Birding in French Polynesia IX

9 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.

Friday Jan 9 2026 - Day 9

Today, we left Moorea, heading back to Tahiti, where we will spend the next couple of weeks. We watched a few Great Crested Terns outside our accommodation, as well as a few more Blacktip Reef-sharks. We took a taxi to the ferry terminal in Vai'are. After boarding the ferry, we saw our first pale morph Pacific Reef-heron, which landed in some trees, to join another pale morph individual.

Pale morph Pacific Reef-heron

After the boat took off, we were surprised by the lack of seabird action. We saw some Brown Noddies, a single Black Noddy, and some Great Crested Terns. Possibly the highlight of the crossing, was seeing (for the first time) some Flying fish of the species, Cheilopogon pitcairnensis.