Family life on Farquhar Atoll - The challenge of being a Sooty Tern

When the South East trade wind starts sweeping the Seychelles beaches with strong and cold wind, Goëlettes Island (part of the Farquhar Atoll) gets ready to host its annual visitors.
Pest-free, treeless and carpeted with grass, Goëlettes is the perfect place for ground nesting seabirds such as Sooty Terns (Golet in kreol) and Brown Noddies (Makwa in kreol), which, starting from the end of April/beginning of May, gather in great numbers on the island and blacken the sky of this piece of paradise.
​More than half a million seabirds return to Goëlettes once again with only one objective: find a mate and successfully rear a chick, which will carry their lineage on to the next generation of birds.Despite the welcoming environment of Goëlettes island, rearing a chick is anything but easy for the Sooty Tern that have to face different challenges to successfully complete its breeding attempt.

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