Hello Martyn,
Your interest in Lord Howe Island provokes a further postsing.
Warning: another long one coming up!
Don't get too upset at the golf course, Martyn - it's very small. I'm not a
golfer, but my estimate is that it occupies about as much ground as three
par 5s of a normal course. The area is used very economically with fairways
crossing one another, I think, to give nine holes. Never likely to be
crowded because of the small population of the Island, and the locals
determination to keep the Island that way. It's mainly for the locals, but
visitors are welcome.
And there are several species of birds that find good pickings on its mown
grass. (Oh yes, and I noticed a Woodhen enjoying the surrounds of the Club
House.)
You can't go to LHI unless you have accommodation booked (or you have been
invited by a local resident) and you can't buy/lease land there unless an
existing lot comes up for sale and no-one on the Island wants it and can
afford to buy it. So the population is kept small. About 300, I think, but
my memory is not too good these days.
And there is a strict limit on the amount of tourist accommodation. Ninety
beds, maybe.
It's a World Heritage listed area, and probably Australia's best cared for,
notwithstanding the serious weed problem. Sometime in the past a short
airstrip was built (by the Australian Air Force) across the one small flat
(middle) section of the island. It is just a kilometre long. Rock material
for the construction was gathered from the intertidal zone as far south
around the side of Mt Gower as it was possible to get vehicular access. No
quarrying above high tide. Environmentally responsible, would you not say?
Well perhaps not the ultimate. Consider this: At one spot, the single
north/south access road traverses a narrow flat between rocky cliff and the
shore of Blue Lagoon. A few years ago, erosion from the sea threatened to
cut the road - and hence the only access between the airport and the main
settlement area. A massive rock retaining wall needed to be built, both for
the road and to protect the end of the airstrip, and that part of the road
had to be reconstructed.
So where did the quarry material for that come from? From New Zealand,
that's where! Hundreds of kilometres by ship, and then brought ashore by
the biggest helicopter I've ever seen. (Though sadly only parked. It
wasn't operating while I was there.)
I often criticise our Australian Government for its lack of care of the
environment, but I applaud its willingness to fund the care of this World
Heritage Area. This also applies to weed eradication, but that is a
labour-intensive task, and with the small Island population, labour is in
short supply. To some extent this is being addressed by volunteers from the
mainland, mostly people who are members of the "Friends of Lord Howe
Island".
The island has reticulated 240V power - all underground! The roads (all
sealed) are the minimum necessary for access, and have a speed limit of, I
think, 15 km/hour. Low enough anyway, that cyclists occasionally get booked
for speeding! Yes, the island has a police station. And a hospital, and a
school.
No hotel, but the Island Administration operates a bottle shop for those
wanting to buy alcoholic beverages. And of course most (all?) of the
tourist accommodation places can provide alcohol with meals.
When you decide to dine at a restaurant other than where you are staying, a
car will pick you up from your accommodation and bring you back after your
meal - at no cost. Just part of the Island's friendly service.
I think there are maybe two cars available for hire on the island, but
bicycle is the usual form of visitor transport. The roads are mostly flat.
The most arduous bit of pedalling one usually encounters is that one km
beside the airstrip: quite flat, but almost always you'll have a head-wind
going one way or the other. The only safe surfing beach is at the eastern
end of the airstrip, and the golf course is also south of the airstrip as
are some interesting walking tracks including the one to the "Goat House".
The Goat House is a cave on the side of Mt Lidgbird in which the goats use
to shelter. (Last time I was there it sheltered a nesting Red-tailed Tropic
Bird.) It is suggested that visitors contemplating the Mt Gower guided
climb, try out by walking to the Goat House. Quite safe - ropes are
installed for the steepest part - but it is a good test of fitness for those
not sure how they'd go on Mt Gower.
Another LHI peculiarity: the Mt Gower trek starts by skirting around a
narrow ledge near the base of a cliff, to get to a valley that is traversed
right to its source to start the real climb. There is a small danger of
falling stones, and therefore the Island administration has provided a large
box of hard-hats just before the ledge. You put one on and wear it until
past the danger zone, and put it on again on the way back.
Blue Lagoon, on the western side of the Island, is formed by the most
southerly coral reef in this part of the world. Swimming (without surf) is
available in the Lagoon in the main settlement area. Or if that side of the
island is windy on the day, a short bike ride across the island gets you to
Ned's beach, which will then be in the lee of the Island. Gently shelving
sand at both places. Very safe for children.
Ned's Beach has a special attraction: feeding the fish. No fishing is
allowed and fish up to maybe a metre long are quite tame and will come into
waist-deep water to be fed.
Not only the birds, but the Island people are notably friendly. On one
occasion an over-enthusiastic small reef shark took a bite of a boy's leg
during fish feeding. After initial local treatment he needed evacuation to
a mainland hospital. I was told that the Island people 'took round the
hat' and raised about $10,000 which they gave to the family to compensate
for the expenses involved.
Now people are discouraged by warning signs from feeding the fish
themselves, but twice a day at pre-set times, an Administration employee
wades out to feed the fish - with restaurants' scraps. You enter the water
at your own risk, but the view from the water's edge is still impressive.
Pacific Black Ducks (Anas superciliosa) are fresh-water birds on mainland
Australia. On LHI they have also taken to the marine environment. There's
usually a few of them hanging around at fish-feeding time to glean the
scraps that escape the fish.
There are many km of good safe walking tracks in the Park Preserve. And a
guide takes parties to the top of Mt Gower once a week when there is a
demand for this.
It's an easy walk from Ned's Beach to the Malabar Cliffs, where in season,
dozens of Red-tailed Tropic Birds are a sight to be seen. They are
moderately noisy, but in a rather unlovely squawking way. And of course
there is the constant roar of the surf at the foot of the cliffs. But
Bernie can be assured that the biophony is not altered in any way at all.
However, the main attraction at Malabar is the fantastic aerial displays put
on by the Tropic Birds. And you can have the best seat in the house for
free! I quote again from Ian Hutton's bird book:
"These birds excel in aerial flying displays, calling in a loud but
delightful "clacking" cry as they execute aerobatics close to the cliff
face. Pairs in courtship seem to fly in reverse circles over each other,
fluttering downward in a backward curving arc, before flying high again to
repeat the performance."
You need to be there in summer for the Tropic Birds, but winter for the
Providence Petrels, then if you are on the top of Mt Gower and shout at them
they will fly down, flop through trees to the ground near your feet and can
be picked up - without ant aggression towards you if handled gently.
Hutton says that Black-winged Petrels (Pterodroma nigripennis) are fairly
recent colonists - not present in the 1940s; becoming well-known in te '60s.
I found them plentiful flying above the rainforested headland just beyond
Ned's Beach, but Hutton says they can now be found nesting in numerous sites
on LHI. They are notable for visiting their breeding colonies during the
day, and their loud high-pitched calls as they wheel around above the forest
should make a nice biophony recording for someone with Bernie's skills. I
got a recording but not really a good one.
The last few hundred metres of road approaching Ned's Beach is through
rainforest that is a Muttonbird nesting colony - Flesh-footed Shearwater
(Puffinus carneipes). Anyone familiar with nesting colonies of any species
of shearwater, probably knows what to expect, but if you don't ... well as
Hutton says, the noise of the colony has to be heard to be be believed, "a
raucous cacophony of whistles and shrieks that continues all night". I
find the noise to be almost mammalian rather than avian.
The best time for recording is probably just before the first glimmer of
daylight when they are getting ready to leave for the day's fishing. To
stand on the road with a mutton-bird at your feet in full voice is really
something!
But perhaps my favourite of all the LHI birds is the White Tern (Gygis
alba). Hutton: "It has exquisite ivory-white plumage and near translucent
wings when viewed against the sun". They have the LHI avian friendliness,
and the simplest of nest: none! The single egg is simply balanced on a bare
horizontal branch. Out to sea they fly with the grace and speed of
swallows; ashore in the forest they flutter around like large white moths,
quite unconcerned about any human presence.
One of the parents stays with egg all the time, but once hatched the chick
has to hang on through all weathers by itself while its parents go to sea to
fish. They return with up to half a dozen or so small fish held sideways in
the beak. How they manage to catch more while holding those already caught
is a mystery to me.
One pair seemed always to 'nest' in a tree immediately outside Thompson's
Store. We always looked for the chick if on the island in their nesting
season. One time the chick was well advanced and we'd see him standing up
and exercising his wings. Then one day my wife said, "He's gone." this
worried me. I reckoned he wasn't old enough to leave. I checked and sure
enough, there was the poor little fella on the ground beneath his tree,
staring longingly up at his branch. He'd flap madly and get a foot or so
off the ground before crashing down again.
Fortunately by standing on a table I could just reach up to end of his
branch which had grown downwards, and he scrambled back to his 'home'
position. And minutes later a parent arrived with a load of fish which
should have helped him get over the trauma.
Plenty of White Tern 'nests' in season. Easy to record their rather
'ratchety'-sounding voices. Not a lovely song, but a souvenir of a
delightful species.
If you are not concerned about the possibility of sea-sickness, there are
regular boat trips (weather permitting) to Ball's Pyramid, a spectacular
marine stack rising vertically 551 metres out of the ocean, 23 km south-east
of LHI. Ten species of seabirds nest there undisturbed, including the
Kermadec Petrel - the only known nesting location for it in the Australian
region. Landing is very difficult, and is permitted only for scientific
purposes.
Martyn, you asked, "How many times do you get to go to the islands, Syd?"
To which I can only answer, "Not often enough!"
We went to LHI a number of times, then ill-health put a stop to it. First
mine; now my wife's. And if you suspect from what I've written, that the
withdrawal symptoms are bad, then you are so right!
Put Lord Howe right at the top of your list of ten, Martyn.
Cheers
Syd
PS As if LHI's natural attractions weren't enough, I was once dining in a
LHI 'silver service' restaurant with a superb view over Blue Lagoon towards
the setting sun, and at the critical moment saw St Anthony's Fire, something
that had long caught my imagination, but that I never expected to be lucky
enough to see.
S.
> From: "Martyn Stewart" <>
> Organization: Naturesound.org
> Reply-To:
> Date: Sat, 7 Feb 2004 22:36:47 -0800
> To: <>
> Subject: RE: [Nature Recordists] Lord Howe Island rainforest
>
> What a fabulous description of the place Syd, Lord Howe island is on my top
> 10 lists of places to go, being a horticulturist all my life, The Kentia
> palm originating from LHI was a must for me to see growing wild as do the
> orchids and epiphytes of the rain forests. I remember seeing the brilliant
> "life of birds" with David Attenbourgh on LHI with the sooty terns and doves
> being so inquisitive! I see if you punch in Lord Howe islands on the web,
> you get a bloody golf course come up! How the hell can that happen, how do
> people get their way to have a Golf course on such a place as that? Cant
> they stay on the main land to hit their balls, it's people like that who
> stuff this planet up and don't deserve to step foot on this world I'm
> afraid. How many times do you get to go to the islands Syd? When I take my
> missus back home, I will try to coax her into getting over to the islands, I
> would love to record there...
>
> I would love to hear our song thrush with an Aussie accent, tell me, do they
> finish on an "up note" like you bloody lot?
>
> Kindest regards
>
>
>
> Martyn
>
>
>
> http://www.naturesound.org <http://www.naturesound.org/>
>
>
>
>
>
> _____
>
> From: Syd Curtis
> Sent: Saturday, February 07, 2004 8:41 PM
> To:
> Subject: [Nature Recordists] Lord Howe Island rainforest
>
>
>
>
> WARNING: Long posting and a few paragraphs at the end concern bird song.
> You may wish to delete now.
> Hello Martyn,
>
> In the course of your sounding off about Man's devastation
> of this beautiful planet, you wrote, apropos of Bernie's Galapagos/Rio Napo
> Ecuador trip:
>
>>
>> I can not picture roosters sounding off in a rain forest!
>>
>
> That comment caught my eye, for I was saddened to hear roosters sounding off
> in the rainforest on Lord Howe Island.
>
> Apart from being one of the most beautiful small (16 square km) islands in
> the world , LHI is a rarity in that it was never invaded by mankind prior to
> its discovery by the British in 1788. It's an isolated speck in the Pacific
> 580 km east of Australia, the nearest land, and apparently the Polynesian
> and Melanesian navigators never chanced upon it. Just about Paradise on
> Earth, it must have been, until the Brits found it. We humans have made up
> for lost time since, and exterminated a number of species. Rats from a
> wrecked ship have been part of it. In recent times, feral goats and pigs
> have been eliminated but rats are far more difficult, with the Pied Piper
> just a long gone legend.
>
> It's a volcanic island with two high peaks, Mts Gower & Lidgbird. The top
> of Mt Gower (875m) is accessible, just, but the Island administration
> requires visitors not to go there unless with a local guide. There is no
> mountain rescue team; the top is often in cloud; and there are only two ways
> down: the single very steep climb you came up, or fall to your death down
> vertical cliffs.
>
> The top is a miniature plateau. It's a cloud forest clothed in moss and
> almost every plant you see there is found nowhere else except on LHI. A
> magical place.
>
> The Australian Flora (vol 49) records 241 species of indigenous plants for
> LHI, of which 105 (43%) are endemic.
>
> But although humans have created havoc there, perhaps three-quarters of the
> island is still natural, at least to the extent that the original vegetation
> has never been cleared. Rats, and a serious weed problem (218 species of
> naturalised exotic plants) mean it is not entirely natural. But the
> island administration aims to keep it as natural as possible. Most of the
> island has been made Permanent Park reserve - the equivalent of a national
> park.
>
> So I was surprised and saddened one morning when out before dawn hoping for
> a tape recording of the Woodhen, a flightless Rail with some very
> interesting calls, (which I didn't get anyway), to hear a rooster or
> roosters crowing in the rainforest up on the lower slopes of Mt Gower.
>
> The Woodhen is a species saved from extinction. It was nearly wiped out and
> certainly would have been but for the inaccessibility of the tops of the two
> mountains. Pigs and goats couldn't get there, and apparently the rats
> didn't. A small population (30 maybe?) survived on the mountain tops and
> were the nucleus for a successful recovery plan which has seen them restored
> to many of their old haunts on the island.
>
> Originally the Woodhen was probably the only bird feeding on the
> invertebrate fauna of the rainforest litter - easy pickings - and they never
> bothered to learn to scratch; just push the litter aside with their beaks
> and eat. So when I decided to weed an area being choked by Crofton-weed,
> the local woodhen was delighted to follow me around for the freshly
> disturbed litter that had previously been inaccessible to it. Didn't seem
> to realise however, that when I sat down for a rest, there was nothing on
> offer, and it would come up and look questioningly at me. Even climb over
> my extended legs.
>
> But LHI birds are friendly like that. A delightful experience is to stand
> on the cliff-top at Malabar with the Pacific a few hundred metres below your
> feet, and have a Sooty Tern riding the up-draft to remain poised in mid-air
> staring at you from about a metre away - and occasionally pedalling like mad
> with its webbed-feet to maintain its stationary position.
>
> On mainland Australia the Emerald Dove (Chalcophaps indica) is a wary bird.
> On LHI I've often seen them strolling along the verandah of a resort
> apartment looking for crumbs. And on one occasion out in the rainforest, a
> family group of five walked past my feet as I stood still on a Mutton-bird
> path. One even paused and considered walking between my boots, then decided
> not to.
>
> The endemic subspecies of Currawong (Strepera graculina crissalis) has some
> fascinating songs markedly different from those on the Australian continent.
> And as Ian Hutton points out in his book Birds of Lord Howe Island, they are
> extremely curious birds. A currawong, he writes, "will often locate hikers
> on the Island's walking tracks, and follow them with beady-eyed curiosity,
> hopping from tree to tree".
>
> LHI has only a small number of Oscines but as they have come from afar they
> have interesting song variants developed in their splendid isolation. The
> European Blackbird and Song thrush are relatively recent arrivals. Both
> species were introduced into Australia and New Zealand, but they found their
> own way to LHI probably from New Zealand.
>
> I'm not competent to compare them with the European originals, but the
> Thrush at least, has developed an Australian 'flavour' to its song, by
> incorporating mimicry of the Australian Magpie-lark (Grallina cynoleuca).
>
> Perhaps the best songster of LHI is the Golden Whistler, again an endemic
> subspecies (Pachycephala pectoralis contempta) with songs markedly different
> from those of the mainland G. whistlers.
>
> And the Island really is a paradise for the terns - not a single seagull to
> take their eggs or chicks.
>
> Cheers
>
> Syd Curtis (Brisbane, Australia)
>
>
>
>
>
>
> "Microphones are not ears,
> Loudspeakers are not birds,
> A listening room is not nature."
> Klas Strandberg
>
>
>
>
> _____
>
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>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>
>
> "Microphones are not ears,
> Loudspeakers are not birds,
> A listening room is not nature."
> Klas Strandberg
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>
>
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