News and Blogs

  1. Latest News
  2. Cousin Island News
  3. Blue Economy Seychelles
  4. Green Health Blog
  • Research: Roaming seabirds need ocean-wide protection, research shows

    Unlike other oceans, which are known to have specific “hotspots” where predators, including seabirds, gather in large numbers to feed, the Indian Ocean lacks such concentrated feeding areas, a recent paper has revealed. This lack of hotspots is particularly concerning given the various threats seabirds face due to human activities.[…]

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  • Saya de Malha leaves for its third dFAD clean-up expedition

    (Seychelles Nation) The Saya de Malha vessel of the Seychelles Coast Guard (SCG) left Port Victoria yesterday afternoon for its third drifting Fishing Aggregate Devices (dFAD) expedition clean-up exercise in Seychelles territorial waters and shores of the outer islands. As customary since the first expedition in October 2022, students from Seychelles[…]

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Coming Soon!

Coral Aquaculture Facility!

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We have started work on the Assisted Recovery of Corals (ARC) facility to revolutionise our coral reef restoration process Learn more

Find Us On ...

Implementing the SDGs

At Nature Seychelles we are committed to working with government, development partners and donors in implementing relevant actions, in particular, looking at certain goals where we can build on our existing strengths. Read more

Seychelles Wildlife

Natural environment of the Seychelles

Seychelles is a unique environment, which sustains a very special biodiversity. It is special for a number of different reasons. These are the oldest oceanic islands to be found anywhere...

Bird Watching

Seychelles is a paradise for birdwatchers, you can easily see the unique land birds, the important sea bird colonies, and the host of migrants and vagrants. Some sea bird...

Seychelles Black Parrot

Black Parrot or Kato Nwar in Creolee is brown-grey in colour, not truly black. Many bird experts treat it as a local form of a species found in Madagascar and...

Fairy Tern

The Fairy (or white) Tern is a beautiful bird seen on all islands in Seychelles, even islands like Mahe where they are killed by introduced rats, cats and Barn Owls....

Introduced Land Birds

A little over two hundred years ago, there were no humans living permanently in Seychelles. When settlement occurred, people naturally brought with them the animals and plants they needed to...

Native Birds

Although over 190 different species of bird have been seen on or around the central islands of Seychelles (and the number is increasing all the time), many of these are...

Migrant Shore Birds

Shallow seas and estuaries are very rich in invertebrate life. Many birds feed on the worms, crabs and shellfish in these habitats; often, they have long bills for probing sand...

Seychelles Magpie Robin

The most endangered of the endemic birds, Seychelles Magpie Robin or Pi Santez in Creole, came close to extinction in the late twentieth century; in 1970 there were only about...

Seychelles Blue Pigeon

The Seychelles Blue Pigeon or Pizon Olande in Creole, spends much of its life in the canopy of trees and eats the fruits of figs, bwa dir, ylang ylang and...

Seychelles White-eye

The Seychelles White-eye or Zwazo Linet in Creole, is rare and endemic. They may sometimes be seen in gardens and forest over 300m at La Misere, Cascade and a few...

Seychelles Black Paradise Flycatcher

The Seychelles Black Paradise Flycatcher or the Vev in Creole is endemic to Seychelles, you cannot find this bird anywhere else on earth. Although it was once widespread on...

Seychelles Sunbird

The tiny sunbird or Kolibri in Creole, is one of the few endemic species that has thrived since humans arrived in the Seychelles.

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Achievements

  • Stopped near extinctions of birds +

    Down-listing of the critically endangered Seychelles warbler from Critically Endangered to Near Threatened. Other Seychelles birds have also been saved including the Seychelles Magpie Robin, Seychelles Fody, and the Seychelles
  • Restored whole island ecosystems +

    We transformed Cousin Island from a coconut plantation to a thriving vibrant and diverse island ecosystem. Success achieved on Cousin was replicated on other islands with similar conservation activities.
  • Championed climate change solutions +

    Nature Seychelles has risen to the climate change challenge in our region in creative ways to adapt to the inevitable changing of times.
  • Education and Awareness +

    We have been at the forefront of environmental education, particularly with schools and Wildlife clubs
  • Sustainable Tourism +

    We manage the award-winning eco-tourism programme on Cousin Island started in 1970
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More probing of the most studied feathered friend in Seychelles

(Collecting body measurements and other data is routine while monitoring the Seychelles Warbler; file photo by Martijn Hammers)

It is one of the most studied bird species in the world, definitely the most researched species in Seychelles and the only bird whose status has been downgraded from Critically Endangered to Near Threatened in the IUCN Red List of endangered species through direct conservation action. The Seychelles Warbler was the reason Cousin Island Special Reserve was purchased nearly fifty years ago by BirdLife International then known as International Council for Bird Protection (ICBP).

There were only 20 individuals of this endemic bird left in the Seychelles, and they were only found on Cousin. Now there are over 3,000 birds spread over five islands owing to conservation action by Birdlife International, Nature Seychelles and island partners.

Cousin Island, which is now managed by Nature Seychelles (BirdLife in the Seychelles) was transformed from a coconut plantation and through rigorous conservation work over the years is now just about back to being the natural wildlife habitat it was before the first human settlement on the island.

But the work did not stop there. For decades, an army of researchers have visited Cousin at least twice a year to monitor the warbler population, and record and analyse an array of data collected.

Recently, in a three month period, between 22nd June and 19th September 2016, a set of researchers who form part of the Seychelles Warbler Research Group conducted field monitoring and analysis of the Seychelles Warbler on Cousin with the aims of carrying out a census of the species’ population on the island and count their survival and condition; for the birds with no identification rings, these were caught and ringed; and to observe and record the breeding attempts on the island.

 Seychelles Warbler – once one of the world’s rarest birds (file photo by Martijn Hammers

The fieldwork was a long term partnership of researchers from the Universities of East Anglia and Sheffield in the UK, and the University of Groningen in the Netherlands and Nature Seychelles. The fieldwork was led by Professor David Richardson, Jan Komdeur, Terry Burke and Dr. Hannah Dugdale.

Through sightings in the forest and paths, as well as listening out for their various calls and sounds of them foraging, the researchers were able to locate the warblers in different territories around the island which number between 110-115 at any given time. For those that are ringed, they were able identify each individual by their unique set of rings around their left and/ or right legs. During this monitoring period, 28 birds were newly ringed.

The researchers reported that the warbler population on Cousin, although recovering, was still below average. Whereas there are usually approximately 320 individuals on Cousin, the census indicated that the population was down to around 254 individuals. This was attributed to a combination of unusually heavy rain and mass fruiting of the invasive pisonia tree which get stuck on birds’ feathers, causing them to be immobile, unable to fly and therefore can’t feed, thus causing them to die of starvation.

Other information collected during the June to September fieldwork included external measurements of the 81 birds that were captured in mist nests; a small blood sample for DNA testing and assessment for disease infection. The researchers now await the results of the blood samples that are currently being analysed in a laboratory in UEA.

Partners & Awards

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Our History

Since 1998.

Seychelles Nature, Green HealthClimate Change, Biodiversity Conservation & Sustainability Organisation

@CousinIsland Manager

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Roche Caiman, Mahe

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Centre for Environment & Education

Roche Caiman,

P.O. Box 1310, Mahe, Seychelles

Tel:+ 248 2519090

Email: nature@seychelles.net