Mission ornithologique à l'Ilot Loop (îles Chesterfield) et transects en mer de Corail et dans le bassin des Loyauté, 20-28 octobre 2008.

Abstract

Abstract – Seabird survey of Ilot Loop (Chesterfield islands) and at-sea transects, 20-28 October 2008. A census of the birds of Ilot Loop (Chesterfield Atoll, Coral Sea) was taken during a trip of patroller ship La Glorieuse of the French Navy. Twelve bird species were observed during the 23 hours of our stay on the islet (22-23 October 2008), including 7 seabirds breeding [Wedge-tailed Shearwater Puffinus pacificus (N=6144 active burrows), Black Noddy Anous minutus (N=5 nests with chick; ~500 adults), Brown Noddy A. stolidus (N=18 nests with egg; ~70 adults), Sooty Tern Onychoprion fuscatus (N= 1060-1300 breeding pairs), Masked Booby Sula dactylatra (N=26 breeding pairs), Brown Booby Sula leucogaster (N=85 breeding pairs), Red-footed Booby S. sula (N=165 breeding pairs)], 3 seabirds not breeding [Crested Tern Thalasseus bergii (N=1), Black-naped Tern Sterna sumatrana (N=10), Pacific Frigatebird, Fregata minor (N=1)], a shorebird [Wandering Tattler Tringa incana (N=2)] and the Chesterfield Buff-banded Rail Gallirallus philippensis tournelieri (N=1 juvenile). From transects at sea in the New Caledonia and Loyalty basins, the following seabirds were observed, hereafter ranked by decreasing abundance: Wedgetailed Shearwater, Sooty Tern, Brown Booby, Tahiti Petrel Pseudobulweria rostrata, Red-footed Booby and other petrels including Pterodroma leucoptera, P. nigripennis and Oceanites oceanicus, and Antarctic Skua Catharacta antarctica. The size of the Tahiti Petrel population of New Caledonia was estimated to be > 15 000 pairs. Several marine mammals were observed: Dugong Dugong dugon (N=1) in the Southwest lagoon of New Caledonia, Humpback Whale Megaptera novaeangliae (N=1) and Bottlenose Dolphin Tursiops sp. (N=1) in the Chesterfield lagoon, and Bottlenose Dolphin T. truncatus (one pod, N~30) and Great Sperm Whale Physeter macrocephalus (N=1) in the Loyalty basin. A Green Turtle Chelonia mydas was observed laying eggs at Ilot Loop. Samples of Large-eye Bream Gymnocranius sp. and Fringelip Mullet Crenimugil crenilabis were also collected.