United Kingdom Ramsar wetland
Sea Lion Island
90 bird species recorded; the most from November to December.
chris lovelock · CC BY 2.0
This month here
68 species in January.64 species in February.59 species in March.67 species in April.54 species in May.39 species in June.38 species in July.43 species in August.52 species in September.64 species in October.77 species in November.72 species in December.
The birds you are most likely to see in the month you choose, those that come for the season first. It opens on today's month.
NT
VU
NTVU
NTVUNT
NTNT
NT
NTNT
NTVUNT
VUVUNTVU- Resident all year
- Summer visitor comes to breed
- Winter visitor comes for the winter
- Passage migrant in spring and autumn
In numbers
90 species, counted.
Our own rating, from the records only: species (50 points), threatened species (20), migrants (20) and protected status — Ramsar, IBA, SPA, observatory (10).
- 90Speciesrecorded more than once
- 41Migrantssummer, winter or passage visitors
- 7ThreatenedVulnerable, Endangered or Critically Endangered (IUCN)
- 33,996Recordsopen records within 6 km
- 6Raptors
- 1Owls
- 15Waders
- 32Gulls & seabirds
- 14Ducks & geese
- 6Herons, ibises & grebes
- 15Songbirds
- 1Other birds
From open records (eBird and others, through GBIF, licensed for any use). More birdwatchers mean more records: a quiet place may have more birds than it shows.
The checklist
All 90 species.
By group, with the year in twelve cells: the darker the cell, the more often the bird is recorded that month.
Raptors6 species
JFMAMJJASOND
- Turkey VultureCathartes aura
- Peregrine FalconFalco peregrinus
- Crested CaracaraCaracara plancus
- Buteo polyosomaButeo polyosoma
- Aplomado FalconFalco femoralis
- Forster's CaracaraPhalcoboenus australisNT
Owls1 species
JFMAMJJASOND
- Short-eared OwlAsio flammeus
Waders15 species
JFMAMJJASOND
- Magellanic OystercatcherHaematopus leucopodus
- Snowy SheathbillChionis albus
- Magellanic SnipeGallinago magellanica
- Rufous-chested DotterelCharadrius modestus
- Blackish OystercatcherHaematopus ater
- White-rumped SandpiperCalidris fuscicollisVU
- Baird's SandpiperCalidris bairdii
- SanderlingCalidris alba
- Two-banded PloverCharadrius falklandicus
- Southern LapwingVanellus chilensis
- Stilt SandpiperCalidris himantopusNT
- Hudsonian GodwitLimosa haemasticaVU
- South American SnipeGallinago paraguaiae
- Least SeedsnipeThinocorus rumicivorus
- Pectoral SandpiperCalidris melanotos
Gulls & seabirds32 species
JFMAMJJASOND
- Antarctic Giant-PetrelMacronectes giganteus
- Southern Black-backed GullLarus dominicanus
- Brown SkuaStercorarius antarcticus
- Magellanic PenguinSpheniscus magellanicus
- Dolphin GullLeucophaeus scoresbii
- Gentoo PenguinPygoscelis papua
- Black-browed AlbatrossThalassarche melanophris
- South American TernSterna hirundinacea
- Rockhopper PenguinEudyptes chrysocomeVU
- Sooty shearwaterPuffinus griseus
- Brown-hooded GullChroicocephalus maculipennis
- Antarctic FulmarFulmarus glacialoides
- Northern Giant PetrelMacronectes halli
- Macaroni PenguinEudyptes chrysolophusVU
- King PenguinAptenodytes patagonicus
- White-chinned PetrelProcellaria aequinoctialisVU
- Great shearwaterPuffinus gravis
- Grey-backed Storm-PetrelGarrodia nereis
- Royal AlbatrossDiomedea epomophoraVU
- Thin-billed prionPachyptila belcheri
- Pintado PetrelDaption capense
- Wilson's Storm-PetrelOceanites oceanicus
- Common Diving-PetrelPelecanoides urinatrix
- Soft-plumaged PetrelPterodroma mollis
- Northern Rockhopper PenguinEudyptes moseleyi
- Gray-headed AlbatrossThalassarche chrysostoma
- ToroaDiomedea exulansVU
- Fairy PrionPachyptila turtur
- Royal PenguinEudyptes schlegeli
- Arctic TernSterna paradisaea
- Kerguelen PetrelAphrodroma brevirostris
- White-headed PetrelPterodroma lessonii
Ducks & geese14 species
JFMAMJJASOND
- Upland GooseChloephaga picta
- Falkland SteamerduckTachyeres brachypterus
- Crested duckLophonetta specularioides
- Ruddy-headed GooseChloephaga rubidiceps
- Kelp GooseChloephaga hybrida
- Yellow-billed TealAnas flavirostris
- Chiloe WigeonMareca sibilatrix
- Flying Steamer-DuckTachyeres patachonicus
- Silver TealSpatula versicolor
- Yellow-billed PintailAnas georgica
- Black-necked SwanCygnus melancoryphus
- Ashy-headed GooseChloephaga poliocephala
- Greylag GooseAnser anser
- Cinnamon TealSpatula cyanoptera
Herons, ibises & grebes6 species
JFMAMJJASOND
- Magellan CormorantPhalacrocorax magellanicus
- Imperial ShagLeucocarbo atriceps
- Black-crowned Night-HeronNycticorax nycticorax
- Southern Silvery GrebePodiceps occipitalis
- Western Cattle EgretBubulcus ibis
- White-tufted GrebeRollandia rolland
Songbirds15 species
JFMAMJJASOND
- Blackish CinclodesCinclodes antarcticusNT
- Canary-winged FinchMelanodera melanodera
- Austral ThrushTurdus falcklandii
- Cobb's WrenTroglodytes cobbi
- Black-chinned SiskinSpinus barbatus
- Dark-faced Ground-TyrantMuscisaxicola maclovianus
- Grass WrenCistothorus platensis
- Anthus correnderaAnthus correndera
- Long-tailed MeadowlarkSturnella loyca
- Chilean SwallowTachycineta leucopyga
- Barn swallowHirundo rustica
- House SparrowPasser domesticus
- White-crested ElaeniaElaenia albiceps
- Rufous-collared SparrowZonotrichia capensis
- Fork-tailed FlycatcherTyrannus savana
Other birds1 species
JFMAMJJASOND
- White-winged CootFulica leucoptera
Monthly presence relative to all bird records that month, so a busy month does not inflate every species.
When to go
The most species from November to December.
Species recorded in each month, with the usual temperature and rain.
- Jan11°/8°70 mm
- Feb11°/8°56 mm
- Mar10°/8°68 mm
- Apr8°/6°73 mm
- May7°/5°65 mm
- Jun6°/4°61 mm
- Jul5°/3°56 mm
- Aug5°/3°55 mm
- Sep6°/3°49 mm
- Oct7°/4°42 mm
- Nov8°/6°52 mm
- Dec10°/7°58 mm
- Bar: species recorded that month.
- Temperature: average maximum / minimum (NASA, 1991–2020).
- Rain: monthly total.
The place
Sea Lion Island.
Island in the southeast of the Falkland Islands
Sea Lion Island is a wetland of international importance (Ramsar) in United Kingdom.
90 bird species have been recorded here more than once, in 33,996 open records.
The most recorded are the Blackish Cinclodes, the Upland Goose and the Antarctic Giant-Petrel.
32 species come for the summer, 9 for the winter and 0 only pass through.
7 are threatened worldwide, including Rockhopper Penguin, White-rumped Sandpiper and Macaroni Penguin.
The most species are recorded from November to December.
Get there and watch
- Sea Lion Island Lodgeplace to stay · 1.0 km · 1 within 10 km
- Mount Pleasant Airport / RAF Mount Pleasant (MPN)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 81 km in a straight lineCar hire at NQY airport (Newquay)Discover Cars · sponsored link↗
Plan the visit
A guided walk, a bed nearby, a car.
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
From above
The place and its surroundings.
The satellite image of the 6 × 6 km around the place, with the bird hides, towers and trails that OpenStreetMap shows.
Around, in OpenStreetMap
- 1viewpoints within 5 kmRockhopper Point
- 1places to stay within 10 kmSea Lion Island Lodge
- bird hides within 6 km
- observation towers within 6 km
- marked trails within 4 km
- visitor centres within 6 km
- car parks within 3 km
- restaurants and cafés within 3 km
- campsites within 10 km
Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit. A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet.
In our other atlases
Around Sea Lion Island.
The lakes, beaches, islands, rivers and mountains around this place, and its night sky, in the family's atlases.
Islandyasthe islandSea Lion Island9.1 km²
Figures from the sister sites' databases (Wikidata, HydroATLAS, GeoNames, OpenStreetMap). Links open when each site is online.
Photographs
The place, as people saw it.
Other places nearby.
Sea Lion Island
United Kingdom
- 62Birdyas Score
- 90Species
- 41Migrants
- 7Threatened
Bertha's Beach Important Bird Area
Falkland Islands · 82 km
- 49Birdyas Score
- 57Species
- 25Migrants
- 4Threatened
Where these figures come from
| Name and type | Wikidata (Q110538) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Birds | 33,996 open bird records within 6 km (GBIF, CC0 and CC BY 4.0 only; mostly eBird, Cornell Lab of Ornithology) |
| See these records | gbif.org |
| Species | GBIF Backbone Taxonomy · CC BY 4.0; Wikidata (CC0); Wikimedia Commons |
| Altitude | Copernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA |
| Temperature and rain | NASA POWER (CERES SYN1deg, 2001–2020; MERRA-2) |
| What is around | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
| Sister atlases | Islandyas |
Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.
The family
Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers, canyons, caves, dark skies, viewpoints, birdwatching or forests?
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Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Visit 
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viewpoints
Every viewpoint with its real 360° panorama: the peaks you can name, how far you see and where the sun sets.Coming soonVisit 
birdwatching
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