Photo Gallery
Steve Howell
Our 2007 route of birding adventure…
…from glassy tropical seas…
…and “textbook” desert islands…
…to mist-enshrounded volcanic Torishima (really, it IS there!)…
…home to Steller’s (Short-tailed) Albatross.
Looking up at sea any time could produce an ethereal White Tern…
…or a striking Lesser Frigatebird…
…and on land perhaps a Solomon Sea-Eagle…
…or a flying fox (spectacularly large fruit bats).
Looking over the ocean could produce Pantropical Spotted Dolphins…
…and amazing flying fish. Here a Yellow Bandwing.
Starting in New Zealand’s Hauraki Gulf we chummed in this Campbell [Black-browed] Albatross, here with Flesh-footed Shearwaters…
…and the recently rediscovered New Zealand Storm-Petrel.
Then at sea …
…with White-necked Petrels…
…to Norfolk Island and its world-famous pines…
…where hundreds of Black Noddies nest…
…are also home to the Norfolk Island Parakeet…
…and lots of nesting White Terns…
…and eye-level Red-tailed Tropicbirds!
Back to sea…
…with Black-winged Petrels…
…Collared Petrels…
and Polynesian Storm-Petrels…
and north to New Caledonia, home of the enigmatic Kagu
Photo: John Brodie-Good
Next stop the Solomon Islands, with some very tranquil island scenes…
…and some spectacular forest, home to…
…DuCorps’ Cockatoo…
…the supremely elegant Moustached Treeswift…
…and the very local Rennell Shrikebill.
Resting in the shade before we headed back to sea…
…and more calm tropical waters…
…with Tahiti Petrels…
…and increasing numbers of boobies, here a Red-footed…
…that snatched flying fish flushed up by the ship!
Off Bougainville we stopped for a refreshing swim stop…
Photo: Elaine Cook
Just another amazing sunset before…
…our arrival on Truk, where we were greeted by Pacific Golden Plovers (garden plovers?)
Other birds included Micronesian Myzomela…
Oceanic Flycatcher…
…and Rufous Night-Heron.
Back to sea for the last leg…
and some different flying fish, here a Spotted Pinkwing.
A migrant Little Curlew circled the boat one morning…
…and then we were into a different avifauna, with Bonin Petrels…
…the little-known Bannerman’s Shearwater…
…lots of Matsudaira’s Storm-Petrels…
…and also some Tristram’s Storm-Petrels…
…before ending with a fabulous adult Steller’s Albatross.