Black-winged Pratincole at D'Arros

Black-winged Pratincole at D'Arros (Clare Keating Daly)

Clare Keating Daly has reported a Black-winged Pratincole at the D'Arros airstrip on 3 October and 1 November. Pratincoles can be difficult to identify in Seychelles as they are usually in immature or non-breeding plumage. However fortunately, Clare managed to capture a picture of the bird taking off with wings held aloft, revealing the all-black underwing, whereas the other three pratincole species recorded in Seychelles (Collared, Oriental and Madagascar all have chestnut underwing-coverts.

Also at D'Arros, Clare reports a Pacific Golden Plover on 1 November foraging with two Grey Plovers on the airstrip and on 28 October.

Pacific Golden Plover (Clare Keating Daly)

Clare also reports a Wood Sandpiper at the pond on Fouquet Island of neighbouring St Joseph Atoll, present on 28 October. Wood Sandpiper is annual visitor to granitic Seychelles and the Amirantes, but a vagrant to the Farquhar and Aldabra groups. SBRC has collected 178 reports to date, showing the number of sightings peaks in November, steadily declining through the season thereafter.