Hi All,
Just back from a three day visit to Lord Howe Island. I arrived on the
island on Thursday 2nd Dec in the mid afternoon and was up near Kim's
Lookout on the northern end of the island by 3:45pm. The Red-billed
Tropicbird was immediately seen flying along the cliff edge and calling
repeatedly amongst the hundreds of Red-tailed Tropicbirds present.
Over the next 15 minutes the bird made 3 or 4 passes along the cliff
before it flew out to sea. I remained on the cliff edge that evening
until about 7pm during which time it did not return.
Some pics of the bird are here...
http://www.pbase.com/wildlifeimages/red_billed_tropicbird
Included in the gallery are two great images of the bird on its nest
scrape that were taken by local tour guide Jack Shick. Also in the
gallery are two images of the bird in flight alongside a Red-tailed
Tropicbird. These images demonstrate the obvious differences between the
two species as well as the more subtle differences such as the longer
and more narrow wings of the Red-billed Tropicbird.
Providing the tropicbird trifecta, a single White-tailed Tropicbird was
also present on a couple of occasions.
Since Thursday I am not aware of any positive news. On Friday I was in
position from about 2:30pm through until about 6pm and did not see the
bird. Likewise, on Saturday I was there between 9am and 1pm and the bird
was nowhere to be seen. On both of these days another visitor to the
island who was keen to see the bird devoted at least two further hours
to the search at times when I was not present and also failed to see the
bird.
Locals also checked the nest scrape on both Friday (pm only) and
Saturday (both am and pm) and the bird was not on the ground.
I don't have any updates from today but have sent a couple of emails to
locals and will send another post when/if it is seen again. I'll also
post a summary of my other Lord Howe Island bird sightings in a separate
email.
Cheers,
Rohan
Rohan Clarke
www.wildlifeimages.com.au
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