I'm back home now, in fact I got back late Thursday night. Not much airline drama, the flight was half an hour late leaving but that did not matter as our connecting Qantas flight from Brisbane to Melbourne was also half an hour late. The aircraft was an Nauruan Airways aircraft with a Nauruan crew. This is somewhat comforting in that Nauruan's speak perfect Australian English with an Australian accent. (in all cases, the pilots are Australian). The worst part of the trip was the drive home from the airport, as most of the way the freeways were limited to 60km/h (35mph) because of the possibility of roadwork at some future time.
I'm going to discuss mammals and birds as well as some conservation concerns. I'll come back to ectotherms later. I realized I had missed one bird from the boat trip a day after we arrived.
428. Brown noddy Anous stolidus
Before going I thought that I might see around 30 bird species, and in fact I saw 31 species. They all belonged to Families that are well established in Australia, or Families that originated in Australia. Of the 31, 3 are widespread terns, 4 were introduced, 5 are also found in Australia, 2 are found though New Guinea into Wallacia, and the remaining 17 are endemic to either Vanuatu or the tropical South Pacific more generally. 21 were lifers, while I had already seen 5 species this year. (I think the maths is right) The only species I was surprised I missed was the dark-brown honeyeater, as Chlidonias implied they were common and easily seen.
Vanuatu is a beautiful place, but conservation is in rather a dire situation. All land is owed by traditional owners who give 75 year leases to occupiers. There is no government land from which to form parks, even if the government had the money, which they don't. There was a large reserve at Big Bay which used to receive substantial numbers of birders. Come COVID, the traditional owners, short of money, decided to log most of what had formed the reserve.
Locals tend to build their villages inland because of the threat of typhoons, but resorts of course are built right on the beach. In recent years, many Aussies and New Zealanders have come to live or build holiday homes, which again they choose to build right on the beach (real estate is quoted in Aussie dollars). Of course sea turtles use this land to lay their eggs, and space is becoming limited. Top that off with the fact turtles and their eggs are still collected for food by locals, and it does not look good for the future of these endangered reptiles in Vanuatu.
Marine life is also at risk, with local fishers using very fine nets, and many reefs damaged and destroyed by weather and human action.
I did see some positive actions, for instance the Loru reserve and the impressive coral replanting we snorkeled on the first Friday. But it has a long way to go.
