Birds of The Seychelles

These are birds that we saw on Mahe, the biggest island of the Seychelles. Eight of these were life birds. Two (Seychelles kestrel and Seychelles white-eye) are among the rarest birds that we have ever seen.

They Seychelles are extraordinarily beautiful. Here are some pictures.

All pictures are copyrighted and should not be used without permission.

Seychelles kestrel (These pictures of our life bird were taken by flashlight at ISO 250,000!)

White-tailed tropicbird

Crab plover (This is our life bird.)

White (Fairy) tern

Madagascar turtle-dove (Streptopelia picturata - We saw only race picturata on Mahe.)

Zebra dove

Seychelles blue pigeon (This is our life bird.)

Seychelles bulbul

Conception Island, about 2 km off Mahe island, contains the world's most robust population of the critically endangered Seychelles white-eye (Zosterops modestus). A 1999 census found 244 - 336 birds there (see Birds of the Seychelles by Skerrett and Bullock for reference). John saw white-eyes there at least twice from a boat offshore. Scroll right to see the whole island.

Seychelles white-eye (Isle Conception) from a boat about 50 feet offshore. Hint: Binocular birding of land birds from a rocking boat is NOT easy. This very poor picture is the best that I got.

Seychelles sunbird (male above; female below)

Madagascar fody (This male is our life bird.)

Madagascar fody (another male, less nicely colored)

Madagascar fody (female)

In the Seychelles as in so many places (e. g., Hawaii and Australia), Common mynas are taking over the lowlands. Native to India and SE Asia, they are enormously "over-engineered" for the gentle environments of the islands. We rather like these cheeky birds ... but we don't like the fact that they outcompete the local birds.

Our bird pictures from around the world follow standard ecozones approximately but not exactly:

Nearctic birds from the USA and Canada: our house, Texas, California, Hawaii, Canada,

Neotropic birds from Central America and the Caribbean: Honduras, Costa Rica, Panama, Trinidad and Tobago

Neotropic birds from South America: Ecuador, Brazil.

Western palearctic birds: Europe: Germany, Finland, Norway, Spain, the Canary Islands, Lesbos, Greece. Israel

Eastern palearctic birds: China

Afrotropic birds from Africa and vicinity: The Gambia, South Africa, The Seychelles

Indo-Malayan birds from India

Australasian birds from Australia, New Zealand.

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