Birding in French Polynesia - Day 5

Birding in French Polynesia V

5 January 2026

Over the next 28 days, I will be spending my time birding on Tahiti and Mo'orea, two islands in the Windward Islands, an archipelago belonging to French Polynesia, an overseas territory of France. Birds in italics indicate lifers. Today we made our way to Mo'orea, where we will spend 4 nights.

Monday Jan 5 2026 - Day 5

Today, we went to the ferry terminal at Pape'ete Harbour, where we booked tickets for the 11 o'clock crossing to Mo'orea using Tauati Ferry. The tickets cost us 5000 CFP (or about £35). We then went to the café, to wait for the boat. We saw a couple of Pacific Reef-Herons, a few Lesser Frigatebirds, some Great Frigatebirds, and a couple Wandering Tattlers. On the crossing, we saw some White Terns, and a few Brown Boobies. Also on the ferry, we saw a really nice Black Noddy, which is much darker than the more common Brown Noddy.

Lesser Frigatebird

The Pā'ōfa'i Gardens, as we leave Pape'ete Harbour

Mo'orea from the ferry

Lesser Frigatebird

Black Noddy

Black Noddy

Brown Booby

When we arrived on Mo'orea, we booked a rental car and drove to the north of the island. We first stopped at the Rotui Juice company's factory, but since the shop was closed, we just had a quick wander through the factory, where we saw some people making pineapple juice. 

Juice factory

After this, we went for a swim at the Ta'ahiamanu Beach. We had our first proper swim in the Pacific Ocean, while seeing a stingray and some tropical fish. The views over the water were spectacular, however. 

'Ōpūnohu Bay from Ta'ahiamanu Beach

We then drove a bit more to the south end of Opunohu Bay, where there are some fishponds. Our main target here was Pacific Black Duck, but we didn't see any. We had good views of a dark morph Pacific Reef-Heron and a couple Wandering Tattlers.

Pacific Reef-Heron