Important Bird Areas

Seychelles is of great ornithological interest. It has 30 currently recognised endemic forms of landbirds and waterbirds, including 12 terrestrial species, which show biogeographic influences from Africa, Asia and Madagascar. Eleven species of global conservation concern occur which include 9 of the endemic landbirds while one other is an endemic warbler from Aldabra, Aldabra Warbler Nesillas aldabrana, which has not been seen since 1983 and is now considered extinct.

The whole of two Endemic Bird Areas fall within the Seychelles: Granitic Seychelles with 11 restricted range species; and Aldabra with 3 extant restricted range species.

Other taxa which have become extinct in historical times include Psittacula eupatria wardii, Zosterops (mayottensis) semiflavus, Streptopelia picturata saturata and probably, a Porphyrio species. Following numerous introductions by man, the landbird communities of most of the granitics are dominated by introduced species.

Another important feature is the large concentration of breeding seabirds. Some colonies regularly host more than a million birds and are among the largest in the Indian Ocean and in the case of Fregata spp. possibly in the world. Seychelles is not situated on any important migration route although many migratory species and especially waders occur regularly.

There are 20 Important Bird Areas (IBAs) designated by BirdLife International in Seychelles. These cover approximately 76.5 km2 of land area in the granitics and 161 km2 in the outer islands The IBAs are as follows:

Further information on the IBAs and EBAs of Seychelles can be found at BirdLife International.