Puddle jumping in the Cooks October 2015 | Carol takes to bird watching

We’ve just finished dinner in the dining room at Babe’s Place, one of only two accommodations available here on Mangaia. At least we think there are two. We haven’t actually seen any other tourists. There is a group of health care professionals from Rarotonga here delivering a trauma education program to nurses (5) and first responders. I doubt the trainee group is very large; there are less than 500 people on the island. One of the trainers told me tonight that it’s just very hard to know if it “sticks”. But without a doctor on the island, it’s vital training.

For dinner Una offered us fried fish, boiled and sliced arrowroot (a bit like eating potatoes without the butter and sour cream), chopped/ pureed taro leaves in coconut cream or paka (absolutely delicious) and fresh greens and vegetables to make a salad. No alcohol and no dessert. Simple but good.

We are nestled into our room now and Margaret has just pulled the mosquito net over her, and stripped down to nothing against the heat. The  oscillating fan is sending coolish air my way every 15 seconds, as I sit here cross-legged on my bed. I’ve turned off the only light, a single, uncovered compact florescent in the ceiling. Sitting here in the dark with only my computer screen and headlamp for light, I do wonder what we are doing here.

Well, bird watching for one. Just as Una was greeting us at the airport this morning, I was approached by a paunchy middle-aged American in a t-shirt and hiking shorts. “I hear you’re birders,” he said. Really, I thought. The island telegraph has slipped up. Must be someone else. “So,” I asked, “did you hear about our adventures on Atiu?” “Nope, but if you go down to the …. and follow the ….you’ll find the …..” Huh? Birdwatchers we are not, but the local birder also had the word, as did Una, who arranged for Henry (I can’t actually remember his name but Henry will do) to take us in the car we rented around the island in search of the Mangaia kingfisher (tanga’eo), an endemic species for which the island is well-known.  So with cameras, binocs and water in hand, and smelling of sunscreen and bug spray, we piled into the jeep and off we went.

Like many Cook Islanders, Henry returned to Mangaia where he was born to a Cook Islander mother and English father. Though not a trained naturalist, he was pretty committed to showing us the pride of Mangaia. We headed up into the “second layer”, the forested growth between the makatea (fossilized coral) and the high forested region. The little bird, blue with a yellow band around its neck, burrows into old dead trees to nest, and Henry claims a fair bit of success in locating them. Until today. With Henry at the wheel, we headed up from the government building through a canyon of a road, blasted out to make it possible to get “upstairs”. Una tells us she lives “upstairs”. After a long slow climb at perhaps 15 km an hour over red earthen roads, Henry pulls off the road onto a grass track, and stops. Traipsing through the trees, I felt like the real thing, my neck aching from the sagging weight of camera and field glasses. Henry’s pretty sure we will see them here, but after 15 minutes or so, he gives up, and offers to take us to Tamarua, a village on the other side of the island. So it’s back in the jeep, and up and over, and around and down some more on a bumpy red-earth track. We pass the look out over the lake, and admire the houses in Tamarua.  When I comment on how beautiful one in particular looks, he tells me it is abandoned. No one lives in it. This, we are told, is true of many houses. So while some people live with less than ideal housing conditions, others abandon homes, and leave the country.

Henry suggests a couple more stops to search for the tanga’eo. I’m getting serious about this by now. Where is he? Finally we return to our original wooded area in search of the elusive bird. Persistence pays off. After much waiting and searching we spot the little devil, and he is beautiful. Almost worth the effort. In the meantime, we’ve had a great tour of the island, clued in to the local history and economy (none), and made mental note of some stops for our “self-guided” tour tomorrow.  Lights out.

Just in case there's an aspiring birder out there, you can check him out here:

Tanga'eo