Vanuatu Birds News

Here we report significant events in Vanuatu birding. We don't have time to search for articles so don't expect to find every relevant story here. Have you got a news story or any comments? Contact us.

Collared Petrel now a threatened species
February 2008
The Collared Petrel Pterodroma brevipes has been re-evaluated Near Threatened (formerly Least Concern) in the new 2007 IUCN red list (BirdLife, 2007, factsheet). It has a small population presently known to breed only in Fiji on Gau. An initiative to survey historical breeding location of the Collared Petrel in Vanuatu is needed and this article provides some clues.

Collared Petrels have been collected in Vanuatu on Aneityum (February, 1859), Efate (June, 1926), at sea near Mere Lava (January, 1927) and from a breeding colony on Tanna in April 1936 (Bregulla, 1992). Also, there are unreferenced reports of breeding in the Banks Islands from August to March and on Tanna in April (Bregulla, 1992). These reports lack details as noted by Bregulla and might not be reliable. The scattered dates of historical records also suggests some errors.

On a visit to Tanna in March 2006, villagers at Imakie said that people from the Loanengo area collect seabird chicks from burrows on the slopes of Mount Melen in July and August (noted by Stephen Totterman). This unconfirmed report disagrees with Guy Dutson's note from 1998 that local people on Tanna reported hole-nesting birds were very rare (BirdLife, 2007). The breeding season agrees with knowledge in Fiji where young are found in the nest from May to August.

Audubon's Shearwater Puffinus lherminieri is also believed to breed on Tanna with historical records from the months December to March (Bregulla, 1992). If seabirds are breeding in July and August, they are probably not Audubon's Shearwater.

All considered, Tanna is a likely place to search for breeding Collared Petrels. References.

Little Tern spotted again, this time on Efate
February 2007
During a low tide visit to Malapoa Point, Port Vila, a single Little Tern was seen roosting with Great Crested Terns. This is our second location for Little Terns in Vanuatu; the first known record is from Malekula in December 2004. Better quality photos were taken this time to confirm the identification.

With this new record it appears that very small numbers of Little Terns are occasional non-breeding visitors to Vanuatu during the summer months, perhaps even regular. More photos and the sightings will be uploaded to VanBirds in the near future.

A new record for Vanuatu, Masked Lapwings on Tanna
March 2006
Two adult Masked Lapwings Vanellus miles were seen at the Whitegrass Airport on Tanna in March 2006. This report is the first known record of Masked Lapwings in Vanuatu. With more extensive black colouring on the cap, hind neck, sides of the breast and smaller facial lappets, the Tanna birds appear to belong to the subspecies novaehollandiae. The observer, Stephen Totterman, originates from Australia and is very familiar with Masked Lapwings. The birds were photographed to support the identification.

Elsewehere in the region, two birds of the subspecies novaehollandiae were recorded from the Solomon Islands in 1984 (Blaber, 1990) and we are interested in knowing of any recent observations from New Caledonia. This bird is not even in the field guide (Doughty et al, 1999). References.

Note: When reporting new and unusual species the record is more likely to be accepted if the bird has been photographed, video taped and/or recorded.

A visit to the Reef Islands
September/October 2005
The first report on the birds of these uninhabited islands.

The Reef Islands are located between Mota Lava and Ureparapara in the Banks Group and are the only coral cays in Vanuatu. Stephen Totterman visited the Reef Islands from 29 September to 2 October 2005 and recorded what may be the first bird lists from this location, finding 16 species.

The Reef Islands are enclosed by a long horseshoe shaped reef which protects a lagoon with sandy shallows. There are five small islands inside, mostly sand built up over fossil coral and at low tide one can walk between the islands. Vegetation cover on the Reef Islands is low with hardy bushes, casuarinas and other beach trees. Only Rowa island has large trees and these make it appear to be higher than it actually is; it is actually a low heap of coral rag rising no more than about 5 metres above sea level. Two of the islands, Enwot and Wotansa, have shallow, brackish ponds. There were Melanesian people living on the Reef Islands until 1939 when they moved to larger, neighbouring islands after a severe tropical cyclone. There is much evidence of village gardens on Rowa with stone walls, breadfruit trees and bananas.

The diversity of land and freshwater birds is low on the Reef Islands with 8 species recorded versus 17 on neighbouring Mota Lava. The observer did not find any pigeons, doves or parrots. There does appear to be suitable habitat on the islands for ground-doves yet no Emerald Doves Chalcophaps indica were detected. Vanuatu Scrubfowl Megapodius layardi were found on all of the four islands visited. On one of the islands there were burrows in white sand and this is the first time the observer has seen Vanuatu Scrubfowl using solar energy to incubate their eggs.

Shorebirds are well represented and fairly abundant on the Reef Islands and 6 species were recorded. The list includes Greater Sand Plovers Charadrius leschenaultii and it is the second site in Vanuatu where they have been seen. There were Grey-tailed Tattlers Tringa brevipes on the sand flats and there must be Wandering Tattlers Tringa incana along the exposed, rocky seashores but they were missed.

There were very few seabirds and terns seen during the visit. Only Great Crested Terns Sterna bergii were found. The sand bars should be suitable for breeding Black-naped Terns Sterna sumatrana but none were seen. September is early in the season for most breeeding seabirds and terns in the southwest Pacific and the Reef Islands could still be an area used by some. Cruising yachts sometimes visit the Reef Islands and it is hoped there are some bird watchers amongst them who can note some observations and make a valued contribution to the knowledge of the avifauna of these islands. About contributing.

A colour flagged Grey-Tailed Tattler reported from Efate
September 2005
The Grey-tailed Tattler breeds in Siberia and is a non-breeding visitor to Vanuatu in small numbers. One flagged in Japan was spotted on Efate in September 2005.

A Grey-tailed Tattler Tringa brevipes with a blue colour flag on the left tibia was observed feeding on the coral flats with other Tattlers at Malapoa Point near Port Vila in September 2005. This observation was reported to the Australasian Wader Studies Group (AWSG) who replied this bird was flagged on Hokkaido, Japan sometime since 1997. This may be the first shorebird leg flag sighting ever reported from Vanuatu. Observers are encouraged to be look carefully for flags on waders, report them to the AWSG and contribute to our understanding of the migration of birds in the East Asian-Australasian Flyway. The observer, Bo Totterman, is an experienced shorebird watcher from Australia and was visiting Vanuatu on holiday.

A visit to Mere Lava
March/April 2005
New records and evidence of breeding seabirds on Mere Lava.

Mere Lava is a small volcanic island 52 km southeast of Gaua in the Banks Group. There have been no reports on the avifauna of this island for many years and no visiting ornithologists in living memory. Stephen Totterman visited Mere Lava from 22 March to 24 April 2005. He recorded 25 species, five of these are new for the island, and noted strong evidence of a breeding population of Audubon's Shearwater Puffinus lherminieri.

Chestnut-bellied Kingfishers on Aore
March 2005
Chestnut-bellied Kingfishers observed on Aore island, south Santo.

Two visits to Aore island in March 2005 found Chestnut-bellied Kingfishers Todirhampus farquhari to be widespread and fairly common on Aore. Most birds were identified by call and one was observed calling from a perch (observations by Stephen Totterman). References state this Vanuatu endemic species has been recorded only on Santo, Malo and Malekula (Bregulla, 1992). Our new records from Aore are a small extension to the range of this species and show that basic observations can make a useful contribution to the knowledge of Vanuatu's birds. Since Aore is a relatively large island next to Malo and Santo it's not too surprising to find Chestnut-bellied Kingfishers on Aore. There are also recent records from Malo. References.

Two new birds for Vanuatu found on the islands of Malekula
December 2004
Greater Sandplovers and Little Terns, both non-breeding migrants from the northern hemisphere, were recorded on Uripiv and Uri Islands in Summer 2004.

A flock of 20 Greater Sandplovers Charadrius leschenaultii in non-breeding plumage was found on Uripiv Island (Malekula) in December 2004 which is the first record for Vanuatu we know of. This sandplover breeds in west and central Asia during the northern summer and is a widespread non-breeding visitor along the coasts of the Indian and Pacific oceans from Africa through to Australia (Hayman et al, 1996). The observer, Stephen Totterman, is experienced in identifying shorebirds. The birds were observed closely on more than one occasion and he was confident they were not Mongolian Plovers Charadrius mongolus. Photographs were taken to support the identification.

Again on Uripiv Island, a flock of 4 small terns was spotted in December 2004. Unlike non-breeding Fairy Terns Sterna nereis, all had black bills (not bicoloured) and the dark carpal bar on the wing was seen. These features indicate they were non-breeding Little Terns Sterna albifrons (Doughty et al, 1999) and this is the first record for Vanuatu we know of. Also, the Fairy Terns of New Caledonia would be expected to be in breeding plumage at this time of the year. The birds were photographed to support the identification.

These two observations show how little is known about Vanuatu's shorebirds and seabirds, a fact acknowledged in Bregulla (1992). These birds could well be regular non-breeding visitors to Vanuatu and we hope to see them again. References.

Note: When reporting new and unusual species the record is more likely to be accepted if the bird has been photographed, video taped and/or recorded.

Black-headed Munias on Malekula
December 2004
A tour of Malekula in December 2004 found Black-headed Munias to be widespread, around the "dog's head" (north) and down the east coast to Tisman.

This is the first report of Black-headed Munias Lonchura mallaca outside of Santo we know of. We don't know when, where and how they were introduced to Malekula. The island is close to Santo so they may have self-introduced or been blown over during a cyclone.

Update Dec-05: Since publishing this story we have uncovered earlier sightings of this bird on Malekula from 1999 (Steve Gibb, pers. comm.) and 2000 (Birchenough et al, 2003). It appears that the Black-headed Munia is extending its range in Vanuatu.