Another blue sky and calm seas, and an early start to head out in the scout boats to the landing sight on Ducie Island. On the stern deck around 0630 as we approached the island there were already good numbers of Murphy's petrels coming in towards the island, temporarily attracted to the stern of the ship. Managed to spot a couple of Kermadec petrels also, and a lifer in the form of a phoenix petrel! Nice start! Looking out over the island we could see literally hundreds of birds circling and things were looking great. Heading ashore i realised that it wasn't just the usual noddies, terns, and boobies circling, but mostly large numbers of Murphy's petrels! This was going to be an amazing day, that few who set foot on the island will forget in a very long time. Rats were eradicated from the island in 1997, with this island being particularly important as it holds 90% of the World's breeding population of Murphy's petrel, and possibly more than 5% of the Christmas shearwater's breeding population. Whats more Phoenix petrel was supposed to have disappeared as a breeding species between 1922 and 1991/92, so the birds we saw may be the first of this endangered species reutrning to breed on this island!

Walking a wee way from the landing site, Guy pointed out the track through to the lagoon side of the relatively narrow coraline island. Low shrubby vegetation covered most of the islands, but beneath the bushes were hundreds of large fluffy chicks - obviously a mix of species, but mostly Murphy's petrels, with smaller numbers of Kermadec and Herald petrels. Masked boobies were nesting along the beach edge, and there were a few red-tailed tropicbird chicks tucked in under the bushes on the seaward side also. Walking through to the lagoon there was a grey ternlet nesting on the ground beside the trail, and there were many white terns incubating eggs and with small fluffy chicks clutching their 'nest' branch. Where ever you looked there were birds, it was just unreal. Despite the fact that the Murphy's were mainly feeding large chicks at the time there were also a lot of pairs doing courtship displays low over the island. I presume these were young pre-breeding birds preparing for breeding next year? The lower numbers of Kermadec and Herald petrels present were also feeding large fluffy chicks at the same stage as the Murphy's (interesting that all chicks were at almost the exact same stage just loosing the down from the face). They were also doing display flights and I observed mixed pairs of pale and intermediate morph Kermadec petrels doing their awesome calls low over the shrubs, and saw intermediate and dark phase Heralds. The Murphy's too were constantly calling as they displayed and 'stalled' in the air, and I managed some pretty awesome pics...guess there has to be something good amongst 3000 odd images though!

The passengers came ashore at 0800 and I quickly set about getting the birders into the thick of the action. We checked the beach nesting tropicbirds and boobies and then headed across the island checking out all the fluffy petrel and tern chicks along the way. I think people were just blown away - even the non-birders! There was a small colony of sooty terns on the lagoon side of the island, and they appeared not to have eggs yet, although we kept our distance to avoid disturbance. Great frigatebirds and common noddies were also flying around and I found one red-footed booby on its nest up in the low shrubs. Amongst the mayhem I also managed to spot a couple of Christmas shearwaters which must breed here in lower numbers, or perhaps come ashore more in the evenings or at night? A couple of phoenix petrels were also seen circling and eventually landing amongst the vegetation.

After several hours the passengers mostly headed off to do some snorkelling or swimming, and I headed off with a couple and Sue to spend some time concentrating on the photography. We ended up having an amazing time, just trying to capture it all, and at the end of it all I have to say I think I got a few shots I'm pretty happy with. It really will be a morning I won't forget in a hurry and probably one of the best seabird colony spectacles I've seen.

We were all back onboard by just on midday and then the ship set sail for Easter Island and two days at sea. We had been incredibly lucky with the weather when it really counted, with landings on Pitcairn, Henderson, and Ducie being some of the most weather dependent landings in the South Pacific. Yet we had managed to pull it all off...however, the weather Gods decided anough was enough and we had 25-30 knot winds pretty much the whole way through to Easter Island. It was a little uncomfortable at times, but everyone coped pretty well, although seeing Easter Island ahead late on the third day was a welcome sight for most.

Well this morning was one of those rare chances to visit an island you have heard so much about...an island in the middle of absolutely nowhere, uninhabited and although Polynesian/Pacific rats (Rattus exulans) are present, it has managed to hold on to 3 endemic landird species, a partial endemic (Pitcairn reed-warbler) and the endemic Henderson Petrel which is distinct from the almost identical Herald petrel that nests there as well. Chances to visit this place come rarely, and managing to land is not an easy task! Henderson was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1988.

We arrived early morning, and were pleasantly surprised to see that hardly a wave was breaking on the small reef platform that surrounds the island. To zodiac drivers around the World, Henderson Island has a reputation for being an incredibly difficult landing - there are others and most of them are in the South Pacific - but Henderson sure has a name for being difficult. So, with relatively calm seas we were in luck. I got ashore with the shore party and Guy and I started a little exploration to work out where we were going to take people on guided walks, etc. We quickly found the track through to a camp area that had just been used by a party from RSPB assessing the potential of doing a rat eradication on the island in the near future. We managed to scrabble up onto the plateau of the island by way of a narrow track that had been cleared but the crux of the track was a 2m almost vertical wall of fossilised coral that really wasn't going to be passable with the passengers. However, getting part way up this track did allow a good view over the fringing vegetation and onto the beach and within minutes we had spotted several of the endemic and noisy Stephen's lorikeets and stunning Henderson fruit dove. Land crabs and rats were also pretty common, as were the reed warblers. A fair few seabirds were circling the island, with masked boobies nesting on the beach, and Murphy's, Kermadec, Herald, and what I took to be Henderson petrels wheeling round the place - Murphy's did seem to be the most common. Red-tailed tropicbirds, white terns and a few common noddies and great frigatebirds were also around, and we saw and heard at least 6+ bristle-thighed curlew.

We headed back down to the beach and greeted the passengers as they were coming in, and I had a bunch of birders keen to see what we could find. We spent the next few hours getting great views of the warbler, dove, and lorikeet, even finding a few Murphy's petrels on the ground seemingly prospecting for nest sites. However, we couldn't find a Henderson rail! Guys group of non-birders (!) had a rail within several metres and many people got photos on their point and click cameras and video cameras! We searched and searched and just before we were due to leave Sue Flood found another rail, but it took off before we got there... We did manage to see the stunning little white tern chick pictured in the pics below being fed by it's parent, and i got some pretty stunning images of that...so that was a small consellation!

We headed back to the ship for a BBQ lunch, and Capt Peter Fielding sensing my disappointment at not seeing the rail suggested I should take a zodiac back ashore for an hour to try again. LJ very kindly drove me ashore and dropped me off, and despite a further 45 minute search I just couldn't find one...some days you got it, some days you don't! It was a sad lunch back onboard watching the island disappear in the wake of the ship knowing that some silly little flightless bird had beaten me! Spent the afternoon beng ribbed by passengers, staff...fancy the birder not seeing a flightless bird!

A stunning clear morning with blue skies and pretty calm seas as we steadily approached Pitcairn Island. We were hopeful that the sea conditions wold mean a relatively easy landing, and with the local boats organised to come out and pick us up we were pretty confident the day was going to be a good one. Obviously for a lot of people on this cruise, setting foot on Pitcairn, meeting the locals, and looking around was going to be the highlight of the cruise, and for many the reason for booking it.

We had everyone ashore by around midday, with a good 6 hours to be spent ashore. Getting everyone onto the local boat and across was pretty easy in the conditions, but you could see on a rough day the very small harbour would be a lot of fun getting into! We hiked up to Adamstown where the locals (currently about 50 people living on the island) had set up handicrafts and we had a talk to explain about the island, its settlement, etc. We were then able to explore the island and have a good look around, and I did a birding walk - our main target here was the Pitcairn reed-warbler - which we found right outside the church! That was easy, and they turned out to be very common throughout the island. There are no other landbirds present, but we did see red-tailed tropicbirds flying around the cliffs, great frigates, and a few grey ternlets. The reed-warblers were very white - showing a lot of white amongst the pale fawn plumage. Apparently this is normal for these Pitcairn birds, with the Henderson birds showing much less white (as we would find out tomorrow). We wandered through the various trails - some of the more intrepid walkers headed off around the island and in the end we ended up at Christian's Cave - which has supurb views out over Adamstown and the anchorage. Very cool.

After a great afternoon on the island we headed back to the ship, with a few locals also coming along, to enjoy the evening on the pool deck. We even had a couple of Murphy's petrels flying around the ship on duck, and I'd earlier spotted one or two circling the steep cliffs of the island, so perhaps a few still nest here. We said goodbye to our guests and head off towards Henderson later that evening. Thanks to them for a great day!

Following on from Rangiroa we headed to Takapoto, Hikueru, Pukarua, and then a day at sea before a morning in Mangareva (heavy rain cleared luckily) and then another day at sea. Saw a few bits and pieces during that time, with some humpbacks seen near Hikueru, a Cape petrel, a Sei whale, and two white-faced storm-petrels the day at sea before Mangareva, and then the first Murphy's petrels and a couple of Antarctic minke whales the afternoon we left Mangareva. Unfortunately the one that was closeby when it breached did so when my camera was in my room, and then the one that breached about 20+ times did so at about 600+ m and then stopped completely when I made an announcement to alert the passengers! Huh - typical!

We arrived into Rangiroa - the largest coral atoll in French Polynesia, and pretty damn huge at about 75 km long by 25 km wide - early in the morning, with the birders waiting expectantly. We had been offered the opportunity to head across to the opposite side of the atoll to a small Motu (Island) to try and see the critically endangered Polynesian ground-dove. The whole World-wide population of these birds is estimated at around 120-100 birds! We were heading there with a local operator - Ugo Angely from Oviri Excursions - and hoped to see these little gems, as well as nesting seabirds, before getting back to the ship to spend the afternoon snorkelling.

We left with Ugo in his small local boat and headed across the relatively rough lagoon - there was quite a stiff breeze, creating quite a bit of chop in what is often relatively calm waters. It took us just over an hour to get there, and we weren't disappointed when we got there. A very narrow entrance in the coral allowed us to get into shallow water where we could disembark. Small black-tipped reef sharks didn't cause too much consternation as we waded ashore in 1.5feet of water. Over the small motu were literally hundreds of seabirds - with hundreds of white terns, red-footed boobies, common and white-capped noddies, as well as frigatebirds of course. We spent time just taking in the whole spectacle. These seabird islands are just so full on, with activity that sometimes makes it hard to know where to look and what to focus on...even when you've been to a few of them before! However, after half an hour or so we managed to focus and Hugo led us into the small forested area where the ground-doves can be found. The branches above us had nesting white terns and lots of white-capped noddies, but we were searching the ground for our target bird. Before too long Hugo spotted a bird, a male Polynesian ground-dove. We watched as it wandered along the ground, feeding in the leaf litter as it went. I couldn't believe the legs on this bird! Doves normally have relatively short legs, but this thing looked like a cross between a rail and dove, with big long strong legs, it was like an avian version of Beyonce! These birds can clearly still fly, but obviously don't choose to very often, spending most of their time on the ground - hence these powerful legs. This has made them exceptionally vulnerable to introduced mammals, and they are now restricted to only four atolls in the Tuamotus, having once been widespread through French Polynesia...unfortunately the outlook for the species is not great with rats and sea-level rise seriously threatening its future. Our good friends at the Société d'Ornithologie de Polynésie "Manu" are working on ways to protect this species.

Having found this male we were all on top of the World, having watched it for around 10 minutes as it fed quietly nearby, absolutely unconcerned with our presence. We headed across a small channel to another small motu, seeing several bristle-thighed curlew on the way. This motu had another small patch of forest, again with hundreds of white terns flying overhead, and we carefully walked around the edge looking for more evidence of ground- doves. We managed to find another bird, this time what I suspect was an immature male with some traces of brown feathering still around the head where it would normally be white. We again watched this bird for a little while before leaving it in peace.

Back on the main motu we heard a Tuamotu reed-warbler calling, and I squeaked briefly and quick as a flash the bird came in and perched right above our heads singing its little heart out! What a fantastic little bird (well not that little, as I'd say it's one of the larger Pacific reed-warblers I've seen) and I reckon probably star of the day. Hopefully he wasn't so intent on singing because he had no females on the island, and a little later we heard what I hope was another bird in a different part of the island. I managed to get some great shots of this bird as he sang away above us, and we left him and wandered around the coral platform edging the forest, back towards the landing. On the way we manged to find another ground-dove, this time a female, and we again watched this bird for a few minutes, before returning to the boat. All of the ground-doves had been banded, and were obviously part of a local study on the motu - lets hope the numbers can increase and the birds used to populate other rodent free islands nearby.

The trip back to the ship was a little slower and it took us nearly 1.5 hours in some prettty splashy conditions. However, we were all pretty happy with the morning, having seen two incredibly difficult to see species, as well as the spectacle of all the breeding seabirds. After lunch I was driving safety zodiac and taking snorkellers for a drift snorkel through the Tiputa Channel. I did manage to see a black-backed (Kelp) gull though - a pretty uncommon bird for this part of the World, presumably having made it all the way from New Zealand. Also spent a bit of time photographing grey ternlets feeding above a small school of feeding fish just inside the channel. The grey ternlets in French Polynesia tend to be very dark birds, much darker than those we get further west and over in New Zealand. As we left Rangiroa in the evening we had brief views of bottle-nosed dolphins.

The ship (MV Clipper Odyssey) sailed in the late afternoon of 17 September, my computer died that afternoon (!), and the following day was spent at Mataiva in the Tuamotus. Not much in the way of birds seen - did see a few Audubon's shearwaters and Tahiti petrels as we left Papeete though. On Mataiva we had great views of a male lesser frigatebird and a few crested terns around as well. Nice village visit and a wander through the streets to the copra plantation. No landbirds though. In the afternoon we did a cruise through into the lagoon which was very picturesque with its coconut palm lined beachs and aqua-marine water.

Up early, breakfasted in the lagoon-side resturant and then caught a rather expensive taxi towards our meeting spot. Unfortunately the rather expensive taxi dropped me at the wrong meeting location, and I failed to connect with Thomas Ghestemme from the local Société d'Ornithologie de Polynésie "Manu". Sorry to him for the mistake and after realising I was at the wrong place (3 hours later!) decided to head back to the Hotel. Luckily some very kind gent whose English was as good as my French, stopped and picked me up and dropped me off just by the Hotel!

The next day Loro who has worked for the Société d'Ornithologie de Polynésie "Manu" for two months picked me up from the Hotel and we visited the Valley where he has been involved in monitoring the Tahiti monarch. We headed up the valley a wee way by car and then carried on up the valley on foot. This valley is closed access due to it being a water catchment, so if you want to visit this area then you first need to contact somebody at Manu. Compared to the Papeeno Valley which I visited last year when I was here, this valley is much smaller and the vegetation is very different, being large old trees, which is obviously the habitat the monarch likes. As we headed up the valley, following a small stream we heard and then saw several Tahiti kingfishers (a new bird for me). They seemed to be relatively common up the valley and we saw and heard several more during the course of the morning. At a a point where the valley splits we looked up and there were probably 50+ Tahiti swiftlets feeding at varying heights from just above and within the canopy, to way way up, being only specks in the sky. Very similar to the other French Polynesian swiftlet species in appearance and behaviour. Loro then saw an adult monarch and we had really good views of this beaut little bird as it fed and flitted around the sub-canopy. The bird was banded and from one of the three pairs that breed in this valley - there are only 25 pairs of this critically endangered species, so a real priviledge to see this bird. We then headed up one branch of the valley to where it narrowed to only a few metres across and there was a small colony of swiftlets. Probably about 100 nest, mostly occupied, with a lot of adults coming and going. This was the first swiftlet colony I've actually seen so really cool to watch and see how the nests are just stuck to the rock wall in a tight little group. We spent a few minutes watching then headed back and up the other branch of the valley to see if we could find another monarch pair. We did indeed find another adult which apprently have some young ones nearby also.

Heading back down the valley we took a little time so I could take photos etc. They have been doing a lot of work with the monarch and it sounds like the population is ever so slowly increasing. They are doing rat control with poison around the birds' territories, but there are also common mynas, red-vented bulbuls, and swamp harriers in the area, all of which hassle monarchs, especially the young. Hopefully the hard work these guys are putting in will pay off and this endemic will be more common in years to come. During the morning we also saw lots of silvereye (a bit smaller and much greyer on the throat that the NZ birds), grey-green fruit-doves, swamp harrier, common waxbill, and of course the bulbul and myna. A really great morning and thanks must go to Loro, Thomas and Société d'Ornithologie de Polynésie "Manu". Keep up the good work guys!

Yes, I got the date the right way round above...crossed the Int'l date line on the way to Tahiti today, so gained a day...I know I'll loose it somewhere along the line though! Nice and warm here at the moment so looking forward to a few days relaxing before getting on the ship on 17 September.

Another beaut day in the Bay, so out birding and photographing this afternoon. On the way into Waitangi/Ngaruroro Rivermouth I stopped to take a few shots of several pied stilts on a newly created wetland area just inside the gate and to my surprise found a black-fronted dotterel there also. Over the next hour or more got some pretty nice shots of this great little bird.

Headed back to the wetland that I'd seen the bittern at yesterday, hoping it might be back, but no luck. However, a great egret was present, probably the same bird I saw nearby about a month or so ago. I think a number of other HB locals have seen this bird around during the winter, and I guess it is likely to head south fairly soon.

Checked out Muddy Creek and Haumoana/Te Awanga as well. Found some nice confiding shoveler (for a change) at the pond in Te Awanga and a lone grey teal with a damaged wing (just gotta photograph it from the left aye!). A more brightly coloured teal jumped out of the veg and swam to some willow trees and I realised it was a lovely drake brown teal...one of the Cape Kidnappers released birds. The bird was banded and still had a transmitter aerial visible, and from talking with Tamsin (from the Cape Kidnappers Preserve) it sounds like this guy has been there a while.

All in all a good day to be out!

Not too exciting sitting in a hide on the back lawn, but having put out a bit of bird seed managed to get some nice shots of common garden birds. Loving the new 800mm lens!