10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 27, 2023

He was very alert now, scanning the right bank with his eagle eyes. Before my first trip to the tropics many years ago I always wondered how is it even possible that new bird species are discovered with all the deforestation and general habitat obliteration going on all over the world. But still new species are found.

Solomon Islands 230

Solomon Islands Ecuador Colombia Brazil 230

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 7, 2014

One of these clades holds a diversity of Old World species in several distinct groups, including an Australasian clade, the green-pigeons, the emerald- and wood-doves, the imperial-pigeons and fruit-doves (favorites of mine), and the subjects of our investigation today, the 15 known members of the Raphini. ” Beehler et al.’s

Solomon Islands 278

Solomon Islands Guinea Mauritius Humane 278

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 14, 2015

The species was in the news because some scientists had finally managed (or bothered – it’s much the same thing) to locate the population high in the mountains of the Solomon Islands, and catch and photograph one. Unsurprisingly the ones that most stick in the mind were the lost species. Box after box of egg.

Collecting 231

Collecting Solomon Islands New Zealand Fiji 231

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 8, 2012

It’s a species that I was able to see and photograph while visiting Australia last Christmas, or at least it would have been, had it ever existed. It is one of the many species that went extinct in New Zealand, only for once it didn’t. But it seems the story wasn’t so clear cut.

New Zealand 183

New Zealand Pelicans Solomon Islands Palau 183

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 16, 2017

On one memorable occasion, I recall a birder breaking his cover while I was watching the movie, “The Thin Red Line” Given that the director of that war film is into nature and might also be a birder, I guess it was expected that a few fantastic looking birds from the Solomon Islands would appear on the screen now and then.

Costa Rica 178

Costa Rica Solomon Islands Wisconsin Farming 178

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 23, 2011

I quickly got a good view of an Orange-breasted Honeyeater , a local endemic, and the Vanikoro Flycatcher , a geographically disjunct oddity that occurs only in Fiji and the Solomon islands. The species replaces the common Wattled Honeyeater that can be found across the rest of Fiji’s islands, as well as the rest of Polynesia.

Fiji 171

Fiji Solomon Islands Parrots Los Angeles 171