Birds really are the stars of the show at Chesterfield. There aren’t many species but what they lack in diversity they make up for in numbers and ‘tameness’. There are three species of boobybreeding here (masked, brown & red footed), the black noddy, the lesser frigatebird and the sooty tern.

The situation allows close watching and photography. Here’s what we achieved.

Firstly the lesser frigates Fregata ariel.  There are five species around the world, all can neither walk nor swim (odd for a seabird) and are to some extent parasitic on boobies. Here is a male displaying his inflatable chest to attract a female:

 

 

And here is one in flight:

 

 

The black noddy Anous tenuirostris ‘nests’ on the ground just above HW; note the egg....

 

 

which turns into these chicks:

 

 

Here is a sooty tern, Sterna fuscata:

 

 

The three species of booby here are very different. Here is a pair of masked boobies Sula dactylatra showing their ‘Lone Ranger’ masks:

 

 

A brown booby Sula leucogaster, showing brown head, yellow legs and blue face:

 

 

And a red-footed booby Sula sula, with the diagnostic red feet:

 

 

 

And a couple more shots of boobies in flight, firstly a red-footed (they were by far the most curious about us, the youngsters possibly never having seen a human before):

 

 

And a couple of browns zooming in for a fly-by:

 

 

A magical place. Next stop Australia where it turns out there are loads and loads of birds.