Animals in Norfolk Island

Because Norfolk Island, situated between Australia and New Zealand, is far from any other land mass, it has developed birds and plants that are not found anywhere else.

There are no amphibians or mammals on Norfolk Island. The only reptiles are a type of gecko and a type of skink, which can be seen on the rocks and islands surrounding Norfolk Island.

Birds are the primary vertebrates species. Forty-three of these species of birds are native, but only three are endemic, which are the slender-billed white-eye, the nearly extinct Norfolk Island parakeet and the white-chested white-eye which is critically endangered. The Norfolk Island kaka is now extinct. Unfortunately the darling little Boobook owl, who makes a call that sounds like it's name, is very nearly extinct on the island, although not elsewhere.

Among the native birds are the grey fantail, the Pacific robin, the Pacific black duck, the wandering albatross, several species of petrels, the tropicbird, and the golden whistler.

Norfolk Island is a favorite stopping off place for many migratory birds including the delightfully named fairy tern, the sooty tern, the red-tailed tropic bird, the white-faced heron and the masked gannet. Another migratory bird on Norfolk Island is the largest of the tropical shearwaters, the wedge-tailed shearwater. This bird is also referred to as the "Ghost Bird" due to the moaning and ghost-like sound of their calls to one another across the island at night.

Most of the birds to be found on Norfolk Island are referred to as rare/accidental, such as the plumed whistling duck, the black swan, the Australian shelduck, the black-browed albatross, the Australasian grebe, the Australian ibis, the royal spoonbill and a variety of egrets, cormorants, plovers, tattlers and cuckoos.

There are also several varieties of birds that have been introduced to the island such as the European greenfinch, the European goldfinch the Californian quail, the greylag goose, the rock dove, the European starling, the crimson rosella, the Eurasian blackbird, the song thrush and the ubiquitous house sparrow.