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Diving New Zealand – Goat Island

10,000 Birds

Diving has taken me to places like Belize, Fiji, Vanuatu, and Egypt, places that coincidentally are fun to bird. The dive was a gentle one, as dive goes, with a lot of kelp to get under to hunt for interesting fish, lobsters, sponges and rays. Kina, or Sea Urchin. I was a diver before I was a birder.

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Birding in a Hellmouth

10,000 Birds

The closest I came to exploring a cave was diving in a wreck in Vanuatu a few years ago, and while I found the experience nerve-wracking, a combination of sheer fascination and nitrogen narcosis (the effect while diving of compressed nitrogen acting like alcohol – particularly to the decision making processes) kept me sane.

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Birding Kadavu and Nadi in Fiji

10,000 Birds

Polynesian Trillers and Silvereyes were common in the gardens, and were hunted by several Fiji Goshawks that were often seen in the trees around the place. Whereas most of Fiji shares the Streaked Fantail with New Caledonia and Vanuatu, Kadavu has its own species, the Kadavu Fantail. Image used with permission of Matava Eco Lodge.

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