10,000 Birds

JUNE 8, 2011

Sadly, as I’ve explained before , most of these species became extinct as humans arrived on the islands, and with it one of the most astonishing radiations of birds imaginable. I certainly did when I visited the two southern islands of Tonga a few years ago. But here’s the thing. It didn’t used to be.

Tonga 174

Tonga New Zealand Samoa Fiji 174

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 7, 2014

Not, as Linneaus thought, an ostrich, nor even, as later scientists concluded, a distant cousin of pigeons deserving of family rank, it was an honest-to-goodness pigeon, deeply embedded within the family Columbidae. All of the birds within Raphini are highly specialized for island life. ” Beehler et al.’s

Solomon Islands 279

Solomon Islands Guinea Mauritius 2006 279

10,000 Birds

JUNE 15, 2011

I mentioned last week, while talking about rails and the Pacific, that Tonga is not a particularly birdy birding destination. A combination of extinctions and proximity to Fiji means that a trip to that island group would net you pretty much all the same birds plus a whole raft of others.

Tonga 190

Tonga Fiji New Zealand Parrots 190