New Caledonia : Sep 12—20, 2009

Kagu— Photo: K. David Bishop

New Caledonia has been recognized as one of the most exciting birding destinations for over 50 years, since Ernst Mayr wrote his guide to the birds of the Southwest Pacific. It is most famous as home to the spectacular and aberrant Kagu. This special bird is considered a crested, flightless relative to the Sunbittern, and is placed in its own special monotypic family. In the mid 80s, it was critically endangered. Now, thanks to concerted conservation efforts by the local park authorities, it has staged a remarkable comeback. With special help, we have an excellent chance of seeing this missing link.

Beyond the Kagu, New Caledonia is home to a remarkable array of insular endemics. Ranging from the Horned Parakeet to the Blue Goshawk, the incredible Cloven-feathered Fruit-Dove or Goliath Imperial-Pigeon, the critically endangered Crow Honeyeater and the elusive New Caledonian Grass-Warbler, we will make our best effort to see all of the 18 endemics on Grande Terre, the main island. By offering a couple of short island-hop flights to the beautiful Loyalty Islands, we can connect with a few more special target birds ranging from the critically endangered Ouvea Parakeet to the aberrant Large Lifou White-eye.

Kagu displaying— Photo: K. David Bishop

This tour will dovetail beautifully into our main Papua New Guinea tour, enabling participants to maximize their birding opportunities. Beyond the birding there will be superb French cuisine, tremendous botanic opportunities, and an insight into what the world looked like when dinosaurs ruled the planet. (New Caledonia was one of the locations for the acclaimed series Living with Dinosaurs).