Fauna of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands

The terrestrial fauna of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands is unsurprisingly depauperate, because of the small land area of the islands, their lack of diverse habitats, and their isolation from large land-masses. However, the fauna dependent on marine resources is much richer.

Birds

As a small and isolated group of islands in two atolls 24 km apart in the eastern Indian Ocean, the number of species of resident landbirds (as opposed to seabirds and waders) is very small. These comprise the endemic subspecies of Buff-banded Rail, the introduced Green Junglefowl and Helmeted Guineafowl, the White-breasted Waterhen, Eastern Reef Egret, Nankeen Night-Heron and the introduced Christmas Island White-eye. Four other introduced species are now extinct in the Islands. Several other landbird species have been recorded occasionally, but none has established a breeding population.

Migratory waders recorded in the islands include some regular visitors as well as vagrants. None breeds there. However, North Keeling is important for breeding seabirds, with sizeable numbers of Red-footed Booby, Great and Lesser Frigatebirds, Common Noddy and White Tern. Other breeding seabirds include Wedge-tailed Shearwater, Masked Booby, Brown Booby, Red-tailed and White-tailed Tropicbirds, and Sooty Tern. It is possible that the Herald Petrel breeds there as well.

Presumably, before human occupation of the islands in the 19th Century, seabirds bred on both atolls. However, with the establishment of a human population and the introduction of rodents to the southern atoll, significant seabird colonies are now restricted to the northern atoll of North Keeling. Although the Cocos islanders used to visit North Keeling regularly to harvest seabirds, this practice has largely ceased with the establishment of Pulu Keeling National Park in 1995.

List of birds

* Phasianidae
** Red Junglefowl, "Gallus gallus" - feral domestic fowl only?
** Green Junglefowl, "Gallus varius" - introduced, breeding
** Helmeted Guineafowl, "Numida meleagris" - introduced, breeding
* Anatidae
** Pacific Black Duck, "Anas superciliosa" - vagrant
** Hardhead, "Aythya australis" - vagrant
* Procellariidae
** Bulwer's Petrel, "Bulweria bulwerii" - vagrant
** Herald Petrel, "Pterodroma arminjoniana" - possibly breeding
** Wedge-tailed Shearwater, "Puffinus pacificus" - breeding
* Diomedeidae
** Yellow-nosed Albatross, "Thalassarche chlororhynchos" - vagrant
* Phaethontidae
** White-tailed Tropicbird, "Phaethon lepturus" - breeding
** Red-tailed Tropicbird, "Phaethon rubricauda" - breeding
* Sulidae
** Masked Booby, "Sula dactylatra" - breeding
** Brown Booby, "Sula leucogaster" - breeding
** Red-footed Booby, "Sula sula" - breeding
* Phalacrocoracidae
** Great Cormorant, "Phalacrocorax carbo" - vagrant
** Little Black Cormorant, "Phalacrocorax sulcirostris" - vagrant
** Little Pied Cormorant, "Phalacrocorax melanoleucos" - vagrant
* Fregatidae
** Christmas Island Frigatebird, "Fregata andrewsi" - vagrant
** Lesser Frigatebird, "Fregata ariel" - breeding
** Great Frigatebird, "Fregata minor" - breeding
* Ardeidae
** Great Egret, "Ardea alba" - vagrant
** Cattle Egret, "Ardea ibis" - vagrant
** Chinese Pond Heron, "Ardeola bacchus" - vagrant
** Striated Heron, "Butorides striatus" - vagrant
** Little Egret, "Egretta garzetta" - breeding?
** White-faced Heron, "Egretta novaehollandiae" - vagrant
** Eastern Reef Egret, "Egretta sacra" - breeding
** Western Reef Egret, "Egretta gularis" - vagrant
** Nankeen Night-Heron, "Nycticorax caledonicus" - breeding
** Black-crowned Night-Heron, "Nycticorax nycticorax" - vagrant
** Black Bittern, "Ixobrychus flavicollis" - vagrant
* Threskiornithidae
** Glossy Ibis, "Plegadis falcinellus" - vagrant
* Phoenicopteridae
** Greater Flamingo, "Phoenicopterus ruber" - vagrant
* Accipitridae
** Swamp Harrier, "Circus approximans" - vagrant
* Falconidae
** Nankeen Kestrel, "Falco cenchroides" - vagrant
* Rallidae
** White-breasted Waterhen, "Amaurornis phoenicurus" - breeding
** Cocos Buff-banded Rail, "Gallirallus philippensis andrewsi" - endemic subspecies
* Scolopacidae
** Common Sandpiper, "Actitis hypoleucos" - regular visitor
** Ruddy Turnstone, "Arenaria interpres" - regular visitor
** Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, "Calidris acuminata" - vagrant
** Sanderling, "Calidris alba" - vagrant
** Curlew Sandpiper, "Calidris ferruginea" - vagrant
** Red-necked Stint, "Calidris ruficollis" - vagrant
** Great Knot, "Calidris tenuirostris" - vagrant
** Pin-tailed Snipe, "Gallinago stenura" - vagrant
** Grey-tailed Tattler, "Heteroscelus brevipes" - vagrant
** Bar-tailed Godwit, "Limosa lapponica" - vagrant
** Little Curlew, "Numenius minutus" - vagrant
** Whimbrel, "Numenius phaeopus" - regular visitor
** Common Greenshank, "Tringa nebularia" - regular visitor
** Common Redshank, "Tringa totanus" - regular visitor
** Red-necked Phalarope, "Phalaropus lobatus - vagrant
* Recurvirostridae
** Black-winged Stilt, "Himantopus himantopus leucocephalus" - vagrant
* Charadriidae
** Greater Sand Plover, "Charadrius leschenaultii" - regular visitor
** Oriental Plover, "Charadrius veredus" - vagrant
** Pacific Golden Plover, "Pluvialis fulva" - regular visitor
** Grey Plover, "Pluvialis squatarola" - vagrant
* Glareolidae
** Oriental Pratincole, "Glareola maldivarum" - vagrant
* Laridae
** Common Noddy, "Anous stolidus" - breeding
** Lesser Noddy, "Anous tenuirostris" - vagrant
** White-winged Black Tern, "Chlidonias leucopterus" - vagrant
** White Tern, "Gygis alba" - breeding
** Bridled Tern, "Sterna anaethetus" - vagrant
** Sooty Tern, "Sterna fuscata" - breeding
** Common Tern, "Sterna hirundo" - vagrant
** Saunders's Tern "Sternula saundersi" - vagrant
* Columbidae
** Christmas Island Imperial-Pigeon, "Ducula whartoni" - introduced, extinct.
* Cuculidae
** Oriental Cuckoo, "Cuculus saturatus" - vagrant
* Strigidae
** Buffy Fish-Owl, "Ketupa ketupu" - vagrant
* Caprimulgidae
** Nightjar sp., "Caprimulgus" sp - vagrant
* Apodidae
** Fork-tailed Swift, "Apus pacificus" - vagrant
** Edible-nest Swiftlet, "Collocalia fuciphaga" - vagrant
** White-throated Needletail, "Hirundapus caudacutus" - vagrant
* Halcyonidae
** Collared Kingfisher, "Todiramphus chloris" - vagrant
* Meropidae
** Rainbow Bee-eater, "Merops ornatus" - vagrant
* Coraciidae
** Dollarbird, "Eurystomus orientalis" - vagrant
* Motacillidae
** Grey Wagtail, "Motacilla cinerea" - vagrant
** Yellow Wagtail, "Motacilla flava" - vagrant
* Passeridae
** Java Sparrow, "Padda oryzivora" - introduced, extinct.
* Ploceidae
** Asian Golden Weaver, "Ploceus hypoxanthus" - introduced, extinct.
* Hirundinidae
** Barn Swallow, "Hirundo rustica" - regular visitor
** Asian House Martin, "Delichon dasypus" - vagrant
* Zosteropidae
** Christmas Island White-eye, "Zosterops natalis" - introduced, breeding
* Muscicapidae
** Island Thrush, "Turdus poliocephalus erythropleurus" - introduced, extinct
* Sturnidae
** Rosy Starling, "Sturnus roseus" - vagrant

Mammals

There are no native land mammals. Two species of rodent, the House Mouse and Black Rat, have been introduced to the southern atoll but are absent from North Keeling. Rabbits were introduced but have become extinct. Two species of Asian deer, Indian muntjac "Muntiacus muntjak", and Sambar "Cervus unicolor", were introduced but did not persist. Marine mammals recorded stranding on, or seen passing by, the islands include:
* Sirenia
** Dugong, "Dugong dugon" – seen in the lagoon of the southern atoll
* Cetacea
** Bottlenose Dolphin, "Tursiops truncatus" – regularly seen
** Common Dolphin, "Delphinus delphis" – regularly seen
** Pilot Whale, "Globicephala" sp.
** Humpback Whale, "Megaptera novaeangliae"
** Cuvier's Beaked Whale, "Ziphius cavirostris"
** Sperm Whale, "Physeter macrocephalus"

Reptiles

Terrestrial reptiles include three geckos and a blind-snake, all of which may have been inadvertently transported to the islands by humans:
* Gekkonidae
** Mourning Gecko, "Lepidodactylus lugubris"
** Four-clawed gecko, "Gehyra mutilata"
** House Gecko, "Hemidactylus frenatus"
* Typhlopidae
** Blind Snake, "Typhlops braminus"

Marine reptiles include:
* Hydrophiidae
** Yellow-bellied Sea-Snake, "Pelamis platurus"
** Banded Sea Krait, "Laticauda colubrina"
* Chelonioidea
** Green Turtle, "Chelonia mydas" - breeding
** Hawksbill Turtle, "Eretmochelys imbricata"
** Olive Ridley Turtle, "Lepidochelys olivacea"
** Loggerhead Turtle, "Caretta caretta"
** Leatherback Turtle, "Dermochelys coriacea"

Fish

Over 500 species of fish have been recorded around the islands.

References

* Anon. (2004). "Pulu Keeling National Park Management Plan". Australian Government. ISBN 0-642-54964-8
* [http://bioacoustics.cse.unsw.edu.au/birding-aus/ Birding-Aus Mailing List Archives]
* Carter, Mike. (1994). Birds of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands. "Wingspan" 15: 14-18.
* Gibson-Hill, C.A. (1950). A note on the reptiles occurring on the Cocos-Keeling Islands. "Bulletin of the Raffles Museum" 22: 206-211.
* Gibson-Hill, C.A. (1950). Notes on the birds of the Cocos-Keeling Islands. "Bulletin of the Raffles Museum" 22: 212-270.
* Gibson-Hill, C.A. (1950). The Muridae of the Cocos-Keeling Islands. "Bulletin of the Raffles Museum" 22: 271-277.
* Gibson-Hill, C.A. (1950). A note on the Cetacea stranded on the Cocos-Keeling Islands. "Bulletin of the Raffles Museum" 22: 278-279.
* Hadden, Don. (2006). Cocos (Keeling) Island birds. "Wingspan" 16(4): 34-37.