10,000 Birds

MARCH 2, 2011

The first to cruise past in a hurry were the stunning Cook’s Petrels. The final large petrel species is another gadfly petrel, albeit a much larger one than the Cook’s Petrel. Fairy Prions ( Pachyptila turtur ) And then there were the “true petrels&# , insofar as that group has any taxonomic meaning anymore.

New Zealand 174

New Zealand Albatross 2011 Cooking 174

10,000 Birds

MARCH 30, 2011

It was long expected that the fossil record would show extinct members of the genus in the islands between New Zealand/New Caledonia and the Society Islands (places like Tonga, Fiji, the Cook Islands) that had gone extinct before Europeans arrived, but no such fossils have been found.

New Zealand 146

New Zealand Fiji Parrots Tonga 146

10,000 Birds

JUNE 15, 2011

I mentioned last week, while talking about rails and the Pacific, that Tonga is not a particularly birdy birding destination. Tonga is still a fun place to visit, particularly if you’re a poor PhD student anxious to escape the Austral winter. Further down the coast Grey Noddies and Brown Boobies nest on the cliffs.

Tonga 162

Tonga Fiji New Zealand Parrots 162

10,000 Birds

MARCH 23, 2011

The Collared Kingfisher isn’t the most widespread kingfisher in the world (a distinction that would probably go to the Common Kingfisher or the Pied Kingfisher ), but it is close, ranging from the African coast of the Red Sea through to Tonga and American Samoa. Subspecies sacer , ‘Eua, Tonga. Photo by author.

Samoa 168

Samoa Vanuatu United Arab Emirates Tonga 168