Australia’s remote Indian Ocean territories are as unique as they are spectacular. Birding Tours Australia are the leading experts in both of these locations, having discovered more rare vagrant species on these islands than anyone else.
Christmas Island and the Cocos Keeling Islands are two of Australia’s Indian Ocean Territories situated in the northern Indian Ocean. Birding Tours Australia has been to both islands over fifty times, guiding around 600 individual birders in search of the island’s endemics, specialties and vagrants. Our tours are designed to accommodate birders and their partners, twitchers, photographers or those just wanting to enjoy the island’s natural history.
Our tour dates are chosen to maximise our chance of finding the islands breeding specialties as well as rarities on both islands.
The tour includes, your three airfares ex Perth, car hire, ferry fares, introductory BBQ, airport transfers, fuel and Australia’s most experienced Cocos and Christmas birding guide, Richard Baxter.
Previous Trip Reports
Christmas Island is home to a number of resident species of birds including:
- Christmas Island Frigatebird (The world’s rarest frigatebird)
- Island Thrush
- Christmas Island Swiftlet
- Brown (Christmas Island) Goshawk
- Christmas Boobook
- Christmas Island White-eye
- Christmas Island Imperial Pigeon
- Abbotts Booby (The world’s largest and rarest booby)
- Common Emerald Dove
- Cocos specialties include:
- Saunders’s Tern
- Western Reef Egret
- White Tern
- Pin-tailed Snipe
- Green Junglefowl
- White-breasted Waterhen
- Oriental Cuckoo
- White-tailed Tropicbird (Golden morph)
- Java Sparrow
- Brown Booby
- Eurasian Tree Sparrow
- Red-tailed Tropicbird
- Red-footed Booby
In addition to these we’ve recorded over 100 further species, many being the vagrants that the islands are so well known for.
Tour Includes
Tour dates are chosen to maximise our chance of finding rarities on both islands.
Costs and Pricing
Tour Price : From $5800pp AUD (Twin Share)
To date we have recorded:
Our groups have seen all of the island endemics easily, leaving plenty of time to search the territory’s hotspots looking for rare vagrant species.
- Eurasian Hobby
- Savannah Nightjar
- Asian House Martin
- White Wagtail
- Watercock
- Oriental Honey Buzzard
- Common Kingfisher
- Malayan Night Heron
- Cinnamon Bittern
- Chinese Pond Heron
- Silver-backed Needletail
- Grey Wagtail
- Eastern Yellow Wagtail
- Red-collared Dove
- Mossy-nest Swiftlet
- Japanese Sparrowhawk
- Von Schrenck’s Bittern
- Edible-nest Swiftlet
- House Swift
- Grey Nightjar
- Himalayan Swiftlet
- Common Cuckoo
- Eastern Yellow Wagtail (macronyx)
- Blue & White Flycatcher
- Lesser Noddy
- Blue Rock Thrush
- Asian Koel
- Matsudaira’s Storm Petrel
- Bulwer’s Petrel
- Common Moorhen
- Javan Pond Heron
- Narcissus Flycatcher
- Jouanin’s Petrel
- Large Hawk Cuckoo
- Hodgson’s Hawk Cuckoo
- Chinese Sparrowhawk
- Eurasian Teal
- Yellow Bittern
- Purple-backed Starling
- Tiger Shrike
- Mugimaki Flycatcher
- Crow-billed Drongo
Touring the islands, we also often encounter:
- Greater Frigatebird
- Lesser Frigatebird
- Common Noddy
- Oriental Pratincole
- Barn Swallow
- Masked Booby
- Buff-banded Rail (North Keeling ssp)
- Grey Plover
- Lesser Sand Plover
- Greater Sand Plover
- Sanderling
- White-winged Black Tern
- Dollarbird
- Common Redshank
