Our last stop in Indonesia was the province of Papua, on the island of New Guinea. We also went to Papua New Guinea, the country that covers the other half of the island. New Guinea is famous for having almost all of the birds-of-paradise (BoPs) (exceptions are two species in the Moluccas and two species in Australia)! Since I have been reading about the BoPs for almost my entire life I couldn’t wait to go there. Here are the pictures.
In Papua we started at the island of Waigeo in the Raja Ampat island group. One of the most obvious bird species were the huge flocks of Lesser Frigatebirds, seemingly migrating as they streamed across the sky overhead.
Another conspicuous resident of the island were the Willie-wagtails (the real name) which hopped around our houses and sang constantly.
Torresian Crows also frequented the trees by the beach, potentially foraging on the sand.
We unanimously agreed that Waigeo had some of the best sunsets we had ever seen, lasting for almost an hour and constantly changing from pink to yellow to orange to red to purple to black.
The reason we came to the Raja Ampat is because they have two endemic BoPs. One of them is the Wilson’s Bird-of-Paradise (shown here) commonly agreed to be one of the most colorful, with its red back, yellow neck, bald blue head, green chest, and blue feet, it is like a tiny firework display.
Here you can get a better view of the curled blue tail feathers and the yellow on the neck, as well as the dark iridescent green belly.
The other BoP endemic is the Red Bird-of-Paradise, with a green head, brown and yellow body, and bright red tail feathers it is one of the more “classic” BoPs in the genus Paradisaea.
Although the Red was hidden in the trees most of the time we could occasionally hear some of its loud resounding trumpet-like calls, meant to attract females to the communal lek.
Although there are only two species of BoP are endemic to the Raja Ampat there is a third species that also lives on mainland New Guinea. Since BoPs are actually descended from crows, the crow-like manucodes are still BoPs. This is a Glossy-mantled Manucode, which was actually just seen near our homestay and not at a special hide.
One of the other birds that frequently turned up at the beach was the aptly named Beach Kingfisher, with the distinctive all-white head visible in the photo.
Although Eclectus Parrots are common on the islands this female is one of the few that perched in the open; more often they were seen flying over.
After Waigeo we stayed at the village of Syoubri in the Arfak Mountains. Our birding guide Zeth Wonggor showed us this Marbled Frogmouth (a type of nocturnal owl-like bird) in his backyard.
While we were in a hide waiting for a Magnificent Bird-of-Paradise to appear this Hooded Pitohui came onto the lek. Pitohuis are famous for being the only poisonous birds; although not deadly to humans, if you bite one you will immediately want to spit it out.
After our wait, the Magnificent Bird-of-Paradise (I call it the mag bop) did show up. The tail shape is similar to the Wilson’s, and they are in the same genus. This was also the only BoP that we saw at a lek with a female, although the female left before the male could display.
One of the least known BoPs is the Long-tailed Paradigalla, one of the “plumeless” BoPs. We waited for it to come and feed at this single banana tree, and eventually our wait was fulfilled.
Although Darwin is generally attributed with the development of the theory of evolution, the explorer Alfred Russel Wallace came up with the same idea at the same time while studying birds-of-paradise in New Guinea and observing how the males could afford to evolve gaudy plumage due to the abscence of ground-living predators and competitors for food. This paradigalla certainly dominated the bananas.
When most people think of a bowerbird it is generally the Satin Bowerbird of Australia, but I believe that this architect deserves the credit: The Vogelkop Bowerbird constructs a large hut-like tent and decorates the entrance with trash and seeds, organized by color and shape: see the large pile of nuts, the “red section”, and pile of plastic cups.
This photo shows the architect at work. Because of the plain plumage, the male must construct a larger bower to demonstrate fitness and maturity.
After the Arfak we took a break from the BoPs and headed to New Ireland in the Bismarck Archipelago of Papua New Guinea. Although PNG has BoPs, none of them reach the Bismarcks. We still got some nice birds, like this Nicobar Pigeon.
These Moustached Treeswifts are, unlike normal swifts, able to perch on branches, and do so commonly, allowing a photo opportunity.
Back on mainland New Guinea we took a trip into Varirata National Park near Port Moresby, and that day turned out to be one of my most succesful single birding days ever. This is a Black-capped Lory, seen on the drive in.
The BoP that Varirata is known for is the Raggiana Bird-of-Paradise, PNG’s national bird. This is either a young male or a female.
Red-faced Parrots are almost exclusively found in New Guinea, but there is a small population on the Cape York Peninsula of Australia. Varirata is the only place we saw them.
Several Raggianas showed up, but we never saw an adult male.
Varirata is also the best place in the world for the delightful little Brown-headed Paradise-kingfisher, which just sits on a branch and watches you watch it.
We were also lucky enough to catch this Barred Owlet-nightjar out in the open, as they are nocturnal and generally stay inside their hole unless you are quiet and patient.
After birding the park we stopped at a nearby wetland where we saw this Comb-crested Jaçana with a chick.
We also found this Plumed Whistling-duck, a vagrant from Australia.
Once our lowland birding had been satisfied we headed up into the highlands near Mount Hagen and stayed at Kumul Lodge, known for the ease of birding at its fruit feeders. This is a Common Smoky-honeyeater eating a piece of pineapple.
The Ribbont-tailed Astrapias (a BoP) at Kumul frequent the feeders and it is more common to see them when you glance out the window than to not.
Equally common are these Brown Sicklebills (another BoP), the young bird on the right and the adult female on the left.
Kumul is also known for its rare mountain species, such as this Mountain Firetail, a finch endemic to the highlands of New Guinea.
Because of its prime location you can take tours from the lodge to see a variety of BoPs; this is a Blue Bird-of-Paradise (Cedar’s favorite) seen just a quick drive and walk away from the lodge.
One of the other birds easily seen at the feeders are Brehm’s Tiger-parrots, which make very good photography subjects.
Here you can see part of the tail that gives the astrapias their name. This photo also provides a good look at the “pom-pom” above the bill.
Less common than the tiger-parrots, Plum-faced Lorikeets skipped the feeders and fed off of the trees instead.
On a walk through the forest we came across this Lesser Melampitta, one of New Guinea’s rarest highland birds and only one of two species in its family.
Besides the trip for the Blue BoP we only took one other trip outside of the lodge for a BoP. This is the King-of-Saxony Bird-of-Paradise. The two long straight lines in the photo are not sticks but specialized feathers coming out of the bird’s head. It can move them around wherever it wants, and could theoretically slap you in the face without moving anything but its head wires. When these feathers originally came to Europe they were thought to be fakes due to the plasticky texture and flag-like appendages lining it.
This photo provides a better view of the flags on the sides of the wires. The actual bird is small, but the wires are big, so Cedar calls it the “Li’l Champion with Big Hair”.
The King-of-Saxony is actually uncommon and hard to find, so we were lucky to get such good views of it.
The call of this BoP does not sound remotely like a bird at all. It more sounds like somebody’s radio broke down and is emitting a combination of clicks, twitters, hisses, static, and beeps in a single fast series. Look it up, it’s amazing.
On almost our last day at Kumul we finally got really good views of Crested Berrypeckers, which are, along with the Tit Berrypecker, in their own family.
