A Brit abroad

Frantic birding in the Riviere Bleue

If there's one bird that birders want to see while in New Caledonia, it's the Kagu. This flightless endemic only numbers about 600 individuals in the wild, thanks to introduced dogs, rats and pigs, and the only reliable place to see them is the Parc Provincial de la Riviere Bleue. As I pointed out, this was a work trip, so I only had one day (my last on the island), and one chance to get there. Stephane and Elodie seemed amenable to the idea of a visit, the only problem being that we had to first drop off Xim at Noumea airport. This meant we wouldn't get to the park until late morning at best. The park closes at 5, it takes a good 20 minutes to drive between the entrance and the trailhead car park, and from there it's a 10km hike to get to the forest which holds Kagu. Timing was going to be tight....

In the end, we arrived at the trailhead at 1130. In the mid-day heat, I set off at a (literally) blistering pace for the forest, stopping only once on the arid part of the walk to admire a singing male Rufous Whistler. It took me about an hour of brisk walking to reach the forest edge, where a rasping, hissing noise and a fleeting black blob was to be my only, unremarkable, experience of the rare Crow Honeyeater. Several noisy New Caledonian Friarbirds were seen along the length of the trail. Somewhere close to the vicinity of the Pont Canoe bridge, some rustling in the undergrowth attracted my attention. Grey back.... orange legs... Kagu!!! I watched this mega bird feeding in the undergrowth, turning leaves like an oversized thrush and stalking rail-like through the forest. Magic.

With the pressure well and truly off, I could take my time a little in the forest, and quickly picked up the first of several New Caledonian Flycatchers and Streaked Fantails. I paused to scope a second Kagu foraging near the pont Kaori. After my digital camera died on the island, I borrowed our lab's ancient digital camera, but it didn't work so well with the scope and all I managed was a blurry photo of a Kagu's arse! Two hours after starting the walk, I arrived at the Grand Kaori, a huge pine endemic to the island.

Here I was thrilled to see a New Caledonian Crow with a small twig in its bill, trying to scoop out grubs on a branch. A enormous NC Imperial Pigeon flew across the path in front of me. Even though the clock was ticking, I decided to press on to the river access at Pourina. This turned out to be a wise decision, and I had stunning scope views of the beautiful endemic Cloven-feathered Dove. These were the best shots I could manage with the naff lab camera.

Two Red-fronted Parakeets flew over me at this spot too. I pushed my luck even further by heading on to the Pont Germain, and was rewarded with a pretty NC Myzomela singing in the canopy.

Having stopped to chat to a couple of park researchers, I was now running seriously late for my 4:30 rendezvous with Stephane and Elodie. Getting locked in the park would have been disastrous given that my flight was leaving late that evening. Salvation came in the form of Julien Le Breton (and father) who, ironically, I had been in touch with about birding in the park. They obligingly offered me a ride back to the car park, saving me a good 90 minutes walking. Just after we passed the Grand Kaori, we had the very good fortune to see a third Kagu, this time at the road's edge. We stopped the car, and I managed a few record shots of the bird before it disappeared back into the undergrowth.

We picked up Stephane and Elodie en route, and were back at the car a good hour before the park closed. In the last of the daylight we decided to drive as far as the Madeleine Falls, where I picked up my last lifer of the trip, a pair of Barred Honeyeaters.

After a celebratory beer and chocolat liegeois in Noumea, I arrived in good time for my 130am flight from Noumea. A Barn Owl dancing across the the road was my final and 59th bird species of an amazing, once-in-a-lifetime, trip.

Posted by rjhall at December 14, 2006 2:48 PM