Birding/ Bird watching on Namosi Road, Fiji

Thursday 12th of October 2017 and my Guide and the driver was waiting for me outside the reception at 6 o'clock and we were soon on our way towards Namosi Road to see if we could find any Pink-billed Parrotfinches.

We could see Joske's Thumb from the road when we drove towards Namosi Road. You will soon see a green sign saying KILA ECO ADVENTURE PARK. Turn right and you're on Namosi Road, a gravel road going up the mountains.

Birding/ Bird watching on Namosi Road, Fiji
Passing Joske's Thumb

Birding/ Bird watching on Namosi Road, Fiji
Passing Joske's Thumb

Birding/ Bird watching on Namosi Road, Fiji
We reach Namosi Road

Birding/ Bird watching on Namosi Road, Fiji
We reach Namosi Road

We drive past the adventure park and we stop after a few hundred meters. My Guide could hear the Giant Honeyeater. We got out of the car but the Giant Honeyeater was a wee bit too far away for any good pictures. We could hear many of the birds on the list of “birds on Fiji”

And we could see many of the birds, but binocular was required. And this is not how I do bird watching. A bird fly by and you can cross it out from your list, I want to come up close to get a good pictures. No good picture and the bird is not coming up on my list of “birds I have seen”

I managed to come pretty close to a Barking Imperial Pigeon as well. I used the car, asked the driver to back up and me and my Guide stood behind the car taking pictures.

Birding/ Bird watching on Namosi Road, Fiji
Stop to look for birds on Namosi Road

Birding/ Bird watching on Namosi Road, Fiji
Namosi Road, a beautiful area

Giant Honeyeater or duetting giant honeyeater, Gymnomyza brunneirostris
Giant Honeyeater or duetting giant honeyeater

Barking Imperial Pigeon also known as Peale's Imperial Pigeon, Ducula latrans
Barking Imperial Pigeon also known as Peale's Imperial Pigeon

Barking Imperial Pigeon also known as Peale's Imperial Pigeon, Ducula latrans
Barking Imperial Pigeon also known as Peale's Imperial Pigeon

Barking Imperial Pigeon also known as Peale's Imperial Pigeon, Ducula latrans
Barking Imperial Pigeon also known as Peale's Imperial Pigeon

Barking Imperial Pigeon also known as Peale's Imperial Pigeon, Ducula latrans
Barking Imperial Pigeon also known as Peale's Imperial Pigeon

Barking Imperial Pigeon also known as Peale's Imperial Pigeon, Ducula latrans
Barking Imperial Pigeon also known as Peale's Imperial Pigeon

Barking Imperial Pigeon also known as Peale's Imperial Pigeon, Ducula latrans
Barking Imperial Pigeon also known as Peale's Imperial Pigeon

Barking Imperial Pigeon also known as Peale's Imperial Pigeon, Ducula latrans
Barking Imperial Pigeon also known as Peale's Imperial Pigeon

We were soon on our way again, and we had seen and heard many birds at the first stop. But at a distance and I was a wee bit disappointed with the start of the day regarding the photos. But as I say, I enjoyed a gorgeous morning in a beautiful surroundings. We had seen the Golden fruit dove but no pictures.

We had been driving for 10 minutes or so when my Guide heard the Golden fruit dove again. We stopped and we went out to see if we could spot the bird, no luck. But we spotted an Azure-crested flycatcher/ Blue-crested flycatcher. The bird was high up in the tree so it was a very poor picture. But it was better than nothing so I kept it.

Azure-crested Flycatcher or Blue-crested Flycatcher, Myiagra azureocapilla
Azure-crested Flycatcher or Blue-crested Flycatcher

Birding/ Bird watching on Namosi Road, Fiji
Stop to look for the Golden fruit dove on Namosi Road

Birding/ Bird watching on Namosi Road, Fiji
Stop to look for the Golden fruit dove on Namosi Road

Birding/ Bird watching on Namosi Road, Fiji
Stop to look for the Golden fruit dove on Namosi Road

Birding/ Bird watching on Namosi Road, Fiji
Stop to look for the Golden fruit dove on Namosi Road

Birding/ Bird watching on Namosi Road, Fiji
Stop to look for the Golden fruit dove on Namosi Road

We are soon on the way again, but it don't take long before we stop again to look for birds. We walking and our Driver is coming after us slowly when he have lost sight of us. We can hear the Giant Honeyeater everywhere. They are very loud, but we cannot see any of them even though I use my player to play their song.

We see a lot of birds but they are to far away and we hear a lot of different birds, but impossible to see them in the vegetation.


Birding/ Bird watching on Namosi Road, Fiji
Stop to look for birds on Namosi Road

Birding/ Bird watching on Namosi Road, Fiji
Stop to look for birds on Namosi Road

Birding/ Bird watching on Namosi Road, Fiji
Stop to look for birds on Namosi Road

Birding/ Bird watching on Namosi Road, Fiji
Stop to look for birds on Namosi Road

Birding/ Bird watching on Namosi Road, Fiji
Stop to look for birds on Namosi Road

Birding/ Bird watching on Namosi Road, Fiji
Stop to look for birds on Namosi Road

Birding/ Bird watching on Namosi Road, Fiji
Driving along Namosi Road

Birding/ Bird watching on Namosi Road, Fiji
Driving along Namosi Road

Birding/ Bird watching on Namosi Road, Fiji
Driving along Namosi Road crossing a creek

Birding/ Bird watching on Namosi Road, Fiji
Driving along Namosi Road crossing a creek

Birding/ Bird watching on Namosi Road, Fiji
We reach the top and this is the last time you see the ocean

Birding/ Bird watching on Namosi Road, Fiji
We reach the top and this is the last time you see the ocean

Birding/ Bird watching on Namosi Road, Fiji
Space to park the car

Birding/ Bird watching on Namosi Road, Fiji
Space to park the car

Birding/ Bird watching on Namosi Road, Fiji
Space to park the car

You reach the top and there is a space (full of garbage, you cannot miss it) where you can park the car. Walk north to look for the Pink-billed Parrotfinch. It was 10 o'clock and my Guide told me it was too late to look for birds. I could not believe my ears. I told him that he was the Guide and I paid him as he have the local knowledge. I had told him that I was looking for the Pink-billed Parrotfinch and we would concentrate on that bird.

The only bird we saw up here was the Swamp Harrier flying around us, but I never got any picture. Well, we will Yet another Smiley on www.aladdin.st hopefully get another chance.

If we had come here straight away we would have been here hours ago. I was at least disappointed when we returned to Suva. I had given the driver 400Fiji$ and I had never asked for my change, some kind of tip. Now I asked for my change.

We had seen and heard many birds during the morning, but no pictures:

• Giant Honeyeater or Duetting Giant Honeyeater (Worth taking the picture)

• Barking Imperial Pigeon also known as Peale's Imperial Pigeon (Worth taking the picture)

• Golden fruit dove

• Masked shining parrot

• White-rumped swiftlet

• Polynesian triller

• Fiji bush warbler

• Streaked fantail

• Vanikoro flycatcher

• Pacific Robin

• Azure-crested flycatcher/ Blue-crested flycatcher (Very bad pictures)

• Fiji white-eye

• Sulphur-breasted myzomela/ Orange-breasted honeyeater

• Fiji woodswallow

• Metallic pigeon also known as White-throated pigeon

• Polynesian starling

• Fiji parrotfinch

• Red-vented Bulbul Yet another Smiley on www.aladdin.st

• Common Myna Yet another Smiley on www.aladdin.st

• Jungle Myna Yet another Smiley on www.aladdin.st

• Swamp harrier

My plan was to go to check out Joske's Thumb in the afternoon, now we have to come back here again. They will come to pick me up at 2 o'clock in the afternoon at Colo-i-Suva Rainforest Eco Resort. They will drop me at Colo-i-Suva Rainforest Eco Resort and we will stop to look for smoked salmon on the way. We started at Max Val-u but they had no Smoked Salmon, something I suspected as soon as I sat foot in the shop.

Max Val-u in Suva
We stop to look for smoked salmon

We leave Max Val-u behind and we drive to Suva city centre. we stopped at some kind of shopping mall where there should be a Supermarket. I told the driver that I would take a taxi back to Colo-i-Suva Rainforest Eco Resort. No need for him to wait for me. I found the same brand of smoked salmon that I had bought in Nadi and I bought everything they had. I bought some milk as well and I went to look for a taxi.

I found a taxi outside the shopping mall and I was soon on my way back to Colo-i-Suva Rainforest Eco Resort. The ride took 15 minutes or so due to traffic jam.

Down town Suva, Fiji
Down town Suva

Down town Suva, Fiji
Down town Suva

Down town Suva, Fiji
Down town Suva

Down town Suva, Fiji
Down town Suva

I had smoked salmon, camembert cheese and Earl Grey tea in my room and I left my room before 2 to have a look for birds around the hotel before they would be back to pick me up.

We drove back to Namosi Road after having picked up the Guide on the way. We drove straight up to the top and we started to walk towards North looking for the Pink-billed Parrotfinch.

Birding/ Bird watching on Namosi Road, Fiji
We drive along the Namosi Road

We see and hear Honeyeaters and we hear a lot of other birds, but that's it. We walking along the Namosi Road and we're coming up with nothing. Well, a Marsh Harrier. We decide to leave Namosi Road at 16 thirty. My Guide had called another Guide and we will go to his village to look for a place where they have the endangered Long-legged thicketbird. The species is sometimes known as the Long-legged warbler.

We get in to the car and we go down the mountain again. We came up on the south side and we go down on the north side. Yes, we got to see a lot of Fiji while looking for birds. And it is a very beautiful country side. Nothing the normal tourist got to see.

Birding/ Bird watching on Namosi Road, Fiji
Walking north on the Namosi Road

Birding/ Bird watching on Namosi Road, Fiji
Walking north on the Namosi Road

Birding/ Bird watching on Namosi Road, Fiji
Walking north on the Namosi Road

Birding/ Bird watching on Namosi Road, Fiji
Walking north on the Namosi Road

Birding/ Bird watching on Namosi Road, Fiji
Swamp Harrier over the Namosi Road

Birding/ Bird watching on Namosi Road, Fiji
Going down the mountain on the north side

Birding/ Bird watching on Namosi Road, Fiji
Going down the mountain on the north side

Birding/ Bird watching on Namosi Road, Fiji
Going down the mountain on the north side

Birding/ Bird watching on Namosi Road, Fiji - Metallic pigeon also known as White-throated pigeon
Metallic pigeon also known as White-throated pigeon

Birding/ Bird watching on Namosi Road, Fiji
Crossing a bridge

Birding/ Bird watching on Namosi Road, Fiji
We arrive to the village

We drove down the north side and we drove towards East along a river called Waidina. We arrived to the village and we picked up the Guide and we drove back a few hundred meters.

Don't try to get in here by yourself. It is private property and the Guide will give 10 Fiji $ per person to the owner. So first of all you need to go to the village to ask for permission to enter. Park the car and walk down the pasture for 100 meter. Now you look to the right and you see a small walk path in to the bushes.

Follow the walk path. BE CAREFUL!!!! IT IS SLIPPERY!! You reach the creek and they Guide showed us where the bird watchers used to sit. He play the bird sound and they watch the very shy Long-legged thicketbird/ Long-legged warbler will come to check you out. If you're lucky that is. The bird stay under the vegetation close to the creek. So you need to come down at a place where you can see under the vegetation.

Long-legged thicketbird/ Long-legged warbler

The long-legged thicketbird (Trichocichla rufa) is a small bird endemic to Fiji. The species is sometimes known as the long-legged warbler. It is the sole representative of the genus Trichocichla.

The long-legged thicketbird is a large thin warbler (19 cm) with a long tail and long legs. The species' plumage is reddish brown, the throat, breast and belly being white and the face being marked with a distinctive eye-stripe. The long-legged warbler is a shy bird and easily overlooked as it forages on the ground in pairs or small family groups. It has a distinctive alarm call, and a variable and loud song somewhat similar to that of the Fiji bush warbler. The species inhabits old-growth forest in mountainous areas on Viti Levu, usually in habitat adjacent to streams.


Conservation status
Azure-crested Flycatcher or Blue-crested Flycatcher, Myiagra azureocapilla
Endangered (IUCN 3.1)

The long-legged thicketbird was first collected in 1890 and four specimens were collected between then an 1894, after which the species was not seen again until 1974 (though there were a few unconfirmed sightings). In 1974 the Vanua Levu subspecies Trichocichla rufa cluniei was discovered (although it has not been seen since). In 2003 scientists from BirdLife International working in Wabu Forest Reserve in Viti Levu discovered a small population of Trichocichla rufa. Twelve pairs, along with two recently fledged chicks, were observed by the team.

Other populations were subsequently found to occur in various locations in old-growth montane forest between 300 and 800 meters AMSL. The population is assessed to be stable or at least not declining rapidly, if very small (between 50 and 249 mature birds) but protection of sufficient habitat is necessary to keep it that way. Threats include some logging and the impact of introduced predators (the small Asian mongoose and the black rat). Neither has been quantified, but they appear not to be very serious at the moment.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Birding/ Bird watching on Namosi Road, Fiji
We park the car a bit away from the village

Birding/ Bird watching on Namosi Road, Fiji
Walk down the pasture

Birding/ Bird watching on Namosi Road, Fiji
Continue in to the forest

Birding/ Bird watching on Namosi Road, Fiji
A walk path through the bushes on your right hand side

Birding/ Bird watching on Namosi Road, Fiji
The area open up a bit after having passed through the bushes

Birding/ Bird watching on Namosi Road, Fiji
We reach the site

Birding/ Bird watching on Namosi Road, Fiji
We reach the site

Birding/ Bird watching on Namosi Road, Fiji
Dark when we drive back to Suva

To see the map in a full window click HERE

It is getting dark and it is time for us to return to Suva and Colo-i-Suva Rainforest Eco Resort. It is quite a distance to go back, and the roads are very bad here in the mountains. We left Suva driving to the South and we will come back from the North.

We have covered quite some area during the day. Back late and I went straight to bed, we will leave at 4 thirty tomorrow to go look for birds at the Monasavu Dam. Click HERE to find out if we see some birds in the Monasavu Dam area.

Sverigedemokraterna

Birding/ Bird watching on Namosi Road, Fiji

       
                  
OK, it has come to my knowledge that we have senior citizens visiting my web page. How hard can it be? So it's not very easy for them to see the blue coloured links to the next page.
Jiffy (also jiff)

noun [in SING.] informal a moment: we'll be back in a jiffy.

ORIGIN late 18th cent.: of unknown origin.

So as you understand, in a jiff pretty much depends on your internet.
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E ni Svenskar och inte förstår Engelska så ska ni skämmas. J och Björn, med det menar jag inte att alla mina stavfel ska ältas varje gång vi träffas.

Flag of Skåne / Skånska flaggan Well, the flag of Skåne, just a BONUS flag.


                                       

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