Status of birds and rodents on Niue following cyclone Heta in January 2004

On 6 January 2004. cyclone Heta devastated much of the South Pacific island nation of Niue. Extensive damage was done to forest, particularly of the north- western sector, with many trees up-rooted and others stripped of branches and foliage. This report details our findings from a survey of Niue's birds and rodents during 3-19 September 2004 and compares these with results from a similar survey in September 1994. Five-minute bird count data, an index of conspicuousness, from three transects showed that heahea (Polynesian triller,Lalagc maculosa) were more abundant in 2004 than in 1994, but mid