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History repeating itself

10,000 Birds

I certainly did when I visited the two southern islands of Tonga a few years ago. The two endemic species found in Tonga are not found in these islands, and the other species present are also found on more traditional destinations of Fiji and Samoa. Southern Tonga had its own flightless Gallirallus rail (an undescribed species).

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Armchair Splits in the Pacific

10,000 Birds

The Wattled Honeyeater is a species, or now more accurately a genus, found in eastern Melanesia (Fiji) and in western Polynesia (Samoa and Tonga). In spite of the bird extinctions that have plagued the islands of the Pacific, it doesn’t seem to have suffered that much; I saw it in gardens in both Fiji and Tonga.

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Where Are You Birding This Third Weekend of June 2011?

10,000 Birds

Gorgeous skies over ‘Eua National Park in the Kingdom of Tonga a. Whatever your plans this weekend, make time to enjoy SkyWatch Friday. Also be sure to come back Monday to share your best bird of the weekend !

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The complete guide to Dodo relatives, living and dead

10,000 Birds

A large, extinct relative of the (barely) extant Tooth-billed Pigeon described above was described in 2006 from remains found in Tonga ( Steadman 2006 ). Tongan Tooth-billed Pigeon ( Didunculus placopedetes ). The author notes in the abstract, “As with so many other landbirds in Polynesia, the extinction of D.

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Petrel Paradise

10,000 Birds

These terns are generally subtropical birds of the Pacific (I’ve seen them before in Tonga) and reach the extreme south of their range in northern New Zealand. Grey Noddy ( Procelsterna albivitta ) The remaining time on the trip mostly produced more of the same (not to imply that was a bad thing).

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Clearing up the Collared Kingfishers

10,000 Birds

All the way back in 2011 I wrote about the confusing taxanomic enigma that is the Collared Kingfisher , a species that ranges from the Red Sea to Tonga in a bewildering variety of forms. Subspecies sacer , ‘Eua, Tonga. Subspecies pealei , National Park of American Samoa. Bryan Harry, USNPS. Photo by author. Subspecies vitiensis , Fiji.

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Confusing Collared Kingfishers

10,000 Birds

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.

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Regarding Kakariki

10,000 Birds

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.

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