Overview
This report is divided into three sections:
Section 1 - Introduction, logistics general information and itinerary.
Section 2 - Birding sites.
Section 3 - Systematic species list.
The expanding itinerary of this trip resulted from a mixture of opportunity, timing, weather and, most importantly, both international and domestic flight schedules. This trip involved a total of 24 flights, all of which needed to run fairly smoothly or a major spanner would be thrown in the works. As with any trip across the Pacific, planning the logistics as much as possible pays dividends. A couple of the flight connections were rather tight, but fortunately none of these was late. Trips around the Pacific should also be issued with a wealth warning; this is not a cheap part of the world!
The first stop, New Caledonia, was an obvious choice with its 20 extant endemics, during which I was joined by Phil Hansbro from Sydney. Thereafter I travelled on my own, so added Vanuatu (formerly known as the New Hebrides Islands), Samoa (formerly Western Samoa) and the Cook Islands, as they form a fairly logical band across the south Pacific, although travelling between them is not necessarily as easy as it looks on a map!
Fiji was excluded as I'd visited previously. I'd also wanted to include Tahiti, which is readily accessible from the Cook Islands, but simply ran out of time. The number of days on each island worked out reasonably well, though longer on Vanuatu would have been preferable. At this time of year, weather should have been reasonable throughout. However, a huge tropical cyclone in the northern Pacific generated major rainfall in both Vanuatu and Samoa which affected my trip considerably, resulting in a few missed birds. Vanuatu in particular turned into yet another chance to spend hours in the rain, with mud-filled boots searching for elusive denizens of the forest.
Despite the weather, and falling ill, I enjoyed the atmosphere on Samoa greatly. This is a great place - very laid back with friendly and welcoming locals; I really felt welcome in this country. Everyone smiles and is helpful, and it's one of the few countries in the world I've visited with honest taxi drivers. When people know you are from England they immediately break into conversation about rugby, so brush up on a few facts before visiting if you are from a rugby-playing nation.
Birding is easiest on New Caledonia and the Cook Islands, and most difficult on Vanuatu where a number of the species are rare and difficult to locate.
When arranging your itinerary, remember to take crossing the date-line into consideration when connecting between domestic and international flights. Flying into the Cook Islands from Auckland you will generally arrive the day before you leave!
Flights and visas
New Caledonia
Due to the high cost of accommodation (and everything else) on New Caledonia it's often better to find an all-inclusive deal combining international flights, accommodation and car rental. We arranged such a combination with Qantas through Travelworld in Newcastle, Australia. New Caledonia is connected to several cities from Europe, Australia and New Zealand. As it is a department of France, European Union nationals can enter freely. Holders of most western passports do not require a visa either, with a 30-day visa issued on arrival. Immigration check return flight tickets of all arriving passengers. The international airport is located on the west coast, about 40 kilometres north of the capital Nouméa.
Vanuatu
Vanuatu is most readily accessed via Sydney, Auckland or Suva in Fiji. Visas are not required for holders of most western passports, with a 30 day visa being issued on arrival. The international airport is located just outside Porta Vila, the capital, from where it is easy to take a taxi to town. Birders however, need to visit the island of Santo, where all the endemic species are known to occur, which requires a domestic connection.
Samoa
Samoa is most easily accessed from Auckland, New Zealand. Visas are not required for holders of most western passports, with a 60 day visa being issued on arrival. The international airport is located at about 35 kilometres from Apia, the capital. International flights are subject to a departure tax.
Cook Islands
The Cook Islands are most easily accessed from Auckland, New Zealand. Visas are not required for holders of most western passports with a 31 day visa being issued on arrival. The international airport is located just on the edge of Avarua, the capital. A taxi to town costs around NZ$10-15. It should be noted that Air New Zealand strictly enforces hand-baggage limits, with a weight restriction of 7 kg,
Money
New Caledonia
New Caledonia uses the Pacific French Franc (FP). The exchange rate was US$ 1 = FP 89. At the international airport, foreign exchange was only available within the transit lounge, not outside in the arrival and departure areas. Credit cards should be widely accepted, and was used for the car rental.
Vanuatu
The currency of Vanuatu is the Vatu (VT). The exchange rate was US$ 1 = VT 108. Foreign exchange is available both within the transit and arrival/departure areas. However the later was closed during my departure so might not be that reliable. A credit card was not used, and I would not recommend relying on one, other than for purchasing flight tickets.
Samoa
Samoa's currency is the Tala, or sometimes referred to as the Western Samoa Tala (WST). The exchange rate was US$ 1 = WST 2.7. Confusingly, locals often refer to Tala as "dollar", and to make matters even more confusing prices are often written with the $ symbol. After a while on the island you realise that locals are always referring to the Tala, though I'm sure some tourists inadvertently pay three times the price! Credit cards are fairly widely accepted in stores and restaurants.
Cook Islands
Being a protectorate of New Zealand, the Cook Islands use the New Zealand dollar (NZ$). The exchange rate was US$ 1 = NZ$ 1.38. Money exchange was freely available in the airport and banks in town. Coins in circulation are both those minted in New Zealand as well as a local Cook Island version with ethnic designs. Be aware that the Cook Island coins are not legal tender in New Zealand. Credit cards are widely accepted.
Health, safety and hassles
Insects were not too bothersome, and insect repellent was rarely used. On New Caledonia almost no insects were encountered other than a few mosquitoes on Ouvéa. On Vanuatu the forests were surprisingly free of mosquitoes, but were very active within the villages at Loru and Ipayato. Vanuatu is considered a malaria risk zone. Locals I spoke with said malaria was mostly a problem during the wet season. A few leaches and ticks were found at higher elevations on Pic Santo. Despite being wet, Samoa presented no insect problems. The Cook Islands are malaria free, but all damp forests had plenty of mosquitoes active day and night.
Getting around
New Caledonia
The only realistic option for visiting birders is to rent a vehicle. We rented a small 4x4 (Suzuki Jimney) with barely room for our baggage. The four wheel drive was not essential as the weather was dry. It was certainly good though to have the clearance on the road up to Farino. However, any rain would have made four wheel drive essential at Farino, Rivière Blue and other interior roads we travelled. We purchased a map in advance of our arrival, but basic maps were available from Hertz when we rented the vehicle. We did however get very lost driving around Nouméa on several occasions. Signposting is extremely poor, and it didn't help that the Nouméa map provided had no indication of north, and was in reality rotated 90 degrees! Be aware that the highways north of east from Nouméa have small tolls (FP 100-150), so that driving into Nouméa from the airport after arrival you will need to have changed at least a small amount of currency. Driving is on the right hand side. An international driving licence is not required.
Once out of Nouméa, driving is straight forward. Depending on time and preferences, inter-island travel can be made on domestic flights, or on the speedy inter-island ferry. A major problem for birders wishing to take the ferry, in order to observe pelagic species, is that schedules are only finalised and published (in local newspapers) two weeks in advance. This makes advance planning extremely difficult, and to make matters worse, internal flights generally fill up weeks in advance during peak-season. To attempt to surmount this problem, we booked domestic flights in advance and then tried to change our itinerary around once we'd arrived and knew the ferry schedule. This proved impossible due to completely booked internal flights. All internal flights are operated by Air Calin. Domestic flights operate from the domestic airport in Nouméa. Due to limited time, and our visit coinciding with peak tourist season, we made all accommodation, vehicle and domestic flight reservations in advance.
For those wishing to visit Ouvéa to see Ouvéa Parakeet it is advisable to line this up also. We made all internal arrangements via Arc en Ciel Voyages in Nouméa where we dealt with the efficient Virginie Blache, and can recommend their services. We paid by bank transfer, and coupons were waiting for us at their airport kiosk on arrival.
For those visiting Ouvéa, an important aspect of local culture to be dealt with is manou. We became thoroughly confused by this custom as no one, not even Arc and Ciel, were able to properly explain it. Leaflets available at the airport are equally confusing and useless, and explain it as, I quote, "The meaning of custom and the traditional spirit of the Kanak people remain, but Kanaké must, in order to preserve its authenticity, make a continued conscientious effort regarding the material and symbolic expressions of his way of life. If he is not careful, he could find himself the depository of rites, and phrases devoid of content" Clear as mud! So what does all this mean to the visiting birder? Well, to put this into plain English, when visiting Ouvéa, an island of the Kanak tribe, it is necessary to present a traditional gift on visiting a local family. Birders will need to do this when looking for the Ouvéa Parakeet as they are most easily found on private land, so a gift on entry will be almost expected. Manou is a coloured piece of material (a women's wrap) which is available in shops in Nouméa costing around FP 500 upward. This should be presented together with a packet of cigarettes and a FP 500 note when first meeting the land owner or manager.
Vanuatu
As most birders visiting Vanuatu concentrate on two or three main sites, only transportation between them is required. Roads around the few towns are paved, but elsewhere are dirt, in varying condition, so a 4x4 with driver needs to be arranged. The road to Ipayato, to access Pic Santo, is particularly bad and surely impassable in the wet season.
Although taxi rides around town are cheap, renting a 4x4 for a longer trip is quite expensive. I paid a total of VT 28,000 for the four trips to/from Loru and Ipayato. Surprisingly, as Vanuatu was a British protectorate before independence, driving is on the right. A mixture of language and logistical difficulties, make it highly advisable to make advance arrangements, especially for those with limited time. All my arrangements were made with the assistance of Marie Kelsei, of the local environmental NGO, PositiveEarth, whom I thoroughly recommend. They have a lot of experience with helping visitors to Loru and Vatthe, but none for Ipayato and Pic Santo. Arranging my trip has now given them arrangement and guiding contacts for the Pic Santo area. Domestic flights are operated by Air Vanuatu which has a reputation locally for delayed and cancelled flights. Tax on domestic flights is VT 200. Maps were not bought in advance, and none were really necessary.
Samoa
Travel on Samoa can be by taxi, bus, or rental vehicle. With the exception of the mythical Tooth-billed Pigeon, and the Samoan White-eye (which occurs on a different island), all the endemics can be found at a few sites within striking distance of Apia, the capital. This makes the inexpensive and abundant taxis ideal transportation for birding. For those with more time who wish to explore further, small 4x4s can be rented from several places in town. Driving is on the right. An international licence is not required. Adequate tourist maps were available, free of charge, both at Auckland International Airport and on arrival in Samoa.
Cook Islands
As the endemic species are scattered across several distant islands, looking for these requires a number of domestic flights, as well as a variety of transport once there. Those seeking all the endemics and specialities need to visit Rarotonga, Atiu, Aitutaki and Mangaia, and as flights are not daily, careful planning of the itinerary is necessary. No flights operate on Sundays. Air Rarotonga is the only domestic carrier, and, outside the Cook Islands, operates an internet-only booking system. I found them reliable and efficient, although they did throw a spanner in the works when they changed the schedule of the Mangaia flights just before my arrival, necessitating a complete change-around of my itinerary. Flights at peak season fill well in advance, so plan early.
On the main island, Rarotonga, the most effective transport is to rent either a car or moped. These are available from a variety of shops and kiosks along the high street in the main town, Avarua. Small cars are around NZ$ 50 per day. I rented from two operators; Raro Tours and Island Cars. Many of the major international rental companies also have branches in Rarotonga. Annoyingly, foreign driving licences are not accepted on the Cook Islands. In order to rent a vehicle it's necessary to visit the police station to obtain a local, temporary, licence. Although this is straightforward, and cost me only NZ$ 2.50, these are only issued on week days during normal office hours, so require a special trip, usually inconvenient to birders. At the time of my visit the main police station was being rebuilt, so licences were issued from a temporary office at the harbour. A passport photo and your foreign licence are required. Driving is on the left. Adequate tourist maps were available, free of charge, both at Auckland International Airport and Avarua on arrival.
Buses can be convenient and cheap. There are only two routes; clockwise and anti-clockwise along the round-island loop road. A return ticket is NZ$ 5 regardless of distance covered. Taxis are strangely difficult to find, and are best booked in advance through your accommodation. Even at the international airport do not expect taxis to meet flights.
On Aitutaki, mopeds and bicycles can be arranged from many of the accommodations between town and the airfield. However, as I discovered, it's a few kilometres walk to the nearest rental, so if you are unaccustomed to walking in the heat it would be sensible to book something in advance to meet you on arrival.
Atiu is poorly visited by tourists, and did not appear to have any moped rental available. As the island is relatively small though, getting about on foot was easy. The airfield is several kilometres from accommodations, so ensure you arrange to be met by wherever you are staying. On Mangaia it's definitely advisable to be met at the airfield, as it's eight kilometres to town where mopeds are available for rent at NZ$ 35 per day. Roads in the centre and south of the island are in poor condition and slippery when wet; take care on a bike or moped.
Other miscellaneous information
The electrical supply throughout the region is nominally 220-240V, 50 Hz. On New Caledonia electrical sockets are, unsurprisingly, the French recessed two-pin type. On Vanuatu, Samoa and the Cook Islands electrical plugs are the flat prong inverted V-type. During my visit the sunrise and sunset times varied between 05h30 (on New Caledonia) and 05h45 (on the Cook Islands) and 18h00 (on New Caledonia) and 18h45 (on the Cook Islands). Time zones are New Caledonia GMT+11, Vanuatu GMT+11, Samoa GMT-11 and Cook Islands GMT-10.
Accommodation
Le Lagon, Nouméa, New Caledonia. This is probably the cheapest of the "tourist" accommodations used by airlines for package deals. We had a twin studio room with a hot-plate and fridge which enabled us to cook very basic meals and prepare sandwiches for lunch. The rooms are adequate, but on the small side. As a base for birding it was fine, but don't expect too much for the price. Our week's stay was booked as a package with flight and vehicle.
Drehu Village Bungalows, Lífou, New Caledonia. A typical small resort with bungalows on the beach, and certainly the nicest place we stayed.
Gite Le Banyon, Ouvéa, New Caledonia. Small thatched bungalows owned and run by Roland, our guide on Ouvéa, together with his wife. Speaking to aid workers also staying, this appears to be the best, simple accommodation on the island. Roland knows local landowners, and can take you to see the Ouvéa Parakeet. Meals were simple but good. For some bizarre reason the doors of the bungalows are designed for midgets and only one metre high – looks nice but great for smacking the head on! Bathrooms are communal. We booked Roland, transportation and the accommodation through Arc en Ciel.
Coral Motel, Porta Vila, Vanuatu. This budget motel was chosen purely on its convenience to the airport. The owners are extremely helpful and will provide a free pickup and drop service to the airport, only five minutes away, which saves the VT 1,000 VT taxi fare. I highly recommend this place for those needing accommodation near the airport. The rooms include a small kitchen and fridge. I saw no restaurants nearby, but stores were adjacent. Cost VT 5,900 per double.
Cloud 9 Eco Lodge, Apia, Samoa. Without doubt, one of the most spectacular views of any guesthouse I've stayed. Perched high on a hillside above Apia with a view across a forested valley, breakfast can be taken whilst watching White Terns, White-tailed Tropicbirds, colourful fruit-doves and several of the Samoan endemics. Awesome! The accommodation is somewhat rustic, but excellent for birders and naturalists. The owner (the locally famous musician David Parker) and staff are very accommodating and friendly. The only drawback to Cloud 9 is its location; if you do not have a rental vehicle you need to call for a taxi from town as the lodge is well away from the nearest road. Some taxis don't know it or don't want to go as they can't get another fare back easily. However, the owner will drive you down at 08:00 and back again at 17:00 as he owns a shop in town.
Paradise Inn. Avarua, Rarotonga, Cook Islands. This is probably the best budget accommodation on Rarotonga, and with good reason. At around NZ$ 65-80 it represents good value. Each room has basic cooking facilities and a fridge, and the management try to help with everything. The location on the eastern edge of town is also great and not more than a ten minute walk from town. This accommodation is popular, so book early. The only negative issue is the noisy neighbours on the east side, which the management know about but struggle to control. Try to request a room on the western side of the building.
Taparere Lodge, Atiu, Cook Islands. This lodge is family-run with two or three basic, but comfortable bungalows with cooking facilities and a fridge. Food is not available, but the owner will make arrangements for you to eat at the Atiu Villas a couple of kilometres away. The price was NZ$ 75, plus NZ$ 14 for airfield transfers.
Babe's Place, Mangaia, Cook Islands. As Mangaia is so far from the tourist path, choice of accommodation is limited. However, Babe's is comfortable and convenient, and reckoned to be the nicest place to stay on the island. Rooms were quite large and comfortable, with a communal dining and lounging area. It had a nice homely atmosphere. The price was NZ$ 75 including all meals and airfield transfers.
Food
A mixture of expense and remote locations meant this was far from a culinary trip! As prices of almost everything on New Caledonia are prohibitive, and our accommodation in Nouméa had basic cooking facilities, we simply shopped at supermarkets and prepared all our own food; cereals for breakfast, sandwiches for lunch, eggs, beans and similar for evening meals. We brought wine with us from Australia. The beers we had at a street café at the end of the trip were ridiculously expensive. Supermarkets were as well stocked as in Europe, except that the prices were double or more.
On Vanuatu, at least in Luganville, small supermarkets are stocked with basics. As most time was spent trekking up Pic Santo, all food was carried and, as we didn't expect to be able to cook, we were restricted to tinned fish and meat and some really awful cream crackers. The local crackers on Vanuatu are real tooth breakers – production must be supervised by some five-year-old; mix together flour and water and bake till consistency of concrete. Luckily we took some tea bags, so at least getting them down was possible. Beer was a luxury we didn't have on the trek, but I sampled the local brand, Tusker, on the last night. Verdict? Eminently forgettable.
On Samoa the situation was much improved, with a fair line of birders' junk food available. Breakfast and evening meals, taken mainly at the lodge, were simple but good, and supplemented with the local Vailima beer, which was an order of magnitude better than Tusker.
On the Cook Islands, supermarkets in Avarua were well stocked, so other than one night at the excellent Trader Jack's seafood restaurant, I prepared my own food. For trips to the outer islands I took along some junk food from Rarotonga, and supplemented it with meals from local establishments in the evenings. Prices on the Cooks are high; on a par with New Caledonia.
Language
New Caledonia. French is spoken by everyone. However, as a major number of tourists arrive from Australia and New Zealand, English was more widely spoken than I'd have expected. The exception was Ouvéa where neither our guide nor locals we met spoke any English.
Vanuatu. I'd been expecting major difficulties here, which was one of the reasons I had engaged War as my local guide. The main language spoken is Bislama, a kind of Pidgin English mixed with French and Melanesian words. A few people speak English. What I hadn't expected though, was that in some areas French is spoken. French missionary schools seem responsible for this. Certainly around Ipayato, French was widely spoken, including by our porters although their understanding of modern French seemed lacking, so it was necessary to use a limited vocabulary.
Samoa. Samoan is the national language, but almost everyone I came across spoke good English. Getting around here presented no problems at all.
Cook Islands. The national language is Cook Islands Maori, although English is very widely spoken.
Climate
As the weather patterns across all these islands is similar, the best months for visiting, to avoid logistical problems associated with heavy rain, should be July and August. My visit in October coincided roughly with the end of the dry season, and should have been OK. The weather was however decidedly mixed.
On New Caledonia and the Cook Islands it was clear, bright and sunny with variable amounts of cloud, and a fair amount of wind on the former.
The Cook Islands were similarly windy the first few days but, with the wind dropping and temperatures rising, it turned out perfect for birding and sunburn.
In contrast, Vanuatu and Samoa were extremely wet. An unseasonable tropical cyclone was present in the north Pacific making the weather on both difficult for birding. Just after my stay on Vanuatu the cyclone hit northern parts of these islands causing extensive damage.
New Caledonia. The climate is pleasant throughout most of the year. Average temperatures vary from 20 degrees in July and August, up to 26 degrees in January and February. The driest period is from August to December, the wettest from January to June; even so Nouméa only receives an average of just over one metre of rain per year.
Vanuatu. On the coast, temperatures vary little throughout the year, with average temperatures of 24-26 degrees. The driest period is from July to September, and the heaviest rainfall from December to April.
Samoa. Temperatures vary little throughout the year, with an average temperature of 25 or 26 degrees. Daily maximum temperatures are in the low 30s degrees. The driest months are July and August, with the wettest from November to April. Samoa receives almost three metres of rain per year, so at any time prepare to be soaked.
Cook Islands. Average temperatures vary between 22 and 26 degrees, with the coolest months from June to October. The driest period is also June to October, the wettest from December to May. Total yearly rainfall averages two metres.
References
Pratt, H.D., Bruner, SP.L and Berrett, D.G. (1987). A Field Guide to the Birds Hawaii and the Tropical Pacific. Adequately covers Samoa and the Cook Islands.
Doughty, C., Day, N., and Plant, A. Birds of the Solomons, Vanuatu and New Caledonia. (1999). Christopher Helm, A & C Black, London. Adequately covers Vanuatu and New Caledonia.
Collar, N.J. (editor) (2000). Threatened Birds of the World BirdLife International, Lynx Ediciones and BirdLife International.
Clements, J.F. (2000). Birds of the World: A checklist. Ibis Publishing Co. Bregulla, H.L. (1992)
Anthony Nelson. Birds of Vanuatu. (1992). Detailed annotated checklist. Somewhat dated, but interesting reading.
Howard and Moore. A Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World.
World Birdwatch. Vol. 17 No. 4, December 1995, pg 12 to 16. Article on Loru Protected Area.
Sound recordings
Sound recordings were only used on New Caledonia. We had a tape of New Caledonian bird recordings by Yves Letocart made some years ago. This is supposedly still available from shops in Nouméa, but we did not look for it. Without a tape, sound recording equipment would be extremely beneficial, especially for species such as the grassbird. A CD of the Birds of Polynesia by Leslie McPherson was published in 2002. Recording equipment would have been most beneficial on Vanuatu and Samoa, but keeping equipment dry is a major consideration on the trek up Pic Santo.
Itinerary
5 Oct. Having departed Muscat with Emirates airlines, at 00:45, I had an unavoidable seven and a half hour wait in Dubai airport. Unfortunately Emirates will only provide a hotel for those in transit for eight hours or more. The 09:00 flight to Sydney departed on time.
6 Oct. Although having departed on time, arrival in Sydney was an hour late due to the stopover at Bangkok’s newly opened Suvarnabhumi; new airports invariably having teething problems. It took a fair while to clear immigration and customs, after which I took a minibus to Newcastle. This two hour journey took over four hours, as other passenger dropoffs meant a torturous route, but I was eventually dumped at Phil’s place, dropped bags and took off to explore Burwood Beach Sewage Plant to hopefully get to grips with my Aussie nemesis bird – Lewin’s Rail. As suspected it was a spectacular failure with not even a single bird calling! Evening bar-b-que and crashed out early.
7 Oct. With a full day available before our departure for New Caledonia, Phil and I would have another try for Lewin’s Rail. However, we started the day at Walka Water Works where we successfully found Spotless Crake. Then followed visits to several sites before finally obtaining close views of Lewin’s Rail, almost at our feet. What a relief – finally seeing this bird after so many trips to Australia. The rest of the day was good birding but unsuccessful for my target species of Glossy Black Cockatoo (my new nemesis bird), Cicadabird and Masked Owl.
8 Oct. An early departure from Newcastle at 03:15 to Sydney for our 07:40 Qantas flight direct to Nouméa on New Caledonia. At Nouméa immigration and customs seemed to take for ever, due mainly to only two immigration counters and two large planes arriving concurrently. Changed money and collected our pre-arranged rental vehicle from the Hertz counter. The vehicle was a small Suzuki Jimny, barely large enough for our baggage; it would suffice though. As the airport is well north of Nouméa, we headed straight for Farino, being a good part of the way already.
We had problems interpreting two differing sets of instructions for finding this site, but eventually decided anywhere with good habitat was likely to produce the target species. From the parking area we took the track downhill, spending the whole afternoon here, picking up many of the endemics such as Cloven-feathered Dove, New Caledonian Crow, and New Caledonian Flycatcher. Toward the end of the day in thick grass near the car parking area we eventually got a response to playback, with two New Caledonian Grassbird giving short views as they worked their way across the track several times. Not great views, but a good start for what is probably the most difficult of the extant endemics. We left at dusk, seeing Barn Owl fly over the track just as we left. Finding our way around Nouméa in the dark proved very confusing and it took us quite some time to wend our way through the maze of confusing, unsignposted roads to Le Lagon hotel, our base for the following week. It definitely didn’t help that the map we used had no indication of north. The following day we discovered that the map had been made rotated by 90 degrees with north off the left edge of the page. So much for free tourist maps from the airport!
9 Oct. We left the hotel at 05:20, while still dark, and continued to struggle in navigating our way out of Nouméa. Eventually we located the road up Mount Koghis where we arrived in the expectation of an early coffee from the café at the top. Some hope. In typical French fashion it doesn’t open till 09:30. We spent the majority of the morning around the car park as well as walking down the road a little and some exploration of the forest trails.
The few hours were quite successful, adding Horned Parakeet, Barred Honeycreeper, White-bellied Goshawk, Metallic Pigeon and New Caledonian Myzomela to our list.
Having now successfully found the majority of New Caledonian endemics within 24 hours we thought it prudent to investigate the best route from Nouméa toward Rivière Bleue, as we didn’t wish to end up lost the following morning, having arranged to meet Yves there early. Once again we got completely lost in Nouméa. Once we’d found Rivière Bleue, we figured on a spot of birding, but had forgotten the reserve is closed on Mondays, so had to backtrack toward Nouméa, where en route we decided to try Thy Park, a relatively unvisited area. Having asked several locals for directions we found the rough track into the hills, and took the vehicle as far as it would comfortably go. From here we continued on foot for a couple of kilometres through some good forest. This site was fairly productive with new species including Fan-tailed Cuckoo and Crow Honeyeater. We also got excellent views of New Caledonian Grassbird. Arrived back at the hotel around 20:00 after stopping at the supermarket for some basic provisions; beans on toast.
10 Oct. Another early start at 05:30, but now had the route in the GPS so didn’t get lost. We arrived at Rivière Bleue by 06:4 to met Jean-Marc Meriot, and having paid our FP 20,000 guide fee drove into the reserve to meet Yves (“Mr. Kagu”). We gave Yves our wish list of only four species on which he would concentrate.
First off of course was the search for Kagu. This proved to be a lot easier than we’d expected. Yves blasted a tape from his Landrover, and within five minutes a family party arrived and put on an amazing vocal display, all standing together on a log at no more than ten metres distance, seemingly oblivious to our presence. One of the most amazing birding sights I’ve witnessed, and decidedly the bird of the trip.
Yves then concentrated on the riverine forest areas of the park and within two to three hours had successfully located the other three species on our list – New Caledonian Cuckooshrike, New Caledonian Parakeet and Crow Honeyeater. Having cleaned up by midday we returned to the park headquarters to negotiate, without success, a refund on half a day’s guiding.
Headed back to Nouméa and the Arc and Ciel office where we tried to rearrange the remainder of our trip in order to utilise our spare day to take the ferry across to Lífou. This proved impossible due to domestic flights being fully-booked, preventing us moving our key days on Ouvéa. Did a quick trip to town to buy some manou for Ouvéa, then headed out to what we thought, from the map, might be mudflats around Nouméa, but the state of the tide ensured we saw little. More beans back at the hotel, supplemented with a few beers to celebrate the Kagu and general success of the trip so far.
11 Oct. A bleary-eyed start as we took the 06:00 flight to Lífou. Having collected our car we initially birded the forest to the east of the airport where others have located the specialities of Lífou. The Small Lífou White-eye and Cardinal Myzomela were readily found, but the Red-bellied FruitvDove and Large Lífou White-eye were heard only.
During the rest of the morning we randomly tried various tracks in forest and scrub, but it took over six hours to get good views of both. If we’d been taking the early afternoon flight back to the main island, as many seem to do, we would have been struggling. The Large Lífou White-eye is actually quite common once the song is known, but difficult to obtain good views of. We also looked for the uncommon Blue-faced Parrotfinch, Island Thrush and Golden Whistler, but only managed a single sighting of the later.
At 16:00 we drove the eastern coast road in an attempt to find a suitable sea-watching point. Due of the rugged terrain this proved difficult and only one suitable access point, at Pointe Daussy, was found. The seawatching was very good with large numbers of Sooty Shearwater as well as a few Tahiti Petrel and New Caledonian Petrel. We took dinner at the kiosk (FP 1,800 for two salad, chicken and chips) near the Shell station in Wé and then checked in to the, rather better than expected, Drehu Village Hotel on the beach.
12 Oct. Borrowing towels and blankets from the room to sit on, we returned to our seawatching point of yesterday by 05:30 for a couple of hours. Not a lot new other than a couple of skuas, and shearwater numbers were certainly down.
Not wishing to miss the opportunity of the included hotel breakfast buffet we returned to take full advantage of it. Our most leisurely breakfast, after which we checked out and explored further roads to the west of town, ending back at the airport in time for our 14:15 flight to Nouméa and connection to Ouvéa. In Ouvéa we were met by Roland who gave us a lift to his gite. With only an hour of light remaining we took a brief walk along the beach and a quick scan across a nearby marshy area. This produced the only Brown Goshawk of the trip. Our dinner was an improvement on the beans on toast to date, with a fish curry cooked by Roland’s wife.
13 Oct. Hmm, Friday the 13th. What was in store for us today? With Roland having assured us that starting at first light was both unnecessary and impractical we took a leisurely breakfast at 06:30. A White-rumped Swiftlet over the gite was new for the trip. We left for a local landowner’s farm at 08:00, and no sooner had we arrived than we encountered several Ouvéa Parakeet feeding in papaya trees in the garden. Indeed Roland was right. Having spent an hour or so photographing the birds as well as seeing our second Fan-tailed Cuckoo of the trip, we asked Roland to drop us at Pointe Escarpé for a seawatching session till lunch. Species of note included Blue-grey Noddy and Tahiti Petrel. After lunch we visited the marsh again, seeing several Pacific Black Duck, before heading to the airport for our flight to Nouméa, which was only 30 minutes late.
14 Oct. Having now effectively cleaned up on the extant New Caledonian endemics we had a late lie-in till 06:00. The low early morning tide enabled us first to investigate tidal mudflats around Nouméa, where we picked up a number of new trip birds, including Grey-tailed Tattler, Sooty Tern, and Chestnut-breasted Munia. For the remainder of the morning we explored the route to the “lake district” where we found Australian Grebe and Hardhead. We finished the day at the Nouméa horse-racing track (hippodrome) where we found the only Dusky Moorhen of the trip. We celebrated our successful conclusion at a beachfront café near the hotel. On receiving the bill, we wished we hadn’t – FP 28,000 for four small cans of Fosters beer!
15 Oct. We left for the airport at 08:00 stopping en route at Pointe a la Luzerne, which we discovered to be the best wader observation area so far, with Bar-tailed Godwit and Pacific Golden Plover in reasonable numbers; definitely a site worth checking for future visitors. Check-in was straightforward and the Qantas flight departed on time.
Once in Sydney, Phil returned home, and I connected to the Air Vanuatu flight to Porta Vila. Checking email at Sydney I discovered that Air Rarotonga had changed its internal flight schedules to Mangaia island, which meant rearranging my flights and accommodation bookings on the Cook Islands. Customs and immigration on Vanuatu were fast and hassle-free, and after changing money I was met at the airport by the owner of the Coral Motel, just a five minute drive away. He told me with a smile that the unseasonably wet weather had resulted in rain every day for the past three months. Not a good omen for climbing Pic Santo! Eventually made it to bed by 00:30.
16 Oct. An easy check-in for the 07:00 flight to Luganville. Arriving one hour ahead of departure at this sleepy airport seemed unnecessary, but with Air Vanuatu’s reputation for unreliability of domestic flights, I thought better not to take any chances. As it was, the flight left only 30 minutes late, arriving in Luganville 90 minutes later where I was met by Marie from PositiveEarth. As usual in these parts of the world the driver decided he needed fuel after collecting me at the airport, so we took a short detour into town as well as to visit the PositiveEarth office to collect War (pronounced Whoah), my guide for the week.
Now that we were ready, the driver decided he hadn’t put enough fuel into the vehicle first time so we returned to town for more! The drive to Loru Conservation was about 70 minutes on mainly dirt roads and we arrived at War’s small house, just before lunch. From here we walked the three kilometres into the conservation area, spending the afternoon birding and sheltering from frequent downpours. Endemics readily found included Buff-breasted Monarch and Yellow-fronted White-eye, but both Vanuatu Scrubfowl and Chestnut-bellied Kingfisher were heard only. The scrubfowl seemed particularly difficult to approach and we didn’t even come close when trying to approach them. A simple dinner and overnight at War’s house. Heavy overnight rain.
17 Oct. Fortunately the rain had ceased, so we made our 05:30 start to the conservation area with the target of getting to grips with the scrubfowl. Again this proved problematic, and twice only War glimpsed them scampering away, by virtue of being ahead on the trail. When reaching the taller forest we had excellent views of a calling Chestnut-bellied Kingfisher in the lower canopy. With time running out, on our return, a pair of Vanuatu Scrubfowl was flushed into low trees atop one of the rocky crags giving excellent views – a relief. Looking back, I was certainly glad to have seen them here, as trying to see this species on Pic Santo would be much harder due to the terrain.
On our return to War’s house we investigated several areas where Tanna Fruit Dove had been seen recently, but without success. The driver was, surprisingly, on time and we left Loru at 11:00, bound for town, where we bought basic foods for our excursion up Pic Santo. We also stocked up heavily on large plastic bags in preparation for the seemingly inevitable downpours that we would be experiencing on the mountain. At 14:00 we left for Ipayato, the village at the base of Pic Santo.
Considering the amount of recent rain, the state of the road wasn’t too bad, although a 4x4 was essential. En route I was surprised to learn that the driver had never driven to Ipayato, and his handling of some of the more difficult sections of the road showed this. The last river crossing before Ipayato looked particularly daunting, and certainly myself, a reasonably experienced 4x4 driver, had some qualms about crossing the torrent. However, undaunted and spurred on his co-driver he made it two thirds of the way across to where the vehicle became stuck in the river. After a couple of minutes of madly revving the engine things were starting to get hairy, with rising water levels inside the car, our food store starting to float and the car threatening to be swept away by the river. This was enough for me, and grabbing my rucksack I jumped into the river and waded across to the far back, almost being swept off my feet in the process – quite a scary experience, and not one I would want to repeat.
As luck would have it another 4x4 arrived, and having a long tow rope, was able to pull our stranded vehicle out of the river. I was amazed the car never ended up down-river, and even more amazed when the engine stared first time, still with water flooding from inside the vehicle; so much for diesel engines. It was almost dark when we arrived at Ipayato village – a drive that normally would have taken a couple of hours. Unfortunately the village chief was not at home, so we had to hang around until one of the villagers let us into a friend’s house. Food seemed scarce in the area we so settled for crackers and tinned fish from the only store. After dark the village teacher came to visit us with one of our potential porters. As he spoke French, War’s translations from Bislama to English were not necessary, so I able to speak with him first hand. His prognosis of the trek was not hopeful and he tried to make sure I was aware that the weather was likely to be extremely wet, and that trials would be slippery and dangerous. Was I confident I could actually do this trek? Having reassured him I’d done similarly crazy expeditions in the past we agreed a rate of 1,000 VT per day for each of our two porters/guides. Later in the evening the village chief visited us. Contrary to that written in other reports, money wasn’t mentioned and he was very pleased to have us trekking up the mountain. A bottle of whisky was duly presented which I’m sure went down well – both metaphorically and physically. Overnight rain didn’t disappoint.
18 Oct. An early breakfast of tea and tooth-breaking crackers. Fortunately it was not actually raining, though ominous skies looked as though that would be only a matter of time. One of the porters arrived armed with catapult, ammunition and a pack of hunting dogs, so I had to politely explain this was a birding trip and the dogs would not be required! Thankfully they were sent home.
We left at 06:00 trekking uphill through plantations, a sea of mud and a multitude of cow splats. Some sections were steep, slippery and quite unpleasant. After a couple of hours, at the top of the first ridge, a fruiting tree held a good number of Red-bellied Fruit Dove, Tanna Fruit Dove and Pacific Imperial Pigeon. Shortly after, the rain started and five and a half hours later, at only 550 metres altitude, we arrived at a pig hunter’s shelter.
From the rain, awful trails, mud and poor distances covered by now, it was obvious that we would not be able to camp at higher altitude on the mountain (not that we could see it lost in heavy rain clouds) so we decided to use the hunter’s shack as a base camp and walk as far up the mountain as possible this day, and hopefully even farther the next. The hut was a godsend, as it was large and dry - enabling us to eat, sleep and shelter comfortably, as well as cook. Putting up a tent in the forest under the current conditions would have been extremely unpleasant due to being unable to find any open, flat area not a few inches deep in mud.
After lunch of crackers and tinned fish, a lull in the rain persuaded me to try the trail above the hut. A pair of Palm Parakeet was feeding in a tree immediately adjacent to our hut. War, unused to steep trails, was a little worse for wear from the morning’s climb, so decided to remain in camp, rest his feet and probably avoid the downpours. Setting off with the two guides we hiked a couple of hours uphill to an altitude of around 700 metres, although few birds were seen and the damp forest was very quiet. The later afternoon was spent scanning the forest slopes, nicely visible from the small clearing, in the hope of a fly-over Baker’s Imperial Pigeon. This didn’t happen, so had to make do with Vanuatu Honeyeater, a few more Palm Parakeet and the rather smart, endemic White-collared Fruit Bat. Fortuitously the shack had a supply of rice – something we had not bought with us as we’d not been expecting to be able to cook, so it was rice with tinned fish for dinner, after which we crashed out early at 20:00 to the gentle sound of torrential rain outside. Everyone was awake again at 22:00 due to a not insignificant earth tremor.
19 Oct. Tea and crackers for breakfast and started to walk uphill at 06:30. The weather was mixed, with scattered light showers, but very windy, making birding along most of the trail, which follows a ridge, difficult. We walked past the point of yesterday, but due to the undulating terrain, had not achieved any higher elevation than 700 metres by 11:00, with the trail also becoming more and more indistinct and overgrown, eventually disappearing completely. Rather than having to cut a new trail we headed slowly back finding Pacific Robin and Guadalcanal Thicketbird near the trail – a nice bonus. Although the trail follows a ridge some sections are extremely steep and in the wet and slippery conditions positively suicidal. We arrived back at the clearing again around 15:00 and in the improving sunny spells spent a couple of hours again scanning for pigeons with no luck.
20 Oct. Left at 06:30 for the walk down in constant drizzle, although inside the forest was OK. The track down was very slippery, with even the locals using sticks to negotiate the harder sections. Everyone fell more than once. The porters decided to take a different, shorter route back which in retrospect was a bad idea, being steeper, muddier and it also involved crossing several large streams and rivers. Some cleared areas at lower altitude were seas of mud. The trek back took six hours - even longer than the trek up. Few birds other than a couple of calling Baker’s Imperial Pigeon at 400 metres, which could not be located, and a Vanuatu Scrubfowl calling off-trail at 300 metres.
The driver was once again reliable and by 13:30 we set off to town. This time we crossed the treacherous river at a point farther upstream and had no problems. The conditions at lower altitude had improved since our arrival and we made it back, along the drying road, to the airport by 15:00, well in time for my flight to Porta Vila. It was good to be able to use the airport washroom to cleanup three days of mud before getting on the plane. The flight was only 30 minutes late at Porta Vila, from where I took a taxi (VT 1,000) back the Coral Motel for a much needed shower.
21 Oct. The day started with me waiting outside for the taxi driver who had promised the previous evening to collect me at 05:00. I’d thought this prudent, given the time, but it proved to be unnecessary as there were plenty of taxis around, at even this early pre-dawn hour. In the event the driver didn’t turn up either, so I simply grabbed another taxi. The Air Vanuatu 07:00 flight left on time, arriving 12:00 in Auckland. With several hours to kill I took a minibus (NZ$ 20) to town and browsed the larger outdoor adventure stores hoping to replace the trekking trousers which had fallen apart on Pic Santo. However, I was not impressed with the selection, so took a bus back (NZ$ 15). The Air New Zealand flight left at 20:45 to Apia on Samoa. Boarding on the plane in Auckland it was noticeable that most Samoans don’t lack a few extra kilos. With an average passenger weight seemingly over 120 kg, I wondered if the packed plane would actually lift off at the end of the runway.
21 Oct. Who says you can't live the same day twice. Crossing the international dateline several times gets very confusing, and having done so on this flight I got to relive the 21st again. I arrived at 00:45, passed through customs and immigration in a breeze, jumped on my pre-arranged minibus (WST 70) and was transported to Cloud 9 Eco-Lodge.
On arrival at 02:00 I was greeted by the owner’s noisy dogs that barked enough to wake every guest - without doubt I would be popular the next morning! Having had a series of poor nights sleep on Vanuatu, I didn’t wake till 09:00, when I took a leisurely breakfast on the veranda with its stunning views across a forested valley and Apia. Between heavy showers and the excellent fry-up I watched White Tern, White-tailed Tropicbird, Brown Noddy, the first of the Samoa endemics- Samoa Starling and Flat-billed Kingfisher - as well as the colourful Crimson-crowned Fruit Dove and Many-coloured Fruit Dove. What a view – one of the best I’ve ever experienced from a lodge.
Having offloaded my festering pile of washing from Vanuatu onto the unsuspecting staff, I noticed that cuts on my hands and legs from crashing through forest on Pic Santo were also festering and starting to look decidedly unhealthy, so spent some time cleaning and dressing them. The lodge ordered me a taxi to town (WST 30), from where I took another to the “tank” along the Mangaia road as described in Wheatley’s book. This proved to be a complete disaster as the taxi driver wasn’t sure exactly where to go, and having driven part way up the Mangaia road asked a local, who volunteered to show me as he was going that way anyway. Indeed he did show me a tank, but the wrong one! No report has previously mentioned two tanks. Rather than walking back to the road and trying again, I decided to try to walk up the valley anyway to where the upper, correct tank should be, on the assumption that I would eventually get there anyway. Wrong. The track led into a factory and petered out. I next tried a steep trail up on the eastern side of the valley on the assumption that it was going in the direction of Vailima, and passed through forest. This proved also to be a dead end, and with rain starting, the trail became very slippery, so I returned to the valley bottom and took another track, which eventually brought me out on the main road at Vailima.
By now rain was falling continuously, so I headed into the botanical garden and spent the later afternoon on the summit trail, passing Robert Louis Stevenson’s grave, which I have to admit is a nice location as a final resting place. Samoan Whistler, Samoan Fantail and Samoan Flycatcher were fairly easily found, but no sign of Mao or Samoan Triller. With the onset of heavy rain I took a taxi back to town (8 WST), had a couple of beers in a café and unimaginatively hit McDonald’s for dinner before taking another taxi back to Cloud 9 (WST 25). Crashed out early feeling unwell – probably as a result of the continuing festering cuts which didn’t seem to be getting any better.
22 Oct. Despite a terrible night’s sleep with a raging fever, up at 06:00 for an hour’s viewing from the veranda; this morning seeing Red-headed Parrotfinch and a fly-over Blue-crowned Lorikeet. By 07:00 the heavens opened again, so sat around till 08:00 when the owner drove me to town as no taxis would come up to the lodge due to the heavy rain. From town took a taxi, correctly this time, to the tank at the top of the Magigai road and walked down to the valley floor.
The main targets this morning were the Mao and Samoan Triller, and I found a pair of Mao at the very head of the valley just before the pipe disappears underground and you can walk no farther. By this time I was feeling pretty awful with hardly the strength to put one foot in front of the other, so promised myself as soon as I’d found the triller I’d be back to the lodge and spend the rest of the day in bed. However, the triller remained elusive throughout the day, so spent till 16:00 walking the valley slowly up and down feeling like death, with half the time sheltering from downpours. At 16:00 gave up and climbed back to the road, and had to slog almost the entire six kilometres back to town before a taxi came along. This taxi happened to be a minibus, and was being driven by one of the Samoan rugby team members from the last rugby world cup played in Australia. I believed him as well, as he was built like a farmhouse and all muscle. I’d certainly not want to be on the opposing team in any crunch match. It turned out that he’d actually played against England in the last world cup, and rather than beating me to a pulp, was full of praise for what a great team England had been at the time! Arrived back at Cloud 9 and collapsed into bed.
23 Oct. A better night’s sleep, and at least in the morning the fever had subsided, although leg wounds looked worse, so first went via a pharmacy to stock up on dressings and ointments. Took a taxi to Vailima, and spent the morning walking the loop summit trail looking for the Samoan Triller. Not a great morning with again poor weather, and walking becoming quite painful due to the leg wounds. Disappointingly I again failed to find the triller, which was becoming a real pain – supposedly not the hardest of the commoner endemics to find. I had wanted to spend the last day or so looking for Tooth-billed Pigeon or doing some sea-watching, not counting on the triller being so difficult. Having done the loop trail twice, heavy rain set in at 13:00 and continued solidly till 16:00, when I gave up waiting for it to stop and headed back to the lodge.
24 Oct. Torrential rain and strong winds all night. Very unseasonable so I was told. By 09:30 it had mostly eased, so I took a taxi back to Vailima for a last attempt for Samoan Triller. By the time I arrived the sun was shining and the wind had dropped; a perfect day for birding at last. I again walked the loop trail twice, but again no luck, so by 14:30 with the onset of further rain I caught a taxi to David’s shop where I’d stashed my bags and headed to the airport. My driver to the airport was very jovial, and even bought me a Chinese meat-filled bun from a local stall en route. Eating this huge grease ball I began to understand how the Samoan diet must be the large contributory factor in the weight of the population. On checking out of the country the immigration official said it all – undone shirt with Eric Clapton playing Wonderful Tonight on the radio. What a great laid back place, and again through immigration in 20 seconds.
25 Oct. On crossing the dateline again we arrived in Auckland at 23:59, so this day was one minute long. With a long connect time I needed to pass through immigration and customs in order to book into a hotel. Immigration took almost an hour – these guys could sure learn something from the Samoans! Found a small motel, the Pacific Inn, near the airport for NZ$ 80.
26 Oct. A real lay in this morning, as the flight to the Cook Islands was not until 14:00, which departed late, but arrived on time.
25 Oct. Having left on the afternoon of 26th, I arrived in Rarotonga on the evening of 25th. I took the Raro Tours minibus to the pre-arranged Paradise Inn for NZ$ 15, which turned out to be a bit of a rip off, as a pre-arranged taxi would have been NZ$ 10. During the flight my infected legs had taken a turn for the worse, with infection now spreading rapidly up my legs and swollen joints, so despite the late hour the Paradise Inn was thankfully able to arrange a taxi to get me to a hospital ASAP. Joining the queue of late night casualties I was eventually sorted out and came away with properly dressed wounds and liberal doses of antibiotics. The doctor reckoned I'd been really close to some serious septicemia complications.
26 Oct. Not a great night’s sleep as I had to resort to earplugs – dogs, chickens and people all very noisy in this area. Up at 06:00 and took taxi to the airport. Arriving one hour before the domestic flight was way too early. Check-in didn’t open until 30 minutes before the 08:00 flight, and none of the locals on the flight turned up till 20 minutes before the flight. Like so much in the Pacific everything very laid back. The flight to Aitutaki was uneventful and smooth, with most people on the flight either locals or day-trippers.
On arrival, I had planned on being able to take a taxi to town in order to pick up a bike or moped, but this option was not available, so I soon found myself alone at the terminal, having to resort to walking to town, when I discovered also I’d lost my hat. I headed up the airstrip toward town and stopped at the first accommodation offering moped rentals. Their sign however was misleading as they no longer rented, so suggested I continued walking toward town. En route I checked the airfield and golf course for Bristle-thighed Curlew, but with it being a holiday the golf course was very busy and disturbed.
Walking to town I found two places renting mopeds, but the first place had no staff as they were all in church (today being a religious holiday) and the second place refused to rent to me as I was not a guest. I was getting nowhere fast, so continued along the road to town to find everywhere closed (not that on Aitutaki there’s much to be open), so walked the six kilometres back to the airfield, eventually finding Blue Parakeet in mango trees about half way back, just opposite the Vaikoa Resort. By this time it was getting pretty hot, so tied my spare trousers around my head like a turban hoping none of the locals would notice the bizarre headgear.
Once back near the golf course I tried a small seawatch but nothing other than a few White Tern visible. With still a couple of hours to spare I decided to walk the entire length of the airfield, where I successfully discovered a group of eight Bristle-thighed Curlew hiding in a low dip not visible from the airport terminal from where I had scanned earlier. The group also held a single Eurasian Whimbrel, quite a rarity on the Cooks.
Having successfully cleaned-up on Aitutaki I calculated I’d actually walked 17 kilometres in the five hours on the island; legs now swollen, sore and sun-burnt. I took the 15:40 flight back to Rarotonga. In the evening walked to Trader Jacks, a rather popular, though not cheap, seafood restaurant next to the harbour. I have to admit it was excellent and well worth the trip. NZ$ 50 including beers. It was actually the first decent meal I’d had in my three weeks to date in the Pacific, and tasted all the better for it.
27 Oct. As the flight to Atiu was not scheduled till late morning, first thing I ran a few errands such as visiting the police station to obtain my Cooks Islands driving licence, changing money and reserving a rental car for the following day. I then spent a while trying to track down the office of the Takitumu Conservation Area, which needs to be contacted to arrange visits to seek the Rarotonga Monarch. After getting the run-around and visiting their non-existent offices (now closed) in town (moved to near the project area on southern side of the island) I eventually was able to make loose arrangements for later in the week.
Took the flight to Atiu, where I was met by Papa Paiere the owner of the Taparere Lodge that I had pre-arranged. At the airfield I ran into “Birdman George”, who’s a real character and currently working on monitoring the introduced Rarotonga Monarch, and arranged to go out with him later that afternoon. Having settled into the Taparere Lodge (thrown bag in corner and had a cup of tea), despite the heat of the day I walked a track at random through cutover forest below the lodge. This proved fairly fruitful, with Chattering Kingfisher and plenty of Cook Islands Fruit Dove, as well as a couple of Atiu Swiftlet. George turned up earlier than expected as he had a forgotten another pressing arrangement, but even so I had a couple of hours with him visiting a monarch site and then Te Roto lake where I annoyingly missed a fly by Long-tailed Cuckoo, having been looking the wrong way at the time.
As Taparere Lodge didn’t provide meals I walked to Atiu Villas for dinner, which was necessary to pre-book, and was told would be available from 18:30. In the event dinner wasn’t served till 20:00, so I passed the time in the bar with three local drunks. A three course set menu cost a very reasonable NZ$ 35 including a couple of beers. Received a lift back to Taparere Lodge from Roger, the owner.
28 Oct. Spent the hours from 06:00 – 10:00 walking a long loop around the south end of the island, passing the Te Roto lake, during which I found a single Long-tailed Cuckoo, and a pair of Rarotonga Monarch. A short seawatch produced both Red-footed Booby and Brown Boobiy and a single Great Frigatebird. Papa Paiere gave me a lift to the airport around 11:15.
Once back on Rarotonga I collected the pre-arranged rental car, and stocked up with food from the supermarket. After a quick lunch, drove to the east side of the island to watch the mountains from the rugby pitch as mentioned in Wheatley in hope of Herald Petrel. Spent a couple of hours with no luck, so moved slightly further up the coast to Ngatangiia to where the reef edge is close to shore and passing seabirds should have been visible. It looked as though here would be a better chance of a passing petrel than one coming inland overhead. Seawatched till dusk with no petrel, but picked out Blue-grey Noddy and Sooty Tern. Grey-tailed Tattler were feeding on the rocks here. Back to Paradise Inn for culinary delight of beans on toast.
29 Oct. I started the day on the cross-island trail, walking up to the highest point at The Needle. Here, one has a great view of the surrounding hills, so I figured it would be a good place to scan for petrels. I started the walk at 06:30 and it only took about 40 minutes actual walking to the top, although it’s quite steep in places and if raining the exposed tree roots would make it extremely slippery and dangerous. En route I had a couple of Rarotonga Starling at close range, plus two more on the way down. Spent a couple of hours at the top but no sign of any petrels, so returned back to the lodge for a late breakfast and continued round the coast to the same sea-watching point as yesterday, stopping at an Internet café en route. Several hours of seawatching produced virtually nothing, so late afternoon continued on a slow drive around island, then returned the car.
30 Oct. An early morning seawatch from the Paradise Inn gave excellent views of close-in Humpback Whale and another Blue-grey Noddy. Took the 09:00 flight to Mangaia where on arrival the first birds seen were two Cook Island Reed Warbler singing in bushes outside the airfield terminal. Took my pre-arranged lift to town, and stopped at the local garage to rent a moped from Russell - no licence check, no helmet provided and no money necessary to pay in advance. After all where are you going on this island?
I made a complete circuit of the island with the main aim of finding a route into the forest; the limestone crags of the understorey make getting into the forest almost impossible. Eventually I found a good track through coastal forest on the east coast just south of Ivirua. One Mangaia Kingfisher was seen here, but the heat of the day was hardly conducive to bird activity so decided to try again in the later afternoon. Returned to Babe’s Place to some excellent sandwiches for lunch. When the day had cooled sufficiently, around 15:15, I headed out to check the lake to the south of the island, where I found Pacific Black Duck and four Chestnut-breasted Munia (apparently this is a recent, natural coloniser of Mangaia.) Back to the same forest trail as the morning, seeing four Mangaia Kingfisher and hearing several others.
31 Oct. Having cleaned up Mangaia, I had a lay-in before being dropped at the airfield. The same Cook Island Reed Warbler were singing from the same bush. Flight on time but on arrival at Rarotonga the pre-arranged taxi failed to materialise, so walked into town and picked up a rental car from Island Cars and headed over to the south of the island to meet up with Ian for the trip into Takitumu Conservation Area. A couple of birders, Otto and Renate, from Austria, also arrived which were the first birders I’d met on my Pacific trip. Despite the heat of the day birds were fairly active, and in our couple of hours in the forest we obtained good views of several Rarotonga Monarch, including the first grey adults I’d seen so far, as well as Rarotonga Starling and Cook Islands Fruit Dove. After, I returned to the same seawatching point which was as fruitless as yesterday.
1 Nov. Another early start on the cross-island walk for a last attempt for Herald Petrel, but was disappointed again, and another hour on the top produced only the usual White Tern, Brown Noddy, Cook Island Fruit Dove, a single Rarotonga Starling and a number of Pacific Imperial Pigeon. For the remainder of the morning I played the general tourist with a few beers and lunch in town, then in the afternoon walked to the imposing cliffs behind town where five Red-billed Tropicbird were found, which were to be the last new bird for the trip list.
2, 3, 4 Nov. A very long flight home - two days plus a another crossing the dateline - flying Rarotonga – Auckland – Sydney – Bangkok – Dubai – Muscat. A delayed flight from Sydney meant I missed the connection in Dubai which didn’t help, so a late arrival in Muscat plus lost baggage to boot. Thank you Emirates!
Section 2 - Birding sites.
Section 3 - Systematic species list.