The island is also noted for large numbers of birds. About 16 species of seabird nest on Necker Island;Rauzon, p. 29. during nesting season, an estimated 60,000 birds nest on the island, and their eggs cover virtually every piece of level ground. A seabird first observed at Necker Island and at the French Frigate Shoals and Nihoa in 1902 originally was thought to be new to science and was given the scientific name Procelsterna saxatalis and the popular name "Necker Island tern," but it later was identified as a subspecies of the blue-grey noddy, already known from farther south in the Pacific.Rauzon, p. 28. No land birds live on the island. Land animals found on the island include land snails and 15 species of insect found nowhere else, as well as wolf spiders and bird ticks.
