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Pep Nogués & Ari Fernandez, Island Conservation Society Conservation Officers at Alphonse have reported on 8 October a Grey Wagtail at a new fresh water concrete-base pool, recently restored by ICS to increase the fresh water availability for the free-roaming giant tortoises on the island. "This sighting reinforces the vital importance of a permanent presence of fresh water in remote outer islands for these tiny migratory birds", says Pep. SBRC has accepted 9 previous records of this species, including two from the Amirantes, one from D' Arros in 2006 and one Marie Louise in 1976. This latest record is the most southerly record for Seychelles
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A Wood Sandpiper was present at Providence, Mahe on 8 October. Wood Sandpiper is an annual visitor to Seychelles in small numbers. SBRC has collected 145 reports of this species in Seychelles, numbers peaking in November and steadily declining thereafter.
Ryan and Clare Daly have reported a Barn Swallow at Paul Island, St Joseph Atoll on 8 October. SBRC has recorded 625 reports of this species and their distribution appears to indicate this is the only migrant to pass through Seychelles on both northbound and southbound migration. Other migrants present the same week include a Pacific Golden Plover seen on 3rd, 4th and 7th October. This is another annual visitor to the granitics and Bird but a vagrant to the outer islands, recorded only at Aldabra, Alphonse and St Joseph.
Also present have been up to 4 Bar-tailed Godwits on 7th including two on D'Arros, Common Greenshanks (3 on 7th), Crab Plovers (roughly 20 all week) and a flock of about 100 Saunders's Terns. In addition up to three Brown Boobies were recorded roosting on D'Arros during the whole of September. As reported earlier, a pair of Tropical Shearwaters appeared at a burrow on Desroches in late 2015 and produced an egg. However, this was lost for unknown reasons. A second egg was laid in June 2016 and hatched on 27 July. The nest was continuously monitored by Island Conservation Society (ICS) staff led by Conservation Officer Jo Bluemel. Then on 7 October, the nest was empty, indicating a fledging period of 72 days. This is about average and compares to 64-80 days recorded by ICS at Aride Island Nature Reserve.
Photos: Jo Bluemel Island Conservation Society staff Michelle Risi, Said Harryba, Peter Holden and Jo Bluemel have reported a Bar-tailed Godwit present at Desroches from 5th to 19th September. The bird was present close to the water's edge and observed multiple times during beach patrols.
Bar-tailed Godwit is an annual visitor to Seychelles but more frequently seen on sheltered muddy coasts and lagoons. The last sighting reported from Desroches was by Tony Jupiter on 25 September 2012. Photos: Peter Holden Jo Bluemel has reported that a first stage Tropical Shearwater chick found on 27 July at the Desroches burrow is doing well (see previous blog post).
Joe Bluemel and Pete Holden of Island Conservation Society have reported that the Tropical Shearwater pair at Desroches is back at the same burrow where they were found in October 2015 and May 2016. The burrow has been dug back further from the damaged part and is very inconspicuous. On the 27th July the burrow contained a chick. Weekly monitoring is on-going. Also, Tropical Shearwater calls have been heard around the Wedge-tailed Shearwater colony. Further playback will be used in August to try to identify any additional nests.
Clare Keating Daly of Save Our Seas Foundation has reported a Pacific Golden Plover Pluvialis fulva at St Joseph Island, St Joseph Atoll, present on 14 April 2016. The bird was also observed by Ryan Daly and Kerryn Bullock.
Pacific Golden Plover is an annual visitor to the inner islands but east of Mahe it is known only from 10 records from Alphonse and 5 from Aldabra. St Joseph is now the third outer island where it has been recorded. The record comes later in the season than any other previous outer island record though in the inner islands there have been a few records as late as May. Sightings for Seychelles as a whole peak in October, declining thereafter with no evidence of any northbound movement through Seychelles. On 12 May 2016, Janske van de Crommenacker photographed a Greater Crested Tern at Denis Island, bearing a metal ring and yellow colour ring. There is no ringing programme for this species in Seychelles, suggesting that this bird must have come from elsewhere. After making enquiries, it appears that almost certainly the bird originated from South Africa.
Nola Parsons from SANCCOB, a seabird rescue centre based at Cape Town responded on 22 July to say "I think it is very possible that we rung the bird at SANCCOB! Although we normally place the metal ring on the right leg, but it could have been placed on the left leg by mistake, and we did use yellow bands that looked very similar to those in the photo. Without knowing the number, we can’t say for sure but the yellow bands were put on chicks that were hand-reared (mostly collected from the Cape Town waterfront area) and released, either on Robben Island or back at the waterfront. So it is really nice for us to know, or at least hope, that our chicks are making it to adulthood although I am not sure that they are meant to travel all the way to the Seychelles!" It is known that Greater Crested Terns from outside the Malagasy region visit Seychelles. SBRC has recorded three records of the dark-backed race velox, which breeds from the Red Sea to Persian Gulf and Bay of Bengal. It has also been noted that the species is a fairly common non-breeding visitor to almost all Seychelles coasts yet the total national breeding population is only a few hundred pairs. Perhaps numbers are augmented by non-breeding visitors from both the north and the south? |
AuthorAdrian Skerrett Categories |