12 Nov 14 - It Was A Long Day On Tenararo

I set a new record on the day we visited Tenararo with over 1300 photos taken. This combined with the enigmatic species that I saw, has resulted in the day being split into a number of Posts covering Tuamotu Sandpiper, Atoll Fruit-dove, Polynesian Ground Dove & Bristle-thighed Curlew. This final Post will complete the other species seen on Tenararo as well as feature some new Tuamotu Sandpiper photos.

A typical view of the inside of the island

From the beach it looks like a well vegetated round island. In reality, the island is a ring with an inner lagoon, which connects to the sea on really high tides. It is about 100 - 150 metres from the coastal beach to the lagoon beach.

The inner lagoon: We were told it would not be a safe idea to try swimming in the lagoon as there were concerns of Sharks having been trapped inside the lagoon on the highest tides & a potential risk if we met one of the less docile species

The mouth of the lagoon: The sea flows over the mouth on the highest tides

The bushes at the edge of the lagoon had nesting Boobies & Frigatebirds

Steve: Note, the Tuamotu Sandpiper that had got bored with us  & was leaving

Masked Booby: They were nesting on both the inner & outer beaches

Masked Booby & chick

White Tern

Crested Tern: One or two were patrolling the inner lagoon

The Great Frigatebirds weren't shy

Great Frigatebird: Juv

It wasn't just Birds on Tenararo that were of interest. I saw reasonable numbers of the stunning Heliotrope Moth.

Heliotrope Moth: It was the only Moth that I saw on the island

White-bellied Skink: They were very skittish & not easy to photograph

Grapsid Crab sp. on the beach: They look pretty smart from the side

Grapsid Crab sp.: But head on they are stunning

Finally, it would be rude not to add a few more Tuamotu Sandpiper photos now that I have had chance to look the over 400 photos I took of them on the first visit to Tenararo. As I walked through to the inner beach, I was regularly greeted as I moved into a new territory. At least one of each pair would normally come really close to check me out & most called. Generally, they approached to within a metre or two, before backing off a bit. Quite often they would head up onto low branches & sit watching me. I think a number of these individuals were breeding & may have been calling to young chicks to keep still. Although I didn't see any chicks, some of the others did find them nesting when we visited the island of Morane later in the trip. I guess they haven't needed to develop the more typical Wader broken wing strategy as they get so few visitors.

Tuamotu Sandpiper: They are really at home sitting in the trees

Tuamotu Sandpiper: I like the background of this & the last photo

Tuamotu Sandpiper: They would walk around a lot within a few metres & call a lot whilst walking

Tuamotu Sandpiper: Up close & personal

Tuamotu Sandpiper

Tuamotu Sandpiper: A final photo

Eventually, it was time to catch the jet boat back to the Braveheart

But a final thought: if you thought that an isolated uninhabited island hundreds of miles from people would be a clean place, then think again. There was plenty of rubbish that had been thrown up on the beaches by the sea.

Fishing float: The names showed they came from a variety of Pacific countries 

Another fishing float: They were a common sight

Netting & a large barrel: Presumably washed overboard from a fishing vessel 

7 Nov 14 - Another Day, Another Reed Warbler Tick

This day was originally scheduled to have been a seawatching & chumming day with Henderson Island scheduled for the 8th. But having heard that we were likely to be sharing Henderson Island with another expedition ship on the 8th, the plans were rejigged and we woke up to see we were offshore at Henderson Island. While we were having breakfast, the Braveheart checked out the beaches. Henderson Island is a coral island which has been pushed out of the sea and has steep cliffs to the central plateau.

Henderson Island: The sea conditions were not in our favour, but at least we got ashore

There are two narrow beaches where it is possible to land. Frustratingly, the sea conditions at the main North beach site were too rough for us to get ashore. But fortunately, Matt reckoned we would be OK on the West beach. We were told this would be a wet landing & like the rest of our landings in the trip, we landed on the coral edge (fortunately smoothed a bit by wave action over the years). We then had to wade up to our upper legs in water to get ashore. Elliott & Billy did a good job helping us as we landed to avoid us getting knocked off the coral in the breaking waves. Playing safe, we had all the camera gear carefully stored in dry bags, so there are no photos of the landing.

Matt, Elliot & Billy go to scout out the chances of landing in another of their big boys toys

Time to change into some dry clothes & get the cameras out: Henderson Island has plenty of Coconuts. It is a holiday destination for the Pitcairn Islanders. They come over in the longboat for an occasional, extended stay

The Braveheart: Before She moved further out for the day

I'm ready to go to look for the four endemic Landbirds: Henderson Island Crake, Henderson Island Fruit-dove, Stephen's Lorikeet and Henderson Island Reed Warbler

The West beach is fairly narrow: It got even narrower as the tide rose & we ended up climbing over the rocks to get to the far end later in the afternoon

There were a lot of Coconut trees next to the beach

Parts of the forested edge are fairly open

But other areas are very dense & hard to get through

Getting ready to look for Henderson Island Crake: Unfortunately, we had no luck. Throughout the day we had short showers, but fortunately, none of the heavy rain that we experienced on Pitcairn the previous day

A wet looking Henderson Island Reed Warbler: The first of 7 individuals I saw around the West beach area

Henderson Island Reed Warbler: Another individual seen later in the day

All around the beach area we saw good number of Crabs. Most were orange-red coloured Strawberry Hermit Crabs, Coenobita perlatus, which fitted into shells that were a few inches across. But other, larger & black Forest Hermit Crabs Coenobita spinosus were using smaller Coconuts as shells. Thanks to a reader of this Blog called Tony, I now have a latin name for this terrestrial Hermit Crab.

Strawberry Hermit Crab: This is a common species occurring from the tropical Indian Ocean Islands to the Southern Pacific

Forest Hermit Crab: Thanks to Tony (see Comments) for identifying this Crab

Forest Hermit Crab: Thanks to Tony (see Comments) for identifying this Crab

Grapsid Crab sp.: A more typical looking Crab. The picture shows how much care was needed when walking over these 'coral rocks' as a slip could have been painful with potentially a lot of blood being lost

Another fairly common species seen was a small white Moth about 3/4 inch long. However, when seen well, it was stunning & closely resembled the Crimson Speckled Moth which is an African & Mediterranean species & a vagrant to the UK. Since I have been back, I have managed to identify it as the Heliotrope Moth, Utetheisa pulchelloides. This species occurs from Seychelles to Borneo, Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand & various tropical Pacific Islands. It is a well known long distance migrant & therefore, it is likely that it has naturally introduced itself to the Pitcairn Islands group.

Heliotrope Moth: I also saw this species on Pitcairn, but failed to get any photographs