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Committee

Group Leader Martin JohnsonTreasurer Malcolm IngramMembership Secretary Penny ChatfieldIndoor Meetings Laura McLellan and Kevin

TaylorPublicity/Raffle Janet SouthwoodCampaigns Colin HawkinsMember John ByrneMember Jean CrystalMember Jill ShaylerMember Gary Taylor

Group Leader WelcomeWelcome to another newsletter. This issue is our first for almost a year: I would like it to appear more regularly than that, but we do have our problems….. see the editorial. I hope that you enjoy the mixture of news, travel and natural history features and images contained in this publication, which is circulated not just to our members but also to other Local Groups in our region.

Editorial

Well, we’ve eventually got another newsletter out! Lots of pleading has resulted in a fine selection of travel features. Close to home, Helen Lumley tells us about her stay on Ramsey Island as an RSPB volunteer, whilst further afield Val Thompson was lucky enough to view the Northern Lights and some spectacular birds in Iceland and Juliette Hatt takes us on an intriguing journey into deepest Madagascar. My photographic encounters with some of New Zealand’s many endemic birds are also mentioned: we do get about, don’t we! Many thanks are due to all the contributors. Waiting for articles is one reason for the delay in publishing: the other is lack of time due to all my other RSPB responsibilities (Group Leader, chairman, outdoor meetings, trip leading, web site etc. etc.). I do have other commitments (a photography degree course for one), so editing the

newsletter is becoming the straw that breaks this particular camel’s back! I am therefore looking for somebody to take over from me as newsletter editor. Word processing and networking skills, internet access and a decent command of the English language are the main requirements: you don’t necessarily have to be on the committee. If you are interested in taking on this role please let me know; if I don’t find a replacement it could be a very long time before the next newsletter appears!

Finally an apology to Colin Hawkins who, contrary to what I wrote in the last newsletter, is not a paid RSPB employee, although he puts in many hours of his time each week as an unpaid volunteer!

Snipe, Titchfield Haven NNR, March 2012 (MJ)

News

We are delighted to welcome two new members onto the committee: Laura McLellan and Kevin Taylor are going to “job share” as they take over from Gary Taylor as indoor meetings secretary. Their first job will be to organize next season’s (2013-14) programme; thanks are due to Gary for organizing and running several excellent programmes of talks, including the one for this season (2012-13). Meanwhile, Gary will be taking over the organization of our spring walks outdoor meetings.

RSPB HITCHIN AND LETCHWORTH LOCAL GROUP NEWSLETTER

Editor: Martin Johnson October 2012: No 11

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Last season our membership rose to 111 (including one junior member), the highest figure for many years. We hope that those of you who are new or relatively new members will continue to enjoy your membership for many years to come; we believe that the annual subscription of £10.00 offers excellent value for money!

Spotted Redshank, RSPB Titchwell, March 2012 (MJ)

We ran stalls in spring 2012 at both the Letchworth Food and Garden festival (May) and the Letchworth Festival (June). Although the stalls were intended mainly to publicise the Local Group’s activities we managed to make a small profit through the sale of plants, etc. Many thanks are due to those who helped with the running of the stalls.

We established a new record on our visit to Lakenheath Fen this August. No, we didn’t see a record number of birds but Ethel Westoby became, at the tender age of 91, the oldest person to go on one of our trips! Ethel was a founder member of the Local Group 40 years ago (see below) and has been an active supporter ever since. We owe her an enormous debt of gratitude, and look forward to her sharing in our 50th birthday celebrations!

In 2012 the Local Group celebrates its 40th

anniversary. We believe that we are one of the oldest RSPB Local Groups in existence. No special activities are planned, but the event will be marked by the talk given by David Lindo (“The Urban Birder”) on 7 December. As part of this celebration we are encouraging members to bring along cakes to the meeting, so we can have a good old “nosh-up” at the interval! Cakes can be home-cooked or bought; we

hope that you will come along to both enjoy the talk and participate in our 40th birthday celebrations!

Fundraising

100 Club

By the end of the year our “100 Club” will have raised over £1650 for the RSPB. We hope that you will continue to support the club and hopefully be a winner in 2013!

Collections

For a variety of reasons we are having difficulty organising collections in supermarkets, etc. at the moment. However, this still remains a potentially lucrative method for raising money: as soon as we get any positive news we will let you know at our indoor meetings.

Tea Towels

Penny still has some tea towels, featuring her own “Local Group” design. These are on sale at £4.00 each at all our indoor meetings and would, for example, make excellent Christmas presents.

Raffle

Janet is always on the lookout for raffle prizes; if you have any suitable candidates (perhaps an unwanted present from a distant relative) please get in touch with her.

Heath Fritillary, RSPB Blean Woods, June 2012

Second-hand Books

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We recommend a minimum donation of 50p for each book taken. If you have what you believe to be a really good book that you wish to donate, have a chat beforehand with myself or another committee member and we can keep it separate and establish a minimum fee for this item.

Talks

I am always adding new titles to the list of talks that I am prepared to give to local clubs and societies. The latest is of a wildlife and general interest tour of New Zealand’s North Island. The fee is £35: all money goes, via the Local Group, to the RSPB. If you know of any local societies that are in need of a speaker please let me know!

At the AGM we agreed to donate £1200 of the funds raised (up from £900 last year) to the RSPB to support woodland habitat, whilst the “100 Club” money (£230) was allocated to the “International” priority for Local Group funding. Hopefully we can raise even more money for the RSPB during the current year!

Indoor Meetings

Once again and for the final time, Gary has produced a cracking programme of speakers for this season’s indoor meetings. It is somewhat unfair for me to pick out highlights, but I feel that I must mention two.

Goldfinch, RSPB Titchwell, March 2012

On 7 December 2012 we are fortunate to have David Lindo as our speaker. David has become very well-known over the last few years, both for his television appearances and for his columns as “The Urban Birder” in publications such as RSPB “Birds” magazine and “Bird Watching” magazine. David concentrates on

the birds and wildlife of our towns and cities and “brown field” sites. He is an excellent speaker, although sadly this may be his last talk as he is forced to concentrate more on his other activities. Add in the fact that his visit coincides with our 40 th anniversary celebration (see above) and this is one talk definitely not to be missed!

Goosander Family, Tittesworth, May 2012

On 1 March 2013 Chris Gooddie visits us to talk about his adventures whilst trying to see every one of the world’s 32 species of Pitta in a single year. Chris is a (the?) leading expert on this family of attractive, rain forest ground-dwelling birds: his talk promises to provide great entertainment.

Outdoor Meetings

By the time that you read this newsletter our season of events will be well under way. As usual, we have arranged nine coach trips to reserves far and near and we are pleased to be sharing three of these visits with RSPB Stevenage Local Group. We try to choose a wide mixture of habitats for these visits and, although birds are the dominant focus of our attention during the winter months, we try to fit in at least one site that will be of interest to the general naturalist during the spring and early summer. This season, on 17 February 2013, we are going to visit the Slimbridge Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust reserve for the first time in over 20 years! We will be travelling a long way, but we think that this will be well worthwhile! Other, more familiar venues for us include the RSPB Dungeness, Frampton Marsh and Minsmere reserves as well as Rye Harbour on the Sussex coast. For full details of our indoor and outdoor meetings see the 2012-13 programme and/or visit our Local Group web site at www.rspb.org.uk/groups/hitchinandletchworth.

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Last season’s programme produced many highlights, both in the form of rare birds or just common birds and other animals, seen well and producing interesting behaviour. My thanks to Val Fullforth for providing the following article, which relates to an incident on our final (June 2012) coach trip of last season. Here’s to seeing more great wildlife in the current season!

A Surprise Stowaway

(By Val Fullforth)

After an enjoyable day at the Stodmarsh Reserve, near Canterbury, we stopped off at RSPB Blean Woods in the hope of seeing heath fritillary butterflies. We were not disappointed. After a short walk we came to a woodland area of coppiced mature sweet chestnut trees, which had healthily regrown. Amongst these, patches of Cow-wheat (the food plant for the heath fritillary) had become established. We virtually stopped in our tracks on seeing two or three butterflies among the Cow-wheat and grasses and on progressing along the path through the coppiced area, we counted some 30 specimens. None of the butterflies seemed worried by a number of photographers getting close-ups [see image on second page – Ed.] and most posed whilst some great photos were taken.

A green woodpecker was seen in this same woodland area, where a number of huge wood ant hills were noted which I am sure gave the woodpeckers a ready-made larder.

Female Azure Damselfly (MJ)

We returned to the coach and settled down for the journey home, only to have more excitement when a

damselfly was seen flying around the fan-light of the coach roof, above the leader's head. The cameras came out again and the driver patiently went slowly whilst the photography was in session. Concerned that this fragile creature would not survive the journey to our next stop at Thurrock, a lunch box was produced and our stowaway was caught. After close inspection and interrogation, it was identified as a female azure damselfly. So, after the usual afternoon doze, we arrived at Thurrock and picked some greenery to make our extra passenger more at ease in her confined box, to the point that she started ovipositing. On reaching Hitchin, a new home was found in the plants and reeds surrounding my pond, so this story ends quite happily.

Some Unusual Local Bird Sightings

(By Martin Johnson)

Great Grey Shrike in Flight, Royston, Feb. 2012 (MJ)

Winter 2011-12 brought large numbers of raptors, particularly short-eared owls and hen harriers, into the UK and our region did not miss out.

Up to a dozen short-eared owls patrolled the spur of the Chilterns between Baldock and Barkway, with at least four in the Royston area. The influx followed an exceptional breeding season for these magnificent day-flying birds, which in turn was occasioned by a boom in the lemming population in their Scandinavian heartland. These boom years only happen occasionally, so it is advisable for bird-watchers to make the most of their opportunities. Sadly, two of the Royston birds died during the winter; perhaps these were young birds, inexperienced at hunting, which perished during January’s very windy weather (short-eared owls find it very difficult to hunt during

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windy weather, relying heavily on hearing to detect prey). Let’s hope that the remaining birds made it back to their breeding grounds in the summer.

At least three hen harriers were also in the Royston area during the winter. These were all “ringtails” (females or juveniles): indeed, none of my many sightings of this species in the local area have been of the beautiful, silvery adult males. Unlike short-eared owls, hen harriers have a cosmopolitan diet which includes many bird species. I suspect that they found the local partridges (both red-legged and grey) very much to their liking!

The best sighting, however, was of a great grey shrike, the first to winter in our area for many years. Initially discovered near Therfield in the autumn, the bird disappeared for a few weeks, only to be re-discovered in December just off Therfield Heath, less than a mile from my home. Although the bird was very mobile it stayed in the area until early April 2012, doubtless picking off a few members of the local linnet flock which numbered up to 750.

These birds attracted good numbers of bird-watchers and “twitchers”, including Lee Evans, to the Royston area, who in turn reported sightings of other rare birds including merlin and lesser spotted woodpecker. In addition to the linnets a flock of up to 150 corn buntings toured the area. However, unlike in the previous winter not a single waxwing was seen!

A week as a Residential Volunteer on Ramsey Island RSPB reserve

(By Helen Lumley)

The accommodation (HL)

The first week in June has arrived and it is time to head off for my fifth time as a Residential Volunteer on Ramsey Island. This is a wild and beautiful island just off the Pembrokeshire coast near St David’s. Ramsey has high sea cliffs, large seabird colonies and the largest grey seal colony in Wales. There are also stunning views across Ramsey Sound to the mainland. One essential planning detail is to take enough food for the week, plus a bit extra, in case the winds are high and the boats can’t run so we can’t get back when planned. Then the food, plus all other luggage, has to be carried down lots of steep steps to the little harbour – one good reason to only take essential items!

Juvenile Peregrine on Ramsey (Lisa Morgan)

On arrival at Ramsey, Greg and Lisa Morgan (the warden and assistant warden) plus their dog, Dewi, are there to greet me and the other 3 volunteers for the week. We stay in a small hunting lodge which is in the lee of the second highest peak on the island. For the remainder of the arrival day we are free to walk around the island, enjoy the sights and spot chough, peregrine, guillemot and razorbill, to name but a few of the species here. Bluebells and foxgloves are still in flower, red deer and Welsh ponies, along with lots of sheep, graze the island and the views from the cliff top paths are stunning.

Jobs for the week are varied. The main work is helping with visitors: meeting boats in the little harbour, serving teas and coffees in the small shop and chatting to visitors. Even cleaning the compost toilets is more

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fun than it sounds due to the nesting swallows in the toilet building. There are lots of bird-related jobs. A chough count is done once a week and I get the job of surveying the southern part of the island, walking the perimeter path and looking for any choughs flying, feeding or beak wiping. The sun is shining, the sea is shimmering and everything looks beautiful. I even spot a few choughs.

Chough (Ed M Hoffman)

For the first couple of days we are lucky and have glorious weather. The sun brings lots of visitors so it is ‘all hands on deck’ greeting the boats, making lots of teas and working with my fellow volunteers. Visitors are in luck as one of the peregrine pairs has nested in a spot on the cliff where a telescope can get great views, so one of our jobs is to man the ‘scope and show this to visitors. Seeing the adults coming in with prey (including a wheatear and an oystercatcher) and feeding their three chicks is amazing. Ramsey has a good population of wheatears (the many stone walls provide good nesting habitat) and family groups are everywhere: fluffy chicks hopping about being fed by their parents.

The other big bird attraction for me is the Manx shearwaters that nest in old rabbit burrows around the island, including near the lodge where we sleep. The experience of lying in bed and hearing the weird yelping cries of the shearwaters coming in at night and circling round the building is something that I will never forget. They come in at night to avoid being picked off by the predatory black-backed gulls. One job is to help with shearwater surveys. This involves

playing a tape of the male’s call to the mouth of rabbit burrows: if a male is nesting and in residence, it will often reply with its call. Hearing that strange call coming back from what seems like the bowels of the earth is a real thrill.

Absolutely the best job of the week for me is to do a one hour chough nest watch, which involves scrambling along the edge of the cliff to a small rocky promontory just above the nest site on the south coast. I sit amongst wild flowers, the sun shines and the sea crashes on the many small offshore rocky islands. I watch seals swimming past below me and monitor the choughs flying back and forth to their nest, calling and soaring, and feeding on grassy areas nearby.

Unfortunately the weather deteriorates rapidly for the rest of the week. Torrential rain and high winds mean no visitors. We have to be careful not to get blown off the cliff by the gusts of wind. We do manage to check on the buzzard nest one evening: by holding onto a wall we can peer over the cliff and directly into the nest. We are relieved to see that the adults (an experienced pair) have built a cosy blanket of rabbit carcasses round the edge of the nest, and the two fluffy chicks are nice and snug and protected from the wind. They also have dinner on hand.

It is such a joy to spend time on Ramsey, away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life and surrounded by nature. Greg and Lisa are always so welcoming and willing to share their knowledge. I’m already planning my trip for next year.

A Short Break in Iceland

(By Val Thompson)

The flight touched down at Keflavik International Airport on time and Malcolm, our guide, was awaiting our arrival. We had three hours to explore this northern capital, visiting the harbour where we saw several common eiders and admiring the new opera house. We stopped at a café for coffee and my friend noticed one of the specials on the menu: puffin, shag and minke whale. We weren’t tempted to try it! As we walked back to board the coach, we heard a blackbird and found it singing from a tree in a garden. Back on board the coach it was just a five minute

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journey to the domestic airport for the 40 minute flight north to Akureyri. After supper we had a short walk to the harbour for some instruction on photographing the northern lights. Although light pollution from the city was very noticeable, we did see a little auroral light.

After a leisurely post-breakfast stroll to the harbour, we found more common eiders and lots of purple sandpipers on the rocks. This morning we travelled towards Lake Mývatn, which was our base for the next three nights. We stopped at Goðafoss to enjoy this spectacular waterfall before arriving at the River Laxá and seeing Barrow’s goldeneye. We had a picnic lunch by the river bridge, where we saw our first harlequin; what a stunning little duck. We continued on a journey around the lake, ending up back at the River Laxa, and we had panoramic views overlooking this important conservation site.

Harlequin Ducks (VT)

After dinner we left the hotel at 9:00pm and drove the short distance to Dimmuborgie, its elevated position giving extensive views across the landscape and sky to capture the aurora, but it was also the windiest place I have ever been to, worse than the Norfolk coast in winter. We didn’t have a long wait before it all started to happen at 10:15pm. Auroral light soon filled the sky with a green tinge and rays of magenta, red and yellow appeared amongst the stars. We took advantage of the coach to act as a windbreak and to warm up between performances.

The next day we returned to the River Laxá and from there we took a leisurely drive around the southern shores of the lake, in search of gyr falcons. We took a pre-lunch stroll around Hofði. Walking through the birch woods we managed to find ptarmigan, which

were very obliging and allowed a very close approach as they pecked birch seeds from the snow. We also managed to add common redpoll and wren to the bird-list.

Lunch was by the fissure at Grjotagja, before we visited the Namaskardi area. The terrain is dotted with numerous holes of gurgling, bubbling grey mud and hissing, steaming fumaroles. Before we were allowed out onto this unique landscape Malcolm insisted on our fitting plastic bags to our boots, not because the mud was acidic or because the claggy earth might soil our clothes; more to do with keeping the bus clean!

Retracing our route back to the hotel we saw a large white falcon flying low, so we followed as best we could until the bird was thought to have perched some distance away. We arrived at the location where it was last seen, but despite extensive searching we could not re-find the falcon; it had disappeared into thin air! That evening we did the bird log and our blackbird from the first day was greeted with surprise, but we did manage to convince Malcolm that we do know a blackbird when we hear and see it!

By the time we had walked across the road to the observation point the Northern Lights were very obvious. Green rays arced through the sky where colourful curtains of magenta, red and yellow shimmered. This was really something very special and much more extensive than the previous night’s show. The whole night sky was alive with auroral colours, a truly magical moment and one to cherish for a lifetime. I headed off at about 1.00am but still kept watching from my room; there was always something more appearing so it was hard to turn away.

On our last full day we headed down the Laugar Valley and followed the coast road to Huśavík. Just outside the town we turned off the main road and drove down a cinder track to the sea, where several glaucous and Iceland gulls were feeding by an outlet pipe. Further out at sea we could see many small groups of long-tailed ducks and common scoter amongst the flotillas of common eiders. Our next stop was by the fish processing plant outlet pipe, where again many fulmars and common eiders were feeding.

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We toured the harbour and found a small group of harlequin ducks and a king eider.

Whilst we ate our lunch Malcolm pointed out some piles of feathers. These were the remains of a gyr falcon’s lunch. Some of the group made a visit to the Culture House Museum in the afternoon, but I decided to stay at the harbour and try to find the falcon. As the feathers were white, I guessed it was picking off the fulmars. Eventually the gulls and fulmars went up in alarm and in came the gyr falcon. It did a circuit of the harbour before heading towards the hills in the background. By this time I had met up with a few of the group who had not gone to the museum, so five of us saw the bird. We also found a common guillemot with a deformed beak – a very strange looking bird.

We returned to the shores of the lake via the road over the high mountain plateau, where the Apollo crew allegedly trained for their moon landing. This evening was to be our last at the hotel and the weather outside was not looking good for any sighting of the northern lights, so after the bird log we all retired to pack and to prepare for departure in the morning.

Although our time in Iceland was brief, memories of gyr falcons, Barrow’s goldeneye, harlequins and the incredible mesmerising experience of the Northern Lights will last a life-time!

The magnificent Northern Lights (VT)

Val’s Iceland Bird List:

Fulmar, cormorant, whooper swan, graylag goose, mallard, common eider, king eider, harlequin duck,

long-tailed duck, Barrow’s goldeneye, red-breasted merganser, goosander, gyr falcon, ptarmigan, purple sandpiper, redshank, black-headed gull, common gull, kittiwake, herring gull, glaucous gull, Iceland gull, greater black-backed gull, common guillemot, wren, blackbird, redwing, starling, raven, common redpoll, snow bunting.

Madagascar!

(By Juliette Hatt)

Madagascan Fody (Wikipedia)

Mention Madagascar to most people and they will either think of the recent animated films by Dream Works or of David Attenborough’s series. Yet how many people realise that Madagascar is the fourth largest island in the world (2½ times the size of Great Britain), that it is located in the Indian Ocean just off Tanzania, and that worryingly only 10% of its original rainforest remains. It is an island that is filled with magic and many taboos or fadys, which vary from place to place. For example, the Merina tribe believe that it is fady to hold a funeral on a Tuesday or there will be another death, whereas the Tsimihety believe that it is fady to work on a Tuesday. Many fady benefit conservation by prohibiting the killing of certain animals and ensuring that pockets of forests around a tomb are left undisturbed. Birds also feature strongly in Malagasy folklore: there are birds of fortune and birds of ill omen. The birds of fortune, such as larks, warblers, some sparrows and snipes, are

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believed to have alerted people to danger and consequently to have saved their lives. Therefore it is fady to eat such birds. The presence of kestrels is seen as a good thing near a village as they catch mice and rats. The fady concerning the kestrel says that anyone who kills a kestrel will be cursed with abnormal children, beaten by their foes and outcast. It is also fady to destroy the nests of big birds, as they symbolise the family home and to destroy a carefully built nest may result in the destruction of your own home. White egrets eat the leeches and flies that pester the zebu and also serve as a marker for the herdsman to enable him to find his cattle in long grass. My fascination with the island started thanks to the John Cleese film “Fierce Creatures” back in 1997, which featured ring-tailed lemurs, and his subsequent documentaries on the plight of the lemurs in Madagascar. Some fifteen years later I finally managed to spend a couple of weeks exploring a small part of this fascinating island in the capable hands of Exodus and our excellent guide Sol.

Ring-tailed Lemur (Wikipedia)

We flew overnight to Nairobi, Kenya and then onto Antananarivo (Tana), the capital of Madagascar, for late morning. As we flew in over the island it was possible to see how the recent cyclones had resulted in significant soil erosion, as the orangey-brown soil was clearly visible out to sea. However, very few roads or major areas of habitation were visible. Tana is a mixture of a few modern high rise buildings amongst brightly coloured houses and rice paddies, where zebu (local cattle) drawn carts mingle with modern cars. Flocks of cattle egrets and great white egrets stalked the paddy fields and the beautiful red Madagascan fody darted from bush to bush (this bird seemed to have an amazing ability to stay still for just long

enough to focus the camera on it before flying off just as the shutter was about to be pressed).

Red Bellied Lemur (Wikipedia)

After a brief exploration of Tana we headed off the next morning on National Route Seven (RN7), south across the highlands of Madagascar for a couple of days in the Zafiminary wood carving region. The amount of land which has given way to rice farming is staggering. We passed through miles of hillsides, all terraced for rice growing, the terracing emphasizing the contours of the land. According to the guide books, the Malagasy eat more rice per head than any other population, including the Chinese. As if erosion isn’t doing enough harm to these once fertile lands, the desire to make a quick buck, in the form of gold panning, is having a devastating effect. As in Tana, we saw egrets and the fody as well as hammerkop amongst the rice paddies, but also stonechats and Madagascan wagtails around the lodge where we were staying.

Next we had a couple of days in the town of Ranomafana, whose name means “hot water”, and which was once famed for its thermal baths. However, we had come to visit this small pocket of rainforest in the hope of having our first encounters with lemurs. Our first sighting, whilst walking along the main road by the edge of the rainforest, was with the red-fronted brown lemur. Not surprisingly it did rain in the rainforest and we experienced some heavy showers. However, this didn’t deter us from venturing out after dark in a bid to see one of the nocturnal mouse lemurs. Darkness occurred at about 6pm and, with rain bearing clouds around, it was truly dark. Yet we

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did get to see a number of chameleons and, eventually, one rufous brown mouse lemur which, as the name suggests, is about the size of a mouse. The following day we had a guided walk through the rain forest, where we saw groups of red fronted brown lemurs, red bellied lemurs, golden bamboo lemurs and the Milne-Edwards’ sifaka. Generally the lemurs seemed unbothered by all the pairs of eyes watching them and continued to groom, feed and snooze from the safety of their treetops.

Our journey continued back onto RN7, to Andringitra National Park for four days of trekking and camping, including the ascent of Madagascar’s second highest peak, Pic Boby. As someone who is used to backpacking, this was pampered camping with porters to carry all your stuff, put the tents up and cook for you. However, the long drop toilets aren’t something that I will miss! Guides escorted us along well marked paths, lending a hand across some of the more slippery expanses of granite slab that we had to cross, adding extra stones to make river crossings easier and pointing out the weird and wonderful wildlife including snakes, lizards, chameleons, Madagascan buzzards and kestrels as well as medicinal plants. A kingfisher stopped to fish awhile at the river beside one of the camps. From the top of Pic Boby you could only see a huge expanse of numerous granite outcrops in every direction. In places the water had worn the granite into a series of little rock pools, giving the rocks a dragon like appearance. In other places the granite had been worn into almost perfect spheres littering certain areas of the plateau.

Madagascan Buzzard (Wikipedia)

We returned once more to our minibus and continued along RN7 to Anja National Park to see ring-tailed lemurs, of which there were plenty, as well as a few sunbirds drinking nectar from the flowers on the edge of the rice paddies. After a night in a hotel and the chance of hot running water (!) we reached Isalo National Park for three days of trekking amongst the sandstone canyons. Here we enjoyed seeing ring-tailed lemurs close to camp, as well as grey-headed love birds, Madagascan fody and a number of stick insects and scorpions as well as a praying mantis.

From Isalo we followed the RN9 to Tulear and then a minor road to Ifaty, on the coast amongst the spiny forest. Here we had good views of a hoopoe, Souimanga sunbirds, Madagascan kestrel, Madagascan magpie robin, common mynah and the extremely large Madagascan swallowtail butterfly. After a fairly easy day in Ifaty we had an early start the next day (breakfast at 3am) in order to get the flight from Tulear back to Tana (highlight of which was a nightjar flying along the road in front of our minibus). Despite our guide’s reservations about the efficiencies of “Mad Air” we arrived at Tana on time and had the chance for some last souvenir shopping as well as a trip to the Lemur Park to get our final fix of lemurs.

Although some of the days were very long, with lots packed into the itinerary in a bid to make the most of the mere 12 hours of daylight, it was an amazing trip and I can’t wait to return to see a bit more of this fascinating island.

Notes on some of New Zealand’s Endemic Birds

(Words and images by Martin Johnson)

In October and November 2011 Helen and I spent 15 days touring the length and breadth of New Zealand’s North Island, having previously visited South Island in 2002. Although this was not a bird-watching holiday there were, inevitably, some opportunities to observe the island’s wildlife and I came back with a bird list of 74 species, about par for a morning’s visit to RSPB Titchwell but pretty good for a country where the record day list is just 50 bird species! Whereas South Island bird-watching is heavily influenced by penguins, albatrosses and other seabirds, a wider selection of passerine species occurs on North Island.

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What New Zealand lacks in quantity of birds it more than makes up for in quality and, not surprisingly for a country marooned several hundred miles away from its neighbours in the Pacific Ocean, many of these are endemics. Here are brief notes on some of the more charismatic endemics that we encountered: note that it is not permissible to photograph the flightless, nocturnal kiwi (New Zealand’s most famous endemic bird) in the wild at known viewing sites……and anyway, the only live kiwis that I have ever seen have been captive birds in nature reserves!

Tui

Arguably the most abundant and certainly the most widespread of New Zealand’s endemics, the tui, a member of the honeyeater family, is noisy and fairly tame. Easily identified by the two white tufts under its throat, the tui occurs in any habitat that can provide trees bearing nectar and fruit. Slightly larger than a blackbird, the tui mixes a selection of coughs, wheezes and snatches of other birds’ phrases with a beautiful, melodic song. Definitely one of my favourite NZ birds!

Takehe

Looking like a large, rather obese purple gallinule (or pukeko, as the gallinule is known in New Zealand, where it is quite common) the flightless takehe was believed extinct until a tiny population was discovered in 1948 in a remote part of Fjordland on South Island. Now, following a successful captive breeding programme, it has been re-introduced in a number of specially protected areas, including Tiritiri Matangi Island, where this individual was photographed. Despite its rather fierce appearance the Takehe is incredibly tame and docile, although it will snaffle your picnic sandwiches if you leave them lying around! Undoubtedly it was the arrival of man that almost led to the demise of this tame, flightless bird, but thankfully it did not go the way of the dodo!

Variable Oystercatcher

Considering the abilities of wading birds to fly long distances on migration, it is perhaps surprising that New Zealand has no fewer than eight endemic wader species, including two species of oystercatcher! One, the Chatham Island oystercatcher, does not occur on the mainland but the variable oystercatcher, whose plumage varies from black to pied, is an uncommon resident of the coastline around North Island. The photograph shows a little of that plumage variation, with the bird in the foreground being almost black whilst the other bird is pied. Despite their variable appearance, the feeding and breeding habits of this species are very similar to those of our own oystercatcher.

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Kaka

This large bird is a typical member of the parrot family: highly intelligent but very noisy! We saw good numbers of kaka at the Zealandia (Wellington) and Pukaha Mount Bruce reserves, where they readily came to feeding stations and had become quite bold in the presence of people, but their population is declining and giving cause for concern, mainly due to habitat loss and the destructive effects of introduced predators such as possums.

New Zealand Pipit

Now here is a real birdwatcher’s bird! The New Zealand pipit occurs in open habitats on both North and South Islands, but is uncommon, quiet and unassuming and rather dowdy (although it does have a rather smart white eyebrow). I persuaded Helen that we should take a trip up to a local ski station in the mountainous Tongariro district of North Island. Although the resort was about to close for the summer there was still snow on the ground when we arrived. Apart from us there was no other sign of life…except for one New Zealand pipit! The bird hopped about on rocks and posed just long enough for me to

take one decent photograph before it disappeared into the mountains: a very satisfying encounter!

New Zealand Dotterel

New Zealand is full of exotic waders, from the exceptionally rare black stilt of South Island to the wrybill, the only wader in the world with a sideways-bent bill. I had distant views of the latter, but perhaps the bird-watching highlight of the holiday for me was finding not one but two pairs of the incredibly rare (estimated population: 500 pairs) New Zealand dotterel. This bird is about as rare as the spoon-billed sandpiper although, to be fair, it is largely sedentary and so found over a much smaller area. Like our dotterel this bird will breed on mountain tops (in this case on Stewart Island), but most birds breed on beaches around river mouths and estuaries on North Island, especially the Coromandel peninsula (where this bird was photographed).

There is so much more to New Zealand than its birds: stunning scenery, a huge variety of outdoor sports and activities (and they are always inventing more!), good food and great, home-produced wine. South Island is the more scenic island, but North Island has a lot going for it including a warmer, drier climate, the thermal pools and geysers of Rotorua and a lively capital city (Auckland). If only it wasn’t on the other side of the world!