There are a lot of birds on the island although not a wide variety of species; the White-capped (Black) Noddys, Common (Brown) Noddys, Bridled Terns and Silver Gulls are everywhere and very loud. The Noddys have an interesting nesting ritual. The male brings a potential piece of nesting material to the nest that is under construction. If the female approves it, she will poop on it to attach it to the stack of previous pieces. If she does not approve, the rejected item falls to the ground. The nests have no bowl shape to them, just stacks of these nesting materials glued to a branch. One morning we had the opportunity to take a bird walk with an expert which enabled us to see Red-tailed Tropicbirds (including an adult feeding a chick) and three chicks of Pacific Reef Heron (Egret). There are two color morphs of the Reed Heron, white and dark. The parents of the chicks are one of each, which seemed unusual. We were told that Bar-tailed Godwits had recently migrated to the island, although it took us several bird walks of our own before we saw one.
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