10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 23, 2011

As introductions to tropical Pacific birding go, you could do a lot worse than Fiji. It was just such a layover that landed me in Fiji a few years ago. As myself and some other stranded Kadavu-bound travellers sat watching the grey clouds over the sea with a beer or two I also managed to find a tiny Fiji Parrotfinch in the grasses.

Fiji 166

Fiji Solomon Islands Parrots Los Angeles 166

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 14, 2015

I remember looking at a single skin of a Long-legged warbler from Fiji, the only known specimen or record of its particular subspecies, the sum total of all knowledge about its kind. So it was the right decision for the scientist to bring it up. Unsurprisingly the ones that most stick in the mind were the lost species.

Collecting 214

Collecting Solomon Islands New Zealand Fiji 214

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 11, 2014

Outside the truly ancient islands that are fragments of sunken continents; New Zealand, Fiji, New Caledonia and the like, the Islands of the Pacific are, geologically, ephemeral things. It is correct, of course, to think of extinction this way during the Holocene Extinction, which we are living through right now. What a horror!

Hawaii 197

Hawaii Mammals Guam Fiji 197

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 7, 2014

In 2001, Trevor Worthy described a set of bones from Fiji as a new species of very large, flightless pigeon: the Viti Levu Giant Pigeon ( Natunaornis gigoura ). It is correct, of course, to think of extinction this way during the Holocene Extinction, which we are living through right now. Choiseul Pigeon ( Microgoura meeki ) by J.G.

Solomon Islands 272

Solomon Islands Guinea Mauritius Humane 272

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 8, 2012

For starters New Zealand didn’t seem to have or have ever had the right type of wetlands to sustain a population of this large piscivore. Like Snowy Owls or crossbills they are also prone to irruptions, caused by Australia’s extreme climate, that have seen birds wandering as far from Australia as Indonesia, Palau, and Fiji.

New Zealand 176

New Zealand Pelicans Solomon Islands Palau 176

10,000 Birds

JUNE 15, 2011

A combination of extinctions and proximity to Fiji means that a trip to that island group would net you pretty much all the same birds plus a whole raft of others. According to the guides it is a forest bird in Fiji (and an elusive one, I never saw one in my week there in 2005) but in Tonga I saw it in the towns and country gardens.

Tonga 160

Tonga Fiji New Zealand Parrots 160