Our visit to Cousin was a day trip from Praslin, and was combined with a visit to Curieuse. The morning visit to Cousin involved being guided - a great asset since our party was fortunate enough to be guided by Robbie Bresson, manager of the Reserve for over 20 years. Robbie has a tremendous knowledge of the Island and its flora and fauna, and is a very friendly and helpful guide. His enthusiasm is infectious!

Both Brown and Lesser Noddies were plentiful, the former favouring the palm trees. Almost as soon as we landed, we saw a male Seychelles Fody, just coming out of breeding plumage, and with the yellow bib and forehead clearly visible. Before long, we had excellent views of Seychelles (Brush) Warbler, at first flitting through trees, then a clear view of a bird on eggs on a nest, just 3 metres from the ground. It looked a very typical Acrocephalus warbler.

Moving further round the Island, Robbie paused at one point, whistled, kicked over a stone exposing some juicy insects, and a Seychelles Magpie Robin flew down and started feeding - apparently oblivious to our presence a few feet away. Flash photography is banned on the Island, so we were not able to get a good shot in the rather dark clearing.

White-tailed Tropicbirds were nesting right next to the path in a few places, snuggled down in the roots of trees, hardly able to fit in their elegant tails.

Two more good sightings were of four Sooty Terns flying past (we were to see just a few more on Bird Island!) and a single Bridled Tern, sitting in a tree, its dark 'bridle' very clearly seen passing through its eyes and round the back of its head.

Curieuse
Our high speed boat soon took us from Cousin to Curieuse, where we had a barbeque, and another guided tour. The Island was fairly birdless, but it was interesting to hear the call of one of the three Black Parrots, which have recently found their way to the Island. Seychelles Sunbirds were common, but on the beach, the only waders were a few Turnstones. Four Greater Frigatebirds circled overhead at one time. We were too early in the season to see Green Turtles.