Anicee Lombal – Christmas Island Seabird Project

The Christmas Island Seabird Project investigates the biology and ecology of several highly threatened seabird species of Christmas Island (CI) in the eastern Indian Ocean including the Christmas Island Frigatebird and the Abbott’s Booby. This project was initiated by Dr. Janos Hennicke (University of Hamburg, Germany) in 2004, in cooperation with the Christmas Island National Park. The aim of Janos’ Seabird Project is to create a scientific foundation for the protection of the seabirds and their habitat.

In August-September 2016, I got involved in the CI seabird project focusing on deployments of loggers on Abbott’s Boobies and colony surveys of CI Frigatebirds. We took the first charter flight from Jakarta to CI, and we spent one month at the “Pink House”, an Education and Research Station located in the middle of the plateau rainforest.