Birds of Kiribati

The island country of Kiribati is home to about 100 bird species. Most of the nation has coral reef islands and atolls, where seabirds like the Brown Booby, the Great Frigatebird, and the Kiribati Reed Warbler can be seen.

The country’s flag has a stylized image of a Great Frigatebird.

List of Common Birds Found in Kiribati

Native Birds

Bar-tailed Godwit
Black-bellied Plover
Black-crowned Night Heron
Black-faced Cuckooshrike
Black-footed Albatross
Black-naped Tern
Black Noddy
Black-winged Petrel
Black-winged Stilt
Blue-faced Parrotfinch
Bridled Tern
Bristle-thighed Curlew
Brown Booby
Brown Goshawk
Brown-headed Gull
Brown Noddy
Brown Skua
Buff-banded Rail
Chestnut-bellied Monarch
Chinese Pond Heron
Christmas Island Frigatebird
Collared Kingfisher
Common Sandpiper
Common Tern
Common White Tern
Eastern Reef Egret
Eurasian Wigeon
Fawn-breasted Whistler
Golden Whistler
Gray-headed Albatross
Gray Plover
Gray Ternlet
Great Crested Tern
Great Frigatebird
Green-winged Teal
Island Thrush
Kermadac Petrel
Kiribati Reed Warbler
Laughing Gull
Lesser Frigatebird
Lesser Golden Plover
Lesser Noddy
Little Tern
Little Whimbrel
Long-tailed Cuckoo
Masked Booby
Melanesian Flycatcher
Micronesian Myzomela
Micronesian Starling
Northern Pintail
Northern Shoveler
Oceanic Flycatcher
Pacific Golden Plover
Pacific Imperial Pigeon
Pacific Reef Heron
Pacific Robin
Pacific Swallow
Pectoral Sandpiper
Phoenix Petrel
Polynesian Storm Petrel
Polynesian Triller
Pomarine Jaeger
Providence Petrel
Red-footed Booby
Red-necked Stint
Red Phalarope
Red-tailed Tropicbird
Rock Pigeon
Ruddy Turnstone
Sacred Kingfisher
Samoan Whistler
Shy Ground Dove
Singing Starling
Slender-billed White-eye
Sooty Shearwater
Sooty Tern
South Polar Skua
Spotless Crake
Streaked Fantail
Tabiteuea White-eye
Terek Sandpiper
Wandering Tattler
Whimbrel
White-capped Noddy
White-rumped Swiftlet
White-tailed Tropicbird
White Tern
White-throated Pigeon
White-winged Tern

Non-native Birds

American Wigeon
Black-winged Petrel
Canada Goose
Collared Petrel
Franklin’s Gull
Glaucous-winged Gull
Kelp Gull
Kuhl’s Lorikeet
Mallard
Mottled Petrel
Nazca Booby
Pycroft’s Petrel
Red Junglefowl
Streaked Shearwater
Tahiti Petrel
White-necked Petrel

Kiribati offers fantastic birding opportunities, especially for bird enthusiasts interested in seabirds and unique island species. While there are limited birding sites in Kiribati due to its remote and scattered atolls, some of the best places for birdwatching include Christmas Island, Fanning Island, and Teraina Island. The best time to go birding in the country is between October and April, when the seabirds breed and migratory birds visit.