New Caledonian Endemic Birds

Here are a few of the endemic birds I saw whilst in New Caledonia with Birding Ecotours. For the Kagu check out my previous post below.

My trip report can be found here: http://birdingecotours.com/trip-reports/trip-reports-by-destination/australasia just follow the New Caledonia links.

Cloven-feathered Dove - one of the most spectacular birds I've ever seen! 

Cloven-feathered Dove - worth going there just to see this bird!

Barred Honeyeater - fairly common

Goliath Pigeon - one of the largest pigeons in the world - this one is HUGE!

Green-backed White-eye - a common endemic, rather smart for a white-eye

Horned Parakeet - spectacular but this picture really doesn't do it justice - google it to see its 'horn'

Lifou White-eye - common endemic on a small island off Grande Terre (the main island of New Cal)

New Caledonian Crow - the tool-using crow. Cool to see it with tool too!

New Caledonian Cuckooshrike - fairly common

New Caledonian Friarbird - very common and vocal and quite nice-looking for a Friarbird

New Caledonian Myzomela - simply stunning!

New Caledonian Whistler - gorgeous

Red-throated Parrotfinch - very smart but a bit too shy for the camera

Striated Starling - distant!

White-bellied Goshawk - had several great looks at these, including a displaying bird at length

Yellow-bellied Flyrobin - very friendly little birds

  

Pacific Odyssey

This September-October I'm going to be journeying around the Pacific a little. I'll be commencing my travels from Brisbane, Australia (where I'll get a couple of days birding in with my mate Rob) before heading over to Noumea in New Caledonia for two-weeks of endemic searching. Obviously top target there is the endemic and rather unique Kagu (below).

Kagu (Pelagic Odyssey)

I'll likely try and get across to a couple of the loyalty islands if flights aren't prohibitively expensive - I'm thinking Ouvea and Lifou, each island also has some endemics to go for - such as the Ouvea Parakeet, and Lifou Large White-eye. Anyone know of a cheap way to do these islands?

There's so many exciting birds on New Caledonia - with New Caledonian Crow and Crow Honeyeater being two birds I'm keen on locating for different reasons, but one I really 'want/need' to see is Cloven-feathered Dove - wow!

Cloven-feathered Dove (Unknown)

After a couple of weeks exploration in New Caledonia I'm heading over to Fiji for a couple of weeks. I'll be visiting three islands - Viti Levu, Vanua Levu, and Kadavu, each with an interesting set of birds. Again some of the highlights are likely to be Pigeons... I don't say that often! But with Crimson-crowned Fruit-Dove, Many-coloured Fruit-Dove, Golden Fruit Dove, Whistling Fruit Dove, and Orange Fruit Dove (below) it's easy to see why! Plenty of interesting endemics to chase across all the different islands too - such as Silktail for example - still a bit of an unknown quantity.

Orange Fruit Dove (Aviceda)

The final stop on this leg of the trip will be a few days in (Western) Samoa - here there are a few more endemics to go look for. I think it will take a bit of luck for Tooth-billed Pigeon, but I'll give it a go! I'll be happy to see the Samoan Flycatcher (below)!

Samoan Flycatcher (Peter O)

I've got some personal birding while here, but the majority of my time will be leading the Birding Ecotours Pacific Tour - details of the 3 week tour can be found by CLICKING HERE. We're taking bookings for 2017!

After this tour is completed I head across to New Zealand. More on that soon....