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Thursday, November 04, 2004
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Tuesday, September 14, 2004
Papua New Guinea, August 2004.
We finally organised John Crowhurst to get a passport, probably a highlight in itself as when he had spent 6 months in PNG 30 years ago, passports weren't required. Ben Blewitt came for the first time, bringing the eagle eyes of youth with him, and finally Blue Booth from Christchurch, New Zealand, with her insatiable curiousity and permanent good humour - and at 70 with an artificial knee on one side and an artificial hip on the other, handled PNG and it's people with aplomb. What good company she was.
Having only the four of us (including me) was a good thing as when the flights were booked Air Niu Gini had stopped flying in to Tari with their big-capacity planes leaving only the smaller 14-seat Airlink as the only other company that landed there. And we got the last 4 seats on that. Tabubil & Kiunga were not on the agenda this time.
We thought we were lucky to get a flight to Tari but that flight never went either because the Tari airport re-surfacing didn't finish until 3 days after we were due to fly there. So we had to improvise in the Hagen area by staying an extra 2 days at Kumul Lodge and another day accessing Baiyer River.
We missed out on only a half-dozen species from the Tari area by staying the extra 2 days at Kumul Lodge at 2860m (the same height as the Tari Gap). To make up for that we easily added Rufous Woodcock (three different birds, quite tame), and Papuan Whipbird (male and female well seen on seperate occasions), neither species often seen by groups on the Tari Gap road.
Baiyer River Sanctuary.
We left Kumul Lodge early to spend the last night in Mt Hagen town at the friendly Kimininga Lodge. On the way, about 0730, we photographed the Blue BoP, saw a female Superb BoP on the same tree, and digiscoped a Yellow-breasted Bowerbird (not commonly seen by visiting birders) through the mist. Ornate Honeyeater was there and Mountain Myzomela in town with Brown-breasted Warbler and Black-headed Whistler.
The rest of the morning and early afternoon we tried to hire a vehicle frrom Hagen to drive to Mendi to see the "guaranteed" Salvadori's Teal there. A$450 was the lowest price so we concentrated instead on negotiations with the police to go to Baiyer River, a brilliant birding destination that had been "out of bounds" for many years because of hold-ups. That has long changed, but a local war broke out about 4 years ago over the ownership of a coffee plantation.
Although things have been quiet for a year or so now home-made shotguns and rifles are gradually replacing bows and arrows in these "highland games" (as we call them) and there is still a possibility a non-police vehicle could be shot at so the police suggested we come in their police-blue Toyota troop carrier as no-one would mistake them for a member of either side. So with a few well-placed bribes we accessed Baiyer River inside a police vehicle protected with three of the Rapid Response Team armed with AK47s, at half the cost of a hired 4wd.
Fred, our driver, was very good. Ben and I, as experienced 4wdrivers, couldn't fault him as he made excellent time through the early morning darkness, including negotiating a difficult 150m hand-made section where a recent flood had removed the original road entirely, getting us to the Lesser BoP lek in time for the last half-hour of display. At least one bird, probably the alpha male, displayed until 0800 in full view, begging for his picture to be taken.
.
It's been 12 years since I was at Baiyer River Sanctuary and apart from the main buildings being burnt down a few months after I was there, the New Guinea Eagles gone from their cages, and no Sweat Flies, little has changed. Baiyer River is about 2 hours to the north of, and so much lower than Hagen, that it is full of a mixture of northern lowland and hill forest species.
Other Bops we saw there in our 4 hours were Magnificent (female only but heard several males at their display grounds), and Crinkle-collared Manucode. Other good birds were Bar-tailed Pigeon (nigrirostris), Ornate Fruit Dove, Zoe, White-eared Cuckoo, (heard Greater Black Coucal), Rufous-bellied Kookaburra, Hooded Pitta, (heard Blue-breasted), Plain Honeyeater (the place in PNG for it), plus Tawny-breasted, Mountain, Puff-backed, and Red-throated Honeyeaters; Ochre-collared Monarch, lots of Northern Fantails and Black-browed Trillers, Grey-headed Cuckooshrike, Hooded Butcherbird, Grey Crow, Black Berrypecker, and Pygmy Longbill.
Not a great list but this is a vibrant primary forest full of potential and like other good places, 2-3 days would be needed to do it justice. I spent 3 days there in 1992 and saw in addition Dwarf Cassowary (easier there than Varirata),
Little Eagle, Cinnamon Ground Dove, Mountain Pigeon, (heard Hook-billed Kingfisher), Dusky Lory, Dwarf Fig Parrot, (heard Papuan Boobook), Rusty Mouse Warbler, Chestnut-backed Jewel, Spot-winged Monarch, Shining Flycatcher, Yellow-gaped Meliphaga, Dwarf Longbill, Golden Myna, and Singing Starling.
Other observers in the early 1990s also saw Eclectus Parrot, Sooty Owl, Marbled Frogmouth, Yellow-billed Kingfisher, Dwarf Kingfisher, Pale-billed Scrubwren, Red-collared and Red Myzomelas; White-faced, Black-sided, and Northern Scrub Robins; Dwarf Whistler, Hooded and Crested Pitohuis, White-bellied Fantail, Black-winged Monarch, Stout-billed and Boyer's Cuckooshrikes, Brown Oriole, Papuan Flowerpecker, Yellow-breasted Bowerbird, Spotted Catbird, and Magnificent Riflebird. And no doubt there are many other species present seen by such birding giants in PNG as Roy MacKay who managed Baiyer River in the early 1980s.
Those of you familiar with Varirata NP will recognise many of the same species because the two locations are about the same elevation, but each has some species the other hasn't.
Baiyer River now has one 4xbunk room and if you don't want to do your own negotiations with the police Elija Hon of Paradise Tours, Mt Hagen, can arrange the police vehicle for you and food if you want to stay a couple of nights. It was probably Elijah who arranged for the good hide beside one of the Magnificent BoP display areas. The famous Jimi Ridge could be open for birders again too (think Yellow-breastd BoP) but I won't be checking that out until my next tour in April, 2005.
Andy Anderson.
-- --
Andrew P Anderson
AABirding & Travel
Box 7999, Cairns 4870
Australia.
tel/fax 07 40318803, mob 0438318804
web page: aabirding.com
birdo@aabirding.com
Monday, March 22, 2004
Our good friend and editor of the Australasian Bird Club's journal, Dr John Grant who know lives in Palawan, has suggested we go up to the Philippines for a tour.
So, in Feb 2005 AABirding & Travel will organise a A$1000/week tour (ground cost) there. John, of course, will be the guide. Feb because John may not be there in March and he says passerines are into territory holding by the month's end. Weather should be good too.
Maybe 3-4 days north of Manila, 5 days Palawan, 1 nt Cebu, 4 days Bohol, another nt Cebu, 3 nts south of Manila. (Minandao is left for the brave to organise for themselves.)
Actually it will be about 3 wks because from Australia the cheapest flights (about A$1000 incl. taxes) are once a week. As usual, AABirding encourages those who can only come for a part of the tour.
John is in OZ this March and is off to the south of the country next week, including Adelaide where a Hudsonian Godwit has been reported from. Here in Cairns the only unusual bird for the season has been a Kelp Gull in November (when I was in S Africa so I missed it), although a possible Yellow Wagtail was reported from Bramstone Beach in Feb when I was in NZ, but not confirmed.
But I saw heaps of Kelp Gulls in NZ, where they are a pest, and a Cirl Bunting or two in my mother's paddock. Tried to find a Ruff nr Christchurch with OSNZ members Sheila Petch and Blue Booth (who are both coming over to Cairns for an AABirding tour in August & PNG after that), but no luck.
No OZ Pelicans, OZ Ibis, or SN Ibis around Cairns this month - all away breeding somewhere. We just have to put up with ordinary species like the Black Bitterns and Little Kingfishers at the Lakes. shorebirds are in breeding plumage and should be on final display on Sun 28th March, late afternoon, for the Bird Club.
FROM THE ESPLANADE
Around-the-block-along-the-Esplanade
The Cairns Esplanade, world-famous for shore-bird watching, is a good place to be. The new timbered boardwalk at the south end is best for watching from, as the tide comes in there last and leaves
from there first. With the new wharf-like structure built out further, and higher, than the old Esplanade wall, waders are sometimes almost beneath the watcher now, even closer than they used to be.
Sharp-tailed Sandpipers are especially tame between mid-August when they arrive from Siberia and mid-December when most of them depart for local freshwater habitats around the area.
But the larger Esplanade is about 2.5 kms long and waders can be seen the length of it. I live near the north end and every morning, if I'm not on tour, this is the end I walk along. My before-sunrise
30-40 min walk (if I talk to others it can take 10 mins longer) starts one block back on Lake St then goes along the Esplanade for about 600m so covering both the edge of town and sea-shore habitats. At the
northern extremity of the walk the mangroves can add other species to the daily list. It's an around-the-block-along-the-Esplanade type of walk and is about one kilometre.
It's a fun way to get exercise and the bird-list is a fun-serious thing to do. How else am I going to fill in all of these small notebooks? I can fit three mornings on one page (with my special shorthand
names) and count a similar number of species in three 30 min walks as I used to count if I stayed out for 1.5 hours. The seriousness comes in doing the same walk so that over a period of time trends may be
noticed, first seasonal and then long-term. The fun comes from making a game of it.
Games are created by setting goals to achieve and having a scoring system. The goals of my game are to identify 40 species, 20 families, and 10 orders of birds in 3 x 30 minute consecutive
morning walks. Scoring is simply recording the birds seen each day. As in any normal bird survey, species are identified by both sight and sound.
My records are in 4 columns; the order of passerines in the first and sometimes running up into the second column which is other land birds including the orders of hawks/falcons, pigeons, parrots,
swifts, and bee-eater/kingfishers. The third column is for the two families of sandpipers and plovers in the shorebirds order; other families in that order such as oystercatchers and gulls/terns are in the fourth
column with other waterbirds such as in the orders of ducks and geese, pelicans and cormorants, herons and ibis, cuckoos, and swifts. It sounds like a complicated system of recording but it makes totting
the score after 3 days quite simple.
Sometimes I fall abysmally short of species - only 30 in these last 3 days mainly because it was raining heavily one morning and the tide was full each morning so the shore-bird count was very low, but
18 families in 9 orders were still recorded. But in good patches all three goals in this game can be attained.
For instance, in the 3 days prior to last Christmas, 22nd, 23rd, 24th Dec 2003, I acheived a score good enough to attain all three goals. Fine weather every morning following over-night showers (as is the
case most days in the tropics) and well-placed tides ensured good scores. Common Mynahs of course and House Sparrows right outside the flat were the first recorded but then White-bellied
Cuckooshrike, Mistletoebird (heard only), Varied Honeyeater, and Willie Wagtail (once in the stand-alone Fantail Family which is now in with the Monarch Flycatchers according to Australian
systematics), quickly followed. Six species in six families, all in the passerines order. Before the end of the block two more species in two more families are added - Rainbow Lorikeets (small groups
flying out to feed from their 3000-strong roost in town), and Peaceful Doves, and each in a seperate order. A good start.
The short street from this corner to the Esplanade can have many species in its bigger trees. A Torresian Fruit Pigeon, glorious in its mostly white plumage with black flight feathers, bursts from the
large Mango on the corner, while another black and white bird, the Magpie Lark, which most Australians call Peewee walks along in front of me. Yellow Honeyeaters are calling (early for them as they
usually start up much later) and a pair of White-breasted Woodswallows are socialising around the top of a power pole. The Peewee these days is regarded as an aberrant Monarch Flycatcher so the
only extra family added is the woodswallow from the new Currawong Family which is now made up of the Butcherbirds, Aust Magpie, and Currawongs as well as all the Woodswallows. All this new stuff
is according to Australia's whizzo taxonomists, Christidis and Boles, whose systematics are followed almost religiously here.
So 12 species in 9 families in 4 orders as we reach the Esplanade. The tide is not far away and coming slowly in. But what is that middle-sized bird standing breast-deep about 20 metres from the shore?
With my binoculars in the early morning gloom I see that it is a White-browed Crake, very nervous about being caught in such an exposed place as daylight breaks and trying to stay well away from any
early bird watchers. But nervousness is overcome by common sense and the crake wades slowly ashore. John Crowhurst told me later that it is the first White -browed Crake seen on the Esplanade in the 30
years he has been keeping records.
A little further along the tide is pushing a large, early-feeding group of shorebirds in; mostly Bar-tailed Godwits and Great Knots (Red Knots are not common here), with some Greenshanks,
Red-necked Stints, and Grey-tailed Tattlers - all in the Sanpiper Family - and one Greater Sand Plover.
The southern limit of my walks is about one third of the way down the Esplanade just so I can see whether the male of our local Peregrine Falcons is on his favourite perch on the south-eastern corner of
the 6-storey Matson Resort Hotel. Not today. And not many birds in the 400m walk north along the Esplanade before my turn-off; a small flotilla of Australian Pelicans up near the mangroves make the
only new species.
Inland now, along another short street also good for land birds and Figbird (in the Oriole family) is the last species added. Walking briskly back along Lake Street, a final burst for the sake of the health,
and home again.
Well, not a brilliant 30 minutes, only 21 species, but in 14 families and 7 orders.
The second morning starts like the first with six of yesterday's passerines identified in the first five minutes; but before the first corner today a Black Butcherbird calls from behind the houses on the
right and Helmeted Friarbird and the introduced Spotted Dove on the next short tree-lined street. No new families though - remember the butcherbirds are in with the woodswallows now - before the
Esplanade is reached. A Spangled Drongo flies noisily out of a large Fig tree in the middle of the wide expanse of tree-dotted lawn that lies between the Esplanade Street and the water's edge. A new
family? Not here; Drongos, still recognised as in a seperate family by the rest of the world are lumped with the Monarch Flycatchers in Australia. Welcome Swallows are so obvious this morning, as
usual. Were my eyes painted on yesterday?
No White-browed Crakes along the shore today and maybe not for another 30 years! But on nearing the north end a few Rainbow Bee-eaters fly past, part of the large summer-resident flock that
roosts along the southern edge of the mangroves, well out from dry land. On the mornings I walk that way instead of toward the Peregrine end, the whole flock can be heard purring as they start to disperse.
Collared Kingfisher, Bar-shouldered Dove, and Mangrove Robin may also be heard and occasionally seen along the mangrove edge, but not today.
And so the second morning of the trilogy ends with only 6 new species. This isn't good at all. Maybe it's the weather. After all it's the start of the wet season and some species, like the pelicans, ibis, and
spoonbills get very scarce as they fly away for breeding. Yes, always blame the weather, luck has nothing to do with it.
So after two days the score is now just 27 species in 16 families (with the addition of the swallow and the bee-eater) and 8 orders (the order of bee-eaters / kingfishers / etc) .
Third and last morning for this circuit. The score is so poor that I forget about it and just look forward to enjoying the birds while patiently waiting for "birdlight" i.e. enough daylight to identify birds by,
which is earliest at this time of year which is our mid-summer. OK, 0530 hrs and we're off. It's a brilliant morning, hardly a cloud in sight.
Yellow-bellied Sunbird and Nutmeg Munia, both new species and new families too, in the first 50 metres; and finally Brown Honeyeater. This last species, usually rowdier than its size would
indicate and usually dominating the street's bird noises, goes quiet in December-January after breeding; its the first I have heard in 6 days so it just sneaked onto the 3-day list in time. Of the other 14
passerine species seen in the first two days, 9 are recorded this morning.
Now what's happened here? These Cairns tides are sometimes a bit erratic. Today it's halfway out. There's some new birds out there. I can easily see feeding Australian White Ibis and Royal
Spoonbill, Great and Little Egrets and White-faced Herons. And four new species among the sandpipers - Eastern Curlew, Whimbrel, Terek and Curlew Sandpipers! Closer to the
shore are Masked Lapwings and Silver Gulls. Where have these two species been these last two days?
So luck does come into it! Maybe the weather too. 14 new species in 10 minutes! At the southern end of my walk I look at the top of the Matson again. Yes! He's there! The Peregrine! The rest of the
walk has no more new species but the same birds are just as nice as they have ever been. What a good morning! What a good three-days!
New families are the ibis and spoonbills (although I often think the spoonbills should be a seperate family not just a seperate sub-family),
herons (egrets are white herons), gulls, and of course the falcon. New orders today are the egrets-ibis, and the hawk-falcons.
The final score for the three x half-hour morning walks is 42 species, 20 families, 10 orders. And I thought I wouldn't make it. That's one of the attractions of bird watching, expect the
unexpected. And bring your luck with you.
Sunday, April 13, 2003
The TROPICAL BIRD CLUB
CAIRNS/TABLELANDS, AUSTRALIA.
Lakes Walk, Apr 2003 (1st Sun every month, Freshwater Lake, Greenslopes St.0630hrs).
The April early morning Lakes Walk was just as interesting as always, with the Little Kingfisher taking pride of
place once again after some months of absence. (Usually not there from late Oct until late March). Another
interesting sight was of over 100 Torresian Pigeons flying over before 0700 hrs from the central City roosts
toward their feeding trees, near the Gardens we thought. Will there be any left by May 4th? We also heard one
of the last? Cicadabirds for the season.
About 55 species were identified (the records being kept by David Anderson) in the 2.5 hrs, including a Bush Hen on the west side of Salt Water Ck near the road, seen only by Brian Venables as he was returning to the group
after walking with Una back to her car about 0830.
We snowballed a visitor from the UK and showed him a few choice things such as the Fig Parrots that Patrick noticed feeding on sap exuding from a wounded Melaleuca. There were others feeding on the seed nuts of another Melaleuca earlier. At the same place a small feeding flock of passerines formed, started by a female Shining Flycatcher then joined by a male Leaden Flycatcher, a female Varied Triller, and finally a Black Butcherbird. A Yellow Oriole was nearby and from the mangroves behind us, a Large-billed Warbler called - nice to hear because last year we surprisingly did not record one for several consecutive months.
Most species numbers fluctuate seasonally in a given area as they come and go for feeding and breeding purposes but occasionally a specific population seems to decline alarmingly, sometimes disappearing, for no apparent reason.
Have you noticed?
The period of decline or absence may be in months or even years. For example, four coastal species, Mangrove Gerygone, Mangrove Golden Whistler, Yellow White-eye, and Zitting Cistocola, all occur south of Cairns but are not here now. They must all have been here once for them to extend their ranges south, and may return again. Sightings of all except Yellow White-eye have been claimed around Cairns in the last 12 years since I have been here; perhaps a pair may meet here again some day and re-settle the area.
Any thoughts on this phenomenom?
PAPUA NEW GUINEA
As I have been touring PNG for over 10 years I thought that it is about time to offer a club-type tour there and have decided on June 16th 2003 as a possible starting date. Most public tours offered are for profit of course and huge expenses are incurred by "having" to stay at the likes of Ambua Lodge (A$530/person/day) and flying from one end of the country to the other for A$600-800, bringing the total for a 3 wk tour to over A$12,000.
We won't be doing that. This tour is based on 14 days for just A$3150 ex Cairns. Club rates. An extension to the Tari Gap area will be offered for an extra A$1150 ex Port Moresby. NOT staying at Ambua Lodge (unless you want to), but at a native-owned lodge just down the road. These club rates are about one-third of normal tour prices.
During the first 14 days, up to 14 spp of Birds of Paradise (BoPs) may be seen with another 6 BoPs possible around the Tari Gap area.
Our lodgings will be motels, guest houses, and on two occasions near Wau, research stations (bunks at one, air mattresses under mosquito netting at the other). Meals are supplied at the motels and guest houses but we have to supply our own food (and get it cooked for us) at the research stations.
Participants should be walking-fit enough to wander along for 3 or 4 hours at the same pace we use on our normal outings although from the village of Tekadu to Ivimka, our longest walk by far, it is about 13 kms and takes about 5 hours walking but includes many excellent birding stops (think Salvadori's Teal, Blue Jewel-babbler, and King Bird of Paradise - that should keep you going).
Until we get to the Nazab airport, in the country about 30kms from Lae, we will be accompanied by locals for both guiding and security reasons although I've never struck any threatening situation in over 20 tours of PNG. Bird guides are scarce in PNG and when we find a promising one we usually try to teach him as much as possible.
Here's some detail -
PNG ITINERARY , 14 ds
Mon 16 June, 2003. Fly 0700 hrs Cairns-Port Moresby arriving 0825 hrs. Birding around Jackson Airport, Pacific University, and the Laloki Valley, on the way to Varirata NP. Stay Kokoda Trail Motel.
Tue 17 Birding Varirata. Stay Kokoda Trail Motel, 40 km from Port Moresby.
Wed 18 Varirata am. Fly 1215 hrs Moresby-Wau arriving1315. Drive up to and stay Kolorong Field Station.
Thu 19 At 2200m a.s.l. Kolorong straddles the main divide between the old Papua (southern) and New Guinea.
Fri 20 This area has excellent birds most of which you will have never seen. Stay Kolorong
Sat 21 Lesser Melampitta, Mottled Whistler, and Brown Sicklebill are three local specialities. Stay Kolorong
Sun 22 Drive down and stay at the Wau Ecology Institute. Papuan Boobook may be seen here.
Mon 23 Fly 0900 Wau-Tekadu 0935. A spectacular low level flight over forested mountains. Stay Ivimka Lodge.
Tue 24 Ivimka Lodge is a 12-13 km from Tekadu village along the old (almost flat) Bulldog Track of WWII.
Wed 25 Ivimka Lodge is south of the main divide in the lowland forests of the Lakekamu Basin.
Thu 26 Vulturine Parrot, Pinon Pigeon, Papuan Hornbill, and Golden Cuckooshrike are here. Stay Ivimka Lodge.
Fri 27 Fly 1010 Tekadu-Wau 1045, then 1330 Wau-Lae 1400. Stay Ramu Sugar guest house.
Sat 28 Birding the highway from the Markham Valley grasslands through the forested hills to stay in Madang.
Sun 29 And back. This can be excellent birding. Lesser BoP, & maybe the rare Doria's Hawk. Stay Ramu Sugar.
Mon 30 Emperor BoP by the Markham Valley? Fly 1055 Lae-Moresby 1140, then 1255 Moresby-Cairns.
OR
Mon 30 Fly 0900 Lae-Hagen-Tari 1130, along the scenic highlands. Stay Stephen's Lodge near Ambua Lodge.
Tue 1 July. Stephen's is about an hour's walk (birder's speed) from Ambua Lodge where the good forest starts.
Wed 2 From here (2000m) up to Tari Gap (2800m) is one of the world's great birding roads. Stay Stephen's.
Thu 3 This is Black Sicklebill altitude but they are an hour's walk away along a side road. Stay Stephen's Lodge.
Fri 4 Mcgregor's Bowerbird, and Blue BoP one of the world's great birds, are also along this road. Stephen's.
Sat 5 Fly 1030 Tari-Hagen 1130, then 1325 Mt Hagen-Moreby 1425. Stay Kokoda Trail Motel.
Sun 6 Birding Varirata NP again; always something new here. Fly 1500 to Brisbane, or 1825 to Cairns.
So there it is. PNG; brilliant new birding only 1.5 hrs from Cairns; and much safer than many places in the world today despite what many people (who have usually never been there) say. Come with me and I'll show you.
If you're interested, email, ring, or SMS me.
Andy Anderson,
Organiser,
Tropical Bird Club.
birdo@aabirding.com
http//:aabirding.com
tel 61 740318803
SMS 61 438318804
