Protecting the Abbott’s booby

Parks Australia is turning former mining areas into nesting habitats for endangered seabirds.

The Abbott’s booby is a seabird that only nests in one place in the world – the plateau rainforests of Christmas Island.

In some parts of the island, human settlement and phosphate mining removed the original tall evergreen forest, leading to the loss of countless Abbott’s boobies. There were indirect impacts too: open expanses of cleared land caused wind turbulence over the forest canopy, dislodging Abbott’s booby chicks from their nests and limiting the ability of parent birds to land and feed their young.

To protect these endangered birds, we have been working to rehabilitate former mining leases and turn them back into healthy rainforest. The work is carried out by Parks Australia and funded by a conservation levy paid by Christmas Island Phosphates.

Park staff propagate native plants from seed in the national park nursery, planting the seedlings in areas zoned for rehabilitation. Since 2004, we have planted more than 300,000 trees.

Forest birds have already returned to the replanted areas, with imperial pigeons, white eyes, thrushes and emerald doves now a common sight. Red crabs and robber crabs have also moved in, increasing the biodiversity of the ecosystems.

Eventually these rehabilitated areas will become a prime nesting habitat where Abbott’s boobies can build their nests in tall trees.