Not a tour but a family holiday to the Mascarene Islands with plenty of wildlife for the birding contingent. We spent 4 nights on Mauritius, in the south-west at Bel Ombre, and 4 nights on Réunion, on the west side at Saint Gilles. Neither island boasts a huge list of bird species and we only saw 53 species in total. Many of those are introduced species, but there are several unique terrestrial island endemics which were the ones we wanted to see on this trip, plus some good seabirds.
After colonisation in the 1600/1700s, large areas of both islands were cleared for agriculture (particularly sugar cane plantations) and to harvest the ebony trees which grew there. Less than 2% of the native forest remains on Mauritius. Coupled with the introduction of non-native predators, many species were wiped out, including most famously the Mauritian Dodo. Some of the remaining species were on the verge of extinction themselves before emergency conservation action rescued them from the brink.
The Pink Pigeon was on the brink of extinction as recently as 1991 when only 10 individuals were known to remain. Conservation action since, including captive breeding and reintroductions, has brought the wild population up to 300-500 birds. They are fairly easy to see now, particularly in the areas around the release sites. We saw them both in the Black River Gorges NP and on Ile Aux Aigrettes.
Mauritius Kestrel was the endemic species we thought we might find hardest to see. By 1974, it was reduced to only four confirmed individuals, including just one breeding pair. Again, emergency conservation action was required, including harvesting eggs from the remaining wild breeding birds, captive breeding and subsequent reintroductions. By 2007-08, the population had successfully recovered to 500-600 birds as a consequence but since then has shown a worrying decline again and currently stands at less than 250 individuals.
In recent years, the most reliable site to see Mauritius Kestrel had been at La Vallée de Ferney, which boasted a wild pair which were habituated and would come to be fed. Sadly, they passed away in 2019 and 2022. Ketrels can be seen with luck still in Black River Gorges NP but as they spend most of their time below the forest canopy it is very hit and miss, and the population there has witnessed the bulk of the recent decline.
Having drawn a blank at Black River Gorges on our visit, we tried Chamarel instead. We were quickly rewarded with a Mauritius Kestrel which circled up in front of us over the visitor centre at Ebony Forest and was joined by a second over the ridge behind. Later, while exploring the raised walkway two Mauritius Kestrels flew right past us through the trees – perhaps the same birds we had seen earlier, although there are two pairs on site according to staff.
Similar to the other two species, the endemic Echo Parakeet of Mauritius was down to only 8–12 known individuals in the 1980s. The related Réunion Parakeet had already gone extinct in the 1700s. Again, after intensive conservation action the population of Echo Parakeet had recovered to an estimated 750 individuals by 2019.
Echo Parakeet is found predominantly in the Black River Gorges NP (with two smaller populations still being reintroduced at two other locations). We found them relatively easily walking the Macchabee Trail. Rose-ringed (Ring-necked) Parakeet has also been introduced to both Mauritius and Réunion and is relatively common, particularly in degraded coastal areas.
Mauritius Fody proved to be one of the harder of the endemic species to find. Once common and widespread across the island, by 2001 the population was reduced to around 100 pairs in the Black River Gorges NP. As part of conservation actions, 90 Mauritius Fodies were reintroduced onto the predator-free small island nature reserve at Ile Aux Aigrettes between 2003 and 2006.
We failed to find them in Black River Gorges NP around Le Petrin and the Macchabee Trail and attempts to try another site lower down were thwarted by a locked gate. The Savanne Trail seems to be another place to try, but we paid a visit to Ile Aux Aigrettes on a boat trip organised by the Mauritian Wildlife Foundation and found Mauritius Fody relatively easy to see there.
Madagascar Red Fody has been introduced to both Mauritus and Réunion and is widespread and common. It appears it may outcompete Mauritius Fody. We saw large numbers of Madagascar Red Fody in the Black River Gorges NP too.
There are two endemic species of Cuckooshrike, one on each of the two islands. They can be hard to find, but we got lucky and had excellent views of both, including both males and females. First, we found a pair of Mauritius Cuckooshrike along the Macchabee Trail in the Black River Gorges NP, close to the Macchabee Viewpoint.
Réunion Cuckooshrike we found at the regular site along the trail to La Roche Écrite. After climbing up almost to 1600m, just as we turned to walk back down we were rewarded with a female feeding right beside the path.
We thought we would have to make do with just the female, but as we walked down to the car park, we heard a male Réunion Cuckooshrike singing and it or another than appeared in the bushes right beside us. We then heard another male Réunion Cuckooshrike singing as we descended further.
There are four endemic species of White-eyes on the Mascarene Islands, two each on Mauritius and Réunion. The Mauritius Olive White-eye is now believed to be the rarest bird in Mauritius, with perhaps as few as 80 pairs remaining in the Black River Gorges NP. We were lucky to get brief views on our first and only visit to the most regular site at Bassin Blanc.
Since 2006, Mauritius Olive White-eyes have been released (reintroduced?) on the island of Ile Aux Aigrettes and the population there now numbers around 60 birds. On our visit there, we saw a couple of pairs and this is undoubtedly the easiest place to find them.
In contrast, Réunion Olive White-eye is still much more common with a population size estimated at up to 100,000 mature individuals. We found good numbers along the trail to La Roche Écrite, in native forest.
The two species of Grey White-eye are both common and we found both Mauritius Grey White-eyes and Réunion Grey White-eyes at numerous locations, including our hotels on both islands.
Red-whiskered Bulbul was introduced from Asia and is widespread and very common. The two endemic bulbul species are restricted to native forest habitat on their respective islands. We found Mauritius Bulbul easily along the Macchabee Trail at Black River Gorges NP and also saw one at Ebony Forest.
Réunion Bulbul is easy to find along the trail to La Roche Écrite.
Mascarene Paradise Flycatcher is found on both Mauritius and Réunion. The birds on the two islands are subtly different but unlike many of the other groups they are still treated currently as just subspecies. DNA analysis apparently suggests they may be worthy of uplifting to full species status in the future, so we wanted to make sure we saw both just in case!
The Mauritius subspecies desolata is much more localised – we found them along the raised walkway at Ebony Forest. The Réunion nominate subspecies bourbonnensis is much more widespread in wooded areas and we found lots along the trail to La Roche Écrite, including several pairs with young and one pair nest building right next to the path which we stopped to watch for a while.
Two other terrestrial endemics are easy to find on Réunion. We saw lots of Réunion Stonechats along the trail to La Roche Écrite, including out first a very tame bird in the car park!
For Réunion Harrier, we drove over to the more agricultural area around Saint André. We found several females and immatures very easily but only had more distant views of a single male here. We also found a single female over the Étang du Gol.
Mascarene Swiftlet is endemic to Mauritius and Réunion and relatively easy to find on both.
The Mascarene Martin is found on Madagascar as well as Mauritius and Réunion. We found them commonly on the former, including nesting in the lobby of our hotel, but we failed to see any on Réunion. It appears to be more common in the east of the island.
The only other terrestrial native landbirds we saw were several Madagascar Buttonquails at Étang du Gol on Réunion. Again, they are native to Madagascar and certain offshore islands including Réunion but are not found on Mauritius.
The commonest birds on both islands are all introduced species. As well as Madagascar Red Fody, these include Malagasy Turtle Dove and Zebra Dove (plus a few Spotted Doves and the ubiquitous Feral Pigeons), Grey Francolin, House Crow, Common Myna, House Sparrow (of course!), Village Weaver, Scaly-breasted Munia and Common Waxbill, Pin-tailed Whydah and Yellow-fronted Canary.
Waterbirds included Striated Heron and Common Moorhen on both islands. A pair of Egyptian Geese at our hotel on Mauritius were presumably domesticated. We saw a few Whimbrel around the coast but on one morning we visited one of the small estuaries which provided a nice selection of waders to boost the trip list. Highlights included three Terek Sandpipers and several Greater Sandplovers.
Seabirds were the other main highlight of the trip. Barau’s Petrel is only known to breed on Réunion (though a single nest was discovered on Rodrigues in 1974). We found large numbers gathering offshore in the afternoons here and had fantastic views close in off the SW coast at Le Gouffre. At one point, 66 were counted past in a minute! Returning to base as dusk fell, we watched birds flying inland over the motorway heading up to their nest sites in the hills.
Smaller numbers of Barau’s Petrels were present inshore off Réunion during the day. On our last morning, we booked onto a two hour dolphin watching trip off Port de Saint Gilles and although we saw only around 4-5 Barau’s Petrels we did get close views of a couple which flew past the boat.
More interestingly, we saw Barau’s Petrels close inshore each afternoon off our base at Bel Ombre, Mauritius too. Numbers were much smaller but we counted 24 past between 5.50-7pm one evening, with the majority after 6.20pm. Birds passing east were closest, with some birds flying over the reef which is only around 400m offshore.
On our second afternoon we visited the renowned seawatching location of La Roche qui Pleure around 13km further east. We saw a few Barau’s Petrels from here but they were much more distant and numbers were much lower, although we only stayed until 6.20pm as we had to get back.
Based on the observed behaviour off Bel Ombre, we believe it is possible that Barau’s Petrels may be breeding on Mauritius too. Interestingly, subsequent research has revealed a single reference to suggest that Barau’s Petrels have historically been observed prospecting in the Valley of Black River NP on Mauritius although no signs of breeding were found (Pinet et al, Marine Ornithology 37: 107–113).
Other than Barau’s Petrels, Wedge-tailed Shearwaters were very common off both islands. Large numbers of Tropical Shearwaters were seen too off Réunion again in the late afternoon as they gathered offshore.
Other birds observed offshore included several Masked Boobies off Mauritius and good numbers of both Common and Lesser Noddy and Sooty Terns from both islands. White-tailed Tropicbirds were fairly commonly seen offshore, prospecting cliff faces along the coast, and high over the forest well inland.
So although we only recorded 53 species on this trip, there were some very exciting and interesting birds and several that can be found nowhere else. It was mostly very easy birding and a nice way to combine a beach holiday with wildlife watching. Thoroughly recommended!
