341 : Seychelles Kestrel

Seychelles Kestrel - Falco araea

I have to say I am doomed to fail in the quest of the Daily Bird because I am just not ruthless enough when it comes to tracking down endemics and rooting out every last tick that an island or country has to offer. I do my best - in India I spent a long weekend tearing around getting dozens of photos, Tanzania the same on safari twice. I will need to go back to all of the Indian Ocean islands I have visited  because there are endemics that exist on single islands and I am never really willing to sacrifice a day to or two of family holiday time to chase after these - Seychelles Black Paradise Flycatcher will fall into that camp. I was not willing to get up at 5 am - get a ferry or plane to another island and then chase a single bird (well a few hundred of them) around a plantation until I got a half decent picture - returning just in time for supper. That's why I will never make it into the big thousands on this site. I am not driven enough for every last species when on a family holiday.

I have to say I prefer it when the birds come to me and I happen to be a in a good mood and have my camera handy. This small Seychelles Kestrel is restricted to a handful of the inner granitic islands and nowhere else. Who knows when the first pair of Kestrels bred in the Seychelles - windblown from a mainland or perhaps Mauritius or Madagascar further South. Natural Selection then kicked in with smaller birds getting an advantage and over time a whole new small species of mini Kestrel was created. These Kestrels do not hover like the kestrels back home but perch and dive on their prey a bit like the small pygmy falcons (click on the link to the old Daily Bird for some African Pygmy Falcon action in Ruaha National Park) and Falconettes we have seen on our travels elsewhere.

So these birds have a diet of lizards rather than small voles and mice as they do in the UK. They have filled the niche filled by Merlins, Falconettes and Pygmy Falcons or Shrikes elsewhere.

There are only 420 pairs of these birds in existence - imagine that. The representatives of this species do not even number 1000 individuals. These are the only kestrels on the Seychelles. The number is limited by the size of the islands themselves ! They have evolved into a cul-de-sac and will remain a backdrop to luxury island holidays.

So this picture was taken from the villa - you can see why I am going back at some point ! Not for the flycatcher. I am ruthless about my family holidays - if not the birds.

We met a guy while on safari several years ago and his kids were in their teens while ours were at that time perhaps 6 and 9. He made it quite clear that family holidays and the opportunity to have them are finite and as such they are an investment for all time. He asked me what the big memories were of childhood and yes - holidays were a big part of them. 

I have been since that conversation an absolute profligate purchaser of the best holidays I can. Yes I save but nowhere near as much as I could if I  didn't do the big holidays and set a budget. So you make your choices and I'd rather spend a bit (a lot) more now and have a bit (probably a lot) less in retirement. It will come out in the wash but we are coming this way once and the kids will grow up. In the meantime a Seychelles kestrel is a nice by-product. as it perched on  tree next to my garden every day. 

The holiday advice guy was also the bloke who I asked why he was in the Serengeti ? Did he like animals and safari ? Was Africa his thing ? "No" - he said - "We are just here for the violence" - and sure enough every day he and his teenage family and wife drove off in pursuit of a river crossing to watch the wildebeest herd getting slaughtered by crocodiles. Still he was there in the Serengeti with his teenage family suffering the burn rate of a high end tented camp during the migration season next to the Grumetti river. Those kids will remember that holiday. I am sure it was all tongue in cheek. Looking back at my holiday photos it is absolutely staggering how the boys have grown in 7 years. We have been to Tanzania twice, Sri Lanka, Canada, Seychelles and Mauritius in the last few years in terms of "outdoor" type holidays - Oh and the Lake District which is now an exotic destination for us.

If you are birder just use the family holiday as an excuse to go to some glorious places for birding - if they are good for birds they is bound to be some form of high end resort, lodge, or caper going on.  Get out there and take the family.

This year its the East Coats of the States - birding in Central Park and I am sure we are going to get a country property in Vermont - time for the Sibley. Jane and I are going back on Safari to Zambia in the Autumn - but the two of us as the kids are both boarding from September (one has flown the nest for school already). I can feel the urge to accelerate the family holidays in terms of the number and destinations. There is also the chance of odd long weekends and weeks away with Jane during term time and places like Nepal, Butan and Northern India appeal - Burma ?

Well as I ahem always said there are too many birds and too little time but isn't just the birds. That rock in the picture was where I would stake out seabirds with my big lens - but in view was usually the boys wrestling or making a decent noise on a beautiful beach as the sun went down.

We don't get these times again. So lets make the most. It started with me Islay when then were tiny - I'd make a sandcastle but have one eye on an Artic Tern or a Seal. Nothing changes.

Seychelles Kestrel, Falco area
Make, Seychelles
August 2016

340 : Lesser Noddy

Lesser Noddy - Anous tenuirostris

This is a real Indian Ocean specialist with a population of 1,200,000 birds scattered around the coats and islands. This picture was taken on a boating day trip around Mahe in the Seychelles while on holiday. We hired a motor yacht and headed out for a spot of site seeing one day. We made it right around the top of the coast to opposite Victoria the capital.

I am calling these as Lesser and not Brown Noddy's due to the extent of the ashy head - on a Brown Noddy apparently the paler crown ends at the nape whereas these seem to have a much broader covering. The bill is also quite fine. What we need is a Brown and Lesser Noddy next to each other but I am sure I have got this right.

There are huge colonies of these birds numbering in the tens of thousands scattered around the islands so it was no surprise to find quite large fishing parties of these birds. I love a spot of fishing myself and the technique that seemed to work best on the trip I did another day was to drive through the birds while trawling in order to pick up the Tuna ! The tuna obviously drive the smaller fish to the surface so fishing birds are a great indication of tuna further down.

Something feeds on everything - and where there are tuna there are dolphins.

Another one of life's rules is that it is always a good day if you see dolphins. This proved to be right. 

Soon after this pod went under the fun started ! Tuna literally jumping clear of the water to escape. 

Please don't get me onto Dolphin captures for water parks in Japan. It just hurts too much. I won't ever visit a dolphinarium in the future and I hope that you will take that pledge. If you don't understand why then take look at the pages of the various groups that publicise how these beautiful animals are caught for the trade and the butchering that goes along with it of the adult dolphins. It will break your heart.

I have to say though that the below is perfectly permissible and in fact to be encouraged - line caught tuna !

The above is a Bonito - my youngest Sam reeled in the mighty yellow-fin !

Very excited - and now you see why ! That means lunch will be something special.

I have never done this before butstraight after landing the catch I marched into the beachside restaurant and negotiated with the chef. Lunch was a bottle of beautiful South African Rose and possibly the most stunning pairing of seafood dishes in a long long while. This Sashimi was to die for. Utterly fresh and melt in your mouth - this was the yellowfin with a stinging wasabi paste and rich soy.

And this was I think the Bonito or part of it just served as simple grilled steaks - perfectly pink in the middle. Lunch is always an indulgence - especially with wine - its sets you up for a very lazy afternoon ! This was my favourite lunch ever - and I *love* lunch. 

Oh yes - birds ! So Lesser Noddys - I would view them as a good opportunity to get some decent lunch if you see them in numbers fishing.  I will remember that lunch for the rest of my life. Some days are *good* and this was one of them. We always fish on holiday if we can. Sustainably. I don't buy factory caught tuna, I take a note of stocks in respect of anything I eat. We are Haddock not Cod people at home and in the Gulf we won't buy Hammour as a rule (the cod like fish) given that it is in trouble. Nothing wrong with a line caught yellow-fin in the Seychelles as long as the chef is going to treat it with respect. Less is more - in our case no cooking at all - soy and wasabi.

You get the idea - birds, fish, beaches, dolphins, sashimi, bliss.

Lesser Noddy, Anous tenuirostris
Mahe, Seychelles
July 2016

339 : Common White (Fairy) Tern

Common White (Fairy) Tern - Gygis alba

I have had to move the Daily Bird from its previous location due to some technical difficulties on my part and my Google account. If you need to understand what this site is and what I am up to you can learn about that here . So we are picking it up at "339" with  fair way to go and a long period of not posting. I didn't stop birding last year or taking photographs - I just stopped posting. A bit like going to the gym though or saving money you have to dust yourself off and just get on with it again.

I had a few trips in 2016 one of which was a very special family holiday in the Seychelles. Its 4 1/2 flight from Dubai so very doable. We rented a villa on a resort and spent the week diving (a new venture with my now teenage boys), fishing, eating and pottering around in white sandy beaches. Obviously I collided with a few birds.

We can get a bit more specific with the geography. The Seychelles are just South of the equator about a thousand miles off the East coast of Africa (Kenya/Tanzania). There are perhaps 30 islands in an area 100 miles square (so 10,000 square miles of Indian ocean). The Central group are the largest granitic islands including the main island Mahe where we stayed. Further out are some coral and sand atols including "Bird Island" which is a world famous breeding spot but which will need to wait for a special trip another year.

I have been Mauritius before so I thought some of the birds would be familiar - I was pleasantly surprised to be able to pick up some great pictures of some new beautiful birds. This fairy tern was my attempt to replicate the beautiful cover of the Life on Earth DVD (or at least some versions of it) - the sun almost bursting through the translucent wings.

We stayed at the Constance Ephilia which was the treat of a lifetime. The resort is situated in the North-West of the island across a small peninsula. It buts onto a marine park which was obviously good for the diving. This is the view of the North facing beach.

The very first morning we were there I took a walk along the sand before breakfast and was entranced  by a pair of Fairy Terns dancing in a blue sky. if you were going to choose  bird for an island paradise then this would surely be it.

These birds are distributed right around the world on tropical islands. Clearly the ethereal white plumage stands out against this blue sky but they would usually hunt small fish near the surface at the beginning or end of the day. It is thought the white almost translucent plumage renders the bird invisible to small fish on the surface. Nature has rendered them both stealthy and beautiful.

I have quite a few Indian Ocean birds to post up from last year's Summer holiday. I will take the opportunity to post a few Conde Naste style azure and bleached sand holiday photos as well. Increasingly I find myself reading back the Daily Bird as for trips like e.g. Safaris its almost a journal once a few other pictures are added of the family holidays as well. I am sure you'll indulge me if you stray into these pages. In the meantime...

Common White (Fairy) Tern, Gygis alba
Constance Aphelia Resort, Mahe, Seychelles
August 2016