FRENCH POLYNESIA AND THE PITCAIRN ISLANDS 3rd November – 22nd November 2018 Graham Talbot Introduction Why Polynesia … fifteen years ago, I spent quite a bit of time birding the Pacific Islands and at that time Polynesia was high on the list of places to go but somehow it fell off the radar and my focus shifted elsewhere. Then one very hot day in August I was randomly surfing the web and I saw that there was still a place available on the Wildwings Wake of the Bounty Tour departing in November and thought why not its not every year they run, and time is not on my side. Logistics These were relatively easy as it was a tour organised by Wildwings http://www.wildwings.co.uk/ starting and ending in Tahiti. The tour was led by Chris Collins and there were ten other participants. It was a mixed bunch of people from seabird enthusiasts to adventure seekers and everything in between. Wildwings did an extension for the Tahiti land endemic’s, but I opted to do these myself to better fit in with my international flights. For these I rented a small four-wheel drive car as I had heard the road along the Papenoo Valley was potholed and hard to navigate in a saloon car. For the boat part of the trip we used the old Pitcairn supply vessel the Braveheart. It had a crew of six and twelve berths and although it wasn’t very big it was idea for our trip and the crew made every effort to look after us which lead to a very relaxing time. No effort was spared in getting us ashore and we managed to land on all the planned islands although a couple of the landings were a little on the adventurous side. We spent many days chumming with varying success. Most of the time the few birds that did come in kept their distance. Our best success was chumming at random open sea sites rather on the sea mounts and reefs. During the voyage we saw no other vessel for the entire duration of the trip and only saw people once when we landed on Pitcairn. There was no phone signal no internet it truly was the arse end of nowhere. Braveheart Accommodation, Food Weather On Tahiti I stayed at the Airport Motel just across the road from the main terminal which very convenient for arriving and departing and for picking up the rental car. It was not cheap for what you got but nothing is cheap in Tahiti. On the Braveheart I shared a berth and had the top bunk. It was a little small but totally adequate. Junk food was the order of the day whilst on land which was easy to find at the many petrol stations and during the cruise all food was provided by Charlie the very capable chef. I had some rain in Tahiti on the first day, but it didn’t affect seeing the birds. During the boat trip we had excellent weather with light winds and occasional rain at night. Sites I visited two sites on Tahiti, Papenoo Valley and Papahue Valley Tahiti - Sites Visited Papahue Valley is on the west coast and is 18km from Papeete. It is the only place that Tahiti Monarch occurs. Numbers were as low as 20 birds but after a rat eradication programme numbers have crept up to 80 but it’s still very vulnerable. To access the valley, you need to contact the local bird conservation group MANU (http://manu.pf/contactez-nous/?lang=en) who will organise a guide. It takes about 15mins walking along a small trail and crossing a stream on slippery rocks to get to the best areas for the Monarch. Apart from the Monarch it’s the best place to see Polynesian Swiftlet as they nest in a rocky cave half way up the valley. Tahiti Fruit Dove and Kingfisher also occur in the valley. Papenoo Valley is located on the north east coast of the Island about a 30min drive from Papeete and is the best place to see Tahiti Reed Warbler. It is a major tourist attraction and jeep loads of tourist make their way up along the gravel pot holed road that runs through the valley stopping and swimming in the river. From the main road to the first river crossing is about 3.5 miles and there is another river crossing about 5 miles further along the track which is the furthest I went. Between the crossing there are several clumps of bamboo and it was in these I found the Tahiti Reed Warbler. A few Tahiti Kingfishers were seen along this stretch but only two Fruit Doves. Papahue Valley Papenoo Valley Boat Trip - We flew from Papeete to Mangareva on the Gambier Archipelago where we picked up the Braveheart. From there we set sail to Pitcairn which took a day and a half. We spent a day on Pitcairn birding along the various tracks. The Reed Warbler was common and easy to see. From Pitcairn we headed to the much larger Henderson Island a major seabird breeding place as well as holding four endemic land birds. There was a rat eradication programme a few years ago but unfortunately it failed. Hopefully they will try again. It’s a big Island with a central plateau which I managed to climb up to but on top it was very overgrown though I think the trees are much lower on the other side of the island but there was no obvious path heading there. Birding was mainly done in the small band of trees between the beach and the coral cliffs. We found all the endemics easy to see with multiple sightings of them all. It would had been good to have been able to find a trail across the plateau to the more open areas and watch the Petrels arrive in the late afternoon. Heading westwards we the called in at Oeno a low small Atoll which one can walk round it in a couple of hours. It was one of our favourite islands as there were Petrels everywhere. Oeno Atoll From here we headed west to the Island of Tenarara where we spent one and a half days. It was a typical atoll with a central lagoon which could be accessed by walking through the thick coconut trees and bushes. Although it was only about 200m to the lagoon it was very easy to get disorientated and a number of times I had to use my compass to find my way out. We had planned to go snorkelling in the central lagoon, but we thought better of it when we arrived as it was full of Black-tipped Reef Sharks. Tuamotu Sandpiper were easy to see as they came and met us as we landed. They are numerous. The Atoll Fruit Dove was also easy to see as it was quite often found feeding on the ground. The Ground Dove was a little trickier but, in the end, we managed to get good views of them. From here we headed south to Morane which was our least favourite Island probably because it was very hot and by then we were a bit seabirded out. As we still had not seen Polynesian Storm Petrel, we decided to head south of Gambier Islands and spend the final day chumming. This proved successful. References Books Albatrosses, Petrels and Shearwaters of the World – Derek Onley and Paul Scofield The Birds of Hawaii and the Tropical Pacific H Douglas Pratt et all Trip Reports from cloudbirders https://www.cloudbirders.com/tripreport Itinerary Saturday 3rd November I set off from Hong Kong on the evening flight to Auckland arriving around lunch time the following day only to find the connecting flight to Tahiti had been delayed by four hours. Eventually the flight left, and I arrived in Papeete at just before midnight however as we had crossed the date line it was still only 3rd November. I was quickly through immigration and customs and the bags came off quickly and it was a short walk to the Tahiti Airport Motel and I was soon in bed though due to the delay it was much later than planned. Sunday 4th November As I couldn’t pick the car up until 8am I had a leisurely breakfast before walking down to the airport where my rental car was waiting for me. It was only a short drive to the Papuhe Beach where I had arranged to meet the MANU representative. As I was early, I spent a while birding the beach where I had Wandering Tattler, White Tern and Brown Noddy. Thomas from MANU arrived at 9.30 but we had to wait for some researches from New Zealand to arrive They were late and didn’t arrive until gone 10am and by now it had clouded over, and rain look imminent. We drove the short distance to the start of the valley and started to walk up along a small trail. A Tahiti Swallow flew up and down and three Grey-green Fruit Doves were seen briefly flying over and a Tahiti Kingfisher was heard calling. We continued up along the trail crossing a small stream and then we heard a Tahiti Monarch call and very soon one was seen flying around high in the trees. Tahiti Monarch Grey-crown Fruit Dove It started to rain as we made our way further up the trail and headed towards a ravine where Polynesian Swiftlets flew in and out.