West Papua, New Guinea - Part 1

Claret-breasted Fruit-Dove

The island of New Guinea lies north of Australia and just south of the equator, and is the second largest island in the world (after Greenland). The eastern half of the island is the nation state of Papua New Guinea, the most popular destination for birders. The western half is Indonesian New Guinea (West Papua) and is comprised of 6 provinces, all part of the nation of Indonesia. Our destination for the month of July would be West Papua to see Birds of Paradise and a number of other species. West Papua is much less frequented by birders and a more rough tour experience. But as always we were up to the challenge. When it was all said and done, I would say this was by far the most physically demanding birding trip we've been on anywhere in the world. To maximize the number of species seen, a birder traveling to West Papua needs to be reasonably fit, able to hike steep muddy mountains (often in the dark), tolerate a warm and very humid environment, and arise each morning between 3 and 4 am - even after nocturnal birding the evening before until after 8 pm. We never passed up on an opportunity presented by our guides and thus maximized our time in the field and the number of species seen. 279 species were tallied of which an astonishing 215 were life birds. And this is for Susan and myself who both passed 5000 species of birds seen in the world (nearly half) on this trip. 

Below is a link to the eBird trip report. A large number of the species we saw are listed as "Sensitive," so while the trip report lists them, there is no link to the actual list or location seen. This is routine action by eBird to prevent wildlife poachers from finding targets based on birder sightings. Unfortunately wildlife poaching is still ongoing in New Guinea.

eBird Trip Report

We traveled again with our wonderful friends Tim and Agnes. Our guides for this trip were the wife and husband team of Like (pronounce Leeka) Wijaya and Iwein Mauro of Papua Expeditions. Like is a native Papuan and Iwein originally hails from Belgium. They met and married 20 years ago while Iwein was birding his way around Indonesia and have been leading expedition birding tours in West Papua ever since. As a team they compliment each other very well and took fantastic care of us throughout the tour. Iwein is as good a field tour guide as any we've been with - instant and perfect recognition of every bird sound in the forest with the keen eyes and bird finding skills. Like is a master of organization, phenomenal cook (we spent 8 days in a remote camp in the mountains where Like prepared each meal), and is an excellent field guide and bird spotter. We couldn't have been in better hands for our month long trip.

After 5 airplane rides and over 48 hours of travel, we started our tour on the relatively small Biak Island off the north coast of New Guinea. Here in isolation a large number of endemic species have evolved and we were keen to see as many as possible. We did well after 4 days of searching, getting at least passable looks at almost all with only one as heard only (Biak Megapode). Physically this would be the easiest part of our trip as birding consisted of mostly short to moderate walks on relatively flat ground. It was a mild introduction to what was to come. 

48+ hours of travel is hard...

Arriving at Biak Island

Some easy birding for us travel weary birders

Orchids!

We celebrated our 41st anniversary early in the trip with a lovely cake Like had made for us

Our wonderful hosts Like and Iwein

Biak Monarch

Biak Paradise-Kingfisher

Biak Pygmy-Parrot

Biak Scops-Owl

Biak White-eye

Northern Common Cuscus

Emperor Fairywren

Biak Hooded Pitta

Red-cheeked Parrot

Biak Paradise-Kingfisher

Long-tailed Starling

After a successful visit to Biak Island we flew to the provincial capital city of Jayapura and Lake Sentani for some lowland birding. Here we would get our first taste of hot and humid hiking for really good birds. The grasslands around Lake Sentani produced some great birds including distant looks at the difficult Fawn-breasted Bowerbird. On our third day we set out on a 9 mile round trip expedition in the hot and humid swamp forest along the Muaib River. This is the home of the Victoria Crowned-Pigeon, a rare and difficult bird to see. This enormous pigeon is the size of a small turkey but can easily vanish in the dense forest. We had a large contingent of local villagers as guides, and were in good hands. This is a disputed area of local control and hadn't been birded in 10 years. But with better relations between clans it was determined safe to visit. Our local guides knew the territory and kept a lookout all day for the pigeon. It took until late afternoon to locate one, and then a pair, but successful we were. Our looks were distant and birds perched high in a tree, but the scope views were phenomenal of this spectacular bird. The crowned-pigeon gets it's name from the elaborate head plumes they carry - one of the more spectacular decorations in the bird world. Our late locating of the pigeon miles from the road made for a fast hike out arriving just as it got too dark to see without a light. We definitely got our money's worth that day. 

Flying into Jayapura and Lake Sentani

Lake Sentani grasslands

Lake Sentani

The sun sets near Lake Sentani

Birding the lowland swamp forests along the coast

On the third day we prepare at dawn for our expedition into the swamp forest

Our first hint of a crowned-pigeon, a single head plume feather found on the trail

Our tour and local guides for the trek

After a particularly difficult creek crossing, some of the clan stayed behind while
we continued to search for pigeons, and built us a log bridge for the return trip

The next day, Susan relaxes in a cold spring fed pool coming out of the limestone

The spring fed creek

Dragonfly

Blyth's Hornbill

Grand Munia

Grand Munia

Another cool dragonfly

Papuan Marsh-Harrier

Rufous-bellied Kookaburra

Victoria Crowned-Pigeon

Yellow-faced Myna

That will wrap up the first installment of this journey. Next up is a week-long adventure in the remote Arfak Mountains, and our first real looks at Birds of Paradise!