Lord Howe Island 2005 - days 7 and 8

Howea forsteriana

Day seven

Saturday 19th. Today we go to Old Settlement Beach after breakfast to look for a reported Black-winged Stilt Himantopus himantopus - the second record for the island for this species. We see some of the hybrid ducks and at least 6 Masked Lapwings, 2 Common Starling (again), 4 Purple Swamphen, 30 Pacific Golden Plover, Ruddy Turnstone, Bar-tailed Godwit, 1 Pied Currawong and we find the stilt in the creek and Mike Crowley gets a 'record' shot of it using my IS lens. Judging froms its clean-cut appearance it seems to be of Australian origin and not a bird from NZ.

Black-winged Stilt (photo by M. A. Crowley)

After lunch we (that is HJdeSD, MAC, CC and PJF) walk to the Clear Place and on the way back find ourselves dodging showers of rain. However, we do see c 10 Red-tailed Tropicbirds, some Sooty Terns, Masked Booby, White Tern and at least one Black-winged Petrel at the Clear Place. There was much sign of activity in the dense colonies of Flesh-footed Shearwaters in the Valley of the Shadows.We see aPid Currawong white over metal with Blue over purple and on the return walk find a jittery Woodhen calling in the forests near the junction of Middle Beach and Anderson road (close to Hideaway Lodge). It was banded and seemed to be green over black with black over metal but I am not sure of the leg orientation for these bands.

Fungus on wood

Just before dusk Ian Hutton organized for John and me to be interviewed by Chris Murray which Ian video recorded. This was done at the picnic spot beside Old Settlement Creek at the N end of Lagoon road. Afterwards we had our last evening meal together at the nearby Arajilla restaurant. While we were being interviewd a Woodhen hove into sight! A Masked Owl may have passed overhead but I was not certain of the identity of the bird seen in the gloom and flying amongst the branches of the tall Norfolk pines. Perhaps is was one!

Day eight

Sunday 20th. I am booked in for the first flight out today together with John and a few others. Mike and Collen are on an afternoon flight. Ian wants to film John and me with the Woodhens at Little Island so, after breakfast and when we are packed and reay to go he aranges for Chis Murray to take us to the end of the road and we hike in. On the way we pass Nick Carlile and he cches up with us and walks in with us. I am able to bring him up to date with what we have seen and he is able to explain a lot of what we are seeing with the Pied Currawongs. Nick is now concentrating on banding these Pied Currawongs to try to find out how many there are and sort our a little of what they get up to on the island.

Woodhens at Little Island (photos by M. A. Crowley)

Mike and Colleen go to Neds' Beach in the morning and find a Masked Owl feather on the road. They also report finding another Woodhen behind Humpty Mick's cafe.

LIST OF BIRDS SEEN

Hybrid Ducks (Mallard and Pacfic Black Duck complex)
Pacific Black Duck?
Providence Petrel
Kermadec Petrel
Black-winged Petrel
Wedge-tailed Shearwater
Flesh-footed Shearwater
Wandering Albatoss
White-bellied Storm-Petrel
Red-tailed Tropicbird
Masked Booby
Little Black Cormortant
Great Cormorant
White-faced Heron
Cattle Egret
Nankeen Ketrel
Buf-banded Rail
Woodhen
Purple Swamphen
Latham's Snipe
Bar-tailed Godwit
Whimbrel
Eastern Curlew
Common Sandpiper
Grey-tailed Tattler
Rudy Turnstone
Red-necked Stint
Black-winged Stilt
Pacific Golden Plover
Masked Lapwing
Sooty Tern
Brown Noddy
Black Noddy
Grey Ternlet
White Tern
Feral Pigeon
Emerald Ground Dove
[Masked Owl]
Fork-tailed Swift
Sacred Kingfisher
Golden Whistler
Magpie-Lark
Pied Currawong
Welcome Swallow
Silvereye
Common Blackbird
Song Thrush
Common Starling

48 species listed this trip. Of those species possible to see at this time of year only the Little Shearwater was not observed.

SOME USEFUL REFERENCES

• Rodd, A N & John Pickard, Census of vascular flora of Lord Howe Island. Cunnighamia 1: 269-280. Not readily available.
  
• *Fullagar, Peter & Ederic Slater, 2005 Birds of Lord Howe Island. CD with 48 tracks featuring 19 species, all recorded on the island.
  
• Hutton, Ian, 1986 Lord Howe Island. Discovering Australia's World Heritage. (Conservation Press: ACT); 157pp. Out of print.
  
• Hutton, Ian, 1991 Birds of Lord Howe Island. (Ian Hutton: Coffs Habour); 154pp. Out of print.
• *Hutton, Ian, 1998 The Australian Geographic Book of Lord Howe Island. (Australian Geographic: Terry Hills); 152pp. Copiously illustrated in colour. Replaces the earlier books by Ian Hutton.
• *Hutton, Ian, 2002 A field guide to the Plants of Lord Howe Island. (Ian Hutton: Lord Howe Island). 128pp. A very handy pocket sized guide fully illustrated in colour.
• *Hutton, Ian, 2002 A field guide to the Birds of Lord Howe Island. (Ian Hutton: Lord Howe Island). 48pp. Another pocket sized handy guide in full colour.
• *Hutton,Ian & Peter Harrison, 2004 A field guide to the Marine Life of Lord Howe Island. (Ian Hutton: Lord Howe Island). 168pp. An essential pocket sized guide illustrated in full colour.
• *Hutton, Ian & Sue Nichols, The Woodhen. (The Lord Howe Island Historical Society and Museum: Lord Howe Island). 32pp.
  
• *McAllan, Ian A W; Brian R Curtis, Ian Hutton & Richard M Cooper, 2004. The Birds of Lord Howe Island Group: A Review of Records. Aust. Field Orn. 21 supplement. Available as a reprint.
• Pickard, John, 1983 Vegetation of Lord Howe Island. Cunninghamia 1: 133-268. Includes a coloured vegetation map. Essential reading for an understanding of vegetation stucture on the island. Not readily available.

References marked with * are available for purchase at the Museum on Lord Howe Island.