Fiji 2004
Nadi
Now that we live in Australia, we've been hoping for a chance to stop over in Fiji on the way to or from the northern hemisphere. We were lucky enough to squeeze in a week and had a great time. When visiting tropical islands, we're usually looking for fish and birds. We landed in the main airport in Nadi on Viti Levu, the largest island in Fiji and one of the largest in the Pacific. Rather than running ourselves ragged trying to see too much, we opted to transfer to a backpacker-style resort in the Yasawa island chain, to the northwest of Viti Levu. Given our late flight arrival time, we decided to spend a day around Nadi before heading to the islands. For this night, we stayed at the Sandalwood Lodge. We were met at the airport by the hotel and given a large, comfortable room. Every room in the hotel overlooks a lawn and garden area with an attractive pool. This is where we saw our first Red-Headed Parrot-Finches (Erythrura cyanovirens) and Orange-Breasted Honey-Eaters (Myzomela jugularis).
Small family groups of Red-Headed Parrot-Finches were common in grassy areas.
The Orange-Breasted Honey-Eater is common, restless, and pugnacious with its peers.
Octopus Resort
The reef directly off the beach was teeming with small fishes. The resort owners, in cooperation with the local villages, made the reef a no-take zone about six months earlier, so there are a profusion of rookeries amongst the corals, including many Long-Beaked Filefish (Oxymonacanthus longirostris). This small attractive fish has been hard to see everywhere else we've been in the Pacific.
Long-billed Filefish.
Fish and Fishes
Overall, we found the fish numbers and diversity excellent for the shallow-water (snorkeling and diving to 20M or less) conditions we were in. We did a couple of dives with the shop out of Octopus Resort and found them to be professional and safety-minded. They aren't all particularly knowledgeable about fishes, so bring your own books. (See below for recommendations.) One of the great treats of the trip was going on a night snorkel right off the beach. We saw an incredible variety of creatures including several kinds of crab, slipper lobster, spawning sea urchins, invertebrates, sleeping fishes, big-eyes, and a Blue-Spotted Stingray.
David and Mouna diving.
We saw three kinds of anemonefish on the local reef. Clark's (Amphiprion klarkii), pictured below, Red and Black (A. melanopus), and Pink (A. perideraion)
Anemonefish (Clownfish).
Coral and chromis were abundant.
Living Cowry shells are still visible in the area.
A gorgeous nudibranch we haven't seen elsewhere.
Birds
This was more of a fish trip than a bird trip, but that didn't stop us from bringing our binoculars and bird books. Like most Pacific islands, there are a variety of common birds at low elevations, and you have to get up into the highland forests to see some of the scarcer endemics. On this trip we were only in the lowlands and managed to see several of the common species, such as Reef Heron (Egretta sacra), White-Rumped Swiftlet (Collacalia spodiopygia), White-Collared Kingfisher, (Halcyon chloris), Spotted Dove (Streptopella chinensis), Common Myna (Acridotheres tristis), Red-Vented Bulbul (Pycnonotus cafer), Orange-Breasted Honey-Eater (Myzomela jugularis), Vanikoro Broadbill (Myiagra vanikorensis), Slaty Monarch (Mayrornis lessoni), Red-Headed Parrot-Finch (Erythrura cyanovirens), and Silvereye (Zosterops lateralis).
The Vanikoro Broadbill is a small, common, beautifully plumaged local flycatcher.
Books
Lonely Planet Fiji is a compact and helpful travel guide with decent maps. (Amazon US | UK)Reef Fish Identification: Tropical Pacific (2003) by Allen, Steene, Humann, and DeLoach. (Amazon US | UK) Good fish books are hard to find. This title provides the best coverage of the tropical Pacific we've found in one volume. Each species description includes a high-quality photograph, description, identifying features, and range description. Highly recommended.
A Field Guide to the Birds of Hawaii and the Tropical Pacific (1987) by Pratt, Bruner and Berrett. (Amazon US | UK) Despite being an older title, this book is still the best overall guide to the birds of the region. Pratt's plates are the best currently in print and his species notes, range descriptions, and island-by-island checklists are exactly what a birder in the field wants. The only hard part about using this book in some locations is the vast area it covers. Finding the correct plates can be confusing, for example, because they try to group birds both systematically and geographically. Rumor has it, the revised edition of the book (still some years away from release) will be in two volumes to reduce the overall area of coverage for any one book.
A Guide to the Birds of Fiji and Western Polynesia (2001) by Dick Watling. If you take only one bird book to Fiji, make it it this one. Despite my high regard for The Birds of Hawaii and the Tropical Pacific, it's hard to beat a book targeted narrowly at the location you're visiting. The plates are quite good and the individual species descriptions the most detailed available in any of the guides mentioned here.
Birds of the Fiji Bush (1999) by Fergus Clunie. This charming shirt-pocket size book illustrates and describes Fiji's forest birds. It also includes interesting background information about the natural history and languages of the Fijian islands.
The last two titles can be costly and difficult to locate for an overseas birder. Dick Watling sells them directly and inexpensively at www.pacificbirds.com/publications.html