Chlidonias
Well-known member
11 August
this morning as I was walking along the park's main road towards the Grand Kaori trail, a harsh call attracted my attention and a large black bird shot across the road and disappeared. I knew what it had to be because I'd already seen all the other large black birds the island had to offer and this wasn't any of them, and yet at the same time I hadn't really seen anything except a black blur of wings so I couldn't put "crow honeyeater" on my list. Fortunately just two hours later, right near the entrance to the Grand Kaori trail itself, further calls alerted me to the presence of more of the birds and I got a number of good but brief views of a pair of crow honeyeaters as they pursued each other between the trees. Far and away the best bird New Caledonia has to offer in my opinion, exceeding the kagu many-fold. The crow honeyeater is an elusive and very endangered bird and many birders miss it, and I wouldn't have been surprised to have done likewise, so my excitement was running pretty high. Funnily enough I saw a fourth crow honeyeater the next morning while waiting for the shuttle, in a tree on the opposite bank of the river. It was a fairly distant view but the bright facial skin made it easily identifiable.
BIRDS:
106) Crow honeyeater Gymnomyza aubryana
MAMMALS:
a lone fruit bat hanging in a tree on the opposite side of the river in the late morning upped my hopes of it being the endangered endemic, the ornate flying fox Pteropus ornatus, but I had to admit it was instead the more widespread Pacific flying fox
8) Pacific flying fox Pteropus tonganus
this morning as I was walking along the park's main road towards the Grand Kaori trail, a harsh call attracted my attention and a large black bird shot across the road and disappeared. I knew what it had to be because I'd already seen all the other large black birds the island had to offer and this wasn't any of them, and yet at the same time I hadn't really seen anything except a black blur of wings so I couldn't put "crow honeyeater" on my list. Fortunately just two hours later, right near the entrance to the Grand Kaori trail itself, further calls alerted me to the presence of more of the birds and I got a number of good but brief views of a pair of crow honeyeaters as they pursued each other between the trees. Far and away the best bird New Caledonia has to offer in my opinion, exceeding the kagu many-fold. The crow honeyeater is an elusive and very endangered bird and many birders miss it, and I wouldn't have been surprised to have done likewise, so my excitement was running pretty high. Funnily enough I saw a fourth crow honeyeater the next morning while waiting for the shuttle, in a tree on the opposite bank of the river. It was a fairly distant view but the bright facial skin made it easily identifiable.
BIRDS:
106) Crow honeyeater Gymnomyza aubryana
MAMMALS:
a lone fruit bat hanging in a tree on the opposite side of the river in the late morning upped my hopes of it being the endangered endemic, the ornate flying fox Pteropus ornatus, but I had to admit it was instead the more widespread Pacific flying fox
8) Pacific flying fox Pteropus tonganus