2018 Year Summary

I had every intention of updating the blog more frequently during 2018 but in reality I was just too busy birding! Had some great trips, here are some links to the trip reports with some photos below. Ended the year on 2,241 species I think, give or take.... I also started using ebird this year... follow me there: https://ebird.org/profile/NjE1MzA1/world Best wishes to everyone for 2019...

Wilson's Bird-of-paradise gave amazing views in West Papua

New Caledonia December 2018
https://www.birdingecotours.com/new-caledonia-trip-report-2018/

Western Australia December 2018
https://www.birdingecotours.com/south-western-australia-trip-report-2018/

West Papua November 2018
https://www.birdingecotours.com/https-www-birdingecotours-com-wp-content-uploads-2018-12-west-papua-trip-report-nov-2018-pdf/

East Coast Australia Tour 2 October-November 2018
https://www.birdingecotours.com/https-www-birdingecotours-com-wp-content-uploads-2018-12-australia-from-the-outback-to-the-wet-tropics-trip-report-oct-nov-2018-final-pdf/

Tasmania October 2018
https://www.birdingecotours.com/https-www-birdingecotours-com-wp-content-uploads-2018-12-tasmania-trip-report-oct-2018-final-pdf/

East Coast Australia Tour 1 October 2018
https://www.birdingecotours.com/https-www-birdingecotours-com-wp-content-uploads-2018-12-australia-from-the-outback-to-the-wet-tropics-trip-report-oct-nov-2018-final-pdf-2/

South Australia September 2018
No trip report (email me if you want some info tho!)

Peru July-August 2018
https://www.birdingecotours.com/https-www-birdingecotours-com-peru-northwest-and-abra-patricia-mountains-trip-report-2018/

Brazil July 2018
No trip report (email me if you want some info tho!)

China (Sichuan) June-July 2018
https://www.birdingecotours.com/china-sichuan-trip-report-2018/

Iceland June 2018
https://www.birdingecotours.com/iceland-trip-report-2018/

Poland Tour 3 May-June 2018
https://www.birdingecotours.com/poland-trip-report-2018/

Poland Tour 2 May 2018
https://www.cloudbirders.com/tripreport/repository/BIRDINGECOTOUR_Poland_05_2018.pdf

USA (Ohio) May 2018
No trip report (email me if you want some info tho!)

Poland Tour 1 April 2018
No trip report (email me if you want some info tho!)

USA (Florida and Ohio) January-February 2018
No trip report (email me if you want some info tho!)

Malaysia January 2018
https://www.birdingecotours.com/malaysia-trip-report-2018/

Here are a few photos from my trips..... loads more on my Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/AWBirder  or search for AWBirder on Instagram and Twitter.

Kagu - New Caledonia

Western Crested Shriketit - Western Australia

Southern Cassowary - East Coast Australia Tour 2

Orange-bellied Parrot - Tasmania

Plains-wanderer - East Coast Australia Tour 1

Southern Cassowary - East Coast Australia Tour 1

Northern Royal Albatross - South Australia

Diademed Sandpiper-plover - Peru

Long-whiskered Owlet - Peru

Green-billed Toucan - Brazil

Blood Pheasant - China (Sichuan)

Harlequin Duck - Iceland

Alpine Accentor - Poland Tour 3

Aquatic Warbler - Poland Tour 2

Snowy Owl - USA (Ohio)

Boreal (Tengmalm's) Owl - Poland Tour 1

Florida Scrub Jay - USA (Florida)

Blue-winged Pitta - Malaysia 

Silver-eared Mesia - Malaysia

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

  

New Caledonia - KAGU

Sorry for the lack of posts over the last couple of months I've been rather busy! So over the next few weeks I'll do some blog posts on my birding in New Caledonia, Fiji, Samoa, New Zealand, Australia.

My New Caledonia trip was a tour for Birding Ecotours. The trip report can be found here: http://birdingecotours.com/trip-reports/trip-reports-by-destination/australasia When on the New Caledonia page click 'view' for text only, or click 'download' to see report with photos. 

One of the main reasons birders want to go to New Caledonia is to look for the Endangered Kagu - a strange-looking, flightless bird with a long shaggy crest, belonging to a monospecific family. The Kagu also makes some interesting vocalizations, some sounding like a barking dog, ironic as feral dogs, along with cats and rats are a real threat to this species through predation.

Despite being rare and Endangered I got multiple, really great views of this species. It was fascinating watching it feed by moving huge fallen tree branches to collect grubs. Sometimes they would just freeze on seeing you, but other times it would walk right up to you and carry on their way.

The 2017 New Caledonia Tour Itinerary (including Fiji and Samoa) can be found here.

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....