Bird-wise, New Guinea is nearly a mirror image of Queensland’s Wet Tropics. Some of the species are the same (birds in brackets), and most other PNG species have family members in Australia as well. As you read this through you will see the similarity with the family names.
    Ambua Lodge, overlooking the picturesque Tari Basin, is among the dearest places to stay in the world and overpriced for some, but even at U$300+ per person per day, the birds can be worth the price. We stayed there four days and identified these delicious birds. (Only species not yet seen on the trip are recorded, BoP = Bird of Paradise, and h = heard only).
    (Buff-banded Rail), Plum-faced Lorikeet, Large Scrubwren, Papuan Scrubwren (h), Mountain Meliphaga, Grey-streaked Honeyeater, Yellow-browed Melidectes, Garnet Robin, Lesser Ground Robin(h), Spotted Jewel-babbler (h), Crested BoP, Short-tailed Paradigalla, Ribbon-tailed Astrapia, King of Saxony BoP, Blue BoP, Archbold's Bowerbird, MacGregor's Bowerbird, Alpine Pipit (h), Mountain Firetail, Tit Berry-pecker, (Tawny Grassbird), Western Mountain Whiteye, Long-tailed Shrike, and Island Thrush.
    The guy whom I was guiding for couldn’t walk far, so because of our lack of mobility there were just as many that Ambua and the Tari Gap are famous for, that we missed out on. Salvadori's Teal, Rufous Woodcock, and Forbes and Chestnut Forest Rails for instance; Red-breasted Pygmy Parrot, Painted and Modest Tiger Parrots, Orange-crowned Fairy Wren, White-winged Robin, New Guinea Thornbill, Papuan Whipbird and Torrent Lark. The Black-mantled Goshawk and all those heard-onlys. Perhaps they were all saving themselves for the next time?
 
 
 
 
 

Ambua in September
(with three women and one other man)

    The Tari Basin was our next stop. Glorious weather was a feature of the flight (from Tabubil) as is our usual luck in PNG, and we were escorted from the airstrip through the rather small crowd to the bus right beside the gate. Not many birds in evidence around the town as usual so we spent a half an hour at the colourful and always interesting market, mingling with the Nationals, some of whom were in their best dress - `arse-grass’ and heads adorned with bird of paradise feathers. Midday birds on the 40 km drive to Ambua Lodge were also very sparse, so we were pleased to be driven up to the Tari Gap at 2800m a.s.l. in the late afternoon.

    This drive can be the zenith of any birding trip to PNG. It can go like this. In an hour or so we added these new birds - Papuan, Plum-faced and Pygmy Lorikeets, Brehm,s Tiger Parrot, Mountain Swiftlet, Papuan Scrubwren, Rufous-backed, Grey-streaked and Common Smoky Honeyeaters, Green-backed Robin (the second sighting of this species at this spot - it is unrecorded elsewhere in PNG), immature White-winged Robin, Sclater’s Whistler, Friendly Fantail, Crested BoP, Brown Sicklebill (some perched and photographed against the sunset), Ribbon-tailed and Stephanie,s Astrapias, King of Saxony BoP, and Crested Berrypecker. The troops were glowing with the pleasure of seeing things so exotic. Next morning we drove up and looked at them all again.
    Between the Lodge and the Gap were Madarasz,s Tiger Parrot, White-breasted Fruit Dove, Yellow-billed and Orange-billed Lorikeets, Large Scrubwren, Belford’s Melidectes, Canary Flycatcher, Blue-grey Robin, Achbold’s Bowerbird, Mountain Firetail, Fantailed Berrypecker, Pied Chat and Island Thrush. New and prolonged views of the King of Saxony BoP rocketed it to the Best Bird of the Tour ahead of the Raggiana BoP. In the evening we did that all again too. Great stuff.

   That afternoon and the following day were spent around the Lodge, adding to the list and photographing orchids, or for two of us, down among the Huli people of the Tari Basin and a back-to-earth culture tour. The straight birdos around the lodge grounds added Papuan Treecreeper, Mountain Mouse Warbler, Buff-faced Scrubwren, Black-throated Robin, Rufous-naped Whistler, Wattled Ploughbill, Hooded Cuckoo-shrike, Mountain Peltops, Mid-mountain Berrypecker and Tit Berrypecker.
    At 2 am one morning, the two keenest of us were woken by a nearby and fairly constant “hou hou”, and leapt out of bed to spot the Papuan Boobook at the bottom of the garden, hunting for moths under the security light. And looking back on it, the animal that kept flying through the light after insects could well have been a Feline Owlet-nightjar; same colour, same size, same habitat. At the time we thought it was some sort of huge bat! The final evening trip to the Gap was the only wash-out on the entire tour.
    We left for the airport 2 hours earlier than necessary on the last morning. The reason? To look for the gorgeous Blue BoP down in the Tari Basin. On the way one lone Black-winged Kite was still on its perch, and there were Mountain Leaf Warblers where the bus stopped and could go no further. But no Blue BoP. The time for leaving was fast approaching. Suddenly a male called from a distant patch of bush and simultaneously the sharp-eyed Britta spotted another at eye level through the sparse trees, but not far off. We settled for the immature male close by, watched him for a while then wandered off to check in at Tari’s funny little airport shed, for our flight to Madang.
    It's a good challenge, forest birding in PNG.
 
 
 
 
 

Islands in Paradise.

Buka, North Solomons, Aug 1999.
(A three-day extension of a regular PNG tour)

       Buka is the small island immediately to the north of the recently-troubled Bougainville, the large island which dominates the North Solomons. Air Niugini had been flying there regularly during the entire time of the 12-year? war with Papua New Guinea, and up to about 1997 Buka was the field HQ of the PNG army. For the next two years it was to be the field  HQ of the UN and other peace-keeping agencies.
        By the time we arrived on 31st July 1999, both the PNG army and most of the peace-brokers had left. The small town of Buka, right on the southern shore and only a few hundred yards from mainland Bougainville, was so peaceful and orderly it was a pleasant surprise. Like many northern and south-western PNG towns it was just as safe as walking around Cairns.
     The locals told us that we were the second party of tourists they had seen in nearly 15 years. Two or three intrepid birders had visited or passed through but probably no birding tour had ever been that way before.
     But I had made a bad mistake in the planning. Buka shuts down for the weekend and this was Saturday afternoon. The plan had been to hire a vehicle and explore the north part of the island on Sunday. We found out the hard way that Buka vehicles are very scarce on Saturdays and impossible to get on Sundays.
     The management of Kuri Lodge where we stayed had said that vehicle hire from the lodge owner would not be a problem. What they didn’t say was that the owner took his vehicle home to the north part of the island on the weekend and didn’t return until Sunday night. And most other vehicle owners in the town seemed to do something similar.
     The troops were not amused. They comprised Helmut & Ingrid Schumann from Germany and Brian & Margaret Sykes from England, the latter couple being secretary and treasurer of the Oriental Bird Club. So we had to walk around the town and adjacent areas for a day and a bit, winkling out some fine birds in the process, never-the-less.
     On our walk around the town that first afternoon we saw Brahminy Kite, (that day and every other day), Variable Goshawk A. hiogaster (was novaehollandiae - frequently seen on the tallest tree in town), Island Fruit Pigeon Ducula pistrinaria seen flying over from the main island every day, Solomons CockatooC. ducorpsi, flying over daily in ones or twos but only scoped perched once, Cardinal LoryChalcopsitta cardinalis very common, Eclectus Parrot, one of the most common parrots of lowland northern Australasia, Sacred Kingfisher, Willie Wagtail, White-bellied Cuckooshrike Coracina papuensis, one Bougainville CrowC. meeki, seen much better two days later and not as common as we had  anticipated, and Pacific Swallow.
     Mino kreffti of the islands bordering the north Solomons Sea and which Schodde split almost 20 years ago from Yellow-faced Myna of the Papua New Guinea mainland, was seen every day. This bird has such a distinctive voice to M. dumontii that we immediately re-named it Musical Myna when we heard it for the first time in New Britain in 1997. Others of the Starling Family that day were Singing Starling, seen every day, and Metallic Starling, also seen on the 2nd.
     Kuri Lodge, our comfortable  lodgings with good food and caring management, is beside the western end of the airport. As we wandered over the runway to get to the gardens and forest edge on the second day, we saw a Pacific Black Duck and an Osprey flying over and a Pied Goshawk A. albogularis perched tamely on a runway marker. It was there nearly every time we went past and an excellent bird at close quarters. There are three forms - dark grey, light grey, and light grey with a rusty collar - this one was the latter and was quite striking at close quarters with its yellow legs and cere and orange eye, all contrasting with the light grey of the top half and the pure white of the underside.  They are quite common and we saw several in the next two days.
     On our morning circuit we spotted four species of shorebird; Whimbrel, Siberian Tattler, Pacific Golden Plover, Greater Sand Plover; scoped a Claret-breasted Dove Ptilinopus viridis perched at the back of town, saw several Red-knobbed Pigeons Ducula rubricera flying over, and our first Rainbow Lorikeets. Would that they were one of the three Charmosyna spp recorded on Buka but we never saw any of the others. We did see a few Brown-winged Starlings Aplonis grandis perched in the town that day and the next, and Olive-backed Sunbird N. jugularis.
     On Monday 2nd August, we had a pre-dawn breakfast then drove around the airport and inland to the north-west into the low hills of the Parkinson Range. This gravel road leads to the western side and  along most of it has potential for good birding. Scenic too.
     We were looking for passerines and although we never saw a honeyeater or a whistler new birds for us were two Steel-blue Flycatchers Myiagra ferrocyanea, two White-winged FantailsRhipidura cockerelli,  Midget FlowerpeckerD. aeneum, and more than ten Yellow-throated Whiteyes Z. metcalfii. I thought I heard and glimpsed Island Leaf Warbler Phylloscopus poliocephalus, recently split from P. trivirgatus now of the Oriental Region only, but its presence on Buka remains unproven.
     Other new forest birds we saw were Song Parrot Geoffroyus heteroclitus, Papuan Hornbill Aceros plicatus, (from which Blyth’s was recently split and re-named Plain-pouched and is now purely an Oriental species), and Glossy Swiftlet.
     The road winds in and out of numerous gullies, paralleling the coast which we eventually got down to at a 4km strip of lovely beach between the villages of Kahule and Tung. We spent some time with the villagers of Tung, waching for seabirds between the shore and the line of reef and islands about 2 km out. And although we saw Brown Booby, Lesser Frigatebird, Eastern Reef Egret, Little (Striated) Heron, Eastern Curlew, Common Sandpiper, Greater Crested Tern and a species of noddy, we were most interested in the large pelagic feeding flock we could see just outside the reef.
     We felt a pelagic coming on but no-one had any fuel for the boats. “Bring fuel, no problem”, they said. But next time when we have fuel there will be no feeding flock. But it will be worth a try as amongst the noddies and frigate birds and boobies there were shearwaters, some mostly? white under-winged and white-bellied and probably Streaked, and possibly a few of a darker species. But they were too far even for the scope.
     By the time we reached Skotlan, a small missionary village further along and about 40 km from Buka, it was lunchtime and it was warm. A pair of Beach Kingfishers was flushed but not much was moving of its own volition.
     Suddenly, sailing up on the thermals, was one of our most hoped-for, a Solomons Eagle or Sanford’s Sea Eagle, Haliaeetus sanfordi! It quickly soared away up a small valley. Not a great look but two others were seen on the way home as we approached the highest point of the road above Kahule. They too, were soaring above the forest. This was also the spot where we had good scoped views of two Solomons Cockatoos.
     Our early morning walk before the plane the next day added no new birds to the 41 species we had seen on Buka out of the 95 species ever recorded there. We were quite happy with seeing 9 of the 14 area-endemics recorded from Buka, i.e. Solomons Eagle, Pied Goshawk, Cardinal Lory, Steel-blue Flycatcher, White-winged Fantail, Bougainville Crow, Midget Flowerpecker, Yellow- throated Whiteye, and Brown-winged Starling.
     Next time we might see the others as well; Ultramarine Kingfisher, Red-naped Myzomela, Bougainville and Solomons Pied Monarch, and Solomons Cuckooshrike. Beck’s Petrel and Heinroth’s Shearwater are possible too!
     Next time we will probably stay at Kuri Lodge’s new tourist resort right on the water beside the Buka passage. We will probably fly down to Arawa on mainland Bougainville with Sauncumup Air to see Woodford’s Rail and ? Imitator Sparrowhawk. Over a weekend.
     Because next time we must be on Buka only on week-days and take plenty of two-stroke fuel when we travel out of town.
 
 
 
 
 

Bougainville Birding, 16th to 23rd August, 2001.

    Brilliant weather (warm as), good birding, nice people. Sums up a week on Bougainville. Same day flights (2) from CNS to Buka for A$1075 -
    Least Frigatebird, Crested Tern, Island Fruit Pigeon, Solomon's Cockatoo, Eclectus Parrot, Cardinal Lory, Red-flanked Lorikeet, Sacred Kingfisher that same afternoon, and Intermediate Egret, Yellow-eyed C-shrike, Cicadabird, Pacific Swallow, Willie Wagtail, Yellow-throated White-eye, Musical Myna and three Aplonis Starlings, Metallic, Singing, Brown-winged, in one feeding tree outside the lodgings, added the following morning.
    O'night at Kuri Lodge for A$58 w/b'fast.

    Runabout taxi-boat (one Kina) over the 150m channel to the main island of Bougainville the next day and air-con 4wd to Arawa (K50 = A$30) 4+ hrs later. Saw little on the way except Purple Swamphen and a fast Woodford,s Rail Nesoclopeus woodfordi scooting across the sealed road near Arawa. (ArAHwa).
    Don & Llane Hadden "em i goin finis" next year hence the unseemly haste to do a prospect of the place. Don and I watched a Woodford,s Rail for 10 mins just on sunset. Very nice. Off-white beak, dark-grey legs, dull blackish body. They're actually quite common.

  An apology from me at this stage is called for. I did mention a year ago that Don had been given two new (dead and very bedraggled) birds unknown to science. Make that one, the Odedi, as the other (which we in Cairns had hoped might be a new shrikebill from the photo), turned into the local version of an immature Golden Whistler. Our mistake, not Don,s - he would never be drawn into such an assumption. As soon as he got fresh specimens he realised what it was.
    The fresh specimen of the Odedi (still un-named) looks like a juvenile with very yellow gape, a rusty cap, lighter brown on the back and tail and pale under with dark spots. This specimen is also on the way
to Mary LeCroy in the New York Museum of Natural History.
    Don showed me a third specimen in his freezer, an adult received when nearly dead. Olive-brown nearly all over, very plain; must be very hard to see in the highland rainforest. Total length about 4.5 to 5
inches, very short winged. I should think it would only fly as far as a Lesser Melampitta, say from a large log down to the ground a few metres away (personal observation of a Melampitta). But white fellas (birders included) will not be able to access the higher-than-coast habitats on Bougainville for some time. Not even Don.

    So coastal birding is what we did over the weekend, and the following two days. Seen amongst the more common birds and additional to the trip list were Spotted Whistling Ducks (new for B'ville), Variable Goshawk, Pied Goshawk (dark phase only), Spot-breasted Pigeon, Macropygia mackinlayi, Red-knobbed Fruit Pigeon D. rubricera, Claret-breasted Dove, Duchess Lorikeet Charmosyna margarethae, Brush Cuckoo, Solomons' Boobook Ninox jacquinoti, perched nicely in very good light, both White-rumped and Uniform Swiftlets, and River (Common) Kingfisher.
    Then there were the Todirhamphus (was Halcyon) Kingfishers, UltramarineT. leucopygius, Sacred, a silent and normal-looking green-backed migrant, ANOTHER of similar body and beak size with similar habits and calling in pairs like breeding Sacred (four even notes) but coloured like the Chestnut-bellied in Doughty, ANOTHER, possibly longer-billed and similarly coloured but calling in pairs with 3 notes, the first two even and the second one note down, and supposed to be the local version of Collared.
    The races of T. chloris must be due for some very close study. This particular race is not only coloured differently to the "normal" chloris but seems much smaller, shorter beak to head length, lives in a different habitat and calls differently.
   Other notable spp were Papuan Hornbill, Bougainville and Solomon,s Pied Monarchs Monachus erythrostictus and M. barbatus,Steel-blue Flycatcher, White-winged Fantail, Bougainville Crow, and Midget Flowerpecker.

    I was fortunate to go on a tuna-trawling trip back at Buka. There were two or three smaller-than- Crested terns following the bait fish and although I never id-ed them properly they were probably Grey-backed. Hard to look at through all that spray. I spent some time that afternoon on a forest-covered coral atoll and saw one Melanesian Scrubfowl, one Solomon's Eagle, three Beach Thick-knees, one Beach Kingfisher, and a pair of Island Monarchs.

    Don (the keeper of the Bougainville list), tells me Grey-backed Terns have never been recorded in B'ville waters, so I just have to go up to Tung with some two-stroke fuel next time.