Birds
Thirteen land birds found nowhere else, a megapode that lets the ground hatch its eggs, and the noddies and frigatebirds that nest in the Rock Islands.
Background photo: Megan Applegate (Palau)
Land birds
13 endemic species
Palau’s bird list has 186 species, including introduced and accidental ones, and 13 found nowhere else (Wikipedia). All of Palau’s endemic birds live in the Rock Islands Southern Lagoon World Heritage Site (UNESCO). Four of the endemics, and the megapode, are below.
Key marks: Grey head, neck and breast with a purple cap edged in yellow, an orange band across the lower breast and belly, and an olive-green back, wings and tail; both sexes look alike. About 23–25 cm long (Wikipedia).
At Palau: Palau’s national bird, common in all habitats (Wikipedia); listed as abundant in the Rock Islands (Birds of the Rock Islands table).
Key marks: A dark reddish-brown owl with small white dots scattered over its feathers (Wikipedia).
At Palau: Found only in Palau, in woodland, lagoon trees, ravines and mangroves; the owls live in groups and defend territories (Wikipedia). Listed as common in the Rock Islands (Birds of the Rock Islands table).
Key marks: A brightly coloured kingfisher with white underparts, long black eye-stripes and a broad, flattened bill; young birds are cinnamon below (Wikipedia).
At Palau: Found only in Palau, in lowland forest; Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List (Wikipedia).
Key marks: A mottled bird 13–14 cm long, with a pale yellowish stripe over the eye that widens toward the back and a narrow pale-yellow eye-ring. Its song sounds like two canaries singing at once (Wikipedia).
At Palau: Found only in Palau: common to abundant in undisturbed forest on Peleliu and common on Ngeruktabel. Near Threatened (Wikipedia).
Key marks: A stocky, mostly dark brownish-black bird about 38 cm long, with a paler head, a pale grey crest, a yellow bill and large dull-yellow legs and feet (Wikipedia).
At Palau: Lays its eggs in mounds of debris and lets the heat incubate them; only about 2,000–2,500 remain across its range (Wikipedia). Listed as uncommon in the Rock Islands (Birds of the Rock Islands table).
The other endemic birds
Also found only in Palau (Wikipedia):
Seabirds
Seen from the boat between dives
Key marks: A small, sooty-black tern with a sharply marked white cap, a white crescent under each eye and a long, thin black bill.
At Palau: One of the abundant breeding seabirds of the Rock Islands (Birds of the Rock Islands table).
Key marks: A dark brown tern with a pale greyish-white cap that fades into the brown, and a stout bill. Browner and bulkier than the black noddy.
At Palau: Another abundant breeding seabird of the Rock Islands (Birds of the Rock Islands table).
Key marks: Entirely white, small and buoyant, with a black ring around a dark eye and a black bill.
At Palau: Recorded in Palau (Wikipedia); the Rock Islands table lists a breeding “common fairy-tern” (Birds of the Rock Islands table), another name used for this bird.
Key marks: Very long, angular wings held in a kinked M and a long, deeply forked tail. Adult males are all black with a red throat pouch and show a pale brown bar across the upper wing; females have a pale grey or reddish throat.
At Palau: Listed as an abundant breeding seabird of the Rock Islands, with the lesser frigatebird (Birds of the Rock Islands table).
Other breeding seabirds
The Rock Islands table also lists Audubon’s shearwater as abundant, and the white-tailed tropicbird, little pied cormorant, black-naped tern, bridled tern, great crested tern and lesser frigatebird as common breeding seabirds (Birds of the Rock Islands table).
Credits
Reference photos and their sources
There are no photos of Palau’s birds in this guide yet. The seabird photos are reference photos taken elsewhere, credited below; land birds link to photos online.
| Species | Photographer | Licence | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Black noddy | Gregg Yan | CC BY-SA 3.0 | Wikimedia Commons |
| Brown noddy | Charles J. Sharp | CC BY-SA 4.0 | Wikimedia Commons |
| White tern | Drew Avery | CC BY 2.0 | Wikimedia Commons |
| Great frigatebird | Charles J. Sharp | CC BY-SA 3.0 | Wikimedia Commons |