HA240321: Western Pacific Odyssey: A Grand Birding Voyage from New Zealand to Papua New Guinea
WESTERN PACIFIC ODYSSEY
on board HERITAGE ADVENTURER
21 March - 18 April 2024
© C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Day 1
Thursday, March 21, 2024
Auckland
Our Western Pacific Odyssey voyage started in Auckland where we, intrepid travellers from around the globe, gathered in preparation for the adventure ahead. After exploring New Zealand’s largest city, we readied ourselves to board our new home away from home, Heritage Adventurer, in the afternoon. After safety briefings and lifeboat drills, we settled into our accommodations before exploring the Observation Lounge and viewing decks where we no doubt would be spending a lot of time ahead.
After briefings for the next few days of sailing to Great Barrier Island and beyond we enjoyed the first of many delicious dinners! Dinner was ablaze with conversation as everyone got to know each other, or caught up with old friends, and stories of previous voyages being re-told. The bar was empty with everyone getting a good night’s sleep and ready for an early start the next day.
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Day 2
Friday, March 22, 2024
Great Barrier Island
We arrived to a perfect morning at Great Barrier Island. Barely any wind, beautiful weather and not too hot which provided perfect photography and walking conditions.
After an early but delicious breakfast, it was our first chance to board the Zodiacs. On our journey we observed Variable Oystercatchers on the oyster buoys and Gannets over the water. We met the warden from Great Barrier Island who gave a fascinating introduction and history of the island and how it is being brought back to nature. We then headed off to explore the island in groups from 0845. We chose how to best explore and had great views of all the major targets; Brown Teal, Swamp Harrier and Giant Wētā at the wharf and at a pond with five ducklings. We enjoyed a walk across fields, filled with Buff-banded Rail, to an area where an abundance of Pigeons and Kākā were feeding and gave spectacular views. There were lots of Fantail and Tūī interspersed with Grey Warbler and Bellbirds. The forest was awesome – a reminder of what all of New Zealand used to look like. We walked to a spectacular Kauri tree, that sheds its bark to get rid of epiphytes and New Zealand Liverwort, and we found beautiful New Zealand Pygmy Orchids.
Then after a thoroughly enjoyable morning in superb forest we returned to Heritage Adventurer for lunch and headed off to sea. We passed Maukatia Bay where we saw a large colony of Gannet and a small colony of Grey Ternlet. Then we headed to the 200 nautical mile mark in search of the re-discovered, and critically endangered, New Zealand Storm-Petrel. Steaming along we had excellent views (including scope) and photos of >20 of these fabulous birds. Also on the pelagic were 4 Fairy Penguins, a remarkable 16 species of tubenosed birds with a couple of Gibson’s, 1 Antipodean, 1 Campbell and 1 Black-browed Albatross, 100+ Flesh-footed, >2,000 Buller’s and >5 Fluttering Shearwaters, 300 Common Diving-Petrel, >20 Black and 10 Grey-faced, 20 Cook’s and 1 +Pycroft’s Petrel, 7 Fairy Prion, 2 Wilson’s, 2 White faced Storm-Petrels, as well as >500 Gannet and 15 Pied Cormorant.
It was a truly fantastic day all round. After a delicious dinner and entertaining species log from Matt, we headed to bed to be fresh for tomorrow’s adventure.
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Day 3
Saturday, March 23, 2024
Russell, Waitangi & Ukapukapuka Island
To make the most of our day, it was another early start today as we boarded the Zodiacs to the wharf at Russell.
It was then a scenic ferry ride to Urupukapuka Island, a Department of Conservation reserve, where the introduced predators (weasels, stoats, hedgehogs, cats, possums) have been removed allowing the native New Zealand birds to thrive. We observed stunning flocks of White-fronted Terns, Red-billed and Kelp Gulls, Arctic Skua and some Pied Cormorants on the way. Arriving on the wharf on the adjacent beach were endemic Variable Oystercatchers and New Zealand Dotterels, they were very hospitable allowing great photos, as did the majority of the birds today.
There were no guided walks on the Department of Conservation land, so we were given maps and explored the island together collating what we saw. It was filled with stunning native forest and very impressive Urupukapuka Island trees. The walk up into the hills was very rewarding, even though it rained. There were lots of Pūkeko and a couple of Sacred Kingfisher on the way, but we soon found some of the stunning, noisy and inquisitive North Island Saddleback – one of two remaining species in the endemic family of New Zealand Wattlebirds. Further on we found large family flocks of Whitehead feeding young, and close by several North Island Tomtit were stunning. They were accompanied by lots of New Zealand Fantails, a few Grey Warblers and Silvereyes who were very entertaining.
It started raining as we headed back to the café where most of the birds were anyway. We were fortunate that Matt found a roosting Morepork alongside a couple of Saddleback, and we all observed it although it was doing its best to remain hidden. Two North Island Robin started calling incessantly from a Norfolk Pine and the nearby native trees. We observed several stunning, Red-crowned Parakeet soar above us. A major highlight was the Buff-banded Rails, although common, we had never seen so many with at least 20 running around. We enjoyed a welcome coffee at the café and then some explored the grassland and found New Zealand Pipit while others headed to the wetland with great observations of Fernbird.
Back on Heritage Adventurer we enjoyed a fantastic lunch as usual. Then we set off on an afternoon pelagic on our way north. This was very entertaining. It started slowly with a few Buller’s Shearwater, but gradually built up with a great selection of wandering type albatrosses of various ages and types with Gibson’s, an adult female Antipodean and a couple of Southern/Snowy Wandering Albatross. A distant black-browed and a couple of White-capped Albatrosses were also spotted. Smaller seabirds were seen in good numbers including Cook’s, a probable Pycroft’s, Black and Grey-faced Petrels, a few Fairy Prion, Fluttering, Flesh-footed and lots of Buller’s Shearwaters. New and very exciting were a stunning White-necked and Black-winged Petrels that we will get more of later. One each of Wilson’s, Grey-backed and New Zealand Storm Petrels. 18 species of tubenose and 24 species of seabird for today – just stunning.
Image © F. Lambert, Heritage Expeditions
Image © M.Jones, Heritage Expeditions
Image © M.Jones, Heritage Expeditions
Image © M.Jones, Heritage Expeditions
Day 4
Sunday, March 24, 2024
Bay of Islands on route to Norfolk Island
It was a glorious pelagic day as we steamed for Norfolk Island. Great food, great company, great birds and great comfort. The sea was calm and got calmer through the day. It started with two breakfasts, one for birders who were early risers and one for those wanting a sleep in. We had a great post-breakfast haul with White-necked (10), Black-winged (100+) and Grey-faced Petrels and the first of 100+ Wedge-tailed Shearwaters. We enjoyed lunch and a very informative photography class with on board photographer Cathy Finch.
Still inside New Zealand waters, we saw more of the same with the addition of Long-tailed and Arctic Skua, several White Terns, Red-tailed Tropicbird, Providence, a Gould’s and Magnificent/Collared Petrel and a couple of juvenile Australasian Gannets that created a lot of chatter. The excitement grew as we came to the boundary of New Zealand and Australia. 12 minutes later we had a Black Noddy! We enjoyed talks by Niall and Phil on Introduction to Seabird Identification to prepare us for the rest of the voyage. As we headed to Norfolk Island in Australian waters we observed more of the same species of Petrels and Shearwaters with the surprise addition of several Norfolk Island Little Shearwaters, lots of White Terns, Red-tailed Tropicbird and Long-tailed Skua. During the day's recap, we learned why some birds have gone extinct on Norfolk Island, followed by the critical birds we need to look for tomorrow. The clocks went back, but everyone was early to bed for a well-earned rest and sleep in. 10 tubenoses and 14 seabirds today.
Day 5
Monday, March 25, 2024
Norfolk Island
It was a very enjoyable and successful day of birding! We started with an early breakfast bringing Norfolk customs officers on board. Once we cleared customs it was time to head ashore. Immediately we were surrounded by awesome seabirds with excellent views of Black Noddy, Grey Ternlet, White Tern, Red-tailed Tropicbird and the occasional Masked Booby from Heritage Adventurer and the wharf. Later in the day we also saw a Black-winged Petrel flying to its colony.
Once ashore we met Margaret Christian, descended of Fletcher Christina from Mutiny on the Bounty, and author of the Norfolk Bird Field Guide, and her family. We then headed off in a variety of vehicles into the Norfolk Island National Park. We soon observed Red Junglefowl and California Quail on the Australian and New South Whales lists, as well as Sacred Kingfisher. At the National Park we all had excellent views and photos of all five endemics; Norfolk Parakeet, the endangered but stunning Norfolk Robin, Norfolk Gerygone, and the enigmatic Slender-billed White-eye that hunts insects from tree bark. We also saw lots of Norfolk Golden Whistler that only have a female plumage, as well as lots of other intros.
We enjoyed a relaxed morning tea and coffee and then went for another walk through the stunning National Park. Eventually it was time to return to our trusty expedition vessel, and we headed back to the wharf ticking off Nankeen Kestrel on the way. During a delicious lunch on board, we observed an Indo-pacific Bottle-nosed Dolphin then a very productive sea-watch as we sailed north in Australian waters; 1 Black, 2 White-necked, >100 Black-winged Petrels, 100+ Wedge-tailed and 10 Little Shearwaters, lots of Red-tailed Tropicbirds, White Terns and Black with a few Brown Noddies. Cetacean-wise we enjoyed the anticipated Humpback Whale and a breaching Blainville’s Beaked Whale.
We went to bed filled with of excitement as we headed north towards New Caledonia with lots of potential sea and land birds to come.
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © M. Jones, Heritage Expeditions
Image © M. Jones, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Day 6
Tuesday, March 26, 2024
Sailing north from Norfolk Island
It was a leisurely and relaxing day at sea as we enjoyed sunny and calm conditions. The day started early as we rose at 0500. Over the next 1.5 hours we circled the area searching for seabirds. It was very successful with 3 Tahiti Petrels, many Wedge-tailed Shearwaters, Black-winged Petrels, and White Terns. Otherwise, a relatively quiet day with regular Wedge-tails. These kept our interest, especially over lunch where we passed through a large flock that was accompanied by our first Bridled Tern of the voyage. Other firsts included 3 Red-footed Boobies, one of which, a dark phase, circled Heritage Adventurer for 20 minutes and there was also a later pale phase bird. Another spectacular new bird was the stunning and localised Providence Petrels – thanks Chris. We had some other amazing birds with most people seeing at least one of the 4 Gould’s Petrels, as well as the 4 Tahiti, 10 White-necked, 8 Black-winged Petrels, and 3 Red-tailed Tropicbirds. Another major highlight was a party of at least 5 Sperm Whales giving their unique blows (thanks Michael). As always, the food was delicious, and we had excellent presentations on the etiquette of rainforest birding and why New Zealand is not part of France.
Hearing the well laid out plans for tomorrows adventure on New Caledonia had us all excited for the next day with an early morning search for Fairy Tern.
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Day 7
Wednesday, March 27, 2024
Nouméa and Mount Kohgi
We awoke early to lots of seabirds, many (20) New Caledonian Gould’s Petrels and the now ubiquitous Wedge-tails. Crossing the reef into Nouméa brought both Black-naped and Crested Terns, and other inshore species including White-faced and Pacific Reef Egret. Observing from the decks of Heritage Adventurer we spotted two endemics! The New Caledonian Parakeet and Grey-eared Honeyeater.
After an early lunch we headed out for the afternoon at Mount Koghi, Nouméa, in buses where we met local guide Isabel. There are two major birding spots here, one was a walk into the forest along a couple of tracks, and the other was birding for 500 metres along the road. We naturally split into several smaller groups and were soon observing lots of the endemics. Into the forest we very quickly across bird flocks with Horned Parakeet, New Caledonian Friarbird (everywhere), Yellow-bellied Flyrobin, New Caledonian Whistler, Fan-tailed Gerygone, a couple of large South Melanesian Cuckoo-shrikes and the first of many Green-backed White-eyes. Later down the track we called in a White-bellied Goshawk and tool maker and user – the New Caledonian Crow and we saw the first of many Goliath Imperial Pigeon. Later we also eventually called in a Southern Shrikebill. Along the road were a similar selection of birds but a major target and highlight was a responsive but skulking New Caledonian Thicketbird. This also proved to be a fruitful area for Barred Honeyeater, the brilliant red and black New Caledonian Myzomela and stunning Red-headed Parrotfinch. Along the road was best for observations of Satin Swiftlet so the groups switched sites and saw each other’s birds.
We then congregated along the road as the call went out for Cloven-feathered Dove, and most had great interactions with the wonderful New Caledonian Crow, as well as Striated Starlings perched on the tops of trees and buildings. Any spare time was used catching up with birds’ people had missed, as news and requests were spread. A thrilling afternoon had to come to an end and a very happy team boarded the buses back to Heritage Adventurer ready for dinner and bed early for a very early 0300 start tomorrow.
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © P. Hansbro, Heritage Expeditions
Image © P. Hansbro, Heritage Expeditions
Day 8
Thursday, March 28, 2024
Nouméa & Parc Provincial de la Rivière Bleue
We were up at stupid-o’clock for first breakfast (thank you kitchen staff) and left Heritage Adventurer in darkness to board the buses at 0400 to get to our destination for first light. We arrived at the entrance of Parc Provincial de la Rivière Bleue at 0515 and then transferred to smaller buses to the crucial birding spots, seeing a Swamp Harrier at the stop. We all started looking together for the prized sighting of the Kagu with the rangers. They were employing the critical Kagu attraction tool – the shovel, digging up earth to reveal earthworms and other tasty morsels for the Kagu to eat. We soon enjoyed excellent views of two and we all saw several others at various times over the rest of the day. Truly remarkable birds that are somewhere related to a rail and a heron (thank you Frank for the very informative evening talk about Kagu that told us all of this). After taking thousands of photos of Kagus, we headed off to various places along the road for other species that eluded us. We saw many of the species that we had at Mt Koghi and more New Caledonian and Horned Parakeets, Metallic Pigeon, and importantly the New Caledonian Cuckooshrike.
A juvenile White-bellied Goshawk perched nicely for us, as did a Red-headed Parrotfinch and Yellow-bellied Flyrobin by the road side. We each had the world’s biggest sandwich for lunch (eat your heart out Homer Simpson) and we bided our time for the Crow Honeyeater search. Some saw it along a boardwalk, and most of us eventually had an excellent view of this critically endangered bird.
On the drive back we had another adult White-bellied Goshawk perched and a Buff-banded Rail at the side of the track. This was the end of our land birding on New Caledonia where between us, we saw all of the 13+ available endemics and 10+ regional specialties and a good number of people saw all of them.
After another glorious lunch and too much food, we headed off on our next pelagic in the afternoon working on our Tern identification skills. Some other great birds were observed as we headed for two and a half days at sea towards the Solomon Islands including the Tahiti Petrel (10), over a hundred Gould’s/Collared Petrels and Wedge-tailed Eagle, a Red-footed Booby, 2 Eastern Osprey over the lagoons. At the end of another great day was more spectacular food and entertaining recaps.
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Day 9
Friday, March 29, 2024
At Sea - New Caledonia to Solomon Island’s
It was a leisurely day at sea looking for seabirds, and we saw many! We were up for first light at 0615, followed by a quick first breakfast then the birding begun. There were a few Wedge-tailed Eagle, and a Pale-phased Collared Petrel made an appearance. Closely followed afterwards was a second breakfast!
Throughout the day of relaxed sea-watching we had lots of Tahiti Petrels, which was great preparation for the upcoming Beck’s Petrel hunt, a couple more New Caledonian Gould’s Petrel’s, small numbers of Collared and Providence Petrels, and lots of (>1,000) Wedge-tailed Eagle in congregations with a couple of Short-tailed Shearwaters thrown in with their characteristic stiff-winged flight style. We also had both Red- and White-tailed Tropicbirds that were stunning, and both Lesser (3 including a male and immature) and Great Frigatebird (female). A good selection of Tern with Crested, Common and Sooty Tern with Brown and Black Noddies thrown in. We had entertaining talks on tagging Great White Sharks from Matt (who amazingly still has all of his fingers) and Cathy who can solve everyone’s photography issues.
Nevertheless, today was the Booby show and it was fantastic. From mid-morning we were surrounded by >100 Red-footed with the occasional Masked Booby. As we were sailing, we observed large flocks of flying-fish – silver ones to start with that turned into deep blue varieties. The Boobies were flying alongside us and dive-bombing the flying fish, missing 99% of the time, but occasionally catching an unfortunate fish. This went on for hours and was very entertaining especially trying to get the perfect shot of fish catching, which some managed to do.
After a quick recap and bird list it was into bed early as we needed to bank sleep for the upcoming series of early starts in the Solomon Islands.
Image © L. Terrill, Heritage Expeditions
Image © J. Van Logten, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © S. McInnis, Heritage Expeditions
Day 10
Saturday, March 30, 2024
At Sea to Solomon Island’s
A quiet and relaxing day today but as always, most birders were up shortly after first light. The Boobies had dropped off and we just had 1 following for most of the day. There was some early excitement with a Tropical Shearwater of the likely gunax Micronesian race, and unexpected Black-winged Petrel and another Collared Petrel.
After a delicious breakfast, there was more excitement when Matt put out the call of Band-rumped Storm Petrel! Most were out enjoying subsequent discussion of its potential provenance, either a migrant Japanese bird or from an unknown local population. Those not on the decks enjoyed an interesting documentary about ancient cities of Micronesia.
Then more excitement as we crossed the border from New Caledonia to Solomon Island’s waters and we could start logging our Solomon’s birds. These were few and far between, but occasional birds and flocks kept our interest, and the compilation led to an impressive list by the end of the day. We had more Providence (rare in Solomon’s waters) and Tahiti Petrels, Wedge-tailed and Tropical Shearwaters, and a nice selection of non-tube-nose seabirds in Red-footed Booby, Sooty Tern, White-tailed Tropicbird and Pomarine Skua. Then lots of excitement in the afternoon with a small flock of Wedge-tailed Eagle and Sooty Terns with a close by dark Collared/Magnificent Petrel followed shortly after by a pair of Rough-toothed Dolphins spotted playing in our wake nearby.
To top off our day at sea we enjoyed cocktails on the starboard stern. Afterwards we had great observations of a distant White Tern, Juvenile Masked Booby as well as a blow of a distant whale. Frank Rheindt gave a great and interesting talk on plumage divergence of Monarchs on Santa Ana. Finally, it was early to bed for a big day of birding tomorrow.
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Day 11
Sunday, March 31, 2024
Santa Ana
We arrived early at Santa Ana and enjoyed a delicious breakfast as we welcomed officials from the island on board. We departed at 0700 and once everyone was on land we headed off on a couple of tracks excited for the day ahead. There were great encounters with flying and perching pigeons, and we observed several Island Imperial Pigeons, as well as Sooty Myzomela, Pacific Swallow, Willie Wagtail and Uniform Swiftlets while we were gathering.
The early starters saw 6 Melanesian Megapodes and both Singing and Metallic Starlings were flying around in flocks. Soon after we set off walking, we connected with the two most critical species of today. Noisy ‘black-bellied’ Chestnut-bellied Monarchs were showing well as were Silver-crowned and White-headed Fruit-Doves, which were perching and flying around us. Walking along well-forested roads we spotted the elusive Solomon’s Rufous Fantail and Australian Golden Whistler. The stunning White-collared Monarch were much more showy. Further walks produced Pacific Kingfisher and Pacific Baza for some, and Pied Goshawk and a surprising Solomons Tree Dragon for others.
After an exciting day of birding, we headed back for lunch on board Heritage Adventurer. From the deck, Solomon’s Sea-Eagle perched up for great scope views. It was hot and sticky, and we all enjoyed a midday shower and ice cream! Arriving back on Santa Ana Island at 1530 we observed an incredibly confiding Pacific Reef Egret. But the real highlight was an amazing Solomon Island’s welcome from the local people with dances by the men about fishing for Skipjack Tuna and interactions with sharks and Frigatebirds. Then a dance by the men and women celebrating the mixing of Polynesian and Melanesian cultures and Heritage Expeditions generously donated school supplies to the local community.
To finish the day, we headed back to the forest and most caught up with the Megapodes and great views of other species. It was a race back to Heritage Adventurer against the weather in the late afternoon and we managed to dodge the tropical rain. Then we set sail for the 80 miles to Anuta for our next birding session.
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Day 12
Monday, April 1, 2024
Anuta
Our second Solomon Islands' day started with a scouting trip to find the most suitable place for birding. We decided to go along a currently operational logging road, and it was sad to see lots of the forest waiting at the wharf to be taken away and sold. Thankfully, the logging road still had some native trees and a lot of coconut palms. There were some excellent birds in the area and a perched and later flying Pacific Baza gave excellent scope views. We were also soon watching 20 Imperial Pigeons on Anuta Island with around 6 Chestnut-bellied Monarch also observed. Heading up the road we soon spotted Sooty Myzomela, lots of Solomons Rufous Fantails, a Pacific Kingfisher and 2 stunning Yellow-bibbed Fruit Doves. Pigeons continued to fly-over and we were rewarded with several Red-knobbed Imperials including perched birds and several Papuan Eclectus Parrots. There was also a Distant Solomon’s Sea-Eagle, but we were able to get excellent close views as it flew over the village. A couple of Dollarbirds put on a show and then we focused on Passerines. We were handsomely rewarded with many important target birds as we walked the length of the road. This included 2 Makira Honeyeater, 2 Barred Cuckooshrike, 4 Makira Cicadabird, lots of Long-tailed Trillers, White-collared and Chestnut-bellied Monarchs, a single Makira Flycatcher, and a flock of Metallic Starlings.
On the way back there was a Striated Heron on sticks in the water and day-flying bats around the shrubland. We then returned to Heritage Adventurer for an amazing lunch, before heading to Anuta Island at 1530 for a welcome ceremony. We also observed Beach Kingfisher from the decks of our trusty expedition vessel as we were departing. The ceremony was amazing, and we still had time for birding with lots of variety and an impressive Sanford's Sea Eagle. It was then a scenic Zodiac cruise as we watched the coast and found 6 Eurasian Whimbrel and a Grey-tailed Tattler. It was a great day punctuated by some rain, but we still saw loads of fantastic birds.
After enjoying another delicious dinner, our adventure was set to continue at Honiara the following morning.
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Day 13
Tuesday, April 2, 2024
Honiara & Mount Austen
It was another very early start for the bus trip up to Mount Austen, but we knew it would be well worth it. We gathered and then set off in search of some top-quality targets on our list for today. We started by hearing Woodford’s Rail in the tall grass at the top and a very fortunate few were able to see one of three birds later in the morning. We spent a lot of time searching for birds flying over the valley below and perched in the treetops. The first of many Solomons Cockatoos were obvious, as were Cardinal and Coconut Lorikeets, and there were a few Yellow-bibbed Lory’s. Our first of the magnificent Blyth’s Hornbills (~8 for the day), both male and female, were spectacular, as were our first orange-faced Long-tailed Myna. Pigeons were also soaring above including many Claret-breasted Fruit-Dove and Red-knobbed Imperial-Pigeons and amongst them was a Superb Fruit-Dove, a Chestnut-bellied Imperial-Pigeon and three MacKinlay’s Cuckoo-doves. Amongst the flying birds were a great selection of Cuckooshrike, including lots of Barred with their stunning yellow-eyes, 3 larger White-bellied and 1 Solomons Cuckooshrike. Also, in the canopy were lots of Brown-winged Starlings, 3 awesome Moustached Treeswifts and Midget Flowerpeckers that we eventually got good views of as they flitted about the vegetation. An adult and juvenile Buff-headed Coucal gave great scope views sat in the treetops. Walking deeper into the forest we were looking for sub-canopy birds. We eventually managed to call in a striking male Oriole Whistler and 2 of the elusive Finsch’s Pygmy Parrots and the endemic Steel-Blue Flycatcher, Black-headed Myzomela and Chestnut-bellied Monarch.
Finally at the bottom we came across one of our major targets for the day in the truly stunning and endemic Ultramarine Kingfisher, before the hike back up the hill where others saw them much closer to the top. Raptors for the day included Variable and Pied Goshawks, a Peregrine Falcon and we heard a White-billed Crow although we did not see it despite extensive searching. At lunchtime we headed back to the dock, stopping off at the Japanese war memorial with a panoramic view over the city. We stopped at the Breakwater Café where we found our first Sahul Sunbirds.
After lunch on board Heritage Adventurer we set sail for our next day and saw lots of Great and Lesser Frigatebirds, Masked and Brown Boobies, Crested Tern and a Long-tailed Skua. Cetaceans were a real highlight with 8 Sperm Whales, 8 Short-finned Pilot-Whale/False Killer Whales, and Rough-toothed and Pantropical Spotted Dolphins.
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. FInch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © S.McInnis, Heritage Expeditions
Image © S.McInnis, Heritage Expeditions
Image © S.McInnis, Heritage Expeditions
Image © S.McInnis, Heritage Expeditions
Image © S.McInnis, Heritage Expeditions
Image © S.McInnis, Heritage Expeditions
Day 14
Wednesday, April 3, 2024
Tetepare Island
We arrived at the Tetepare Island Nature Reserve whilst it was still dark. We waited until first light to come ashore and search for our target birds. Often critical birds are seen from a clearing just next to the beach, so we gathered there and birded for a while. We had our early morning fly over and active birds in Island Imperial Pigeon and Claret-breasted Fruit-Dove but the most prominent were Singing and Metallic Starlings and Sahul Sunbirds. A co-operative Song Parrot perched in a tree and the odd one was seen during the day. However, surprisingly few of the real targets showed up. We think because the local trees were not fruiting or flowering. So, we headed off on some of the local tracks to try and find the key birds. In some of the gardens we came across the first Dark-eyed White-eye of the day which were one of the more common targets, but it was another hour or so before we got our first Monarch, a White-capped. We then had a brief break for a welcome by the local people who told us of the history of the island and gave us a presentation on the conservation efforts protecting Coconut Crabs, which helped explain what we had seen. Up a slope to a Curtain Fig led to both Kolombangara and White-capped Monarch and a White-winged Fantail, and there were Melanesian Scrubfowl and Stephan’s Dove around the houses.
We then returned to the air-conditioned comforts of Heritage Adventurer for lunch after the heat of the day. An exploratory trip to Rendova Island showed that it was not possible to land there and prevented our later search for Solomons Nightjar. So, we headed back to the trails around Tetepare for people to catch up on what they missed in the morning. Melanesian Kingfishers were more obvious as were Barred Cuckooshrikes and Grey-capped Cicadabirds. Walks to another clearing along a track produced a small flock of White-eyes with an accompanying Crimson-rumped Myzomela that performed very well later in the day along with a Song Parrot. We found a large flock of Purple Swamphens and managed to see a calling Stephan’s Dove. Other birds around the Island were Osprey, Sanford’s Sea-Eagle, Brahminy Kite, Red-knobbed Imperial Pigeon, Shining Bronze-cuckoo, Glossy and Uniform Swiftlets, a couple each of Blyth’s Hornbill and Solomons Cockatoo, fly over Cardinal and Coconut Lorikeets, a Chestnut-bellied Monarch and lots of Long-tailed Mynas.
Back on-board Heritage Adventurer we were out on the decks and in the Observation Lounge and were rewarded with great seabird sightings including lots of Lesser Frigatebirds, Brown Booby’s and Sooty Terns, a Masked Booby and a few Crested Terns. In the late afternoon we repositioned close to a known breeding beach for Solomons Nightjar. While we were waiting, we had lots of Moustached Treeswifts, white morph Pacific Reef Egret, all the others had been grey, 2 Striated Heron, a Whimbrel and a Common Sandpiper. A Nicobar Pigeon flew past, then we used the ships ice lights to spotlight the island and we could see two sets of eye shine chasing each other around reminiscent of Nightjar flights, which led to lively discussion on board.
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Day 15
Thursday, April 4, 2024
Imbu Rano, Kolombangara & Kena
It was another exciting early morning as we departed Heritage Adventurer and boarded trays on the back of trucks up to Imbu Rano Nature Reserve, and a lookout over a valley and distant mountains of Kolombangara. We set up our scopes on a veranda and soon picked up the first of 20 reasonably close Pale Mountain Pigeons, one of the major targets. We also had great observations of Claret-breasted Fruit Dove, Red-knobbed and Island Imperial Pigeon as well as Long-tailed Myna. An even bigger highlight was hearing Crested Cuckoo-Dove calling. Amazingly it flew up in a single display flight and then perched in the open for some time. This was a new bird for almost everyone including Chris on his 17th expedition!
After getting our fill of these birds we took off in various groups to bird down the road. We were soon watching the relatively elusive Solomons White-eye high in the trees with 4 accompanying Finsch’s Pygmy-Parrot, lots of Monarchs both Kolombangara and White-capped were singing, who we eventually saw. Mackinlay’s Cuckoo-Doves were relatively common, we had a nice party of Superb Fruit-Doves and some had a Metallic Pigeon. Lots of birds were flying over and some observed Sanford’s Sea-Eagle, Variable Goshawk, Moustached Treeswift, a Dollarbird and a Blyth’s Hornbill. There were a range of Parrots spotted including Solomons Cockatoo, 2 Meeks Pygmy-parrot, 2 Duchess Lorikeet, and lots of Coconut and Cardinal Lorikeet. We had a good selection of many Cuckooshrikes with lots of Barred, 6 White-bellied and 4 Grey-capped Cicadabirds, along with 2 Steel-blue Flycatchers.
At the end of a great morning, we returned to the comforts of Heritage Adventurer for lunch, before setting of to Kena Village for the afternoon. We Zodiac cruised around the mangroves which offered great views of North Melanesian Cuckooshrike, and our arrival at the village produced 3 Sacred and 2 Common Kingfishers. We split into two groups to try for Roviana Rail at two sites, we heard it at one but neither group saw it. Then we headed to another spot for drinks, cocktails and ABBA before returning to Heritage Adventurer to set sail. It was an interesting late afternoon's seawatch which was great for Terns with 2 Crested 1 Grey-backed, 1 Bridled and lots of Commons, Osprey and Lesser Frigatebirds.
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Day 16
Friday, April 5, 2024
At sea west of Bougainville
There was lots of early excitement after a relative sleep-in at 0630. As the light emerged, we were sailing north west off the coast of Bougainville to some of the sea birding hotspots. A Pygmy Sperm Whale was a great sighting for the early risers. There was then a flurry of activity early with reasonable numbers of Wedge-tailed Shearwaters and Sooty Terns to search through. We were rewarded with close views of the much sought-after Heinroth’s Shearwater. Then scrutiny of two Terns on a log identified one as a Grey-backed and another as a Sooty. The rest of the day was quiet, but punctuated by periods of excitement when we came across bird flocks. One of the closest birds of the day and a major target was a Beck’s Petrel that flew past the bow but unfortunately, it was just after most people had gone to lunch.
Totals for the rest of the day were 10 Brown Noddy and a Black Noddy, 3 Grey-backed, 4 Bridled and lots of Sooty Terns, a Long-tailed Skua chasing one of two White-tailed Tropicbirds, 2-4 Streaked Shearwaters – undoubtedly the first of many – the most common bird was Wedge-tailed Shearwater as well as 2-4 Heinroth’s Shearwaters, a couple of Bulwer’s Petrels and selections of Frigatebirds and Booby’s. We also had a large, interesting Baleen Whale, and from fantastic photos Ian was able to identify it as an Omura’s Whale and gave an excellent presentation on why it was one in the evening. There was robust discussion of whether pizza is better with pineapple and where the terms french fries and Kangaroo came from.
Later in the day there was great anticipation, hoping to spot a Beck’s Petrel, but most birds were Wedge-tailed Eagles, Terns or Boobies. We retired for a delicious dinner and robust discussions of the events of the upcoming days.
Day 17
Saturday, April 6, 2024
At sea
We enjoyed a sleep in and were up at first light to start birding 14 nautical miles off the south end of New Ireland. There was a distant Beck’s Petrels that came in from a long way out to the back of Heritage Adventurer. Continuing to watch and follow were 2 Beck’s Petrels that stayed with us for a long time. We ended up with around 6 for the morning accompanied by double the numbers of Wedge-tailed Eagles. After a couple of thrilling hours observing Beck’s Petrel, we headed north into the quiet zone on our way to Chuuk Lagoon. We had a steady stream of birds with regular Wedgies, Bulwer’s Petrels lots of Black Noddies and 20 Red-footed and smaller numbers of Brown Boobies, and excellent sightings of close White-tailed Tropicbirds. After lunch was quiet, with 1 Bulwer’s Petrel, a few Wedge-tailed Eagles, Red-footed Boobies and Black Noddies, which enabled us to watch documentaries about The Rainforest of Tetepare Island, The Search for Kennedy's PT 109s and another photography master class from Cathy.
Lunch was interesting with a fly past of a Band-rumped Storm Petrel. The rest of the day was quiet apart from the fun conversations on the observation deck with the odd Bulwer’s Petrel and a couple of feeding flocks of Red-footed Booby and Wedge-tailed Eagles.
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Day 18
Sunday, April 7, 2024
At sea heading to Truk
We were up and away at first light before 0600 and observed a few birds early including Bulwer’s Petrel, a few Wedge-tailed Eagles and Red-footed Booby and a couple of probable Bottlenose Dolphins. Then Storm Petrels started showing up and photos later showed they were Leach's Storm Petrel. There was a steady stream of these that were a lot further south than we had previously encountered. We crossed the equator at 0900 and King Neptune turned up along with a beautiful and stunning mermaid (Matt-maid!) and lots of people swam across the equator in the pool, becoming full-fledged Shallbacks, all accompanied with champagne and other drinks. Similar birds continued until lunch although a possible Band-rumped Storm Petrel with an accompanying Leach’s Storm Petrel provided much discussion on identification. In the afternoon, Cathy gave another great talk on capturing motion with cameras, and Frank on Melanesian explorers. One of the Grand Pacific Odyssey team took great photos of a surprise South Polar Skua at the back of Heritage Adventurer.
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © J. Van Logten, Heritage Expeditions
Day 19
Monday, April 8, 2024
At sea heading to Chuuk Lagoon
It was a quiet day of birding as we continued our Western Pacific Odyssey adventure. There were fewer than 10 birds from 0600-noon – less birds than a 13-hour winter sea watch off Flamborough by Brett Richards. We were accompanied by 2 Red-footed Boobies for the day that provided something to watch and a distant Storm-Petrel.
We were restricted to distant views of a couple of White and Sooty Terns, Brown Noddy and Frigatebirds. We enjoyed talks by Frank on the Australasian expansion of people from Taiwan, Cathy on moving away from auto camera settings, and Phil on the history of Chuuk Lagoon. Just before lunch we saw a patch of white water, as we came up to it, we saw that it was made up of a boiling fish swarm made up Northern Anchovies being predated on by Skipjack Tuna and whatever else beneath the surface. We came across several of these throughout the rest of the day. These were well attended by seabirds including lots of Leach’s Storm-Petrels, a couple of Bulwer’s Petrels, >100 Wedge-tailed Shearwaters and Red-footed Boobies, Brown and Black Noddies, lots of Sooty Terns, an Arctic Skua, a couple of White-tailed Tropicbirds, Great and Lesser Frigatebirds and we were back into White Terns.
The highlight though was the stunning pale morph Wedge-tailed Shearwaters that now made up >50% of the population. These are stunning birds and a great comparison with the dark phase birds. We continued to watch these birds as we headed towards Chuuk Lagoon for an exciting day tomorrow.
Day 20
Tuesday, April 9, 2024
Chuuk Lagoon
The day dawned as we sailed into Chuuk Lagoon with the idyllic paradise of Weno Island already visible. As we steamed along the east of the reef we passed several tropical islands. These areas were excellent for seabirds, and we saw 20+ Micronesian (Tropical) Shearwaters, 500+ Black and 200+ Brown Noddies, 50+ White Terns several Crested and Sooty Terns, and as we got closer to shore Black-naped Tern, a White-tailed Tropicbird flew over and a Short-tailed Shearwater were also spotted.
We were soon docking in Chuuk Lagoon and scanning for land birds. Micronesian Swiftlets flew past and Myzomelas were flying around and actually landed on Heritage Adventurer. During the couple of hours it took to clear customs we also observed Purple-crowned Fruit-Dove, Micronesian Starling and more Myzomelas. At around 1000 we went for a walk-through town and had great sightings of the endemics. There was more of the above species as well as Oceanic Flycatchers, a perched Purple-crowned Fruit-Dove, Caroline Islands Reed-Warbler and Citrine White-eye. In the heat of the day, we returned to the air-conditioned comforts of Heritage Adventurer for lunch and then headed to the north of the island on a short bus ride. We ventured past the airport with sightings of Pacific Golden Plover, Turnstone and Oriental Pratincole. We again saw many of the above species, but the major target was Caroline Islands Ground-Dove and we eventually had excellent views of several of these magnificent birds. We also came across a Yellow Bittern and a Nankeen Night Heron before we returned to Heritage Adventurer. An excellent day of birding!
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Day 21
Wednesday, April 10, 2024
Chuuk Lagoon
Our adventure in Chuuk Lagoon continued as we headed off in 3 different directions today. One team stayed on Weno Island and went to the Japanese gun monument, which had lots of endemics with great sightings of Blue-faced Parrotfinch, and water birds like Common Moorhen and Pacific Black Duck as well as a few Waders. Another group went by Zodiac to Dublon Island and walked on a circular track. We observed the previously seen endemics as well as 3 Chuuk Monarch, including a male for a lucky few, and a nesting pair of Blue-faced Parrotfinch, as well as Pacific Golden Plover, Turnstone, and Yellow Bittern. Another group enjoyed a Zodiac cruise to Tol Island for a 300-metre vertical climb to get brief but rewarding views of a Teardrop White-eye and an immature male Chuuk Monarch.
We then returned to the luxuries of Heritage Adventurer to swap stories and decide on who makes the best cheese – Vermont or Wisconsin. We then headed off on our 4-day sea voyage to Japan. Travelling through the lagoon we came across several large flocks of White Terns and Black Noddies with a couple of Micronesian and several Wedge-tailed Shearwaters. When we exited the lagoon and went into deep water the birds really dropped off. We had less Terns and Noddies, but we started to see small flocks of Short-tailed Shearwaters and a late small all-black Storm Petrel.
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © M. Jones, Heritage Expeditions
Image © M. Jones, Heritage Expeditions
Image © M. Jones, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Day 22
Thursday, April 11, 2024
At sea
We were up early at 0600 for a sea watch. It was quiet with a few small parties of Short-tailed Shearwaters and a Pink-footed Shearwater. But the anticipation started to build for the start of some of the more northern seabirds. As we sailed north, we also had a few Sooty, White Terns and Black Noddy. Later in the day we had more of the same but good numbers of Short-tailed Shearwaters, White- and Red-tailed Tropicbirds, Red-footed and a new Masked Booby and some observed 2 migrating Pacific Golden Plovers. We were kept entertained throughout the day with excellent conversation in the Observation Lounge as well as great presentations from Niall on climate change, politics and God, Thijs on the history of Zodiacs, Frank on Flying Fish and Boobies and documentaries on the South Pacific.
Day 23
Friday, April 12, 2024
At sea
We woke to the excitement of the day ahead with the promise of new birds as we headed north. We had a few observations early with Short-tailed Shearwater the most abundant, but also Sooty and White Tern, a nice Pomarine Skua, and a Red-footed Booby. We had similar birds for the rest of the day, but the Boobies gradually built up with >10 of 3 different species circling Heritage Adventurer (Masked, Brown and Red-footed). A few more Terns and Noddies kept us going for the day and there was a small black-and-white Shearwater. To finish the day, we enjoyed an interesting workshop on knots by Ian and gut health and diet with the excellent food being a big part by Phil.
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Day 24
Saturday, April 13, 2024
At sea
There were a lot more birds around today as we continued sailing towards Japan. Good numbers of pale morph Wedge-tailed as well as Short-tailed Shearwaters, feeding Black and Brown Noddy flocks, lots of White Terns and the 3 species of Boobies. After breakfast an obliging Matsudaira Storm Petrel showed up and gave great views to everyone on board. Numbers of these built up over the day and up to 5 altogether. We then came across a couple of bird flocks of mostly Noddies with some Wedge-tailed Eagle, and several Tropical/Bannerman’s Shearwaters. A South Polar Skua flew past us in the afternoon, and we saw a Long-tailed Skua that was sat on the sea.
As the day went on bird numbers continued to grow. We came across some flocks and the Tropical/Bannerman’s Shearwater count increased, a dark-rumped Storm Petrel and a couple of Bulwer’s Petrels made a late appearance.
We enjoyed the 3rd documentary on Cook’s voyages in the South Pacific and the evening’s entertainment quiz hosted by Ian about the voyage, won by Rockhoppers. We celebrated Steve and Jackie getting to 4,000 birds with Jean’s now infamous Missouri Prairie Chicken dance.
Day 25
Sunday, April 14, 2024
At sea heading North
There were lots of people up for first light with the promise of some exciting new seabirds. For the first time in a long time there were grey skies and rain, which kept some of us inside to start with. A Red-footed Booby was still circling Heritage Adventurer and we enjoyed early morning observations of Wedge-tailed Shearwater, Bulwer’s Petrels and Matsudaira's Storm Petrel. This turned into a recurring theme throughout the day but with an additional couple of Wilson’s Storm Petrel. There were also lots of stunning Bonin Petrels, 1 Streaked, 1 Short-tailed, 1 Flesh-Footed Shearwater that followed us, lots of Wedge-tailed Eagles and a highlight of 6 Bannerman’s Shearwaters. Another highlight that came out of the blue in the afternoon and a rarity for Japan was a single Kermadec Petrel. There were White- and Red-tailed Tropicbirds, the 3 species of Booby, with the addition of a Brewster’s (Eastern Brown) Booby that gave excellent views. Along the way we had fantastic observations of most of these birds, and as it got dark, we headed north.
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Day 26
Monday, April 15, 2024
Chichi-jima, Japan
It was an exciting early morning at sea as we approached Japan. We woke to lots of early birds and the Matsudaira’s had turned into Tristram’s Storm Petrels and good views were had as we passed Iwo Jima and Hahajima. Also, a Bannerman’s Shearwater and lots of Wedge-tailed Eagles and other birds from the previous days kept our interest. Our first of several Black-footed Albatross turned up. The cetaceans put on a real show with several pods of Short-finned Pilot Whales and lots of blowing, tail slapping and breaching Humpback Whales. We entered the harbour and parked at the wharf superbly by our Captain in trying conditions. We cleared customs and were able to get most of the target birds from the decks of Heritage Adventurer including Blue Rock Thrush (chestnut-bellied form), Black Wood Pigeon fly bys, Japanese White-eye, Brown-eared Bulbul. Other birds around the harbour were Pacific Golden Plover, Turnstone, Little Egret and Eastern Osprey and there was also a couple of Green Turtles.
We enjoyed a 2.5 hour scenic walk where we got great views of all the woodland birds as well as the endemic race of Japanese Bush-Warbler, Japanese Buzzard and a rarity in Eurasian Sparrowhawk. A climb up the hill produced a couple of White’s Thrushes. We then headed off for our Bryan’s Shearwater search with a 3-hour cruise around the breeding islands. We had no luck but lots of Wedge-tailed Eagle, Black-footed and a single Laysan Albatross. A great recap by Frank told the deeply disturbing history of the slaughter of the birds on Torishima but got us excited for observations of Short-tailed Albatross tomorrow.
Image © J. Van Logten, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © P. Hansbro, Heritage Expeditions
Image © P. Hansbro, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Day 27
Tuesday, April 16, 2024
Torishima
A truly spectacular day today. It started early with a morning sea watch. Not many were seen, but they were quality birds. Several each of Black-footed Albatross, Bonin Petrels, Tristram’s Storm Petrels, Wedge-tailed Shearwater and Brown Booby. We could see Torishima Island from around 1000 and continued to steam towards it, searching for the rare and stunning Short-tailed Albatross. We had an early lunch and then approached closely, soon getting great views of Albatross, but surprisingly most early ones were Black-footed. As we approached, we could see the white dots of the adults in small colonies, and a pod of Pantropical Spotted Dolphins put on a show at the front of Heritage Adventurer.
The island itself is volcanic and we could see the layers upon layers of deposited lava. We did a slow circumnavigation of the island and saw some remaining buildings from the slaughter days. We had a great commentary about the species history from Thijs. As soon as we got close, we had some cracking juvenile Short-tailed Albatross investigate and circle us, before some truly superb adults with their stunning golden heads and big white wing patches followed suit. We saw hundreds of these birds flying by themselves and gathering into flocks sat on the ocean in breeding colonies with their chicks. Some came very close allowing superb photographic opportunities. This albatross takes 10 years to reach full maturity and we saw every plumage variation from all brown with their huge pink bills to full adults. Flocks were mixed with Black-footed Albatross giving excellent comparisons with Black-foots looking much smaller. It was awesome to see many of these birds that were once thought to be culled to extinction (>350 tonnes of breast feathers were collected from clubbed albatrosses at 100-200 per day) but happily they are now recovering to >4,200 individuals, the vast majority nesting on this one island. An added bonus was a breaching mother and calf Humpback Whales that are no longer hunted by the Japanese, although other species still are. In the distance we could also identify a Japanese Buzzard circling over the island, 3 probable Japanese Cormorants, a couple of Egrets and good numbers of Wedge-tailed Shearwaters with a Streaked Shearwater in with them. Sadly, it came to the time to say farewell to this amazing spectacle and leave our new-found friends behind. A truly amazing experience and one that none of us will ever forget and will fondly remember forever. We sailed away late afternoon seeing a few more albatrosses along the way.
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Day 28
Wednesday, April 17, 2024
Miyake Jima
It was an early morning sea watch again on our way to Miyakejima with a big hope of ticking off Japanese Murrelet. A lucky few managed to see a couple far away, but in good light, a few more were seen distantly from Heritage Adventurer throughout the morning. We still had accompanying Black-footed Albatross (10) and Bonin Petrels (3). But the stars of the show were large numbers of Streaked Shearwaters and still some Wedge-rumped and Short-tailed, and a few Leach’s Storm Petrels. There was a great selection of Skuas throughout the day including South Polar and several summer plumaged Pomarine (with full spatules), Arctic and Long-tailed that provided excellent field guide-like comparisons. We saw a couple of distant Short-tailed Albatross as we arrived at Miyakejima. There was a reasonable wind that made landing difficult, and we checked out a couple of sites before deciding where to land.
These manoeuvres provided observations of Black-tailed Gulls and opportunities for Cormorant watching and we had Japanese, Great and Pelagic, as well as a couple more Marbled Murrelets. We landed in a sheltered harbour, but we had to wait for a very inquisitive Green Turtle to vacate the landing first! A confiding Blue Rock Thrush was singing on the harbour wall and a Japanese Bush Warbler joined in from the nearby bushes, a Common Sandpiper and 2 Japanese Wagtails were on the rocks and there were several Pacific Swifts and Barn Swallows hawking for insects above the surrounding trees. We gathered everyone together for the bus trip to a local nature reserve and we had a very productive walk through an excellent area of habitat. This started with the first of 2 Japanese Pygmy Woodpeckers and several Warbling White-eye’s. Winter Wrens were singing and after a while we were watching the first of several Ijima Leaf-Warblers. Searching various roads and tracks produced a couple of Izu Robin that were calling all over, a couple of Izu Thrush’s, groups of Owston’s Tit and Japanese Tits, and lots of Brown-eared Bulbuls. A walk down to a lake saw Little Grebe, Coot, 10 Great Cormorant, Grey Heron, Little, Medium and Great Egrets a Black-crowned Night Heron and an Eastern Osprey. Other birds seen on the walks and driving included Japanese Sparrowhawk and Buzzard, Oriental Greenfinch and Meadow Bunting. After a great day of birding, it was time to head back to buses and to the Zodiacs to leave. With a little light left we sailed Heritage Adventurer out to good Murrelet spots and observed several in the fading light along with lots of Streaked and Wedge-tailed Shearwaters. We had a wonderful Captain’s dinner and celebration of the voyage with a superb slide show of our adventure put together by Cathy.
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
Day 29
Thursday, April 18, 2024
Yokohama
The final day of our voyage saw us continue our tradition of early rises. We were up for a productive trip into Yokohama over the 1st 3 hours of the day. Lots of Black-headed and Black-tailed Gulls, and a couple of Vega, Slaty-backed and Kamchatka Gulls were fantastic to see, along with nice comparisons of Japanese and Great Cormorants. Carrion Crows and Black-eared Kites landed on Heritage Adventurer providing fabulous views. An Indian Spot-billed Duck and 6 Medium Egrets flew past as if to say goodbye.
After our last and delicious big breakfast, we departed Heritage Adventurer. We had Japanese Wagtail, Eurasian Tree Sparrow and White-cheeked Starling on the way to Yokohama Travel Centre. We all said our fond good-byes. It was so great to renew old friendships, or start new ones, and we will be travelling companions forever. Many of us will travel together again soon and we all look forward to that.
Overall, a brilliant voyage. The weather was fantastic, and we ticked off many Lifers and Megas, and made every single stop that was planned, which was awesome. We covered >9,000 nautical miles and saw a range of species of birds and mammals. It really enthused many people to do more of these expeditions. Until next time we can reminisce and remember our Western Pacific Odyssey adventure with our photo’s, birding lists, memories and slide show.
Image © C. Finch, Heritage Expeditions
