Black-crowned Night Heron at Alphonse

Black Crowned Night Heron (Pep Nogués )

Scott Mitchell and Pep Nogués have reported a juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron at the freshwater reservoir, Alphonse on 7 February.   This species was unrecorded in Seychelles until 1992, when one turned up near the Inter-island Quay on Mahe. More records followed in the next few years and by 1996, it was breeding on Mahe, spreading to Silhouette in 1997, Cousin in 2000 and St Joseph Atoll in 2002. There have been other vagrant records including one at Desroches but this is the first record for Alphonse.
 
It is a very rare event for Seychelles to be naturally colonised by a new species but the loss of freshwater habitat in the inner islands means that the future of Black-crowned Night Heron as a breeding species in Seychelles hangs in the balance. It is uncertain whether it has bred at any site at all during the last few years though there presence of a juvenile at Alphonse suggests it is possible that at least one site survives.