Headed up to the canopy tower early doors, after a quick look at the nearby Twelve-wired BoP display site behind the lodge. A Frilled Monarch called in the gloom and a pair of New Guinea Scrubfowl scuttled away from us, only being seen by the leaders. Up at the canopy tower we enjoyed a steady stream of birds either flying by or perching up to catch the first of the sun’s rays. A personal favourite was our first Pink-spotted Fruit-Doves that eventually gave decent views in a large tree nearby. Many Oriental Dollarbirds flew over the treetops, a Red-cheeked Parrot screeched as it flew by, a huge Great Cuckoo-Dove flew directly over the tower, a massive Blyth’s Hornbill flew by with the sounds of its wings almost deafening, but best of all was a cracking Palm Cockatoo flying slowly over the treetops in front of us. Wow! I have been totally impressed by this species and when you get a good look at its hulking bill, you would too! Other notable species included Papuan Spangled Drongo (still lumped in the Spangled Drongo complex by IOC), a few Double-eyed Fig-Parrots playing hard-to-see in a large leafy tree, more Orange-bellied Fruit-Doves, and a few other commoner species.
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| Yellow-billed Kingfisher |
Tearing ourselves away we hit the trails and did a fairly long walk that turned out to be rather slow, yet we nailed a superb Yellow-billed Kingfisher, saw more hornbills (there’s only one here), and had our closest views of Boyer’s Cuckooshrike.
After a rest and siesta over lunchtime we drove towards Jayapura (spending the night at a decent hotel) and spent a pleasant couple of hours birding near the huge lake, seeing Black-billed Coucal, a superb bunch of Orange-fronted Fruit-Doves feeding amongst the much commoner Orange-bellied Fruit-Dove in some large trees, several New Guinea Friarbirds and other common species. It was really nice to stay in a good hotel with air-con and copious amounts of cold beer tonight!
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