Lord Howe Island 2026

 

Lord Howe Woodhen

Glenn and I enjoyed a pleasant visit to Lord Howe Island from May 23 to June 3, 2026. The charismatic Lord Howe Woodhen was very much centre-stage. I was last on the island at the same time of year - and for the same duration - in 1983 with Glen Ingram and Bill Holdsworth. With zoologist Glenn Fraser, we hiked to the Erskine Valley – the saddle ridge connecting Mts Gower and Lidgbird, carrying a precious cargo of captive bred woodhens in wooden crates for release.

The endemic woodhen had been abundant on the island but was almost wiped out by black rats and other introduced predators, surviving at the time in a tiny area of cloud forest on the summits of the two mountains. The captive breeding program kicked off in 1980 in an ultimately successful endeavour to bring the species bank from the brink of extinction. Not so fortunate were a suite of other endemic species and subspecies which succumbed to predators.

Mts Lidgbird (left) and Gower (right)

Now the rats, cats and pigs are all gone, with the last rat caught in 2021. The woodhen hasn't looked back. In the 1970s less than 20 remained; today the population is about 1,800. It is one of the commonest birds on the island, being at home in habitats including forest, grassy pasture and settlement gardens. We had to keep the screens shut in our holiday unit to keep them out. Woodhens are everywhere: their stacatto, metallic calls echo gloriously (if annoyingly for some locals) around the island.

A handful of endemic subspecies continue to do well: the contempta race of the Golden Whistler, the crissalis subspecies of the Pied Currawong, and the tephropleurus race of the Silvereye.

Golden Whistler contempta subsp

Pied Currawong crissalis subsp

Silvereye tephropleurus subsp

The vagans subspecies of Sacred Kingfisher – shared with New Zealand and some other islands – is present.

Sacred Kingfisher vagans subsp

Other landbirds included plentiful Pacific Emerald Doves and introduced Common Blackbirds.

Common Blackbird

Pacific Emerald Dove

I was keen to photograph Little Shearwater. A small colony nests on the headland at Blinky Beach. I spotted one at the end of a burrow during the day and found another excavating a burrow nearby after dark.

Little Shearwater (above and below)

Providence Petrel breeds abundantly on the mountain tops and upper slopes, where several hundred can be seen in the late afternoon wheeling about. Their calls punctuate the night air over the island, where breeding areas are expanding to lower elevations.

Providence Petrel

Masked Booby and Red-tailed Tropicbird were quite common from various lookouts checked out including Muttonbird Point, Malabar Ridge and Clear Place Point.

Masked Booby

Double-banded Plover was common on the airfield where it was joined by smaller numbers of Pacific Golden Plover, Bar-tailed Godwit and Ruddy Turnstone.

Double-banded Plover

Buff-banded Rail was plentiful, often feeding close to woodhens.

Buff-banded Rail

Among other waterbirds were small numbers of Mallard x Pacific Black Duck hybrids.

Mallard x Pacific Black Duck hybrids

Other birds seen on the island were Masked Lapwing, White-faced Heron, Cattle Egret, Brown Noddy, Little Black Cormorant, Nankeen Kestrel, Welcome Swallow, Magpie-lark and Song Thrush. The only mammals seen were several Large Forest Bats (Vespadelus darlingtoni).

Plans to take a boat ride to Balls Pyramid were scuttled by wild weather; our landing in seriously gusty conditions was memorable. I saw this superb volcanic stack by boat in 1983; this time we made do with views 25km distant away from the main island. The summits of the majestic Mt Gower and Mt Lidgbird, so often buried in cloud, did not reveal themselves until Day Eight of our visit.

East Coast from Muttonbird Point

Main lagoon from near airport

Lord Howe Island is one of the most spectacular places I've seen in the world – these pictures tell the story.

Mt Gower

Muttonbird Island