Check my birding map for specific location.
Norfolk Island is an amazing place. A tiny little island 2.45 hours north west of Auckland, it is actually a part of New South Wales, a huge 2000km away. The history of the place is incredible ranging from penal colony to holiday destination. Best of all, the opportunities for birders is unique and inspiring. I'll split this post into the main areas: the National Park, the lookouts, the beach, open areas and Phillip Island.
National Park
In the northern part of the island the National Park must be one of Australia's smallest. The tall fir trees are often covered in moss which reflects the purity of the air. This is where to find the bush birds and there are some great endemics to find here. The prettiest has to be the Pacific Robin. Closely related to other Australian robins (but interestingly not to the New Zealand robin), it wouldn't look out of place in NSW at all.
Pacific Robin (Petroica mulitcolor)
The Green Parrot, on the other hand, is very similar to the Kakariki of New Zealand. It is bigger but really looks pretty much identical. Last time I was on the island I spent a long time photographing this one feasting on guava in the rain.
Norfolk Island Green Parrot (Cyanoramphus cookii)
The Slender-billed White-eye is a member of the Silvereye family and the long bill is very distinctive. Useful for digging out bugs in branches.
Slender-billed White-eye (Zosterops tenuirostris)
The fantastic thing about Norfolk Island are all these endemics, which all count to the Australian list. And the endemics are not finished yet. The last in the National Park is the Nofolk Island Gerygone.
Norfolk Island Gerygone (Gerygone modesta)
Island Lookouts
The island has a multitude of cliffs that are accessible (and dangerous). Some have built in lookouts like Captain Cook's and some are flat picnic areas. One of the most wonderful birding experiences I have ever had was sitting in one of these places at dusk. The Wedge-tailed Shearwater gather in rafts on the water's surface before flying in together. In the gathering darkness, you don't see them coming. A delicate thud can be heard as they crash land on the grass. They then gather their breath and waddle off to find their burrows. Not many places where you can eat your fish and chips and watch that!
Wedge-tailed Shearwater (Ardenna pacifica)
The Nankeen Kestrel can be seen at certain times of the year and from these cliffs you can watch them hovering at eye level and below.
Nankeen Kestrel (Falco cenchroides)
One of my favourite sights from the Captain Cook's Lookout was the Great Frigatebird which would circle around a neighbouring small island. These majestic and ancient looking birds are such a treat to see.
Great Frigatebird (Fregata minor)
Open areas
Just driving around Norfolk Island can net some great birds. On of my favourites was the White Tern. Pure white plumage with a blue black bill and an odd sausage tubular body make this one of the most unusual terns I have even seen. They are so remarkable. When the female lays an egg, it is straight onto a flat part of a branch. No nest, no security, nothing. When the chick hatches, it better hold on tight. In summer, you can find fluffy fledglings all around the island.
White Tern (Gygis alba)
Around the airport lived a small colony of Masked Woodswallow and I have spent some considerable time driving around trying to find them over the years. All the effort is always worth it when you find interesting birds like these and even better can photograph them.
Masked Woodswallow (Artamus personatus)
Another interesting bird is the Norfolk Island Golden Whistler. Listed as a subspecies of the mainland variety, it is very different having lost the vivid yellow colour. Both sexes have the dull colouring of the usual female Golden Whistler with a yellowish hue on under the tail.
Norfolk Island Golden Whistler (Pachycephala pectoralis xanthoprocta)
On the beach
There are only a couple of areas on the island where you can see waders (although they are sometimes seen in surrounding fields). It is worth looking though because you never know what might turn up. Lesser Knots are regular migratory visitors to New Zealand each summer and some turn up on the island as well.
Lesser Knot (Calidris canutus)
I enjoyed very much finding and following a Grey-tailed Tattler one year. I think it was the first time I had ever seen one and I remember loving how it would stretch out while looking for food.
Grey-tailed Tattler (Tringa brevipes)
I was glad to get a clear shot of this Greater Sand Plover as they are so difficult to identify in non-breeding plumage. That bill is definitely belonging to the Greater.
Greater Sand Plover (Charadrius leschenaultii)
Whimbrel can often been seen on the island. There are places where you can get eye level with the waders and others where you look down on them. I think I was lying on the sand for this shot.
Whimbrel (Numenius phaeopus)
Phillip Island
Another experience of a lifetime was visiting Phillip Island. There is no landing area on the island so the tiny fishing boat pulls up as close as possible to rocks and everyone has to jump out. I am not terribly athletic but when there are good birds involved, I'll give most things a go. I tried not to think about how I was going to get back on to the boat as I hurdled off it.
A long, steep climb met us to the top of the island. I was tired and red faced (I hate hills) afterwards but oh gosh, it was worth it. You don't remember the pain when you have cracker photos of incredible birds. We lots of nesting birds starting with the Black Noddy. These seemed to be in a time share arrangement in this tree!
Black Noddy (Anous minutus)
Circling around us and sometimes conveniently landing were Black-winged Petrel. A small but quite elegant seabird, I loved being so close to them. The second photo here is from a boat trip where the skipper threw in shark liver and the birds zoomed in to pick it up.
Black-winged Petrel (Pterodroma nigripennis)
Further up the hill were Masked Booby sitting on shallow scrapes with their eggs.
Masked Booby (Sula dactylatra)
The highlight of this and all other visits was getting to the top of Phillip Island. We could see all around the island and down the back were some sheer cliffs. This was the domain of the Red-tailed Tropicbird. We had seen them nesting in the hollow at the bottom of a tree. This adult was seeing off another bird showing too much interest in the chick behind.
Red-tailed Tropicbird (Phaethon rubricauda)
But the very best part of seeing these incredible creatures was watching them flying. As part of their courtship displays, they partake in some amazing aerial acrobatics flying backwards and in circles. I just loved watching them reverse like we would park a car!
I just about floated back down to the boat, partly euphoria and partly exhaustion. It was quite choppy on the rocks which were mossy and by now covered in water. The skipper had to pull the boat in and members of the group jump on board one by one. I was last and I could tell a couple of blokes had stayed behind to help me. They planned to hoist me up by my backside and shove me on the boat. No bloody chance. I jumped like everyone else and thankfully made it.
Boat Launch on Phillip Island
Norfolk Island - go there!
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