Sorry All,
I haven't got round to the second half of my story....
After our trip to Norfolk Island, we met up with the kids in Sydney for a night
before flying out again the next day (Sep 15) to complete the second half of
our Island Odyssey, with a trip to Lord Howe Island. It, too, is extremely
beautiful, though in different ways to Norfolk - more rugged, for a start;
smaller, and with fewer permanent residents and tourists (only 400 tourists at
any one time). There are also fewer roads, and far fewer hire cars, so it was
re-learning how to ride pushbikes, and suffering sore backsides for a couple of
days.
If you are going to Lord Howe, be aware of their strict 14kg checked-in baggage
limit (we had to leave some stuff in a locker in Sydney). This is due to the
short, single runway. We got into the Island right on time, but the flight
cancelled the day before due to strong winds came in 20 min behind us. The
Accommodation hosts collect you at the airport and transport you to your digs,
so while we waited for the second plane, we got down to some 'serious' birding,
including the Pacific Golden Plovers and Whimbrels hanging around the airstrip,
the Buff-banded Rails around the bushes and airport buildings (turns out
they're everywhere) and the Lord Howe Woodhens around the weather station and
surrounding paddocks. WE discovered later in the trip that one persons job is
to chase the Plovers and Whimbrels off the runway (by driving his vehicle up
and down and back and forth, as they lead him a merry dance) before each plane
takes off and lands.
The Woodhens are making a great recovery, with us finding them all over the
island - large ones, juveniles, in betweens - all round the settlement and
accommodation, and even begging for scraps at the lunch stop on top of Mt Gower
(but more of that later). Their calls are loud and raucous, and often given in
response to any loud noise. They say it's been the easy way for the recovery
team to track down where they are. Most of the birds carry one or more leg
bands (as do the local Pied Currawongs), and our kids remarked a few times
about the "jangling birds". The Rails are also common, seeming to take the
place of Sparrows and Seagulls around the settlement, scavenging the scraps
around tables, etc.
We did a bit of birding on foot around the settlement the first afternoon (the
bike hire place was shut that day) before hiring bikes the next day. First,
though, we began contacting people about the trip to Ball's Pyramid. Months
before we went, we contacted Jack Shick about doing the trip with him, but he
was to be off-island at the time, so directed us to Ian Hutton. Ian was also
to be off-island, so directed us to Dave Gardiner of Greenback fishing and
Charter. When we missed out on Phillip Island, off Norfolk, I'd emailed Dave
straight away to impress upon him how keen we were to get out to Ball's
Pyramid. We range him the afternoon we got To Lord Howe. His response was
that, with the high winds of the day before, things were pretty rough, and we
wouldn't get out for a few days at least - and when we did, we'd need a minimum
number to go (9, with us only being able to provide 4). Without the minimum
number, the only way he'd get us there would be to charter the wh
ole trip ourselves. I said we'd hope for the minimum number!!
Our Accommodation host advised us to try booking with some others are well, as
a 'backstop', and we could always cancel with those we didn't go with. She
reckoned that's how all the tour bookings and restaurant reservations on the
Island worked. SOooo.... we went that afternoon and booked with another group
- "Carina" - who couldn't see that the weather would be an issue, and thought
they'd go on the Tuesday afternoon (this was Sat), so we made a booking with
them. On Sunday, they let us know they'd be going Monday, but needed us to
confirm we were coming, as THEY would not have enough numbers to make the trip
if we didn't go! So, we contacted Greenback and told the the situation, saying
we'd RATHER go with them if they were going (turns out they're much more
experienced and set up for birding trips than Carina). However, the message we
got (eventually) was that as the weather didn't look good to them, they hadn't
chased any other passengers, so we'd better go with "Cari
na". Apparently, some of the sightseers don't appreciate it if the seas are
rough, and "don't take disappointment well". I did ask, "What about those who
are disappointed at not going at all?????"
On Sunday (after getting our bikes) we did a fair bit of exploring around
walking tracks, beaches, the airstrip, and so on. Lots of good birds, and the
kids managed to pick up some we'd seen on Norfolk, including the delightful
White Terns (not as plentiful as Norfolk). This was when we first saw the
people at the Airstrip chasing Whimbrels and Golden-plovers. On Monday
morning, we did the loop walk up to Malabar, and Kim's Lookout. This got us
good views of Red-tailed Tropicbirds, a species Shirley and I had sought all
over Norfolk Island, with no success. Now the four of us had them! There were
also a few huge 'rafts' of Wedge-tailed Shearwaters feeding well off shore.
We'd walked amongst a rookery of these on the first afternoon at "The Valley of
Shadows", and saw more coming in to roost just by the main island road later in
our stay. We were back to the Settlement in good time for the boat trip in the
afternoon.
The "Carina" took about a dozen of us (the rest were definitely sightseers and
not birders) out of the sheltered coral lagoon, and clockwise around the
Island, checking the Admiralty Islands on the way. We got good views of
Tropicbirds, Grey Tenlets, and Masked Boobies nesting on some of the islands.
We followed down the east coast of Lord Howe, enjoying the scenery, but didn't
get many more pelagic birds till we got out towards Ball's Pyramid. On our way
out and back we were tailed by lots of Flesh-footed Shearwaters, and just a few
Providence Petrels. Near the Pyramid itself, there were lots of Ternlets, and
we saw two Kermadec Petrels feeding around the botton of the Pyramid. On the
way out, I saw one White-bellied Storm-petrel, but the others missed it!!
There were so many birds around the Pyramid, we would have loved to stop and
berley (as Greenback would have done, had they taken us), but as I said,
"Carina" is set up more for sightseeing, so there was no such stop. We had to
snatch glimpses where we could. We did get fantastic views of this impressive
sea-stack, which rises 550m straight up out of the sea. To think, some have
even "landed" on the stack, and then climbed it?!?! This is where they
re-discovered the Lord Howe Island Stick Insect, which rats had driven to
extinction on the main island.
Fortunately, just as we headed back, we all go onto about half a dozen
Storm-petrels, and then had quick views of 3 or 4 Little Shearwaters. A few
Flesh-footed Shearwaters tailed us back up the west side of Lord Howe, and
almost back to the Lagoon. We'd finally got out to sea!! And what's more, we
saw virtually all the species we'd been after at Phillip Island! Phew!.
Tuesday, we spent exploring other walking tracks on the Island, mostly over to
North Bay and Old Gulch. There were LOTS of Sooty terns around North Bay, and
a few Common Noddies, in addition to the Black Noddies we'd seen in other parts
(again, not as common as on Norfolk). We climbed up Mt Elize, where they talk
about closing the track in September because of nesting Sooty Terns. The track
was still open, so we thought we'd give it a go, but later decided it SHOULD
have been closed, so didn't quite make it to the top. On the upper track,
Sooty Terns were sitting all along the track in front of you. They are
terrific aerialists once the get airborne, but struggle to GET airborne,
especially when moving ("flopping"?) away from you, uphill. On a number of
occasions, I had to pick birds up and toss them into the air to get them
airborne so we could get past. However, on the very highest reaches of the
track we realised they weren't just sitting on the track, but some had
eggs on the track. That's when we decided to call it quits and turn back.
For our last full day, the focus was not specifically on birding, but on
trekking. We'd booked to do the Mt. Gower Trek (despite the guide's mother's
best attempts to dissuade people!! IT's certainly not a trek for the
faint-hearted! The guide led 16 of us on a 10-hour walk/climb/scramble up the
impressive Mt. Gower, the highest peak on the Island. The boat trip had given
us great views of the mountain from the sea, and so we were felling a little
apprehensive. It's around 14km walk, but also includes 16 rope stages that you
have to haul yourself up, over, around and along cliffs and ledges. To his
credit, our guide did not lose anyone! And neither did he leave anyone behind
(as we were warned he could well do, if people couldn't keep up). The changing
vegetation types on the way up, and the cloud forest on top are amazing. And
the view from the top is spectacular!! We were followed by a couple of
Currawongs all the way up, and when we sat down to lunch on top, they
called in all their mates to try to monster us out of our food. We also had
to fend off the cheeky Woodhens who were after some scraps, as well. We were
really proud of ourselves for having made it up and back - especially our
daughter, who is not a keen walker, and was VERY apprehensive about it. We're
really glad we did it, but would probably not want to do it again! We
certainly knew about it the next day!
After a bit of LEISURELY birding round the Settlement on the last morning (we'd
returned the bikes the day before doing the Trek), we boarded our plane for
home that afternoon. On the return journey, not only do they still enforce the
14kg weight limit, they also weigh all passengers WITH their hand luggage, to
know how much fuel to take on. We taxied to the VERY end of the runway, and
sat with the brakes on which the engines picked up rev's, so that as he
released the brakes, we got a "flying start" down the runway. We did manage to
get airborne with plenty of runway to spare, but I pity any Whimbrels or Golden
Plovers who happened to get in the way.
Shirley and I added another 7 lifers each on Lord Howe, with the kids picking
up 10 each. Our total list (36 species) for Lord Howe was:
Australian Wood Duck (an "uncommon visitor")
Pacific Black Duck (most were Black Duck/Mallard hybrids)
Providence Petrel (just a few out near Ball's Pyramid)
Kermadec Petrel (2 or 3 birds at Ball's Pyramid)
Wedge-tailed Shearwater (coming ashore Valley of Shadows, Clear Place, and
along road between Settlement and Airstrip)
Flesh-footed Shearwater (only at sea - come ashore to breed later)
Little Shearwater (just a few out near Ball's Pyramid)
White-bellied Storm-petrel (near Ball's Pyramid)
Red-tailed Tropicbird (Malabar cliffs)
Masked Booby (Malabar, Admiralty Islands)
Little Black Cormorant
Great Cormorant
White-faced Heron
Nankeen Kestrel
Lord Howe Woodhen (Fairly common, and very confiding)
Buff-banded Rail (VERY common0
Purple Swamphen
Bar-tailed Godwit (one, in muddy "lagoon" at end of airstrip)
Whimbrel (Airstrip)
Ruddy Turnstone
Pacific Golden Plover (airstrip)
Masked Lapwing (fairly common in open country)
Sooty Tern (common)
Common Noddy (mostly around North Bay/Old Gulch)
Black Noddy
White Tern (around Settlement - not as common as on NI)
Grey Ternlet (only at sea)
Emerald Dove (fairly common in wooded areas)
Sacred Kingfisher (common around airport)
Golden Whistler (fairly common - MUCH more like mainland race than NI birds are)
Magpie Lark (fairly common in open country)
Pied Currawong (LHI Race) (fairly common)
Welcome Swallow
Silvereye (LHI race - seemed more like NI Slender-billed White-eye than
mainland Silvereyes. Fairly common in forest)
Common Blackbird
Common Starling
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