December 14, 2006
The perks of being an ecologist
Towards the end of November I had the most extraordinary piece of luck. A PhD student in our research group has a long-running project studying the flora and fauna on an uninhabited island north of New Caledonia, and with just over a week's notice I was recruited to join him on this year's mission! At this point in time I had no idea where New Caledonia was (other than that it was a long way away), and more importantly, no knowledge what birds to expect. After failing to find a relevant field guide anywhere in France, I sent my poor old Dad to Foyle's bookshop in London, and he was able to post me Doughty's guide, which arrived just a couple of days before departure. Fortunately the 24 hours of airplane between Paris and Noumea was ample time to brush up on the relatively small number of bird species found in the region (90 or so). In all I managed 59 species (including several of the endemics), over half of which where lifers. However, the whole experience of spending 5 days on a deserted island about as far from civilisation as you can get was simply mind-blowing. I rescued a turtle! I swam in shark-infested waters! I got to handle Masked and Brown Booby chicks! In case that's all sounding too glamorous, we worked hard cutting transects with machetes in the sizzling austral summer, and got covered with bird poo and hungry avian ticks. My beloved Nikon CoolPix 4300 finally died on me (RIP) after 3 years of use and abuse. Fortunately Christmas is just around the corner (parents!). Read on for a full account of the trip and many, many photos.
