Yesterday was my first official day of bird recording and it was a good one. I took the one-hour bus ride to the access road that leads into the park and then walked the 5.3 km to the visitor’s center. This time, the gates were not locked and the walk up to the trailhead was lush and beautiful. And to top it off, I saw about 20 monkeys hanging out (literally) on the side of the road. Those things are so elusive. I was trying to get a good photo of one of them, but it’s as if they know what you’re doing and wait until the last second and then jump out of the way. So I’ve got a ton of pictures of empty trees. I was getting frustrated, but there was no way I was going to let those monkeys make a monkey of me. So finally, I decided to beat them at their own game. I hid behind a bush and lined up a great shot. The monkey saw me and jumped away but not before I got a pretty decent shot of him. I guess they learned their lesson about trying to outsmart me.
After reaching the visitor’s center, I hiked another 3 km up Parakeet Trail and stopped to don my recording equipment for the first time. It was raining sporadically and I was having a hard time locating birds. After a while, a small Mauritian grey white-eye came and landed near me and sang a song, which I got a pretty decent recording of. Besides that, I didn’t capture anything worth talking about except, of course, for a miniature toad. At first I thought they were insects, but it turned out that there were hundreds of little mini-toads all over the trail. It was hard not to step on them and after a while I gave up and just started stepping on them. So sue me.
I gave up and headed back, a little depressed I must admit. When I got back, I realized the visitor’s center was full of potential recordings. I put my equipment back on and ended up getting some really good recordings of a pair of red-whiskered bulbuls and a few myna birds as well. Satisfied, I decided to head home. About 100 yards down the road I saw two guys parking their motorcycles and I noticed that one of them had Mauritian Wildlife Foundation t-shirt on. I introduced myself and they told me that they were out monitoring the Mauritian kestrel in the area. This bird is one of the most endangered species on the planet and was, until recently, the rarest bird in the world. Its population was at one point down to four birds. This was one of the birds that I most wanted to record; a sort of “white whale” for me. Anyway, they insisted that I come along and try to record one. I agreed and off we went. Unfortunately, the hike up to the cliffs was not fun and I had already hiked about eight miles to boot, but it was a great opportunity. As soon as we got to the top, a kestrel came screeching through the forest with a gecko in its talons and landed on a tree just above us and started staring down. I couldn’t believe it and rushed to get my gear out. Although he didn’t make any more calls, I got some decent pictures of him. Also, we learned that the tree was a cache for the bird as he took the gecko and hid it in a hole near the top.
The Mauritian kestrel is a beautiful bird and looks something like a cross between an American kestrel and a merlin. The only difference is the short round wings. Most kestrels hunt by “hovering’ over a field and looking for mice. But, using those little wings, this bird is the exception. It can fly through the underbrush with extreme agility hunting for its favorite meal of gecko. What’s ironic is that this bird has evolved to become perfectly adapted to flying through underbrush, but now the island’s forests have been eliminated in favor of sugar cane farms. Any other species of kestrel would thrive in this kind of landscape, but the Mauritian variety cannot live outside the forests. I got to witness this particular bird’s agility as it flew off and we chased it to its cliff-side dwelling.
These two nice British gents, Richard and Andy, were here to see if the bird had found a mate and while Andy went to check on another nest, it was Richard’s job to sit for a minimum of three hours and wait to see if a female would show itself. During that time, the kestrel sat on a perch for about a while before finally going hunting. Richard told me that the birds typically only call when there is a female around, but, he said, don’t give up hope. They will often also screech as they return to the nest after a hunt. I sat with my gear on waiting for the bird to return. Finally, it came back screeching loudly and with a gecko in its talons. I was prepared and managed to get a pretty decent recording. Unfortunately, I couldn’t see him and didn’t quite manage to get the parabola directly “on” the bird. But it’s still not too bad. We waited a while longer but, alas, no female ever showed so we hiked back down.
But, anyway, I managed to get the “white whale” on my first day. And now I know where he lives so I’ll be returning tomorrow and maybe even stay overnight on the cliffs. The best part of the day, though, at least at the time, was when a nice French couple picked up a woe-begotten hitchhiker who didn’t feel like walking the last mile and half to the bus station.
