As a former resident of Port Vila, I recommend Doughty, Day and Plant’s Birds
of the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and New Caledonia as the most practical field
guide and Dutson’s Birds of Melanesia as a more definitive work. Check your
local library before traveling and you may be surprised to find a copy.
There are notational parks or reserves to walk through as the land belongs to
the people. So if you are outside of Vila town or your place of accommodation
and want to walk around looking for birds, just find a local person and let
them know what you want to do. They are very friendly and accommodating and
will do all they can to help. If you let people know your interests at your
place of accommodation, they may be able to help you with some ideas.
For places to look for birds, Elluk Plateau is worth walking around and has
nice views of the harbour and wharf. The prawn farm at Teuma is 30 minutes out
of town and provides great habitat for waders with a chance of seeing some
vagrant migrants. Ram is the manager of the prawn farm and would appreciate
you calling before you go (5544471) The walk to Mele Cascades is one of the
most beautiful on the island and also provides good cover for birds. A bit
further out of town is in the village of Saama is what they call an
environmental park. It is a great attempt by locals to set up some land for
the purpose of preservation and conservation. It is small but very nice.
There are not many regular observations in Vanuatu so if you can post what you
see at www.ebird.org <http://www.ebird.org/> that would be great.
Hope this helps.
Kind regards,
Steve
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