Seven hundred thousand pairs of terns
Bird Island
Island · Coral island
Bird Island in short.
Bird Island is the northernmost island in Seychelles, a flat square kilometre of coral a hundred kilometres from Mahé, at the edge where the shallow bank ends. From about May to October it holds one of the largest sooty tern colonies on earth.
Can you go?
Open, with one small lodge. Everyone arrives by light aircraft.
Bird Island, in 2 frames.
Every frame below was found in this island's own Commons category and its own title names the island. Captions are the file's title, so you can check the call.
Photographs, under Creative Commons: Photography by Dino Sassi - Marcel Fayon, Photo Eden LTD, Public domain NASA, Public domain original: Phil Guest, CC BY-SA 2.0
The colony
Around seven hundred thousand pairs of sooty terns nest here in the season, alongside fairy terns and common noddies. The number is not the point. The noise is. People who have been describe it as the loudest place they have ever stood.
The island was called Île aux Vaches for the dugongs that used to be in the water around it. Between 1896 and 1906 seventeen thousand tons of guano were taken off it and sold to Mauritius as fertiliser.
Esmeralda
Esmeralda, an Aldabra giant tortoise living on the island, is one of the largest living land tortoises anywhere and has been here for a very long time. Hawksbill and green turtles nest on the beaches.
The lodge is a handful of simple chalets rather than a resort. There is no luxury here and that is the arrangement: the island is the point.
How you arrive
About thirty minutes by light aircraft from Mahé, arranged by the lodge. There is a small airstrip and nothing else.
The sheet.
Checked 2 September 2026 against the sources named in our island file.
- Area
- 0.94 km²
- North of Mahé
- 100 km, the northernmost island
- Sooty terns
- a colony of around 700,000 pairs
- Formerly called
- Île aux Vaches, for the dugongs
What people ask.
Can we visit Bird Island?
Open, with one small lodge. Everyone arrives by light aircraft.
How do you get to Bird Island?
About thirty minutes by light aircraft from Mahé, arranged by the lodge. There is a small airstrip and nothing else.
What we do arrange.
We do not sell islands, and most of these could not be sold to anybody. What we do arrange is everything that gets you to them and around them once you land.
Car hire, from €45 a day
Ten cars, no deposit, handed over at the airport, the jetty or your hotel.
Days out and excursions
Island tours, boat days, snorkelling and walks, with real ratings and free cancellation to twenty-four hours.
Airport transfers
A driver who watches your flight number and waits with your name on a board.
The terminal photograph above: Remi Jouan, CC BY-SA 3.0
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