Maple Cross Birding: Mauritius June 20th

Wednesday, 5 July 2017

Mauritius June 20th - 30th 2017

A ten day visit to the island of Mauritius with my better half produced an opportunity of seeing some endemic species as well as plenty of relaxation. We stayed at the Sugar Beach Golf & Spa Resort located on the south west coast which is ideally suited for many of the tourist sites and nature reserves. The weather was hot with light showers of rain present on a couple of occasions and these were mostly during the night, not bad considering it's the winter time in this part of the world. Most of my birding activities took place around the hotel grounds and beach area and there was a large freshwater pond behind our accommodation. This held a small waterfowl collection consisting of a single Pink-backed Pelican, three Black Swan and four Greater Flamingo. A small feral population of White-faced Whistling Duck and Egyptian Goose favoured this site too and were seen flying around the area on several occasions. Perhaps these birds were once part of the collection but have now found their freedom and have started to breed. Sadly many of the common species seen on the island are of captive origin or have been introduced with the only common endemic being the Mauritius Grey White-eye which favours parks and gardens. We did venture out to the south east of the island visiting Ill Aux Aigrettes Nature Reserve which is a very small island where endemics such as Pink Pigeon, Mauritius Fody and Mauritius Olive White-eye are protected and monitored. Below are some photos of many of the species I encountered.