This is the fourth post about the epic boat trip I undertook in 2019, travelling aboard the repositioning cruise of the Professor Khromov as it sailed from New Zealand to Japan.
This post is just about the Solomon Islands.
From Wikipedia: Solomon Islands is a sovereign state consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania lying to the east of Papua New Guinea and northwest of Vanuatu and covering a land area of 28,400 square kilometres (11,000 sq mi). The country has a population of 652,858 and its capital, Honiara, is located on the island of Guadalcanal. The country takes its name from the Solomon Islands archipelago, which is a collection of Melanesian islands that also includes the North Solomon Islands (a part of Papua New Guinea), but excludes outlying islands, such as Rennell and Bellona, and the Santa Cruz Islands.
In 1568, the Spanish navigator Álvaro de Mendaña was the first European to visit them, naming them the Islas Salomón. Britain defined its area of interest in the Solomon Islands archipelago in June 1893, when Captain Gibson R.N., of HMS Curacoa, declared the southern Solomon Islands a British protectorate. During World War II, the Solomon Islands campaign (1942–1945) saw fierce fighting between the United States, Commonwealth forces and the Empire of Japan, such as in the Battle of Guadalcanal.
Back in the 80s several of us in Poole, Dorset got to know a young local birder called Guy Dutson. After Uni Guy spent a lot of time living and birding in Melanesia, especially in the Solomon Islands and went on to write the definitive bird guide to the area. Partially because it contained so many life birds for me but also because I had heard so many great stories about the islands from Guy, the Solomons became a much desired destination for me.
However the more I looked into it the more difficult it sounded. To do the islands justice you needed a full four week tour (plus travel time), which made it impossible to do when I was working and to see all the endemics in the upland areas you needed to be particularly fit, which I’m not. Visiting on the West Pacific Odyssey was an alternative but you end up spending a small fraction of the time birding compared to a full tour. However in the end I was able to see over 40 of the 90 or so species that are endemic or nearly endemic to the Solomons.
The route of the west Pacific Odyssey from New Zealand to Japan. The Solomon Islands form an oval to the SW of New Guinea. The capital is Honiara on the island of Guadalcanal.
We made five landing in the Solomon Islands: 1) Santa Ana Island off the SE tip of Makira (on the map just above the ‘U’ in Makira-Ulawa); 2) Anuta Island off the west coast of Makira (on the map just right of the ‘a’ in Makira); 3) Guadalcanal accessed from the capital Honiara; 4) Tetepare (on the map an island below and right of Gizo); 5) Kolombangara (on the map just above and right of Gizo). Map from Geology.com
We were to spend a day ashore on the island of Rennell which has six or seven endemics, or near endemics. Tragically a tanker had recently gone ashore on a reef and had spilled oil everywhere. Whether this prevented landings or whether the Solomon government just didn’t want the world to see this environmental disaster we don’t know, but all landing had been banned. As a result we detoured to Santa Ana Island just to the south-east of the much larger Makira Island. Arriving about lunchtime we we were ferried ashore for an afternoon’s birding.
The Solomon’s are the classic South Pacific paradise, beautiful beaches dotted with coconut palms, sleepy villages with friendly but not intrusive inhabitants and of course wonderful birds.
We were able to start birding as soon as we stepped ashore (and before some clients had taken their life jackets off) …
… with plenty of birds to see within the village itself …
… and the adjoining football pitch.
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Note that many of the bird photos taken on the island either had to be cropped to a large degree or were taken in poor light, so I have often posted smaller image sizes than usual to compensate.
Most of the birds we saw would be seen again on other islands. but this Silver-capped Fruit Dove was the one Rennell specialities that also occurs on Santa Ana and hence was we thought we had missed. Photo by Frédérik Pelsey from Oiseaux.net
Also seen was this Uig Monarch, a species only seen on a few islands to the south of Makira and unfortunately lumped in Chestnut-bellied Monarch by IOC.
It had been a most fulfilling afternoon with about a dozen life birds under the belt but it was time to be ferried back to the ship …
… and to sail north as the sun set.
We were heading for Anuta Island off the north-west coast of Makira.
The following morning we were zodiaked ashore to a small island just off Anuta in the Santa Cruz Islands (to the west of Makira).
We set off on a narrow trail, you can really see the problem of birding in tropical forests with such a large group. However before long we naturally split into smaller units around each of the bird guides and still most of us got to see most of the birds.
A lot of the forest was smothered by an introduced creeper, a common site on Pacific islands.
One of the species we saw was the beautiful Red-knobbed Imperial Pigeon. I first saw this species in New Ireland back in the 90s with my friend Guy Dutson. Guy is fluent in Melanesian ‘pigin english’ and when inquiring if the locals had seen this species he called it ‘im bilong strawberry on top’.
However Chestnut-bellied Imperial Pigeon was a new species for me …
… as was the little Sooty Myzomela, endemic to the islands around Makira.
As the day heated up we returned to the ship quickly changed out of our sweaty clothes and set off for the island on Anuta. Usually only two zodiacs were used to ferry us a shore but this time all five were out into the water.
As we approached we could see the entire population of the island had turned out to greet us.
As we approached the reason for the simultaneous arrival of all the passengers became clear …
… some islanders had dressed up with masks and spears in a re-enactment of their historic attempts to defend their island from European intruders. As they ran into the water and brandished their spears you could see how conflict easily arose between European explorers and local tribes.
In fact our welcome was anything but hostile …
…we were greeted by lines of children and draped with garlands of flowers.
The ladies of the village sang a ‘we welcome you to Anuta’ song and the village chief gave a speech.
Expedition leader Helen replied on behalf of the staff and crew and Chris Collins expressed the thanks of all the birders and other clients. Helen had arranged for educational material surplus to requirement in New Zealand to be donated to the children (the contents of the boxes in the above photo) and this was gratefully received.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a happy smiling group of people …
… or had such a warm welcome.
‘Canadian’ John (as he was known) was a big hit, showing the children pictures of the birds on their island.
Of course this wasn’t a birding excursion but we did see a fantail known as Willie Wagtail around the village. This is a well known Australian bird that also occurs in part of Melanesia, Papua New Guinea and the Moluccas.
It was a lovely excursion but in due course we had to be ferried back to the Professor Khromov.
… and from the beach we had great views of Pacific Baza.
As we set sail and headed north along the west coast of Marika …
… we saw a couple of raptors, Eastern Osprey, a localised and smaller species closely related to our Western Osprey …
.. and the enormous and highly impressive Solomon’s Fish Eagle.
As always the evening brought wonderful skies and cloud formations …
… as we headed northwards to wards the capital Honiara on the island of Guadalcanal.
We arrived at Honiara overnight and left the ship whilst it was still dark (this photo was taken on the return). Guadalcanal was the location of some of the most ferocious fighting in WWII see Wikipedia
We were up in the hills above the capital city by 0600 and soon seeing lots of birds lie the widespread Welcome Swallow …
… and Moustached Treeswift …
… to more localised specialities like Song Parrot …
… and Island Imperial Pigeon.
The following day we landed on the uninhabited island of Tetepare which has been declared a nature reserve. We split into a number of groups and I ended up with one that explored the coastal wetlands. To be honest apart from a couple of Beach Thicknees we didn’t see much
So it was playing catch up for the rest of the day, but among widespread birds like this Coconut Lorikeet I saw half a dozen life birds, but few posed for the camera.
Large monitor lizards could be seen along the shore …
But the star of the show was a group of Melanesian Megapodes, one of a group of species that lay their eggs either in rotting mounds of vegetation or volcanically heated soil to incubate them. Photo by Frédérik Pelsey from Oiseaux.net
Our final landing on our final day was on the island of Kolombangara. Again we departed before first light in order to get to our destination soon after dawn.
Much of our birding took place in the foothills along this forest track.
Quite a few endemic birds were seen ranging from the elusive Roviana Rail to this pretty Steel-blue Flycatcher (which is actually a monarch not a true flycatcher).
We also spent some time scanning from this lookout for various parrots and pigeons …
… the view was dominated by the island’s volcanic cone. Two species Kolombangara Leaf Warbler and Kolombangara White-eye are only found at the top. To see all the endemics of the Solomons several treks to the tops of mountains followed by rough camping are required. As I said in the introduction the West Pacific Odyssey allowed me to see about 45% of the endemics without excessive effort, although I really wish I could have done a full tour.
In due course we returned to the Prof Khromov and set sail. I was sad to leave these enchanted islands with their lovely welcoming people and wonderful bird life. It and remains the highlight of the WPO for me.
As the evening drew on we saw a number of the very rare and little known Heinroth’s Shearwaters passing the ship and heading towards Kolombangara which was still visible astern. The breeding grounds of this enigmatic species remain unknown although the crater of Kolombangara must be high on the list of candidate locations.
So as dusk fell we saw the islands retreating into the distance. A true South Pacific paradise.
I’ll conclude with a shot of the Professor Khromov (aka Spirit of Enderby) again a threatening sky.
The next post will cover our journey north over the Equator to the Micronesian island of Chuuk.
gryllosblog 
Fabulous as always Ian! This post has been my favourite. Lovely birds and a most exceptional place. Thanks for a great blog.
Many thanks Brenda, hope to finish this sequence soon but when I write about Chuuk I may include some photos from my first visit there in 2010
A super roundup, Ian. Brings back so many happy memories (and a few frustrations, if I’m honest…) Your general photos are so well chosen. Many thanks.
Is that photo really a Solly Sea Eagle, rather than a Baza?
Thanks Steve. I’d only got Solomons Sea Eagle and Eastern Osprey down on my checklist so I had forgotten that we’d seen it. I did have the Baza recorded in my notebook however. Blog now corrected.
I’ve been very busy ringing recently but as we have several days of wind and rain I’ll attempt to finish the account of the WPO.