Christmas & Cocos Nov and Dec 2016 trip summary

Hello all,               We’ve recently finished our two regular November and December birding trips to Australia’s Christmas Island and Cocos Keeling Islands.  Both fourteen day trips involved a week on each island and were hugely successful.  All the endemics were seen well, as were the island’s specialties and an incredible list of rarities.  
Local endemics included:  Christmas Island Frigatebird, CI White-eye, CI Imperial Pigeon, Christmas Boobook, Abbott’s Booby and the golden morph of White-tailed Tropicbird.
Local specialties included: Java Sparrow, Island Thrush, Common Emerald Dove, Green Junglefowl, White-breasted Waterhen, Glossy Swiftlet and Asian Intermediate Egret.
Rarities included:
Red-billed Tropicbird –  Seen only on the November tour on the northern side of Christmas Island.Swinhoe’s Snipe – Seen only on the November tour on CI.Northern Pintail – Seen on Cocos on both tours almost dailyCommon Teal –  Seen on Cocos on both tours almost daily.Yellow Bittern – Both islands including three at once on Cocos and another on Christmas Island being taken by a large CI Goshawk. Corncrake – A single bird on Christmas Island.Von Schrenck’s Bittern – Two birds on Cocos.Malayan Night Heron – Two birds seen on Christmas Island.Western Reef Egret (Heron) – Several birds seen on Cocos.Chinese Pond Heron – Two birds seen on Cocos.Javan Pond Heron – A single bird seen on Cocos.Black-crowned Night Heron – A single bird seen over several days on Cocos.Chinese Sparrowhawk – Three birds seen at the one time on Cocos.Japanese Sparrowhawk – Two birds seen together on Christmas Island.Eurasian Curlew – Seen on Cocos multiple times.Pin-tailed Snipe – Several seen on Cocos.Saunders’s Tern – Up to 15 birds seen on Cocos.Common Kingfisher – A lone bird seen on Cocos.Asian Koel – Multiple birds seen on both islands.Grey Nightjar – Seen twice on Christmas Island.Savanna Nightjar – One bird seen on Christmas Island.Common Swift – One bird seen on one afternoon on Christmas Island.Asian House Martin – Two birds seen regularly on Christmas Island.Drongo Cuckoo – Two birds seen on two different islands on Cocos.Grey Wagtail – Up to five birds seen on Christmas Island.Brown Shrike – A lone bird seen often on Cocos.Asian Brown Flycatcher – A lone bird seen several times on Cocos.Blue and White Flycatcher – Two birds seen on Cocos.Eye-browed Thrush – A lone bird seen on Cocos multiple times.Rosy Starling – Two birds seen on Cocos.Tree Pipit – A lone bird seen on Cocos.
Other species seen included- Great Frigatebird, Red-footed & Brown Booby, Oriental Pratincole, Striated Heron (Asian Race), Peregrine Falcon (Asian Race), Red-billed Tropicbird, White Tern, Tree Sparrow, Red Junglefowl and Barn Swallow.
A full trip report will appear on the Birding Tours Australia website in the next few weeks.
Future tours and vacancies are:
Feb/March 2017 – two vacanciesNovember 2017 – vacanciesDecember 2017 – FULLJanuary 2018 – vacancies (School Holidays)
Richard BaxterBirding Tours Australiahttp://www.birdingtours.com.au/