|
|
|
To my knowledge, this was the first birding tour operated by any bird tour company for many years to West Papua or Irian Jaya. A great list of many extraordinary birds was recorded and, despite some tough conditions in terms of climate and terrain, I’m sure it is safe to say that the trip was thoroughly enjoyable. New Guinea’s birds and mammals are unarguably some the most exceptional on the planet, and West Papua is home to a fabulous selection of endemics including the incomparable Wilson’s Bird-of-paradise and Long-tailed Paradigalla, both of which we were able to observe at length. In all we recorded 234 bird species of which ten were heard only. We saw eight species of mammal – a very creditable list for New Guinea! We started off the tour in the provincial town of Sorong, where we met my good friend Kris Tindige. From there we boated out on calm, tropical seas to the island of Batanta. This and neighbouring Salawati, Waigeo, Kofiau and Misool are very important islands that comprise a subregion of New Guinea known as the West Papuan islands. Wilson’s Bird-of-paradise and Red Bird-of-paradise are only found on Batanta and Waigeo. Being closer to the main island, Salawati supports some rather more widespread species. Our very early morning trek up Gunung Batanta in the dark was rewarded with some exceptional views of the mind-boggling Wilson’s Bird-of-paradise. Many other excellent sightings of a whole bunch of exciting birds added to a very enjoyable stay on this picturesque island. Unfortunately, we saw at close hand plenty of evidence of some destructive logging practices on Salawati during our visit there. We also met with some rather unwelcome insect life – a fact that only became apparent some time afterwards! Fortunately, the chiggers did not cause us too much distress in the end. On our trip back to Sorong, we stopped off at the picture postcard Senapang Island where we easily found the restricted-range Spice Imperial Pigeon and Orange-fronted Fruit-Dove. Braving the vagaries of the notorious Merpati Airlines we then set off for Biak Island, located in Geelvink Bay on New Guinea’s north west coast. After our nights of camping on Batanta it was a pleasant change to enjoy the relative comforts of our hotel in Biak on Biak Island. This oceanic island is home to a number of fascinating endemics. We saw almost all of them during our stay, including a rather dubious coucal from our aircraft (according to Betty). A great result! Thanks to Merpati we enjoyed an extra night in our hotel before setting off on the next highly anticipated leg of our tour to the Arfak Mountains in the Vogelkop (or Bird’s Head) Peninsula. Here we camped right in the forest near the Hattam village of Mokwam. With Zeth as our impressively knowledgable local guide, we set out daily into the forest in search of the many exciting specialties to be found here. A night at the very basic Lemon Hut was rewarded by a fabulous mid morning of birding where we saw Lesser Melampitta, Rusty-naped Whistler, Spotted Jewel Babbler, Lesser Ground Robin and Long-tailed Paradigalla – all within the space of a couple of hours! The next morning we made the strenuous climb up the mountain in search of the astrapia but had to be content this time with stunning views of the simply gorgeous Black Sicklebill. I should also mention the remarkable Western Parotia – yet another amazing bird of paradise - seen well at its dancing ground just below the hut. Though physically this part of the trip was a challenge, the birds were well worth it! Next we moved to Jayapura and Nimbokrang in West Papua’s north east. In this lowland swamp forest we were looking for a different set of birds and, despite enduring some of the hottest, most humid conditions on the planet, we were amply rewarded here. The birdlife was simply extraordinary. Highlights were many but included close, scope views of Pale-billed Sicklebill, a wonderful and cooperative Blue-Black Kingfisher, a displaying Twelve-wired Bird-of-paradise, not to mention a Northern Cuscus and a bandicoot! This was really an action packed trip with some fabulous sightings of many of the remarkable birds of this island. The lack of facilities in the entire area necessarily make this one of the more demanding birding destinations but I hope you will agree that it was all worth the effort! A special word of thanks goes to Kris Tindige for his efforts, wonderful organisation, and delicious cooking and great company. Also thanks to Anton (Batanta), Zeth (Arfaks) and Jamil and Dance (Nimbokrang) for sharing their knowledge and skills. Susan Myers
|
|
Birding
Worldwide - WEST PAPUA, October –
November 2003
