LORD HOWE ISLAND: The Forests

Recently my mother, my sister and I travelled to Lord Howe Island as an early birthday trip. It was extremely successful and I managed to see most of my target species, as well as doing some great snorkelling in the island's reefs. As I did with my Wilson Promontory trip, I'm going to split this trip report up into a list of different sites on the island: particularly the habitats I explored.
Most of Lord Howe Island is covered in forest, be it replanted forest or the thicker and more pristine forests atop Mount Gower. This forest is home to a variety of unique subspecies of bird, as well as one surviving endemic, the Lord Howe woodhen. Over my 6 day stay on the island I managed to see many of these, as well as introduced blackbirds and song thrushes.

Emerald doves are much tamer on Lord Howe Island than they are in Sri Lanka

This pied currawong was very tame and even took a grub from my hand

Some split the Lord Howe subspecies of the silvereye as an endemic species

Unfortunately I only managed this shot of a female golden whistler on Lord Howe

The golden whistler (subspecies contempta), silvereye (subspecies tephropleurus), buff-banded rail and emerald dove are common throughout the island. Less abundant is the pied currawong (subspecies crissalis), though it is still not hard to find along certain tracks. Along a Ron's Ramble walk we were introduced to a tame bird who allowed us to hand-feed him grubs.
My main target species in the Lord Howe forests was the Lord Howe woodhen. This endemic and flightless rail was once near extinction, though now roughly 300 birds inhabit the island. Again our best views of this species were on a Ron's Ramble walk, where we met 3 tame birds who ate seeds near our feet.

Though mainly nocturnal, Lord Howe woodhens are still often seen during the day

Many other creatures inhabited Lord Howe as well, particularly near the coasts . . .