Birds in the Maldives (1 Viewer)

[Nerine]

I was told that I would see no birds in the Maldives. I was pleasantly surprised when we visited recently. On arrival at our island I could see crowds of House Crows and thought: oh well, a Crow is better than no birds at all. On the first evening, as we walked back in the dark from the restaurant to our water bungalow, we noticed a Grey Heron standing in the shadows in the lagoon just by the walkway. He never moved as we passed. The following evening he was standing on the walkway so we took the long walk round so as not to disturb him.

Our island was tiny, just 6 acres and a short swimming/wading distance away was an uninhabited, smaller island covered in trees and foliage. Here we saw lovely white Terns diving (possibly Black Naped Terns as they answer that description), more Grey Herons, also a Little/Striated Heron.

We also saw White Breasted Water Hen, they didn't seem to be frightened of us at all. The most glorious sight of all was seeing a flock of 8 Frigate Birds fly right above us, the shape of their wings was breathtakingly beautiful against the blue sky. Since our holiday I have realised that there are around 140 species of birds in the Maldives, most are stragglers.

There was even a kind of dawn chorus!! - mostly crows and the strange cry of the Water Hen. All very enjoyable.

Nerine

 

[Andrew Whitehouse]

Hi Nerine,

The Maldives sound a bit like Mauritius. On most of the island (except the small area of indigenous forest) there's only a few species bird (most of which are introduced). Quite nice, although after a while you can almost give up looking for birds because you just know what there'll be. Lots of House Crows and Striated Herons out there too - great travellers. I'm impressed with the Frigate Birds - I'd love to see one, preferably off Fife Ness this autumn.

 

[Rasmus Boegh]

Hi Nerine,

People who said you wouldn't see many species of birds, ment how many different species you would see there, compared to if you spend the same amount of time in say, nearby Sri Lanka. This is due to a more limited choice of habitats. I.e. the more types of habitats, the more species of birds (roughly). In the Maldives, most birds seen would be seabirds. Having said that, I presume most people go to the Maldives to look at fishes and similar; life below the surface (which I myself find highly interesting). Supposedly, their coral-reefs (and hence diving possibilities) are some of the highest rated in the world...

 

[Nerine]

Hi Rasmus, yes I guess that's what they meant when they said "no birds"! You are right, the fish were absolutely amazing and that is really what we went for. The visability in the water was absolutely fantastic, I didn't dive, just snorkelled, mainly off the boat on the coral reef, loved it. Highly recommended. Thanks for replying.

Hi Fifebirder, did you see the long tailed tropic birds in Mauritius? Hope you get to see Frigate Birds, that was pretty spectacular. Thanks for replying.

Nerine

 

[Andrew Whitehouse]

Hi Nerine,

Yes, I saw both White-tailed and Red-tailed Tropicbirds in Mauritius. The former are quite easy as they nest inland but the latter are only seen out to sea, so I didn't got so many good views of them. Beautiful birds.