Norfolk Island: The Land Birds

We had a pleasant week-long stay on Norfolk Island, our first “overseas” escape since the Covid 19 upheaval began in March 2020. We stayed at the pleasant Saints Apartments and had a hire car to get ourselves around this beautiful island, which I had visited previously, in 2007. Some scenic images below.

A highlight was finding a Norfok Island Boobook, or Morepork (first image). This endemic subspecies of the New Zealand Morepork had been reduced to a single female when two male New Zealand birds were introduced in 1987, in the hope of salvaging the taxa. Today an estimated 30-40 owls reside on the island. I first looked for them on the road to Mt Pitt and heard 4-5, some quite close to the road. However, the road’s steep banks made conditions difficult. I eventually tracked one down in forest near the Palm Glen picnic ground (below).

As usual, the endemic specialties were easy to find. Norfolk Island Parakeet (below) was seen near the summit of Mt Pitt and around Captain Cook Lookout in Norfolk Island National Park, as well as in the Botanic Gardens. Numbers appear to be stable these days after a precipitous decline it times past.

The Slender-billed White-eye (below) was in good numbers throughout forested parts of the island, although being outnumbered generally by Australia’s self-introduced Silvereye.

The recently split Norfolk Robin (below, pair and male alone) was similarly co-operative, being particularly easy to see on and around the summit of Mt Pitt.

Another endemic, the Norfolk Gerygone (below) was abundant in forest and gardens all over the island.

A good candidate for a split is the endemic anthoprocta subspecies of the Golden Whistler (below) which sounds nothing like the species in Australia and is unusual in not having brightly plumaged males.

Similarly, the endemic pelzelni race of the Grey Fantail (above) and norfolkensis subspecies of the Sacred Kingfisher (below) were ubiquitous.

Introduced birds are a feature of the island and there are no shortages of Red Junglefowl, Feral Goose, Song Thrush, House Sparrow, European Starling and others, although the quaint California Quail (below) is suitably agreeable.