PAPUA NEW GUINEA June
2004 (Part 3: Elevala and Varirata)
This blog
is based on notebook entries, unreliable memories and a trip report of Jon Hornbuckle's.
I took very few photographs on
this trip and many of the views and all the birds used here are from a compilation
CD put together by Mike Watson. Many
thanks to Jon, Mike, Janos Olah, Tamas Zalai and David and Martin Hunnybun for making
this such an enjoyable trip and helping me onto some of the more secretive species
even if sometimes directions started off in Hungarian - Janos and Tamas were so
much sharper than me.
20 June 2004. Before it was getting light we loaded into a motorised
dug-out to head up the Fly River. It was
considered too early to stop at a Twelve-wired Bird of Paradise display tree and
delay our progress so we continued to the Elevala River and Ikame Lodge getting
good views of three Southern Crowned Pigeons on the way. Very impressive. The weather was good for once and lots of pigeons
were seen flying over and perched beside the river, notably 200 Collared Imperials
and 250 Papuan Mountain Pigeons – and no mountains in sight. We also saw 12 Palm Cockatoos, 2 Greater Streaked
Lorys and 40 Blyth’s Hornbills. After dropping our bags at Samuel’s lodge, we walked
to a King Bird of Paradise display tree where we watched a displaying male for over
half an hour. Not seeing a male King BoP
was my biggest disappointment in Irian Jaya and it was one of my most wanted birds
for this trip. I was not a bit disappointed
with it, it was absolutely superb. Around
Ikame lodge we also saw Common Paradise-Kingfisher, Rufous-bellied Kookaburra and
Blue Jewel-babbler but only Samuel Janos and Tamas saw a Southern Cassowary scuttling
away, I was just a few paces too far behind them. We again heard Hook-billed Kingfisher at dusk,
this was becoming really very frustrating although this one did not sound that close. We had an early night after a very basic meal
and nothing was calling during the night to tempt us out, or we slept too soundly
to hear anything.
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| one of the most outrageous inhabitants of New Guinea's lowland forest |
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| travelling up the Fly River |
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| on the narrower Elevala River |
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| Western Crowned Pigeon from the river |
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| the riverbank at Ekame Lodge |
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| Tamas disembarking, Janos (hidden) and Jon about to |
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| Ekame Lodge |
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| Tamas at Ekame Lodge, it was as primitive as it looked but in such a brilliant setting who cared? |
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| my best effort at King Bird of Paradise |
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| what King BoP really looks like |
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| an absolutely amazing bird, even with its green extended tail feather discs out of picture |
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| Red, white and blue. Having only seen a female, nice as it was, in Irian Jaya this was perhaps my most wanted bird of the trip. It did not disappoint! |
21 June 2004. A Papuan Nightjar was seen at dawn and after a
decent breakfast we cruised upstream for 90 min seeing 7 species of Fruit-Dove including
Dwarf, White-bellied Pitohui, and fly-over male and female Flame Bowerbird and male
and two female Twelve-wired Birds of Paradise.
Three hours inside the forest was frustrating with Hooded Pitta and Blue
Jewel Babbler heard, a responsive Black-sided Robin that I never got a clear view
of and a Black-billed Brush-Turkey seen by Martin and Mike only. The return boat journey to Kiunga was a little
disappointing, although we did see a Yellow-billed Kingfisher (new for me) and no
fewer than 17 Channel-billed Cuckoos including 12 flying to roost. We docked by a small tributary at Kiunga as the
sun was setting and a Hook-billed Kingfisher mocked us from the opposite riverbank. Only those of us using sulphur powder, including
me, returned from Ikame chigger-free, as became evident back at the Kiunga Guest
House.
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| view of the river from Ekame Lodge, note the low water level |
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| leaving Ekame for the morning |
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| loading up |
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| Samuel Kepuknai pushing us off for a morning on the river. Plenty of sticky mud to negotiate |
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| on the river |
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| idyllic & tranquil |
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| female Papuan Hornbill |
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| male Papuan Hornbill |
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| Dollarbird |
22 June 2004. Another early start saw us back on the Fly River
as it was getting light and motoring 20 minutes upstream to the Twelve-wired Bird
of Paradise display tree we had passed without stopping two days earlier. Here after a short wait we were treated to a brilliant
performance from a solitary male but sadly no females appeared to be watching, I’m
sure they would have been impressed. We had
good views of a White-bellied Thicket-Fantail and spent two hours chasing a calling
Hook-billed Kingfisher before Samuel finally tracked it down, although it
appeared that he spent some of the time sleeping! We had prolonged scope views and were not disappointed,
another stunning bird. We returned to Kiunga
and walked around the airstrip looking unsuccessfully for munias. We finished the day on the Gre Dringas Road but
this was no more successful with Greater Streaked Lory and Golden Cuckoo-Shrike
the most notable sightings.
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| Nine-wired Bird of Paradise? |
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| no, Ten-wired BoP |
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| any advance on eleven? The incomparable Twelve-wired Bird of Paradise. Another BoP that I'd only seen a female of in Irian Jaya. Females are good but the males are something else again. |
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| male Golden Cuckoo Shrike. This would be a star bird in most other places but in PNG hardly gets a look in |
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| Samuel hard at it, diligently searching for Hook-billed Kingfisher - a bird we'd heard almost daily in the lowlands (usually at dawn and dusk), and often at close range, but hadn't managed to see. |
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| he found one though, and what a stunning bird it was and the perfect finish to a very enjoyable time on the river |
23 June 2004. We returned to Km 17 for our final morning where
a party of four superb Wallace’s Fairy-Wrens were the highlight. I also saw Long-billed Cuckoo and Greater Bird
of Paradise. We checked in at Kiunga Airport
where a crowd had gathered to meet some arriving dignitary although I was more interested
in three Australian Pratincoles on the runway.
We flew back to Port Moresby via Daru on the south coast. This seemed a good opportunity to look for Spangled
Kookaburra but refuelling was quicker than scheduled and it was a desperate dash
to get back on board before the plane left without us – both engines were at full
revs suggesting they meant business! Four
more Australian Pratincoles were all I saw at Daru and with flights only operating
twice a week not something I wanted to get stuck for. Most of the journey back to Port Moresby was over
almost continuous unbroken forest which was very encouraging. Back at POM, we proceeded straight to the Pacific
Adventist’s University (PAU) grounds just outside town where we were escorted round
by Mike Tarburton, an Australian ex-pat who taught there. He showed us a good selection of Australian water-birds
like Pied Heron, Green Pygmy-Goose, Wandering Whistling-Duck and Comb-crested Jacana
but the land birds were of greater interest to me. They included two roosting Papuan Frogmouths,
Blue-winged Kookaburra, Black-backed Butcherbird, Fawn-breasted Bowerbird (and bower),
Rufous-banded Honeyeater, Green Figbird, and Grey-headed and Chestnut-breasted Munias. The ambience was somewhat dented by Mike Tarburton’s
tales of local violence, he himself having been violently robbed at gunpoint in
Varirata National Park. Driving to our hotel
in Port Moresby the amount of razor-wire, high-fenced compounds and armed guards
added weight to a feeling of unease. It was
certainly not somewhere to venture out after dark.
24 June 2004. We left Port Moresby before dawn with local guide
and fixer Daniel to make sure we were OK and headed for Varirata National Park,
almost two hours drive away, picking up Mike Tarburton on the way. Excellent views of a superb Brown-headed Paradise-Kingfisher
in the main clearing was the ideal start and we also saw Yellow-billed Kingfisher,
Crested, Rusty and Hooded Pitohuis, Papuan Drongo, Dwarf Whistler, Chestnut-bellied
Fantail, Spot-winged Monarch, Crinkle-collared Manucode and females of Eastern (Magnificent)
Riflebird, Ragiana and Magnificent Birds of Paradise. I flushed a Cinnamon Ground-Dove from the path
and briefly saw a Black-billed Brush Turkey as it walked away but again only heard
Chestnut-backed Jewel-Babbler. An attempt
to find Painted Quail-Thrush was unsuccessful although not playing the right recording
did not help. Low cloud forced us to leave
the park in the late afternoon to look for Grand Munias at the Kukoda Monument,
but without success. Dropping Mike back at
PAU we saw again a few of the birds seen there yesterday, Fawn-breasted Bowerbird
being the most notable. A very enjoyable
day even if there were a few disappointments along the way.
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| Brown-headed Paradise Kingfisher at Varirata, a superb bird somewhat let down by its name. Is brown-headed really the best descriptor for such a stunning bird |
25 June 2004. We left early for Varirata arriving just before
dawn, hearing a distant Barred Owlet-Nightjar below the entrance gate in the rain. Dave, Martin & I walked one of the trails
but only saw Pale-billed Scrub-Wren and a couple of monarchs. We reluctantly left Varirata to return to PAU
but our delaying was almost our undoing as the ford at the start of the entrance
road was in full flood and we only just got the minibus back across it. Spotted Whistling-Duck and Buff-banded Rail were
the highlights at PAU where most of the time was spent sheltering from the rain.
26 June 2004. There was no let up in the rain and the day was
a complete write-off. Fortunately our day
at Varirata had been a good one but frustrating not to get a couple more like it,
although perhaps the birds knew what was coming and had been particularly active
for us then? It was a disappointing finish
to an otherwise very enjoyable trip although Mike and Janos were going on to Manus
for a few days to look for Superb Pitta.
That was something I wished I was doing too but I’d been fortunate to get the
time off work as it was, maybe next time ...
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| Jon, Martin, Janos, Mike, Tamas, Dave and me relaxing at the end of a very enjoyable trip |
27 June 2004. It was still raining hard when we flew out of
the country on the last morning. Another
couple of hours outside Cairns Airport in much nice weather produced 7 Black-fronted
Dotterel and 20 Straw-necked Ibis with 2 House Crows seen in Singapore. It had been a very enjoyable trip with many of
my target species seen (King, King of Saxony, Blue and 12-wired Birds of Paradise,
Carola’s Parotia, Southern Crowned Pigeon, Hook-billed, Shovel-billed, Yellow-billed
and Mountian Kingfishers, Lesser Melampitta, Spotted Jewel Babbler and Mountain and Feline Owlet-Nightjars). Very many thanks to Jon Hornbuckle for inviting me
along and he, Dave
and Martin Hunnybun, Janos Olah, Mike Watson and Tamas Zalai for being such good companions. Thanks too for Mike for putting together a compilation
CD of photos, none of which I took but many of which I’ve included in this blog.
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| leaving Port Moresby |
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| ... still raining |
[blogged November 2013]
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