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PAPUA NEW GUINEA

Sunday 10th May - Tuesday 2nd June 2009

Nik Borrow

Papua New Guinea is absolutely one of those essential destinations for any world travelling birder. At least 708 species have been recorded from this, the worlds second largest island and it is also home to three endemic bird families; the berrypeckers, the painted berrypeckers and the satin birds as well as some strange creatures of ‘uncertain affinities’ such as the beautiful Blue-capped Ifrita, Wattled Ploughbill and the shy melampittas. There is also the added attraction of seeing representatives of what must be the most spectacular bird family in the world, the Birds of Paradise (or BoPs to the initiated!). Our three week long trip was just enough time to get a mouth-watering taster for this amazing place and by sampling a selection of habitats from lowland swamp rainforest, hill and montane forest to small offshore islands we managed to record a very respectable 371 species of birds (of which 348 were seen) and three identifiable mammals. It must be said that PNG offers the visitor some extremely challenging birding as the birds are often shy and wary and frustrating moments with the many skulkers could reduce a grown man to tears! On top of this logistics are sometimes rather shaky (always expect the unexpected) and the weather can really put a dampener on the birding at times as it can rain and rain in the highlands - actually it can rain and rain anywhere! It is also hot and humid in the lowlands where if unprotected by lotions, sprays and creams the leeches, chiggers and mosquitoes can show no mercy. This year we had unusually fine weather and a relatively smooth and undisrupted tour logistically with a three hours flight delay and a late bus arrival being the worst events encountered. One thing is certain; PNG is definitely not a place where one can expect to ‘clean up’ in a few weeks! Having said this, the birding rewards can be immense and we were treated to many magic moments such as the encounter with the seemingly fearless Pheasant Pigeon that wandered slowly down the track towards us in Varirata National Park. The long day on the Fly and Elevala Rivers where we ultimately got great views of the enormous Southern Crowned Pigeon looking like some wonderful refugee from the hippy era. We had a number of ‘Attenborough moments’ with the wonderful crack-of-dawn display of beautiful Lesser BoPs and the bizarre ‘antennae’ waving of the King of Saxony BoPs. The male Black Sicklebill that started calling from a dead tree snag before dawn and as the sun rose the bird sank lower into the foliage only to finally disappear. A Brown-headed Paradise Kingfisher sat quietly inside the dark forest dressed in colours that appeared to illuminate the gloom. Also worthy of mention were the superb Sooty Owl that was somewhat rudely awakened from its slumbers, a New Britain Boobook gazing quizzically down at us from a daytime roost, several encounters with the glorious Blue BoP in the highland forests and the strange Nicobar Pigeon on the tiny islets in Kimbe Bay. A Barred Owlet-nightjar that peered out at us from its daytime roost hole and a male Wattled Ploughbill, all three Jewel-babblers, delightful Black-breasted Boatbills, colourful Brehm’s Tiger Parrots and exotic Crested and Tit Berrypeckers were also welcome discoveries.