Birdlife...
No not the Dodo!
Actually, the dodo never lived here - it was the "Reunion Solitary", but more of that later .
My, anything but definitive, list of birds (living and not stuffed) to be found here - all photos were taken by me which goes some way to explaining why there aren't very many!
For those eager to twitch, I have compiled a reasonably complete and definitive (well, you can always contradict me) birdlist that you can download and print off here. Of course it is in Open office format - why would anyone use Microsoft? Any complaints or difficulties contact me.
... and yes, one day I will get around to finishing this bit!
What to do?
Given the extermination of many species of birds on La Réunion, it is surprising that anything remains.
However, there are several endemic species and Bird Life International have designated one site, at the Ravine Grande Chaloupe, as of particular world wide importance - from their site :
"Site description The site comprises a steep-sided valley in the dry, north-western lowlands between St-Denis and La Possession, together with the lowest part of the Ravine à Jacques, 1 km to the north-east. It contains a few habitations at the river mouths, a tourist centre and a military firing range, but around 40% of the site is protected, as it is one of the last sites on La Réunion where dry evergreen lowland forest survives. Other major habitats are secondary grassland and exotic thickets; small areas of cliff and rocky shore also occur.
The site supports a high density of breeding Circus maillardi (5-10 pairs in 1997) and two of the largest known colonies of Collocalia francica (at least two large colonies totalling c.1,000 pairs in 1998) and all the other forest-living native birds of La Réunion except Coracina newtoni. Up to 100 pairs each of three seabird species ( Puffinus pacificus , P. lherminieri and Phaethon lepturus ) nest, but their populations are not globally significant. "
