Over the past few weeks the seabird numbers on the island has steadily increased. Lesser Noddies, Brown Noddies, the odd Sooty Tern, all a welcome sight after their absence over the last couple of months.

Clockwise from top left: Fairy tern on chick; Lesser Noddy on nest; Brown Noddy and chick; and White-Tailed Tropicbird in flight.

Even though Cousine Island is home to some seabird species throughout the year, mostly White-tailed Tropicbirds, Fairy Terns (White Terns) and Audobon’s Shearwaters, during our windy season we are visited by the annual breeders in large numbers. Both Noddy species arrive in their thousands to build nests and raise their young in the safety provided by Cousine Island’s restored forests. Sooty Terns have in recent years been slowly returning to Cousine Island to breed after years of over harvesting in the olden days had desimated the Cousine population. Wedge-tailed Shearwater numbers have survived the harvesting and can be found in large numbers breeding on the island. And last year we had an added special, a pair of Roseate Terns managed to successfully fledge the first offspring born on Cousine Island since monitoring started in the early 1990′s. Bridled Terns return to the island on a 9-month cycle for nesting.