The Central (granitic) Seychelles archipelago supports 12 endemic land bird
species, eight of which are regarded as threatened with extinction at a global level
(BirdLife International 2000); none of these birds currently occur on Bird Island. As
for many avian endemics on islands, the translocation of populations to suitable
predator-free islands has been proposed to increase total population size and
stability for several of these species (e.g. Watson 1984; Komdeur 1994; BirdLife
International 2000).