Birds of Christmas Island Brochure
Environment Australia, 2006
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About the Brochure
Christmas Island is one of the world's truly spectacular tropical seabird breeding stations. It's not just the number and variety of seabirds, or their magnificent splendor that make the island so remarkable, but also their sheer visibility.
It is estimated that around 80,000 seabirds nest here annually. Flocks of Red-footed and Brown Boobies stream out to sea ever morning and return each evening to their nests in the rainforest canopy and on limestone cliffs.
Christmas Island is the only place where eight species of pelecaniformes (the group of birds containing frigates, boobies, tropicbirds, pelicans and cormorants) breed in the one place. It is also the only place where three species of frigate breed, and of course the only place on our planet where Abbott's Booby and Christmas Island Frigatebird breed.
The local subspecies of Great Frigatebird is unique and the stunning Golden Bosun (an endemic subspecies of the White-tailed Tropicbird) is a sight seen only at Christmas Island.
This brochure describes the various bird species occurring on Christmas Island, providing photos, a description of the sounds that they make, and details of their distribution and breeding habitats.
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