Third Day in American Samoa

Sunday, December 10, 2023, Oliver and I arose early in order to appreciate the dawn chorus in the rainforest. Unfortunately it was raining steadily and all we heard was Eastern Wattled-Honeyeater which seemed to be all around us at Afono Pass (elevation about 1000 feet). We continued on to Afono, a quaint village on the north coast of Tutuila, the main island of American Samoa. An eBird checklist from 4 years earlier had reported three species here that we were still looking for: Polynesian Starling, Many-colored Fruit-Dove and Fiji Shrikebill.  We did not find any of these but the scenery was spectacular. 

Next we drove to the east end of Tutuila. The rain had stopped. We found an overlook facing north and tried a sea watch. Bingo! We saw distant Shearwater species, a flyby Gray-backed Tern (USA and Territories Big Year bird number 845). We spent the rest of the day wandering the forest roads of the east end of the island in search of new species. We found a pair at the end of the day: a probable Peregrine Falcon and Polynesian Starling (846). 


Our trip list for American Samoa was approaching 30 species. I had added 16 species to my Biggest Year. Tomorrow we will explore more areas in the central and western portions of Tutuila. There are only a few more resident land birds to be seen and numerous oceanic species are possible if we can manage to get out on the water. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Year in Review

Back at home I checked my 2023 list totals on a spreadsheet on my laptop. I had missed a few species. My total was 891 species for the USA and Territories, 9 species short of my goal of 900. I noticed that my World life list in eBird had increased by 111 species. Eleven of these I had seen previously but had never been included on any checklist I submitted to eBird before 2023. So 100 species were true life birds for me. I assessed the value added by visiting each of the outlying regions beyond the Lower 48 states (see Table 1). All the regions were valuable. Within the lower 48 states, I visited Texas the most (7 times) followed by Florida (6 times), California (5 times) and Arizona (4 times). Table 1. Value added (in terms of year birds and life birds) among the outlying regions visited in 2023.  Region     Birding Days Year-Birds Life-Birds  Alaska              14                  34            11  Hawaii             17                  57            17 Puerto Rico     16  
Read more

Last Stand in Texas

With three days to go in the ABA Area Big Year competition, I was still in fourth place, and still six birds behind Gino Ellison who was still picking up species in Arizona and California. Nonetheless I would try to maximize my species number, and photograph species that I had not yet photographed. There were four vagrants on winter territories in the lower Rio Grande Valley that I needed to see for my year list: Gray-collared Becard in Brownsville, Crimson-collared Grosbeak in Weslaco, Bare-throated Tiger-Heron and Mottled Owl at Santa Margarita Ranch near Roma, Texas. My friend EJ Raynor was already in Brownsville when I arrived in San Antonio close to 1 AM on Friday, December 29, 2023. I figured I would rent a car at the airport, find a cheap hotel, then drive four hours to Weslaco for the grosbeak and meet EJ in Brownsville at the end of the day. The following evening we had reserved a guided hike at Santa Margarita Ranch in hopes of hearing nocturnal species, including a res
Read more

The Mariana’s, Day 6-8 — Rota

[By Nicholas Alexander Komar (Nick Jr.)] We arrived on the island of Rota on December 23rd, 2023. The flight from Saipan took about 30 minutes in a dual-engine jumper plane that fit up to eight passengers (including the pilot). You can really feel the air in a plane that small, which can be troubling considering nothing is in your control. The pilots for S.T.A.R. (Saipan, Tinian, Aguijan, Rota) Marianas Airline have all been young, professional, interesting people. One was a 22-year-old guy from Colorado Springs who studied at the Air Force Academy. Another was a 23-year-old Indian woman who grew up in Maine and had been involved in aviation since she was six years old. I found it fascinating to learn how each of them ended up flying these tiny plans way out here in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.  The birding goal on Rota was to find Mariana Crow, and Rota White-eye. Both critically endangered species endemic to this island. We were given suggestions by locals on how to find both, so
Read more