Return to trip reports.Several weeks ago I asked here on BIRDCHAT for advice for birding Upolu, Western Samoa. I didn't get much response, but feel duty-bound to give a Trip Report, even though I ended up with barely 24 hours on the island. An Australian correspondent did provide a 1992 Trip Report, with the pleasing news of two good sites (Vaisigano Valley and Mt.Vaea) close to Apia, the capital city --- more particularly, within walking distance of Fagalii airstrip, making the real hazards of Samoan car rental unnecessary. (The suburban airstrip is used for the short inter-island hops from American Samoa; long-range jets to Apia use the more distant Fagaloa airport.)
The short list of Samoan landbirds includes a few cosmopolitan spp (eg. Barn Owl), many found also in Tonga and Fiji (where I birded last year), and my special targets, 10 endemic spp. All 10 are members of Tonga/Fiji genera except for the rare Tooth-Billed Pigeon. In my short visit I missed the Samoan White-eye (present only on the unvisited island of Savaii), the T-B Pigeon and the shy Mao honeycreeper (both probably more common on the less populous Savaii).
SAMOAN NATIVE RESIDENT LANDBIRDS: (*=endemic) WHERE SEEN:
Banded Rail..............(Rallus philippensis)..........V,H
White-browed Crake.......(Porzana cinerea) {V = Vaisigano valley,
Purple Swamphen..........(Porphyrio porphyrio) M = Mt.Vaema,
White-throated Pigeon....(Columba vitensis) T = Tutuila, Am.Samoa,
Friendly Ground-Dove.....(Gallicolumba stairii) blank = not seen}
*Tooth-Billed Pigeon......(Didunculus strigirostris)
Many-coloured Fruit-dove.(Ptilinopus perousii)............M
Purple-capped Fruit-dove.(Ptilinopus porphyraceus)......V,M,T
Pacific Pigeon...........(Ducula pacifica)..................T
Blue-crowned Lorikeet....(Vini australis)...............V,M
Common Barn Owl..........(Tyto alba)....................V,M
White-rumped swiftlet....(Aerodramus spodiopygius)......V,M,T
*Flat-billed Kingfisher...(Halcyon recurvirostris).......V
Collared Kingfisher......(Halcyon chloris)..................T
Polynesian Triller.......(Lalage maculosa)..............V,M
*Samoan Triller...........(Lalage sharpei)...............V
Scarlet Robin............(Petroica multicolor)..........V,M
*Samoan Whistler..........(Pachycephala flavifrons)......V
*Samoan Flycatcher........(Myiagra albiventris)..........V,M
*Samoan Fantail...........(Rhipidura nebulosa)...........V,M
Island Thrush............(Turdus poliocephalus)
*Samoan Starling..........(Aplonis atrifusca)............V,M,T
Polynesian Starling......(Aplonis tabuensis)............V,M,T
*Cardinal Honeyeater......(Myzomela cardinalis)..........V,M,T
Wattled Honeyeater.......(Foulehaio carunculata)........V,M,T
*Mao......................(Gymnomyza samoensis)
*Samoan White-eye.........(Zosterops samoensis)
Red-headed Parrotfinch...(Erythrura cyaneovirens).......V,M
(Of the endemics, only the Samoan Starling and Cardinal Honeyeater are still
present on Tutuila, American Samoa, where both are abundant).
I landed at Fagalii airstrip about 1130 a.m. on a Saturday, and set out for the upper Vaisigano valley, which is accessed by a jeep trail from the south end of Magigai Road, a 3 mile-long paved and (mostly) good gravel road that runs south from Apia parallel to and about a mile east of the main Cross-Island Road. After about 10mins walk in the midday sun I hailed one of the abundant taxis cruising Apia, and he took me up the hill to the end of Magigai Road for Samoan$3 -- about U.S.$1.25 -- the airport taxis, typically, had asked Sam$20. At the end of the gravel road is a square concrete reservoir; the upper Vaisigano is the main water-supply for Apia, which is why the forest is preserved around this valley. A muddy jeep trail continues past the reservoir (which is on the right), then after 200 yards a jeep track branches right down the forested side of the valley to the river. On the valley floor I followed the track upstream alongside a large water-pipe for maybe a mile to the water intake. It's a lovely steep-sided forested valley, with circling (nesting) White-tailed Tropic-birds, Common Noddies, and White Terns as well as abundant passerines. I walked out about 3.00 p.m. when afternoon rains began. Several Flat-billed kingfishers were on the telephone wires along the upper gravel part of Magigai Road, and Banded Rails were also common along the roadside.
At dawn Sunday I walked a couple of miles south up the Cross Island Road to Vailima, the former home of Robert Louis Stevenson, where there is a nice Botanic Garden (free and open all hours) and the start of two trails up Mt.Vaema to his grave site on the summit. The Botanic Garden was overrun with rails, and I also got my best views of the lorikeets, feeding on Eucalyptus. I took the steeper Short Trail (40 mins walk) up Mt Vaema, and the Long Trail back; they both go through some fairly good birdy forest. A somewhat eerie surprise at the top of the trail was a Barn Owl perched on RLS's tree-shaded tomb (I had flushed another very inquisitive owl the previous midday, in Vaisigano Valley).
After walking back down to Apia I took the midday flight from Fagalii to Tutuila, American Samoa. My purpose in visiting Samoa was to join a research cruise from Am. Samoa to California; before the ship left Monday afternoon I spent a pleasant morning in the new U.S. National Park Service "National Park of American Samoa" ("America's newest and least known National Park"). I accessed the (free) park via the Mount Alava trail, a jeep track that leaves the paved Fagasa Road at that road's highest point, about an hour's walk from the Rainmaker Hotel. Most of the listed "Tutuila" sightings were from this trail, which winds along the high knife-edged ridge that encloses Pago Pago harbour. The lowest saddle in this ridge, about a mile up the trail, is a favourite passage for seabirds flying south from the open ocean into the enclosed harbour, and there was a constant procession of Red-legged Boobies, Great and Lesser Frigatebirds, White Terns, and White-Tailed Tropicbirds through the gap.
We encountered no unexpected seabirds on the Samoa to California cruise; a very discontinuous watch identified some 40 pelagic spp. The highlight was crossing the productive Equatorial current system near 150 deg.W, with common White-winged, Black-winged, Steinjeger's, Cook's, Phoenix, and Juan Fernandez Petrels (Pterodroma leucoptera, P.nigripennis, P.longirostris, P.cooki, P.alba and P.externa), plus Christmas Shearwaters, White-throated Storm-petrels, Sooty terns, etc.