By Chris Collins, Tour Leader.

Introduction

This was the second Western Pacific Odyssey voyage (“WPO”) and as in 2007, the voyage was a great success on the bird front with many very special species seen.  Amongst the many seabird highlights were New Zealand Storm-petrel, Polynesian Storm-petrel, Heinroth’s Shearwater, Beck’s Petrel and Short-tailed Albatross, with the speciality land birds surely headed by the unique Kagu. 

These notes describe some of the trip highlights of the voyage, however, for a detailed species list please see our systematic list.

At sea: Auckland – Norfolk Island             2th-5th April 2008

Having departed Auckland harbour in the early hours of 3rd April, we began the WPO 2008 by heading for the Mokohinau Islands in the Hauraki Gulf to look for Grey Ternlet.  Although this species is fairly rare off the New Zealand coastline, a small population can be often found around these islands and as we passed their favoured islet, everyone got good looks of this tropical seabird. 

Cruising on into deeper waters, our focus changed to the first really big target of the trip, New Zealand Storm-petrel, and the technique we had used in 2007 of laying a series of fish oil slicks and returning to these 20-30 minutes once again ‘delivered the goods’ with the entire Wildwings group getting great looks at this recently rediscovered species. 

Indeed as we continued our journey northwards, NZSP became a not infrequent visitor to our wake (attracted in by the fish oil drip running off the ship’s stern) and at the evening log, it was agreed that at least seven different individuals had seen.

With our other sightings including Snowy, White-capped and Campbell Albatrosses, as well as Grey-faced, White-necked and Cook’s Petrels, the first day of the trip had certainly “delivered the goods” and as we headed on our way towards Norfolk Island, over the next couple of days we continued to add new seabirds with our first Tahiti, Kermadec and Gould’s Petrels being amongst the species seen.

Norfolk Island                         6th April 2008

The first landing of the voyage and once ashore, we headed for the Botanical Gardens where there is also a captive breeding programme for the endangered Norfolk Island Parakeet.  The cages seem to act as a magnet for wild parakeets (which seemingly come to ‘talk’ to the caged birds) and shortly after arriving at the Botanical Gardens everyone was enjoying great looks at this highly threatened species.

We then spread out with most people birding in small groups around the Botanical Gardens and over the course of the next hour and a half, everyone got good looks at the other two endemics, namely Norfolk Gerygone and Slender-billed White-eye.  Other species seen included Grey Fantail, Pacific Robin, Emerald Dove and the Norfolk Island subspecies of the Golden Whistler which is so different from other forms of this bird that it is surely just a matter of time before it is split - both males and females being pale brown with the only yellow in the plumage being a rather washed-out yellow vent.

Our next destination was lunch in the garden of our ground-agent, Margaret Christian, where we enjoyed stunning views across Anson Bay, Masked Boobies breeding on the cliff-top and regular sightings of Black-winged Petrels which also nest in Margaret’s grounds.

With lunch over, two options were available with the majority visiting a nearby seabird colony and seeing Black Noddies, White Terns and Red-tailed Tropicbirds.  The rest of the group headed back to the National Park and an area of forest where the final endemic (the enigmatic White-chested White-eye) was last sighted.  Sadly there was no sign of the White-eye but the group enjoyed good looks at all the forest species which had been seen in the morning.

All too soon, however, it was time to head back to the ship and as the ‘Spirit of Enderby’ pulled away from the island, we witnessed a regular passage of Little Shearwaters with at least fifteen birds seen before dusk, as well as our first cetaceans of the voyage, a pod of Bottlenose Dolphins.

At sea: Norfolk Island – New Caledonia                  7th-8th April 2008

For many of the Wildwings group, this sea passage will be long remembered for two special storm-petrel sightings, with the first of these being as we approached a seamount the day after leaving Norfolk Island. 

Although this is a highly significant underwater feature, it was a considerable surprise when a radio message came through from Bob Flood (Wildwings client) to tell everyone there was a Polynesian Storm-petrel in the wake.  Everyone rapidly moved to the stern and for the next 10+ minutes we enjoyed cracking views of this rarely seen bird as it banked backward and forward behind the ship.

Knowing we were in Australian waters, there was an immediate suspicion that this record could be a first record for Australia and confirmation came through a few days later that this was indeed the case.  A cracking record for the WPO and many congratulations to Bob for spotting it – especially as it proved to be the only Polynesian Storm-petrel of the voyage.

Other species seen that day (7th April) included Tahiti, Grey-faced, Kermadec, White-necked, Black-winged, Gould’s and Collared Petrels demonstrating how rich this area is for Pterodromas and related species.  Although five Collared Petrels were logged during the day, two of these were in Australian waters and with the first Australian records of this species being seen on WPO 2007, it was good to be able to establish that at certain times of year, this bird is clearly not irregular in this area.

The other noteworthy sighting on this leg of the voyage occurred the following day (8th April) when a ‘black-and-white’ storm-petrel was seen feeding on an oil slick we had laid not far off the coast of New Caledonia.  At the time, it was assumed to be a White-bellied Storm-petrel, however, photos showed it was heavily streaked below and looked remarkably similar to a New Zealand Storm-petrel. 

It is, therefore, quite possible that this area may be part of the unknown wintering range of NZSP, however, after getting home Chris distributed photos to a number of highly experienced seabirders in New Zealand and Australia and several individuals seem unconvinced it is this species.  Realistically, however, there seem to be few other alternatives available, so for now it may be best if the record is regarded as “a possible NZSP”.

New Caledonia                              9th April 2008

Our trip to the Riviere Bleue National Park began well before dawn and with everyone eager to look for Kagu and the other New Caledonia endemics, there were few complaints at the rather early wake up call, with breakfast available from 04:00am and our departure being an hour later.

Arriving at the park entrance a little ahead of schedule, we spent the time exploring the Park entrance road and a number of specialities were quickly found including Barred Honeyeater, Rufous Whistler, Red-throated Parrotfinch and Fan-tailed Gerygone. 

Shortly afterwards our two guides for the day, Jean Marc Meriot (Head Ranger) and Yves Letocart (now retired but widely credited with saving the Kagu from extinction) arrived.  We then transferred to the edge of the forest in two specially chartered minibuses and then immediately set off on foot to begin our search for our main target, the Kagu.  Jean Marc had, however, had gone ahead in one of the Park vehicles and as we rounded a corner, we were greeted by the almost surreal sight of him standing in the road with five Kagus no more than a couple of metres from him !!

We approached in silence but there was no real need as the birds were totally unconcerned by the presence of fifty plus people with several of them coming over to investigate the group and posing at point blank range for photographs !!

We were then treated to an amazing spectacle as the family group (two adults plus three different aged youngsters) displayed just in front of us calling, copulating and raising their crests – a very special experience.

With the main target bird seen, we tried unsuccessfully to tape in a Crow Honeyeater and then split into several smaller groups to explore the park.  Over the next few hours most of the group saw a good percentage of the Park’s specialities including Southern Shrikebill, Cloven-feathered Dove, Horned Parakeet, Yellow-bellied Robin and New Caledonian Pigeon.

After a traditional French lunch of a filled baguette and another hour in the forest, we had a brief opportunity to explore another area near the Park entrance and then it was time to return to the ship and continue our sea journey.

It had been a highly memorable day ashore and whilst the Kagus had surely “stolen the show”, our bird list for the day also included New Caledonian Parakeet, New Caledonian Cuckoo-shrike, Long-tailed Triller, Streaked Fantail, Melanesian Flycatcher, New Caledonian Whistler, Green-backed White-eye, New Caledonian Myzomela and New Caledonian Friarbird.

At sea: New Caledonia – Rennell Island, Solomon Islands                        10th-12th April 2008

Although birds were the main reason many of the Wildwings group had booked on the WPO, arguably one of the highlights of this leg of the voyage were the two Blue Whales which were seen well just before lunch on 11 April.  Hunted to the brink of extinction in the twentieth century, Blue Whales seem to be only slowly increasing in numbers and we had great views of these two magnificent animals with one of them eventually diving a few hundred metres off the ship.

There were, however, also birds to be seen and over the course of the three day journey to Rennell, these included our first Leach’s Storm-petrel, White-tailed Tropicbird, Lesser Frigatebird, Pomarine Skua and Grey-backed Tern of the voyage.  A number of the ‘usuals’ were also seen including White-necked, Gould’s and Collared Petrels, although the latter two continued to generate some debate with photos generally used to tell them apart.

Rennell, Solomon Islands                        13th April 2008

Our first landing in the Solomons was due to start shortly after dawn, however, due to the officials (from Immigration, Customs and Agricultural Control) being delayed due to a problem with their flight from Honiara, it was mid-morning before we were able to land.  Once ashore, however, it did not take the group long to start finding the five species which are endemic to Rennell, ie Rennell Starling, Rennell Shrikebill, Rennell Fantail, Rennell White-eye and Bare-eyed White-eye, and before too much time had passed, most people had ‘cleaned up’ with good looks at all five.

Despite the high temperatures, there was still good bird activity and over the next few hours, other species seen included the near-endemic Silver-capped Fruit-dove, Island Thrush (which resembled and sounded like a mini-Blackbird), both Pacific and Island Imperial-pigeons, Moustached Tree-swift, Cardinal Myzomela and Singing Parrot.

As a result of the officials failing to arrive at the village the day before, the lunch the villagers had promised to prepare for us was somewhat frugal (as they had wrongly assumed that no officials meant no ship), however, everyone got something to eat and then we had the option of either snorkelling or more birding.

Not unsurprisingly, many of the Wildwings group opted for the latter option and this allowed those who had missed some of the species earlier to catch up with these and by the time we had to return to the ship, the majority had seen all the key birds plus Finsch’s Pygmy-parrot, Yellow-eyed Cuckoo-shrike and Fan-tailed Gerygone which is supposedly the same species as on New Caledonia despite the fact that it looks different, sounds different and doesn’t respond to recordings of birds from New Caledonia !!

Makira, Solomon Islands                                    14th April 2008

As this was the first time the ‘Spirit of Enderby’ had been to Makira and the charts were not particularly detailed, at dawn we were a couple of miles offshore from our planned landing site.  As the light improved, however, we slowly edged closer inshore and by 7am Aaron, Steve and Chris had set off to meet our local guides and for a quick reconnaissance visit to the proposed birding site.

The area the villagers had selected was fine (albeit it was rather wet, muddy and steep in places !!!) and shortly afterwards everyone was ashore and we set off to explore the coastal strip and the lower slopes of the island.  A good selection of the key endemics soon followed (ie those which are restricted to Makira) and by the end of the morning, most people had seen Sooty Myzomela, San Cristobal Melidectes, White-headed Fruit-dove, San Cristobal Starling and Mottled Flowerpecker, with a lucky few also catching up with White-collared Monarch. 

It had been highly successful for an ‘expedition landing’ (ie a visit to somewhere where none of the staff had been before), however, all too soon, it was time to transfer to the village of Yanuta as we had been told a reception had been prepared for us.  As we stepped off the zodiacs, it was clear that the entire populace of at least 200 people had come to welcome us and we were greeted by the village chiefs and 20+ local girls in traditional dress, with everyone being presented with a necklace of freshly picked orchids.

Once everyone was seated, there were a series of short speeches and we learnt that we were the first tourist to ever visit this part of Makira.  The sincerity in the welcome and sense of excitement from the villagers (at our visit) was truly humbling and shortly afterwards we were free to wander around, speak to the local people, enjoy a fresh coconut drink and purchase some of the shell and other wares that were available.

As we boarded the zodiacs to return to the ship, the send off we received from the village was tremendous and everyone felt we had experienced something truly special and unique; indeed for many this was to be one of the undoubted highlights of the voyage.

As the ship sailed away, we sounded the horn to thank the villagers for their fantastic welcome (and allowing us to see some of their special birds) and then it was back to seabirding with Black-naped Tern, Bridled Tern and the sole Common Tern of the voyage amongst the species which were seen as we sailed on towards our next destination, Mount Austin on Guadalcanal.

Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands                        15th April 2008

With the ship arriving off Honiara at 5am, we were ashore before dawn and on our way to Mt Austin.  Things did not go quite to plan, however, (as is frequently the case in the Solomons !!) as there had been heavy rain the previous day and the last of our buses failed to make it up one of the steep hills between the wharf and the trail head.

The problem was, however, soon sorted (with one of the buses doing a double run) and shortly afterwards, we arrived at the beginning of the trail and were able to begin exploring the area.  With the assistance of our local guides, Jerry and Samson, we began to find a range of Solomon endemics including Ducorps’ Cockatoo, Claret-breasted Fruit-dove, Red-knobbed Imperial-pigeon, the spectacularly colourful Yellow-bibbed Lory and the bird with surely the most amazing call of the entire voyage, the king-sized Buff-headed Coucal. 

After returning to the ship for lunch (as birding at Mt Austin can be mighty hot in the middle of the day), there was a choice in the afternoon of a return trip to the mountain for more birding or a wander around Honiara.  Not surprisingly, the majority of the Wildwings group selected the birding option and whilst the afternoon birding proved to be “hard work” in the hot conditions, by the end of the day, the majority had seen a good range of species including Chestnut-bellied Monarch, Finsch’s Pygmy-Parrot, Black-faced Myzomela, Midget Flowerpecker, Brown-winged Starling and Blyth’s Hornbill. 

Although an attempt just prior to dusk to tape-lure a Woodford’s Rail into view proved unsuccessful, we ended the day with an excellent list of birds and realised we had been exceptionally lucky with the weather as it began to lash with rain as we headed back to the ship.

At sea: Guadalcanal – Kolombangara, Solomon Islands                        16th April 2008

After three days of back-to-back landings, some early starts and a good deal of exercise, many took the opportunity to catch up on some badly needed rest as we spent the day cruising to our next destination, Kolombangara. 

Whilst the seabirding was certainly slower than it had been around New Zealand, for the keen seabirders there were still birds to look for with the highlight of the day being our first Tropical Shearwaters of the voyage.  Other species seen included our first pale phase Wedge-tailed Shearwater plus Short-tailed Shearwater, White-tailed Tropicbird and our last Masked Booby for quite some time.

Kolombangara, Solomon Islands                        17th April 2008

Although Chris had recced this island, the tsunami which hit the area in March 2007 meant the proposed visit on the inaugural voyage had to be cancelled and as a result, this was the first time the ‘Spirit of Enderby’ had been to Kolombangara. 

Once ashore, we set off to look for our main target the Roviana Rail, a species which had only been described in the early 1990s.  Somehow this species had clearly been overlooked by ornithological explorers who had the visited ‘Kolo’ in the nineteenth and most of the twentieth centuries, as the rail was in fact remarkably easy to find with several birds seen extremely well feeding (with chickens !!) around houses in the village.  Rarely has a target bird been so obliging !!!

With the rail seen well by all, we had time to explore further inland and over the course of the next couple of hours found a number of other specialities including White-collared Monarch and Solomon Sea-eagle.  Other species seen included Yellow-vented Myzomela and Solomon Islands White-eye.

After returning to the ‘Spirit of Enderby’ for lunch and repositioning the ship a little further along the coast, we set off in the early afternoon for a ‘zodiac cruise’ along a nearby forested waterway.  Although the weather was deteriorating rapidly, fortunately, the rain held off for an hour or so allowing us to see Little Kingfisher, both Pied and Variable Goshawks and Moustached Tree-swift.

As we transferred by zodiac to our final schedule landing, the village of Iriri, the rain and wind finally set in.  Sadly this badly impacted on our plans but nevertheless many people caught up with some of the birds they had missed in the morning including the range-restricted White-capped Monarch and the rather elusive Solomon Islands White-eye.

At sea: Kolombangara, Solomon Islands – Chuuk, Micronesia            18th-22nd April 2008

With the announcement by Hadoram Shirihai shortly before the departure of the voyage that he had rediscovered Beck’s petrel off Bougainville and New Ireland, WPO 2008 had the chance to make ornithological history by also seeing this near-mythical seabird and as we sailed onwards from Kolombangara, there was a considerable sense of anticipation and excitement. 

Before we reached the waters where Hadoram had seen the petrel, however, there was the small matter of finding another rarely seen and poorly known seabird, Heinroth’s Shearwater, and as we cruised up the west side of Bougainville, a number of these were seen in the late afternoon of 18 April with 11 logged for the day. 

Whilst the shearwaters were generally a little distant, a loose group of Sperm Whales gave great looks with many of the animals being females with calves.

The following day (19th April) was the day which had been set aside to look for Beck’s Petrel and we started our search offshore from north-west Bougainville.  For what seemed like an eternity, there was very little of interest on our chum slick with a small group of Wilson’s Storm-petrels being the only highlight. 

The decision was, therefore, taken to sail to south-east New Ireland which was where Hadoram had seen the greatest number of Beck’s Petrels and just as Aaron made an announcement to tell everyone this was the plan, a small petrel arrived on the slick and to everyone’s delight it was clear that we had finally found our target. 

As a result, the planned departure was immediately abandoned and there were scenes of considerable delight as we became the first bird tour group to ever see this almost unknown bird. 

Over the course of the next hour, we had up to three Beck’s Petrels on our chum and oil slicks and all of us were impressed how different this species is from Tahiti Petrel being noticeably smaller, with a distinctive flight and a prominent, almost “chicken-headed” appearance.

With everyone more than satisfied with their views, we spent much of the day crossing the Buka Channel to New Ireland and then in the late afternoon cruised up the eastern side of New Ireland with at least another eight Beck’s Petrels seen.

It would then be another three full days at sea before we would reach our next destination, Chuuk in Micronesia, and whilst the Red-footed Boobies, Sooty Terns, Wedge-tailed Shearwaters, Leach’s Storm-petrels etc meant there were birds to see, it was clear that one of the major highlights of the voyage was now behind us.

Chuuk, Micronesia                 23rd-24th April

Arriving in Chuuk is often a rather slow and bureaucratic process, however, by mid-afternoon of the 23rd April, the ship and passengers were cleared and with everyone having a free afternoon, some elected to explore the island on their own whilst others took up the offer of a snorkelling excursion to one of the many Second World War wrecks that litter the Chuuk Lagoon.

The following day, however, it was back to the serious business of looking for endemics and splitting into two groups, both groups visited two sites during the morning.  These locations allowed everyone to see the commoner specialities including Caroline Islands Swiftlet, Caroline Reed-warbler, Caroline Islands White-eye, Micronesian Myzomela, Oceanic Flycatcher and Micronesian Starling.

The big surprise, however, was everyone getting good looks at Caroline Islands Ground-dove, a species which is far from easy to find on the island and as we returned to the ship after lunch ashore at the Truk Stop Hotel, the overwhelming consensus was that it had been a highly successful shore excursion despite some very heavy rain.

At sea: Chuuk, Micronesia – ChiChi-jima, Bonin Islands, Japan  25th-29th April 2008

The journey from Chuuk to ChiChi-jima was as expected somewhat birdless at times, however, as we continued to head northwards we gradually began to lose some of the species which has been regular over the previous few weeks with, for example, our last Red-tailed Tropicbird on 29th April and the final Sooty Tern on the same day.

As the waters began to cool, however, we began to pick up a number of new species with our first Matsudaira’s Storm-petrel sighted on 26th April, a species which was then to be an almost daily fixture for the next week.  Also new for the list were Bonin Petrel and Bannerman’s Shearwater both of which were first seen on 28th April.

The passage of seabirds moving northward was, however, still in evidence with a Kermadec Petrel on 28th April and daily sightings of various skua species plus Wilson’s Storm-petrels.

ChiChi-jima, Bonin Islands, Japan              30th April 2008

Another new island in the WPO itinerary and before we could even see ChiChi-jima through the early morning murk, we enjoyed some distant views of several Humpback Whales with at least two animals regularly breaching.

Once landing formalities were completed, most of the group headed to the town park which was conveniently located on the opposite side of the road from the wharf.  Although the area was wooded, the diversity of birds was rather disappointing with the only species of real interest being Brown-eared Bulbul, Japanese Bush-warbler, Japanese White-eye and Blue Rock-thrush.

All too soon, however, it was time to reboard the ship and as we sailed away, a Eurasian Buzzard (presumably of the endemic Bonin subspecies) was seen flying distantly over the harbour entrance.  As the ship turned north and we entered deeper water, storm-petrels began to be found, although most were frustratingly distant at first.  It soon became apparent, however, that these were not the Matsudaira’s we had been watching regularly for the last few days, but a new species for just about everyone onboard, Tristram’s Storm-petrel.  The birds lacked the white wing flashes of a “Matsie”, had more prominent carpal bars, as well as a somewhat indistinct grey rump. 

Over the course of the afternoon, it was clear that this area was a major ‘hot spot’ for this species with a ‘mid B’ (ie several hundred) recorded at the log that evening.  Other species seen during the day included the first Laysan and Black-footed Albatrosses of the voyage and our last Red-footed Booby.

Torishima, Japan              1st May 2008

The main reason for stopping at ChiChi-jima had been to clear into Japan and thus allow us to get close to Torishima and by mid-morning the island was starting to come into view.  Twelve miles off the island we saw our first Short-tailed Albatross which obligingly flew across the bows allowing just about everyone to see this majestic species.

What was surely one of the highlights of the voyage, however, took place a little while later when we began chumming and ‘STAs’ began appearing in ever increasing numbers giving us unbelievable views of just about all plumages of this fantastic bird.  Thousands of photos were taken of the 25+ birds which were around and there was no need for large lenses or fancy cameras as the birds came to within a matter of metres of the back of the ship to sample the squid and other delicacies (!!) we had available.

After lunch we took the ship closer inshore and enjoyed good looks at the island and as we pulled away from the island we attempted to attract in some more albatrosses with the last of our supplies of squid and fish guts.  None, however, seemed interested, making us appreciate how lucky we had been with the views we had had in the morning.

Ko-jima, Izu Islands, Japan              2nd May 2008

In many respects this was the most frustrating day of the voyage, as we had been due to spend the afternoon looking for Japanese Murrelets which Chris had been told bred in reasonable number on this island.  From dawn, however, conditions were far from ideal with the wind gusting strongly, regular rain squalls and a sizeable swell, although a determined few who had been sheltering on the port side caught a brief glimpse of a murrelet.  Views were too brief to confirm its identity, although the fact that anything was being seen encouraged those who had remained inside to venture outside or onto the Bridge to join the search.

As we approached the island, however, conditions deteriorated still further and by early afternoon, the wind was blowing at force 8-9 making it very unpleasant to be birding outside.  With rain smearing the Bridge windows, visibility was not much better there, however, despite the weather, a lucky few did manage to get brief views of two murrelets flying towards the island.  Again, their identity could not be confirmed, however, given their size and the location, it seemed highly likely that these were the species we were looking for.

For the rest of the afternoon, we continued to circle Ko-jima, however, the weather did not abate and by dusk nobody had seen any further murrelets.  For the first time on the voyage, a post dinner briefing (for the following day’s landing on Miyake-jima) was cancelled due to safety concerns as the ship was rolling so violently and as a result, many headed off to bed early, frustrated but hoping for better luck the following day.

Miyake-jima, Izu Islands, Japan                          3rd May 2008

Overnight the conditions had moderated considerably and after an early breakfast, the zodiac shuttles began to take everyone ashore.  Here we were met by three members of the local constabulary who checked everyone’s passports and once this formality was completed, we headed to our birding destination, the Miyake Nature Centre.  This was only a few kilometres away, however, on the way it became very clear that the island was still an active volcano (it had been temporarily evacuated a few years before) with fresh lava fields and a pungent smell of sulphur in the air.

Arriving at the Nature Centre, we split into a series of small groups to explore the area which consisted of mature woodland surrounding a reasonable sized crater lake.  Over the course of the next few hours, we saw Ijima’s leaf-warbler and Izu thrush (both of which are endemic to the Izu Islands), as well as a range of other species including the distinctive Izu race of the Varied Tit, the rather smart Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker and the rather elusive Japanese Robin.

Returning to the ship for a late lunch, we learnt that those who had skipped the shore excursion had seen over 20 Japanese Murrelets close to some offshore stacks as the ship had been drifting for most of the morning.  After the frustration of missing this species the previous day, it was agreed with Aaron that immediately after lunch we would take the ship over to the area where the birds had been seen. 

As we approached the islets, the disappointment of not seeing the murrelets the previous day gave way to delight, as we all enjoyed great views of this rare alcid.  Indeed some of the birds were so close to the ship that it was possible to see them swimming away below the surface of the sea !!! 

A fantastic end to a stunning voyage during which we had been privileged to see and share with you all an amazing range of rarely seen and poorly known species. The itinerary changes we had made from the inaugural voyage paid off handsomely and next year’s voyage will follow very closely in our footsteps.

A full systematic species list is also available for this voyage, as is the 2007 voyage trip report and species list they are here.