We saw 5 species of sea birds on Kouare Island in the great southern lagoon of New Caledonia. Ilot Kouare is part of the New Caledonia Lagoon World Heritage Site and I think the birds know and appreciate this. Like most birds, they are wary of visitors but also curious. After I set up my tripod to take this sphere image the birds in the island bushes and on the beaches watched me watching them for about half an hour and then they went back to business as normal – which, for the Noddy Turns, was mating ritual flights.

Most of the Noddy Turns flew in pairs, their wingtips often just centimetres apart, dancing high above the island making little chirping noises to each other.  They soared, glided, came plummeting down to graze the waves and then climbed again, circling each other with excitement.

Sometimes I saw a ménage a trois with three Noddy Turns doing aerobatics together. I suppose they were two males trying to impress the same female – but it could have been any combination at all or even just a group of birds doing flying exercises just for fun. I was actually hoping one of the couples would land in the bush next to me and consummate their ritual. But they evidently wanted a little more privacy for that. If you look straight up in the sphere image you will see one pair of noddy turns way, way up there. Can't get more private than that.

In all this flocking excitement, the occassional sea gull would flap down the beach and every once and awhile land on the beach and waddle into the clear water to cool off.

White sterns of two species flitted by at high speed, on their way to snatch some lunch from the lagoon fly-by just beyond the edge of the reef.

Ilot Kouare is about 40 nautical miles south of Noumea and except for holidays and long weekends when yachts come down to this lagoon anchorage, the sea birds have the lovely little island all to themselves.