had been attracted by the lights and crash landed on the floor. A common occurrence apparently.

A great finale to Jan's birthday trip! 

Seychelles part 1

We'd always wanted to go to the Seychelles so started exploring possibilities lat year. We decided on Praslin Island as the hotel we stayed at, the Constance Lemuria, has a championship golf course and the island has a number of endemic species and its easy to access Cousin island (home to endangered Seychelles Fody, Black Robin and Warbler). The trip coincided with Jan's birthday and she took her clubs whilst  I tagged along driving the golf buggy with my camera ready to hand.

The resort is beautiful with fantastic beaches and sunsets. The hotel pride themselves on their environmental credentials and many parts of the grounds are part of a nature reserve. They even employ a 'Turtle Manager' as one of the beaches is used by nesting Hawksbill Tortoises and they're part of a captive breeding programme for Alhambra giant tortoises.

Judging by the noises coming from the tortoise enclosure the breeding programmes going well! 

All turtle nests are monitored and signs put up warning people to stay away. We were lucky enough to  see a turtle one morning but it didn't come ashore immediately but later that day we found where it had hauled out and lay its eggs.

Grand Anse Kerlan Beach where the turtles nest

Unfortunately the three commonest birds around the resort were introduced species - Madagascar Fody,  Barred Ground Dove (Zebra Dove) and Madagascan Turtle Dove. The native Seychelles Turtle Dove is now so interbred with the Madagascan species that there thought to be no genetically pure Seychelles Turtle Doves left in the wild.

Female Madagascan Fody

The male Madagascan Fodys are extremely photogenic whereas the females are much duller. We had two pairs nesting in front of the balcony to our room so I got into the habit of sitting out with a mug of tea most mornings enjoying the sights and sounds of the birds around me. On one occasion I even found a rare yellow morph Madagascan Fody.

Madagascan Turtle Dove

Barred Doves were probably the commonest species we saw and even landed on breakfast tables to steal crumbs.

Barred Ground Doves bathing during a short shower of rain

What really surprised me me were the number of waders that I'd normally associate with the northenr hemisphere either feeding on the golf course or on the muddy edges of the numerous water hazards around the course. Birds such as Curlew, Whimbrel, Bar-tailed Godwit, Greenshank, Grey Plover, Common, Curlew and Wood Sandpiper's and Turnstone. 

Bar-tailed Godwit

Grey Plover

Greenshank

Curlew Sandpiper

The Curlew and Whimbrel were taking advantage of the numerous Land Crabs that made their home around the golf course - albeit the smaller ones! 

Several species of Heron also inhabited the grounds and it was slightly incongruous to see a juvenile Striated heron fishing on the edge of the hotels infinity pool.

We also saw a few adults fishing around the pools and a Black-crowned Night Heron as well as several Grey Herons.

Before we came away I'd checked eBird and found that Praslin was a good area for the endemic Seychelles Blue Pigeon. Unlike other pigeons, who pass viable seeds in their droppings, the Seychelles Blue Pigeon had a muscular gizzard which breaks down the seeds to aid digestion so no viable seeds are passed so they rely on other intervention where there aren't enough of their natural food plants growning. I also noted that this strange looking endemic pigeon had been seen at our resort. Once really rare and endangered as they were hunted for food and killed to protect crops the species is now relatively easy to find The Seychelles Blue Pigeon has a red wattled patch of orbital skin giving it a distinct look. They feed high up in the canopy and never feed on the ground so can be quite hard to see. I'd reserached the call before we went and ended up hearing birds before I actualy saw any. The first birds I saw were three that flew past high as we were having breakfast. A couple of days later we were lucky enough to come across two sat in a tree as we drove round the gold course.

Seychelles Bulbul was another endemic that was harder to see than heard. Gangs of them roamed the thick woodland around the resort but gave frustratingly brief views.

The spectacular 16th tee looking down over the forest to the 16th green with Anse Georgette to the left. Several balls were lost here! 

Typical Blue Pigeon and Bulbul habitat

Looking towards Cousin Island

At the highest point in the grounds of the hotel on the hunt for Blue Pigeons

The stunning Snse Georgette beach wehre White-tailed Tropicbirds circled overhead.

Two other endemics frequented the resort with the commonest being Seychelles Sunbird. Extremely active and quick and hard to photograph  I spent ages trying to get any half decent shots.

Seychelles Kestrel i another endangered species with approximately 800 left in the wild. Recent conservation efforts are reversing the trend though. It was once extinct on Praslin but was reintroduced in 1977 but is still extremely rare with the last census in 2022 revealed only 4 pairs. The smallest of the kestrel family it rarely hovers and hunts by dropping on its prey from a perch in a tree or on a rock.face. I'd seen one fly past whilst we were on the golf course but was hoping against hope to get a better view. Walking back down from the view point, where I'd been searching for Blue Pigeon, I decided to cut across the golf course and walk back down the track from the 17th hole, alongside the 18th and to the clubhouse. I'd seen lots of Seychelles Sunbirds here and was hoping for a better view. It was here I'd also seen the flypast Seychelles Kestrel.

My attention was drawn to what was obviously a raptor calling high up in the trees but I couldn't trace the source. Moving slightly I suddenly spotted a pair of Seychelles Kestrels partially obscured in the canopy. Eventually one bird moved into a position where I could rattle off a few record shots whilst the second bird disappeared into a hole in the tree. I couldn't believe my luck. I'd actually found a nest site for this mega rare falcon.

I marked the location and sent a photo and dropped pin to Robert, the Turtle Manager, who confirmed this was a very significant find. Not only for the hotel complex but for the island.