Peter
I couldn't entirely discern from your response to my report on my somewhat
truncated trip to Fiji whether your rather sniffy tone was wry or serious.
If the former it was in keeping with my own (intended) tenor. If the
latter, I apologise for seeming to be so ungrateful for what you must
consider to have been a wonderful opportunity. What I omitted to include in
my report was a little (relevant) history. 8 or so years ago I managed to
have 10 hours on the ground in Fiji between a flight in from Hawaii and my
onward leg to Sydney. I spent it driving through much of the same areas as
I was limited to on this occasion and saw many of the same species I
encountered this time. Still, as they say in the English classics (with the
appropriate accent) - mustn't grumble.
Thanks for taking the trouble to respond.
Regards
Richard
>At 07:10 PM 06/05/1997 +1000, you wrote:
>>Wouldn't it rot your socks!!! (Probably literally if I'd stayed much
>longer.)
>>As readers of this service will probably remember, I had a short,
>>short-notice trip to Fiji these past few days and sought help and advice
>>from "birding-aus-ers" re where to go and what to look for around Suva.
>>Many helpful suggestions all focussed (correctly of course) on the remaining
>>native forest sites, to which I was looking forward with some enthusiasm.
>>The best laid plans (and all that). What my advisers failed to take into
>>account was cyclone June - a rather pathetic specimen but able to threaten
>>as well as the big boys, bring plenty of rain and reasonable lashings of
>>wind - all cloaked in typical cyclonic uncertainty. Local flooding, closed
>>local airports and worst of all impassable unsealed roads (such as serve all
>>the native forest sites - and believe me I tried, although I would prefer
>>no-one mentions this to Hertz - just kidding, a little) left me struggling
>>with birding around the south-western Queen's Road from Nadi to Suva (farmed
>>and cleared almost completely) and the extremely soggy botanical gardens in
>>Suva. Pleasant but definitely uninspiring bird-wise and obviously quite
>>disappointing.
>>The result? 25 species as follows:
>>
>>Lesser Frigatebird
>>Pacific Reef Heron
>>Gray Duck (Pacific Black Duck)
>>Fiji Goshawk
>>Pacific Golden Plover
>>Wandering Tattler
>>Great Crested Tern
>>Black-naped Tern
>>Rock Dove (I)
>>Spotted Turtle-Dove (I)
>>Collared Lory
>>White-rumped Swiftlet
>>Sacred Kingfisher
>>Pacific Swallow
>>Red-vented Bulbul (I) +++
>>Vanikoro Flycatcher
>>White-breasted Woodswallow
>>Common Myna (I) ++++
>>Jungle Myna (I) ++++
>>Orange-breasted Honeyeater
>>Wattled Honeyeater
>>Silvereye
>>Red Avadavat (I)
>>Red-headed Parrotfinch
>>(Golden Whistler (H))
>>
>>Thank you to all who responded and proffered advice. Suffice it to say that
>>next time I will be well equipped as a result of your help, and I certainly
>>have plenty of birds left to see!
>>Field Guide? Pratt, Bruner and Berrett's "The Birds of Hawaii and the
>>Tropical Pacific" is excellent, with full illustrations and Fiji list (by
>>island) and acts as an enticement to try exploring some of the other
>>tropical paradises (and their weather!) - any excuse to combine hedonism and
>>birding (or are they synonymous?).
>>
>>Cheers
>>
>>Richard Nowotny.
>>
>>
>> There's no pleasing some people. I'm only a casual birder in that I do
>not go about hunting lifers. If I see something different in my travels,
>I'm rapt. This way there is always something new & exciting over the horizon.
>
>Cheers from the casual birder. ( a rare breed )
>
>Peter.
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