Peter James Fullagar: Lord Howe Island 2005

Emerald Ground Dove outside the LHI Museum and Visitor Centre

Day five

We wake to strong southerly winds and rain. Most of the day we stay in our rooms with some of the group venturing out briefly from time to time. With the rain easing during the day we head down to Little Island to see some Woodhens. We are taken in two load to the hillside below Capella lodge and above Soldiers creek. Here in the creek we see briefly some more ducks, mostly hybrids but including at least two that looked at a distance most like Pacific Black Duck but my view was not good enough for detailed examination. We also saw in the creek 2 Latham's Snipe Gallinago hardwickii, Buff-banded Rail, Whimbrel, Ruddy Turnstone and Pacific Golden Plover and by the time we had walked past King's house and along the Salmon Beach track towards the last patch of lowland thatch palm on the lagoon shore we had also seen Magpie-lark, Welcome Swallow, Pied Currawong, Sacred Kingfisher and Blackbird. We find 5 Woodhens and I take a few rather indifferent pictures mainly due to forgetting that I had attached a circular polarizing filter to the lens the last time I used the camera and therefore I had made the camera more or less un-workable in low light despite racking the ISO up to 1600! We found two banded Pied Currawong in the same area: pale green over metal with yellow over orange and another bird with an unrecognized colour over metal and blue over purple on the other leg.

Banyan on the roadside near King's house, Kings Beach

Wind in the palms below Mt Lidgbird

John and me renewing friendship with a Woodhen

Woodhens at Little island

On the beach

Day six

Assembling to go to North Bay

A beautifully reconditioned B Centauri - once a tender used during the days of Flying boats at LHI

On the ferry to North Bay

Today we go to North Bay. We assemble on the lagoon beach at the end of Ned's Beach road and take the 'ferry' to North Bay. We then climb Mt Eliza. Along the way Ian Hutton tells us more about the facinating vegetation of the island and in particular the newly revealed processes of flowering and fruiting in the Curly Top Palms Howea belmoriana. The final stage of the climb in blocked because the Sooty Terns have an active breeding colony spead across the pathway beyond this point. We take in the fantastic views back across the lagoon to the southern mountains and also those towards the east along the north cliffs. We can look down into Old Gulch. Red-tailed Tropicbirds are seen and we relax before going back down to the beach for lunch. There are Golden Whistler, Blackbird and Sacred Kingfisher seen along the way. We also spot a White-faced Heron.

Most of the group on the slopes of Mt Eliza

Ian Hutton telling us about Sooty Terns

View south from the slopes of Mt Eliza

View down to Old Gulch from the slopes of Mt Eliza

Sooty Tern on nest on pathway up Mt Eliza and Sooty Tern egg

Sooty Terns

The tide is now well on the ebb and waders are evident on the seagrass beds. We count c 100 Ruddy Turnstone, c 30 Bar-tailed Godwit, c 15 Pacific Golden Plover, 2 Red-necked Stints, a Whimbrel, 2 Grey-tailed Tattlers and a Common Sandpiper flying overhead towards the eastern rocky shoreline later in the afternoon just as we are about ot leave. A few hybrid ducks are found but no broods. I photograph a pair at the top of the beach.

Drake hybrid on North Bay Beach. Eclipse plumage

Duck hybrid on North Bay beach. Note the stripe on the tertial

Bar-tailed Godwits

Two Red-necked Stints

A Ruddy Turnstone and a Red-necked Stint

Ruddy Turnstones

Grey-tailed Tattler

There is now an extensive Black Noddy colony in branches of the grove of large Norfolk Island Pines planted years ago on the west side of the bay. I take some pictures in this colony and try for some sound recordings of this species of noddy for inclusion as an added track on a revised version of the CD 'Birds of Lord Howe Island'. there are White Terns with them. On the beach I can find Brown Noddies for comparison. They and Sooty Terns are breeding along the western beach shoreline and at the north end of the reef. They all provide some good photo oportunities.