While Mauritius is more famous for a bird that can no longer be found there – the dodo – there are still over 150 birds that live there. Most of these are endemic avifauna like the Mauritius Kite, the Pink Pigeon, and the Mauritius Kestrel.
The last one is notable, as the Mauritius Kestrel was declared the national bird of Mauritius in March 2022 to celebrate 30 years of the country being a republic.
List of Common Birds Found in Mauritius
Native Birds
- Barau’s Petrel
- Broad-billed Roller
- Brown Noddy
- Common Greenshank
- Common Ringed Plover
- Crab-plover
- Curlew Sandpiper
- Echo Parakeet
- Eurasian Curlew
- Eurasian Moorhen
- Garganey
- Gray Plover
- Greater Sand Plover
- Intermediate Egret
- Lesser Frigatebird
- Lesser Kestrel
- Lesser Noddy
- Little Stint
- Madagascar Buttonquail
- Madagascar Pratincole
- Mascarene Gray White-eye
- Mascarene Martin
- Mascarene Paradise Flycatcher
- Mascarene Petrel
- Mascarene Swamphen
- Mascarene Swiftlet
- Masked Booby
- Mauritius Blue Pigeon
- Mauritius Bulbul
- Mauritius Cuckoo
- Mauritius Cuckooshrike
- Mauritius Fody
- Mauritius Gray White-eye
- Mauritius Kestrel
- Mauritius Night Heron
- Mauritius Nightjar
- Mauritius Olive White-eye
- Mauritius Paradise Flycatcher
- Mauritius Parakeet
- Mauritius Pigeon
- Mauritius Serpent Eagle
- Mauritius Shelduck
- Mauritius Shrike
- Mauritius Storm Petrel
- Mauritius White-eye
- Newton’s Parakeet
- Pink Pigeon
- Pomarine Jaeger
- Red Rail
- Red-tailed Tropicbird
- Réunion Gray White-eye
- Rodrigues Fody
- Rodrigues Warbler
- Ruddy Turnstone
- South Polar Skua
- Striated Heron
- Terek Sandpiper
- Whimbrel
- White Tern
- White-tailed Tropicbird
- White-throated Rail
- Wilson’s Storm Petrel
Non-native Birds
- Chinese Francolin
- Collared Pratincole
- Common Myna
- Common Quail
- Common Waxbill
- Gray Francolin
- Greater Flamingo
- Helmeted Guineafowl
- House Crow
- House Sparrow
- Laughing Dove
- Lesser Flamingo
- Lesser Vasa Parrot
- Madagascar Buttonquail
- Malagasy Turtle-dove
- Meller’s Duck
- Red Fody
- Red-whiskered Bulbul
- Ring-necked Pheasant
- Rock Pigeon
- Rose-ringed Parakeet
- Scaly-breasted Munia
- Spotted Dove
- Village Weaver
- Yellow-fronted Canary
- Zebra Dove
Mauritius’s best places to go birdwatching include Black River Gorges National Park, Île aux Aigrettes, and Rivulet Terre Rouge Bird Sanctuary. The peak season for birding in Mauritius is during the austral spring and early summer, corresponding to September to December. During this time, several migratory birds make their way to the country to escape the heat of the Northern Hemisphere. This makes it an ideal period to see these avian species.
