Allen S. Moore
Well-known member
It was a question that I was asked several times during my first couple of days there - "What brought you to Lord Howe Island?" I had read about the island and the endemic woodhen in a book called Save the Birds by the International Council for Bird Preservation (now BirdLife International) back in 1987 when my daughter Anna was one year old. Now, with both Anna and my son Ffinlo starting University in England this September, I decided to spend a month in Australia to celebrate. I checked out Oxley Travel's website, found that the Lord Howe Island Bird Week took place when in was in Australia, booked and off I went.
I was the only Bird Week participant on the flight from Brisbane, although some of the other people on the flight were staying at the week's base, Somerset Apartments, and were always good for a chat. The other 12 people on Bird Week flew in from Port Macquarie and Sydney. They all lived in Australia and were a great crowd. Indeed, the 350 islanders were also very friendly, giving what I had previously known as the "Islay wave" as they drove past.
Oxley Travel had sent us an itinerary for Bird Week, but the order was all changed on the first afternoon after our guide, local ornithologist Ian Hutton, had checked the weather forecast for the week. Because the best weather was forecast for the start of our week, Ian asked if anyone wanted to go on a boat trip the following day, Sunday, round Ball's Pyramid, at 551 metres tall the world's highest sea stack and standing 23 kilometres south of Lord Howe Island. Most of us did, with the others deciding on a round-the-island boat trip. Other people had also booked on the Ball's Pyramid trip, so some of us went in the morning and others in the afternoon.
I went on the morning trip round Ball's Pyramid. Our little boat, Noctiluca, skippered by Jack Shick, headed south-west out of one of the 2 gaps in the fringing reef (the southernmost coral reef on the planet) of the Lagoon in the western bay of the island. Inside the Lagoon the sea is calm for much of the time, but outside that morning it was also one of the calmest seas of the year, Ian said. Our skipper took us past the base of the very high cliffs at the southern end of the island, then across the open ocean to Ball's Pyramid, passing flotillas of the famous bluebottle jellyfish. There were quite a few dolphins about, but we did not see many seabirds over the open ocean because it was so calm, certainly not like a week or two before when the likes of wandering and shy albatross had been seen. Our skipper stopped the engine and put overboard some berley (called chum by birdwatchers on UK pelagic trips). It had the desired effect, attracting several flesh-footed shearwaters and a few kermadec petrels. Unfortunately, with the engine switched off the boat bobbed up and down quite roughly and 2 young lasses took it in turns to throw up over the side, prompting the skipper to observe that one had had orange for breakfast. A shark also appeared in the depths, and someone asked the skipper what sort of shark it was. "We call them all b*stards round here!" was his reply.
Ball's Pyramid, impressive from afar, was an amazing sight from close to. Birds seen around it and its neighbouring rocks were wedge-tailed shearwater, kermadec petrels, masked boobies, red-tailed tropicbirds, sooty terns, common noddies and grey ternlets. As with other places along our route, Ian told us a bit about Ball's Pyramid, including the first ascent by human climbers and the discovery of the endemic plasmid, a stick insect that became extinct on Lord Howe Island because of rat predation but was subsequently rediscovered in bushes growing on the side of the stack.
Our journey back across the open ocean to the Lord Howe Island was enlivened by larger numbers of the flesh-footed shearwaters and by 2 birds that we had not seen on the way out, a white bellied storm petrel, a breeding species, and a cape petrel, an unusual visitor. We passed inshore of Wolf Rock, where the UK HMS Nottingham famously ran aground in 2002, and then along the eastern and northern coasts of the main island. We were able to see the seabird colonies on the cliffs and offshore islands, as well as look through binoculars at the steep upper section of the route up Mount Gower, at 875 metres above sea level the island's highest peak. Caves on the northern cliffs and neighbouring Roach Island indicate the continuing erosion of the islands. Turning a corner in the north-west of the island we passed a turtle and shoals of colourful fish, then we went in through the fringing reef at its northern end and returned to the jetty to allow the second party to go out with Jack and Ian.
With having travelled all the way from the Isle of Man, I tended to wake very early in the morning. On 2 occasions I walked just north to Old Settlement Beach. In this area is a range of habitats - sandy and rocky areas on the beach, open grass paddocks, a stream, ponds, marsh, and woods to the south, around the main settlement area, and north, on the slopes of the northern hills. This walk on the first morning revealed the largest range of species of land birds, including 3 of the endemic subspecies of the pied currawong flying over. I had previously read that these were down to less than 100, but they were actually quite easy to see. Ian told us that they now number about 250. There were 17 purple swamphens in the paddocks that first morning. They are a favourite species of mine from my visits to the Ebro Delta in Catalunya, although it is true that there was talk both on Lord Howe Island and in BirdForum that the Australian swamphens are now regarded as being a separate species.
The next morning, Monday, we were all out fairly early and walked up Malabar Hill, at 208 metres above sea level the highest point of the ridge of hills along the northern coast. It was quite hot as we climbed the ridge to reach the top. We saw the blow of a humpback whale far off to the west. Red-tailed tropicbirds were nesting on the cliffs by Malabar Hill, so we had good views of them flying and displaying. We set off again early in the afternoon, after meeting at the island's excellent Museum. We walked to a headland called the Clear Place on the eastern coast, from which we had a good view along the coast further south and of some of the seabirds that nest there. Just inland, in an area called the Valley of the Shadows, 2 pairs of pied currawongs landed in the trees very close to us. That evening at dusk we gathered at Signal Point, which is a little rocky promintory by Lagoon Beach close to where we were staying, seeing some wedge-tailed shearwaters fly in. They landed, disappeared amongst the trees and called. It was great to see them from such close range.
The next day, Tuesday, we made the short crossing in a glass bottom boat to North Bay. There, we went for walks along the beach, along a short valley to Old Gulch, a rocky inlet in the northern cliffs, and climbed partway up Mount Eliza. We did not go to the top of Mount Eliza as some of the sooty terns, the island's most numerous bird (totalling over 100,000 pairs), were nesting on the path. Sooty terns were nesting on the beach at North Bay, too, and there was a colony of black noddies nesting in trees just in from the beach. Ian told us a lot about the flora on the slopes of Mount Eliza. It is temperate rainforest, and it reminded me of the laurel forests that I had visited on Tenerife and La Palma in the Canaries, except that here on Lord Howe Island there were palm trees growing among the "laurel-leaved" trees.
When I had got up that morning I had not felt very well, too much sun, I suppose, so I did not go suitably attired for swimming. Quite a few of the others did go snorkling in North Bay, seeing some amazing sights in the coral reef. We had a barbecue and some of us went out in the glass bottom boat later, seeing such things as a sting ray, a large green turtle, a blue starfish and lots of other colourful marine life amongst the coral.
I would recommend Lord Howe Island to anyone looking for great birdlife, although it is true that you will not come back with a "long list"! Bird Week, guided by Ian Hutton, is a great way to see the island and its birdlife. The cost of Oxley Travel's package includes flights, accommodation, the North Bay trip (including the barbecue lunch), trips on the island and the 7 evening meals. What is not included in the cost is breakfast, a midday meal on the days other than the North Bay trip, and the 2 optional, weather-permitting trips to Ball's Pyramid and up Mount Gower. This great mountain is a really difficult walk, with some very steep and precipitious sections, especially higher up. I admit that I chickened out when Ian asked if anyone wanted to join the climb with Jack Shick. Two of our group put their names down for the walk, but unfortunately both the Thursday and Friday dawned wet and the attempt was cancelled. Most of the places to stay on Lord Howe Island do not provide meals for guests, but we could stock up on food for breakfast at one of the island shops. Four evening slide shows about the island are also included in the cost of Bird Week - a general introduction, one about birds, another about the island's history and the last about marine life. These were presented at the Museum.
Our evening meals were in restaurants that were all within walking distance of our accommodation, We sat down to eat around dusk, and were therefore able to see some of the wildlife on the way to the restaurant. Thus, on the Tuesday evening we dined in the east of the island and saw 2 of the small bats of the species endemic to the island, as well as some of the flesh-footed shearwaters returning to their burrows in the forests. As we walked back afterwards we could hear the shearwaters' cat-like calls from amongst the trees.
On the Wednesday we had a free morning, so 3 of us met up to look for the famous woodhens, and succeeded in finding a pair after quite a search. I doubt if many on BirdForum have seen Lord Howe woodhens mating, but my companions and I did, ornithologically a great moment. The recovery of the woodhens, from only about 20 birds in the 1970s to the current population of 350, is one of the great conservation success stories. In the afternoon we all went to the coast south of the Airport and the nearby 9-hole golf course for a walk under the slopes of the island's second peak, Mount Lidgbird, 777 metres above sea level, separated from Mount Gower by a high Saddle and even less accessible. On our walk we saw quite a range of bird species, including a woodhen, a providence petrel and various migrant and resident wading birds. The walk also gave me my only sighting of a butterfly on the island, a meadow argus, I reckoned.
Thursday dawned wet, so we spent the morning in the Museum, including seeing 2 interesting films about the island. There is also a cafe in the Museum, so we could buy lunch. The rain stopped around lunch time, so we went for a walk along the road to the Administrative Centre of the island, where I saw my first nankeen kestrel of the trip, and walked up Transit Hill, all of 121 metres above sea level but with a wide view around the island from the tower on the top. Several pied currawongs joined us in the woods along the way, too.
Friday also dawned too poor for the hoped for attempt (by some) on Mount Gower, but we had a short walk along the road to Ned's Beach on the east coast. As well as checking out the birdlife, the highlight of which was a wandering tattler, Ian showed us the very interesting life in the rock pools. We had a break for lunch, which I ate at "Thompson's," between Somerset Apartments and Lagoon Beach. A female golden whistler landed on the back of a chair by my table. While I looked in my rucksack for my camera the bird flew across the table, helped itself to a chip and flew away. A buff-banded rail strolled about, eating crumbs.
We met back at Somerset Apartments and Ian drove us in their minibus to by the Airport. After looking at a small marsh near the eastern end of the runway in which we saw what was my second new wader of the day, a latham's snipe, we walked along a rough path in the trees to Mutton Bird Point. Ian was saying that the grassy area on this promintory, attached to the island only by a narrow ridge of rock, is now less suitable for the shearwaters because of the thick roots of an introduced species of grass which makes it more difficult for digging burrows. What the point is a good place for now is as a nesting ground for the masked boobies, which had young birds on the grassy slopes.
We had our last evening meal in a restaurant in the east of the island, having a walk along Mutton Bird Drive at dusk before dining. It was a little surreal, with blackbirds hopping about and a song thrush singing away, but then some flesh-footed shearwaters appeared overhead and landed on the ground around us, one just missing my head. Ian had one more treat up his sleeve after we had eaten, taking a few of us to a windswept path in the trees on the east coast to look for a breeding species that we had not seen so far. It was pitch black, of course, but our torches revealed 4 little shearwaters on the slopes near their nest burrows, wonderful little birds.
We were all leaving the next day, Saturday. I had a leisurely morning, as I was flying from Brisbane to Cairns that evening, but most of the others went out on the Lagoon in glass bottom boat. I did have one last walk down to Lagoon Beach to see the white terns in the Norfolk Island pines and some of the other birds. Anyway, the time came to go to the Airport in the minibus, check in, have a chat with some of the other passengers, and then off we went back over the South Pacific. I don't mind admitting that I felt very sad to be leaving Lord Howe Island - it is a wonderful place.
I was the only Bird Week participant on the flight from Brisbane, although some of the other people on the flight were staying at the week's base, Somerset Apartments, and were always good for a chat. The other 12 people on Bird Week flew in from Port Macquarie and Sydney. They all lived in Australia and were a great crowd. Indeed, the 350 islanders were also very friendly, giving what I had previously known as the "Islay wave" as they drove past.
Oxley Travel had sent us an itinerary for Bird Week, but the order was all changed on the first afternoon after our guide, local ornithologist Ian Hutton, had checked the weather forecast for the week. Because the best weather was forecast for the start of our week, Ian asked if anyone wanted to go on a boat trip the following day, Sunday, round Ball's Pyramid, at 551 metres tall the world's highest sea stack and standing 23 kilometres south of Lord Howe Island. Most of us did, with the others deciding on a round-the-island boat trip. Other people had also booked on the Ball's Pyramid trip, so some of us went in the morning and others in the afternoon.
I went on the morning trip round Ball's Pyramid. Our little boat, Noctiluca, skippered by Jack Shick, headed south-west out of one of the 2 gaps in the fringing reef (the southernmost coral reef on the planet) of the Lagoon in the western bay of the island. Inside the Lagoon the sea is calm for much of the time, but outside that morning it was also one of the calmest seas of the year, Ian said. Our skipper took us past the base of the very high cliffs at the southern end of the island, then across the open ocean to Ball's Pyramid, passing flotillas of the famous bluebottle jellyfish. There were quite a few dolphins about, but we did not see many seabirds over the open ocean because it was so calm, certainly not like a week or two before when the likes of wandering and shy albatross had been seen. Our skipper stopped the engine and put overboard some berley (called chum by birdwatchers on UK pelagic trips). It had the desired effect, attracting several flesh-footed shearwaters and a few kermadec petrels. Unfortunately, with the engine switched off the boat bobbed up and down quite roughly and 2 young lasses took it in turns to throw up over the side, prompting the skipper to observe that one had had orange for breakfast. A shark also appeared in the depths, and someone asked the skipper what sort of shark it was. "We call them all b*stards round here!" was his reply.
Ball's Pyramid, impressive from afar, was an amazing sight from close to. Birds seen around it and its neighbouring rocks were wedge-tailed shearwater, kermadec petrels, masked boobies, red-tailed tropicbirds, sooty terns, common noddies and grey ternlets. As with other places along our route, Ian told us a bit about Ball's Pyramid, including the first ascent by human climbers and the discovery of the endemic plasmid, a stick insect that became extinct on Lord Howe Island because of rat predation but was subsequently rediscovered in bushes growing on the side of the stack.
Our journey back across the open ocean to the Lord Howe Island was enlivened by larger numbers of the flesh-footed shearwaters and by 2 birds that we had not seen on the way out, a white bellied storm petrel, a breeding species, and a cape petrel, an unusual visitor. We passed inshore of Wolf Rock, where the UK HMS Nottingham famously ran aground in 2002, and then along the eastern and northern coasts of the main island. We were able to see the seabird colonies on the cliffs and offshore islands, as well as look through binoculars at the steep upper section of the route up Mount Gower, at 875 metres above sea level the island's highest peak. Caves on the northern cliffs and neighbouring Roach Island indicate the continuing erosion of the islands. Turning a corner in the north-west of the island we passed a turtle and shoals of colourful fish, then we went in through the fringing reef at its northern end and returned to the jetty to allow the second party to go out with Jack and Ian.
With having travelled all the way from the Isle of Man, I tended to wake very early in the morning. On 2 occasions I walked just north to Old Settlement Beach. In this area is a range of habitats - sandy and rocky areas on the beach, open grass paddocks, a stream, ponds, marsh, and woods to the south, around the main settlement area, and north, on the slopes of the northern hills. This walk on the first morning revealed the largest range of species of land birds, including 3 of the endemic subspecies of the pied currawong flying over. I had previously read that these were down to less than 100, but they were actually quite easy to see. Ian told us that they now number about 250. There were 17 purple swamphens in the paddocks that first morning. They are a favourite species of mine from my visits to the Ebro Delta in Catalunya, although it is true that there was talk both on Lord Howe Island and in BirdForum that the Australian swamphens are now regarded as being a separate species.
The next morning, Monday, we were all out fairly early and walked up Malabar Hill, at 208 metres above sea level the highest point of the ridge of hills along the northern coast. It was quite hot as we climbed the ridge to reach the top. We saw the blow of a humpback whale far off to the west. Red-tailed tropicbirds were nesting on the cliffs by Malabar Hill, so we had good views of them flying and displaying. We set off again early in the afternoon, after meeting at the island's excellent Museum. We walked to a headland called the Clear Place on the eastern coast, from which we had a good view along the coast further south and of some of the seabirds that nest there. Just inland, in an area called the Valley of the Shadows, 2 pairs of pied currawongs landed in the trees very close to us. That evening at dusk we gathered at Signal Point, which is a little rocky promintory by Lagoon Beach close to where we were staying, seeing some wedge-tailed shearwaters fly in. They landed, disappeared amongst the trees and called. It was great to see them from such close range.
The next day, Tuesday, we made the short crossing in a glass bottom boat to North Bay. There, we went for walks along the beach, along a short valley to Old Gulch, a rocky inlet in the northern cliffs, and climbed partway up Mount Eliza. We did not go to the top of Mount Eliza as some of the sooty terns, the island's most numerous bird (totalling over 100,000 pairs), were nesting on the path. Sooty terns were nesting on the beach at North Bay, too, and there was a colony of black noddies nesting in trees just in from the beach. Ian told us a lot about the flora on the slopes of Mount Eliza. It is temperate rainforest, and it reminded me of the laurel forests that I had visited on Tenerife and La Palma in the Canaries, except that here on Lord Howe Island there were palm trees growing among the "laurel-leaved" trees.
When I had got up that morning I had not felt very well, too much sun, I suppose, so I did not go suitably attired for swimming. Quite a few of the others did go snorkling in North Bay, seeing some amazing sights in the coral reef. We had a barbecue and some of us went out in the glass bottom boat later, seeing such things as a sting ray, a large green turtle, a blue starfish and lots of other colourful marine life amongst the coral.
I would recommend Lord Howe Island to anyone looking for great birdlife, although it is true that you will not come back with a "long list"! Bird Week, guided by Ian Hutton, is a great way to see the island and its birdlife. The cost of Oxley Travel's package includes flights, accommodation, the North Bay trip (including the barbecue lunch), trips on the island and the 7 evening meals. What is not included in the cost is breakfast, a midday meal on the days other than the North Bay trip, and the 2 optional, weather-permitting trips to Ball's Pyramid and up Mount Gower. This great mountain is a really difficult walk, with some very steep and precipitious sections, especially higher up. I admit that I chickened out when Ian asked if anyone wanted to join the climb with Jack Shick. Two of our group put their names down for the walk, but unfortunately both the Thursday and Friday dawned wet and the attempt was cancelled. Most of the places to stay on Lord Howe Island do not provide meals for guests, but we could stock up on food for breakfast at one of the island shops. Four evening slide shows about the island are also included in the cost of Bird Week - a general introduction, one about birds, another about the island's history and the last about marine life. These were presented at the Museum.
Our evening meals were in restaurants that were all within walking distance of our accommodation, We sat down to eat around dusk, and were therefore able to see some of the wildlife on the way to the restaurant. Thus, on the Tuesday evening we dined in the east of the island and saw 2 of the small bats of the species endemic to the island, as well as some of the flesh-footed shearwaters returning to their burrows in the forests. As we walked back afterwards we could hear the shearwaters' cat-like calls from amongst the trees.
On the Wednesday we had a free morning, so 3 of us met up to look for the famous woodhens, and succeeded in finding a pair after quite a search. I doubt if many on BirdForum have seen Lord Howe woodhens mating, but my companions and I did, ornithologically a great moment. The recovery of the woodhens, from only about 20 birds in the 1970s to the current population of 350, is one of the great conservation success stories. In the afternoon we all went to the coast south of the Airport and the nearby 9-hole golf course for a walk under the slopes of the island's second peak, Mount Lidgbird, 777 metres above sea level, separated from Mount Gower by a high Saddle and even less accessible. On our walk we saw quite a range of bird species, including a woodhen, a providence petrel and various migrant and resident wading birds. The walk also gave me my only sighting of a butterfly on the island, a meadow argus, I reckoned.
Thursday dawned wet, so we spent the morning in the Museum, including seeing 2 interesting films about the island. There is also a cafe in the Museum, so we could buy lunch. The rain stopped around lunch time, so we went for a walk along the road to the Administrative Centre of the island, where I saw my first nankeen kestrel of the trip, and walked up Transit Hill, all of 121 metres above sea level but with a wide view around the island from the tower on the top. Several pied currawongs joined us in the woods along the way, too.
Friday also dawned too poor for the hoped for attempt (by some) on Mount Gower, but we had a short walk along the road to Ned's Beach on the east coast. As well as checking out the birdlife, the highlight of which was a wandering tattler, Ian showed us the very interesting life in the rock pools. We had a break for lunch, which I ate at "Thompson's," between Somerset Apartments and Lagoon Beach. A female golden whistler landed on the back of a chair by my table. While I looked in my rucksack for my camera the bird flew across the table, helped itself to a chip and flew away. A buff-banded rail strolled about, eating crumbs.
We met back at Somerset Apartments and Ian drove us in their minibus to by the Airport. After looking at a small marsh near the eastern end of the runway in which we saw what was my second new wader of the day, a latham's snipe, we walked along a rough path in the trees to Mutton Bird Point. Ian was saying that the grassy area on this promintory, attached to the island only by a narrow ridge of rock, is now less suitable for the shearwaters because of the thick roots of an introduced species of grass which makes it more difficult for digging burrows. What the point is a good place for now is as a nesting ground for the masked boobies, which had young birds on the grassy slopes.
We had our last evening meal in a restaurant in the east of the island, having a walk along Mutton Bird Drive at dusk before dining. It was a little surreal, with blackbirds hopping about and a song thrush singing away, but then some flesh-footed shearwaters appeared overhead and landed on the ground around us, one just missing my head. Ian had one more treat up his sleeve after we had eaten, taking a few of us to a windswept path in the trees on the east coast to look for a breeding species that we had not seen so far. It was pitch black, of course, but our torches revealed 4 little shearwaters on the slopes near their nest burrows, wonderful little birds.
We were all leaving the next day, Saturday. I had a leisurely morning, as I was flying from Brisbane to Cairns that evening, but most of the others went out on the Lagoon in glass bottom boat. I did have one last walk down to Lagoon Beach to see the white terns in the Norfolk Island pines and some of the other birds. Anyway, the time came to go to the Airport in the minibus, check in, have a chat with some of the other passengers, and then off we went back over the South Pacific. I don't mind admitting that I felt very sad to be leaving Lord Howe Island - it is a wonderful place.
The White Tern must be something thrilling to see in the flesh, it's such a cute thing!!! :bounce:
