INDIAN POND HERON

I've just returned from a whirlwind trip to Christmas Island. This is what lured me there:

It's an Indian Pond Heron and he's never been seen in Australia before. The photo is by Andy Robinson. Thank you, Andy! Handsome, isn't he? (The bird, not Andy!) I say 'he' but noone's sure what sex this bird is. It arrived at Rocky Point on Christmas Island on 28 February. Sonia Tideman found it. Well done, Sonia! I simply had to see it. Luckily, Qantas had put on extra flights to Christmas - one a month. So I could fly in on a special Saturday flight, and out again on the standard Monday flight, spending just two nights on the island. The plane arrived early, just after 3 on Saturday. Lisa, the travel agent on Christmas who arranged my bookings for me, picked me up and immediately took me to look for the bird. It had been regularly walking around amongst the houses at Rocky Point, so it was on private property. Without trespassing, we satisfied ourselves that the bird just wasn't there. I can't pretend I wasn't disappointed. Had I flown all this way for nothing? I dumped my backpack in my room and walked to the cemetery where a pair of Arctic Warblers had been seen recently. They would be another lifer for me, I hoped. Of course I could neither hear nor see anything resembling a warbler, so I walked back to my accommodation thinking I'd check out Rocky Point on the way. You can imagine my state of mind. Two other people I knew of had twitched this bird. They'd got off the plane, driven to the spot and seen the bird. Was I going to be the first birder to dip on this First For Australia? I was feeling a little sad and sorry for myself as I approached Rocky Point. I stood where we'd looked for the bird, and, before I could even reach for my binoculars, there it was! My first impression was of a beautiful soft grey bird with white plumes on the back of its head, about the size of a cattle egret. I drank him in. He was not nearly as white as the two pond herons I had seen previously: Chinese and Javan. His yellow eye was piercing and his three-coloured bill was interesting - blue at the base, then greenish-yellow with quite a long black tip (I reckon perhaps three centimetres). His back was a pretty maroon and he seemed to be wearing a white tie. I tried to take a photo with my phone. This is the best I could do.

I went back to my room with a spring in my step, disappointed that the pub wasn't open and I couldn't celebrate appropriately. The next morning I was back at the site about 6. Sonia had told me the bird started feeding around then. He roosted in a poinciana tree. And there he was again! Sonia was watching. She told me she'd watched me flush the bird yesterday. I felt very guilty. I had not intended to flush the bird, and I thought I'd been very careful not to upset it. And I hadn't known I was being watched. She told me not to approach the bird and took me into her house where we watched it through the window. This time it reminded me more of a night heron than a cattle egret. It had yellowish-green legs with bright yellow soles. We watched it feeding, until it very slowly, very deliberately, walked out of view. I returned to the cemetery, where I met Andy, and, after a little coy hiding, the Arctic Warblers both put in an appearance.

This is another of Andy Robinson's beautiful photos. So I had two ticks in two days. Not bad, hey! For years Christmas Island gave me more lifers than Cocos, but in recent years Cocos has taken the crown. It seems that Christmas wants its crown back again.