Norfolk Island, the birds

 Return to first Norfolk Island blog.

In this blog I will focus on some of the birds found in and around Norfolk Island.

I was there in early September and discovered we were a month too early for the the sea birds to come back for the beginning of the breeding season. There were however some early arrivals of masked boobies that have settled down on land and were flying around the island.

I managed to capture one bird and a pair which seemed to be doing circuits around the island. This one was seen at Two Chimneys Reserve.

Difficult to line up with a long lens and these are two of the same bird, heavily cropped from the original image.

We first saw white terns in a clearing at One Hundred Acres Reserve flying around the Norfolk Pines and resting on the branches. These sea birds nest on the branches of the pines and lay their eggs there.

White terns

Shooting white terns. Photo Michael Snedic.

A rather precarious place to build a nest.

The next three images are of terns flying around the lookout at One Hundred acres.

I had one jaw dropping experience here when a tern glided straight at me and passed over my head with about 30 cm clearance. Although my camera was ready, there was no time to react and no photo of this close encounter.

Also here, I missed out on the only pass we saw of a masked booby at One Hundred Acres. I was talking to some ladies from Queensland when others in the group spotted it. The pass lasted about 4 seconds and I only saw it in the view finder as it disappeared behind the cliff. I did manage to get the images above a few days later at Two Chimneys Reserve on the other side of the island, although further away.

Norfolk Island is part of the Zealandia continent which is now mostly below sea level. New Zealand, Norfolk Island and New Caledonia share some common lineages within floral and fauna. Some bird life illustrates this with subtle evolutionary variations. 

The next three images were taken on the track up to Mount Bates with Margaret Christian. Check out her website. 

Silver eyes

Norfolk Island robin 

Fantails are often hard to get them in but this one seems to pose for me with its lunch. These birds are not as colourful as the New Zealand cousins. There are kakas on there island but we didn't see any. There have similarities to those in New Zealand too.

Fantail with lunch

A return visit back to the cemetery one evening to try for a sunset photo was rewarded by an encounter with a small number of kingfishers although the sunset came to nothing.

It was an interesting experience to observe their behaviour. They flew from one gravestone to another never letter us get closer than about 25-30. Using my long lens and other tall stones one could get a little closer to get the lightly cropped image.

Kingfisher at the cemetery.

Crimson rosella at One Hundred Acres Reserve

White egret

Return to first Norfolk Island Blog.

 

Norfolk Island Seascapes

 

St Barnabas Church