Breaching humpback in Canal Woodin |
Wedge-tailed Shearwater
Little Pied Cormorant
Lesser Frigatebird
Red-footed Booby
Little Green (Striated) Heron
White-faced Heron
Pacific Reef Heron
Eastern Osprey
Brown Goshawk
Swamp Harrier
Whistling Kite
Peregrine Falcon
Buff-banded Rail
Purple Swamphen
Pacific Golden Plover
Wandering Tattler
Silver Gull
Black Noddy
Wedge-tailed Shearwater |
Sooty Tern
Black-naped Tern
Fairy Tern
Pacific Emerald Dove
Metallic Pigeon
Coven-feathered Dove
Red-bellied Fruit Dove
Spotted Dove
Coconut Lorikeet
Glossy Swiftlet
White-rumped Swiftlet
Sacred Kingfisher
Marred Honeyeater
Grey-eared Honeyeater
New Caledonian Myzomela
Cardinal Myzomela
New Caledonian Friarbird
Fan-tailed Gerygone
White-breasted Woodswallow
South Melanesian Cuckooshrike
Long-tailed Triller
Melanesian Whistler
Rufous Whistler
Grey Fantail
Streaked Fantail
New Caledonian Crow
Yellow-bellied Flyrobin
Pacific Swallow
Silvereye
Green-backed White-eye
White-breasted Woodswallow |
Red-vented Bulbul
Common Myna
Striated Starling
House Sparrow
Red-throated Parrotfinch
Common Waxbill
Bottlenose Dolphin
Omura’s Whale
Humpback Whale
Dugong
Green Sea Turtle
Loggerhead Turtle
We originally took this whale for a Bryde's. It turns out we were wrong! There are no extra ridges on its rostum (top of the head) and it has a white lower jaw (it's assymettrical, like a Fin Whale, white on one side and dark on the other). After consulting with experts that know more about whale identification than we do, we've determined that it was an Omura's Whale, which has only been photographed in the wild once before, and not in this area of the world. This species was only described in 2003. We were pretty excited when we learned all this!
Omura's Whale in the southern lagoon |