gryllosblog   Gryllo's (aka Ian Lewis') blog. All things to do with travel, wildlife especially birds, history, architecture and anything else that interests me.

The view from the hotel at Noumea at dusk.

The first two days on New Caledonia were spent at Rivierre Bleu NP. This bridge that crossed the lake has been condemned. There used to be a shuttlebus on the far side but this wasn’t running. As a result we had to walk most of the 8 Km to the best birding area, but managed we got a lift on the way back from Francoise and his group of Japanese/Taiwanese tourists..

Around the entrance to the park stands of impressive, endemic New Caledonian Pines can be seen.

The best birding area is in the mature forest as typified by this giant Kaori Tree.

A true Gondwanaland relict. The Kagu’s nearest relative appears to be the Sunbittern of the Amazon.

I knew the Kagu was easy to see, but I hadn’t realised it was this easy. Francoise shows New Caledonia’s most famous bird to his group of young ladies.

Barred Honeyeaters were quite common in scrubby areas.

This Yellow-bellied Flyrobin accompanied us a lunch time and was clearly fond of French cheese.

Further afield on the main island of Grande Terre we saw this impressive New Caledonian (or White-bellied or Blue) Goshawk.

The New Caledonian Crow has the reputation of being the most intelligent bird in the world, as it not only uses tools (twigs etc) to winkle grubs out of wood, but actually shapes the tools for the job in hand. However this activity has only been seen in captivity.

I posted a front side view of the amazing Cloven-feathered Dove on the 18th September. It’s just as gob smacking from the rear!

We also flew to two offshore islands in the Loyalty Island group. The first Ouvea, hosts a single endemic, Ouvea Horned Parrakeet, which I managed to photograph but rather poorly. Instead, here is a shot of one of Ouvea’s beautiful beaches.

Flight timings meant we had to stay overnight on the island of Lifou. There are two endemics, the imaginatively named Small Lifou White-eye and the Large Lifou White-eye. The former, pictured above, is a typical Zosterops White-eye but the latter is larger, darker with a whopping bill, is much more elusive and has no ‘white eye’.