Cousine is a small island about 6 kilometres from Praslin. It is owned by a private company The island is a wildlife hotspot and has been protected over the years by the previous owner with the help of BirdLife International. Under the present owner Cousine Island Pty, a conservation program has been running for about 15 years. The company has built a very small and ecologically friendly luxury hotel.

After the first find  of  the Wedge-tailed Shearwaters   in December 2005, we are now celebrating another finding on the island. On 25-5-06, our Island Conservationist Unels Bristol found 1 nest of another sea bird on the opposite cliff of the first finding. Nesting in a cavity at the base of a very old Casuarina tree, a black and white bird with a very long tail was spotted for the first time, confirming breeding on North Island (*). Yes, it was the Whitetailed Tropic bird sitting on an egg!



 

The total number of birds considered threatened with extinction is now a staggering 1,210 according to BirdLife International. This was revealed last week by the global authority on birds in its annual evaluation of how the world’s bird species are faring.

However, it is not all bad news: the Seychelles Fody or toktok in Creole, a small yellowish songbird, has been downlisted  from Vulnerable to the Near Threatened category. This effectively removes it from BirdLife’s Globally Threatened Birds listing which highlights the extinction risk of birds using three categories, Critically Endangered, Endangered, and Vulnerable.  

Nature Seychelles’ Headquarters is the Environment and education Centre at Roche Caiman, just south of Victoria. We moved here just over two years ago, in May 2004, when the new Centre was built. With the offices came a 7 – acre wetland site, right on our doorstep. It is a site with great potential, with a chequered history with, and clearly in need of some expert attention.