Birding in French Polynesia - Day 8

Birding in French Polynesia VIII

8 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.

Thursday Jan 8 2026 - Day 8

Today, we were up bright and early, hoping to get better views of the Blacktip Reef-sharks we had seen the day prior. We only wadded a few feet out into the water before the sharks began coming in. They can only one at a time, and the ones we saw were mainly babies, but extremely impressive nonetheless.

Young Blacktip Reef-shark

Blacktip Reef-shark swimming away

Dorsal fin of a Blacktip Reef-shark

My mum and I then went out kayaking, where we watched hunting Great Crested Terns and saw many fish species, which were being scared out of the reef by the sharks. Among these were, Vagabond Butterflyfish, Threadfin Butterflyfish, Bluespotted Cornetfish, and Banded Sergeant. Back on the shore, we saw a Banded Snake Eel.

Threadfin Butterflyfish

Bluespotted Cornetfish

Vagabond Butterflyfish

Squaretail Mullet

We then went into the water for a bit of snorkelling, seeing Saddled Butterflyfish, Raccoon Butterflyfish, Whitetail Dascyllus, and a beautiful Redfin Butterflyfish, among the more common species that we had already seen.

Redfin Butterflyfish 

© Wikimedia Commons

Over the course of the day, we saw Pacific Reef-Herons and three White Terns from our accommodation.