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| Solomons Cockatoo |
Our vehicle bumped along a rough track through a palm forest swamp
near the village of Ringii on the coast of Kolombangara Island. We
were on the lookout for a special bird. The near-flightless Roviana
Rail, a notorious skulker found only in the Western Province of
Solomon Islands, was described as recently as 1991 by the celebrated
scientist Jared Diamond. Then we heard it: a jumble of loud shrieks
and wails in the dense undergrowth. The rail emerged briefly from the
vegetation before criss-crossing the road at lightning speed.
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| Roviana Rail |
A 2.5-hour flight
from Brisbane, the total land area of Solomon Islands is less than
Tasmania. The country’s 900-odd islands spanning 1500 kilometres
are home proportionally to more range-restricted bird species than
anywhere else. The Solomons have no fewer than 120 endemic species;
many more taxonomic splits are waiting in the wings. That figure
includes the island of Bougainville, which is zoogeographically part
of the Solomons but governed by neighbouring Papua New Guinea.
Numerous other birds in the Solomons occur more widely in Melanesia
and west Polynesia.
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| Morova Lagoon from the air |
Relatively few
birders venture to these parts, however. Serious birding in the
Solomons requires travelling between islands, and until recently air
and sea connections were not always reliable with accommodation
scarce outside the capital, Honiara, and the diving industry centre
of Gizo. Things are much improved these days, and Solomon Islands is
fast acquiring a reputation as a world-class ecotourism destination.
I had been there previously (in 1988 and 2000) and had the
opportunity in October to visit Kolombangara, Rennell and Guadalcanal
islands as a guest of Tourism Solomons.
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| Flying over the high mountains of Guadalcanal |
To reach
Kolombangara, we flew from Honiara in a Twin Otter plane, crossing
the high mountains of Guadalcanal (which harbour several endemic
species that remain largely out of reach to birders) before reaching
the New Georgia island group in the west-central Solomons. I was
travelling with Tourism Solomons marketing officer Brenden Mautoa and
New Zealand birder Ilse Corkey.
Marovo, Roviano and
other sea lagoons fringed by dozens of coral atolls glistened in the
morning sun as we approached the town of Munda on New Georgia Island.
I had several delightful days with my friend Glen Ingram on a small
island in Marovo Lagoon in 1988; one thing I recall from that visit
were daily visits from islanders in canoes offering freshly caught
fish and lobster.
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| Getting the boat ready |
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| Small islands in New Georgia group |
At Munda after a
delightful fish lunch at Agnes Gateway Hotel on this trip, we boarded
a small speedboat and negotiated our way through a myriad of reefs
and island channels. Beach Kingfisher and the distinctive endemic
race solomonensis of Common Kingfisher were spotted, as the
imposing twin volcanic peaks of Kolombangara loomed large on the
horizon.
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| Common Kingfisher |
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| The coast of Kolombangara near Ringii |
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| Volcanic peaks of Kolombangara |
A short drive from
Ringii brought us to Imbu Rano Lodge, located at 340 metres on the
mountain’s lower slopes, for an overnight stay. The splendid view
from the lodge deck of heavily forested valleys, framed by those
massive peaks, was interrupted by a constant flow of bird traffic.
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| Forest slopes above Imbu Rana |
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| Imbu Rana Lodge |
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| Our group at Imbu Rana |
The Solomons White-eye, one of many species and subspecies endemic to
the New Georgia region, was flitting about, uttering its weird
stacatto calls. Vocal Solomons Cockatoos screeched overhead and
colourful Cardinal Lories chattered in the tree-tops.
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| Cardinal Lory |
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| Solomons White-eye |
The road behind the
basic but comfortable lodge was heaving with feeding flocks. They
included a pair of difficult-to-find North Melanesian Cuckoo-shrikes
and good numbers of the Western Solomons endemics Kolombangara
Monarch and White-capped Monarch.
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| Kolombagara Monarch |
The next morning we trekked uphill
to 650 metres where we were rewarded with encounters with the
difficult Kolombangara White-eye, found only at higher elevations on
this island. Other goodies included the rare Crested Cuckoo-Dove and
the lovely Pale Mountain-Pigeon. We did not have time to hike
further up the mountain and tent camp overnight – which is required
for a handful of specialties including the endemic Kolombangara
Leaf-Warbler.
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| Kolombangara White-eye |
In the late
afternoon we returned to Ringii, where we scored with not just the
much-wanted Roviana Rail but other lowland birds including
Claret-breasted Fruit-Dove and the newly split Solomons Brush Cuckoo. Sahul Sunbird was common.
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| Claret-breasted Fruit-Dove |
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| Sahul Sunbird |
Another boat took us
to Gizo the next morning, passing en route many small flocks of
seabirds - mostly Black-naped Tern, Black Noddy and Great and Lesser
Frigatebirds. We passed close to Kennedy Island, named after former
US President John F. Kennedy, who swam to the island when the navy
ship he commanded was sunk by a Japanese destroyer during World War
II.
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| Kennedy Island |
I was in Gizo in
2000, when I saw the endemic Gizo White-eye. We didn’t have time to
look for it this time as we headed to the airport, located on an
island offshore from the main Gizo Island, to board a flight to
Honiara. Melanesian Kingfisher, Island Imperial-Pigeon and Oriental
Hobby were distractions at the airport as we waited for our flight.
Trip
report here.
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| Island Imperial-Pigeon |
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| Melanesian Kingfisher |
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