Sicklebills and Wild Bowerbird Chases!

We headed in 3 different directions again today. Myself, Ray, Dave & William headed to a site for Black Sicklebill, Peter & Colin went to check out a hide for Masked Bowerbird – which unfortunately turned out to be duff, and Graham & Brian headed to the Superb BoP hide and then joined me at the Black Sicklebill hide a little later. As it turned out, the sicklebill hide was set up opposite a feeding station, and was quite a walk up in the dark at 5am I can tell you. It was steep, slippery and I thought quite dangerous – however, when it came time to walk back down, some of our entourage had constructed hand rails along the path and made the whole walk much easier! 

Up to 5 female Western Parotias came in to the feeding station

Anyway, the feeding station became alive with activity shortly after daybreak with up to 5 female Western Parotia coming in to feed. Fortunately, Graham & Brian arrived before a female Black Sicklebill arrived at 08:45am, and she visited on two separate occasions about half an hour apart. We were fortunate indeed to even have a shot of this species, which is usually found at much higher elevations.

Female Black Sicklebill - what a beast!

We waited in vain for the male to show before deciding to leave. The forest here was amazing, with every branch seemingly covered in moss, tree ferns and epiphytes, it was beautiful. A Canary Flyrobin flew in to take a look at us as we stood around, a Vogelkop Scrubwren appeared nearby and we then spent the next 20 minutes trying to get a view of a Trumpet Manucode that flew around us but never settled. 

Canary Flyrobin

Next up was an Arfak Honeyeater before we spent quite a while trying to call in a Spotted Jewel-Babbler that came in so close but the vegetation was so dense and it was clearly an impossible ask. So we walked lower down the trail and enjoyed a fine Lesser Ground-Robin, brief Mountain Mouse-Warbler and Capped White-eye before meeting a disgruntled Peter & Colin along the road who had spent some time waiting for Masked Bowerbird in vain and then being left stranded by our ground crew!!!

 

In the afternoon we birded along the road, mainly hanging around a fruiting tree where Masked Bowerbird allegedly was visiting. It never did and that was no surprise to anyone but we did get Vogelkop Whistler, Papuan Flowerpecker and Mountain Myzomela before staking out the fruiting tree. Luckily, a diminutive Fairy Lorikeet flew in and lingered long enough for most of us to lay eyes on it, whilst a group of Arfak Catbirds gave only the briefest of views. 

Papuan Boobook

At dusk a Papuan Boobook answered my iPhone and we eventually tracked it down to a nearby tree after giving us the runaround! So an interesting and ultimately productive day in all, finished off with Ray not really nailing his landing too successfully into a 5 foot deep concrete roadside drainage ditch……

HEADING UP TO THE ARFAK MOUNTAINS

We flew from Jayapura to Manokwari on the west shore of Geelvink Bay and located on the romantically named Birds head Peninsula. We were met by three 4WD pick-up trucks and headed up into the Arfak Mountains. After just over an hour’s drive we stopped along the road and intended to do some birding but the heavens opened and we had the first rain of the tour so far. So not wishing to waste any time we drove up higher and fortunately by the time we arrived at our chosen birding spot the rain had stopped. 

Vogelkop Melidectes

Everyone was excited at the prospect of seeing plenty of new birds and we quickly found Vogelkop Melidectes , which proved to be rather common. We followed this with a cracking Arfak Honeyeater, Ruby-throated Myzomela, Friendly Fantailand a flyby Metallic Pigeon. By now it was approaching dusk, so we drove to our homestay where we’d be staying for the next 3 nights.

Arfak Mountain Magic!

We split up into groups of three this morning in order to visit the various BoP hides, some of us visiting a hide for Western Parotia, whilst Magnificent & Superb BoP’s were on the menu for others. I went to the Western Parotia hide, which involved a steep uphill climb for around 25 minutes. Everyone had top leave at 4.30am after a hot cup of coffee in our rooms, in order to be inside each hide before daybreak, which was around 5.50am. We didn’t have to wait long, as an absolutely awesome male came in and began tidying up some scattered leaves from his display site before doing a brief wing-shuffling display.   

Blue-grey Robin

Red-breasted Pygmy-Parrot (female)

He hung around for quite a while and we enjoyed superb views. Once he was finished we began walking down the trail and scored a fine Blue-grey (Slaty) Robin, both Perplexing and Vogelkop Scrubwrens, Sclater’s Whistler, Black Fantail (my 7,000^th lifer!), Mountain Fruit-Dove (split from White-bibbed), a female Red-breasted Pygmy-Parrot, a huge Green-backed Robin, Goldenface, Garnet Robin, Ashy Thornbill, Mid-Mountain Berrypecker and finished with a Black Pitohui. Little did we know that this was the birdiest trail of the entire stay up here in the Arfaks! 

 

Back at the homestay for lunch we compared notes on a successful morning before heading back out immediately to visit a couple different Western Parotia hides, one of which had a displaying male ‘doing his thing’ for quite a while. But the other just had a male sitting around posing and not really doing much at all…… Them’s the breaks! But the trail back downhill did produced another Goldenface, Papuan Treecreeper, Arfak Catbird, a flock of Red-collared Myzomela and ended up with everyone seated in another hide watching a rather demure Vogelkop Bowerbird perched next to his amazing bower.

Vogelkop Bowerbird and his bower....

We spent the remainder of the afternoon staking out a fruiting tree, which produced a steady stream of sightings. Several Vogelkop Melidectes got the ball rolling, with Slender-billed, Black-billed and Great Cuckoo-Doves appearing regularly. An Arfak Honeyeater then appeared, another Vogelkop Scrubwren showed well, a superb pair of Ornate Melidectes added the Wow! factor, and a group of Black-fronted White-eyes passed in front of us. 

Great Cuckoo-Dove

A Mountain Mouse-Warbler called from dense vegetation behind us before we saw a mixed group of New Guinea and Capped White-eyes, and ended with a brief Eastern Superb Fruit-Dove and some Papuan Mountain-Pigeons to end the day on a high.

NIMBOKRANG TO JAYAPURA

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. 

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!

A Wild Crowned Pigeon Chase, Emperors and Hookies!

We set out at 4am for what I can only describe as a ‘wild goose chase’ or rather more relevantly a ‘wild crowned pigeon chase’ to a site just under quarter of an hour away from the lodge. Parking up we walked for a mere 20 minutes before I played the call of Papuan Hawk-Owl which promptly called back and Royke spotlighted. What a result! 

Papuan Hawk-Owl

The horizon was just beginning to get light as we walked away from the bird and within another 20 mins had stopped to look at an Azure Kingfisher perched along a stream. Highlights from our route march (which I won’t repeat ever again) were headlined by a superb Black-sided Robin giving repeated views as it circled us before perching right over our head on multiple occasions. A pair of Blue-black Kingfishers flew around us repeatedly as well and it was a shame they never perched close enough for us to see. Other sightings included Northern Fantail, a group of stunning Emperor Fairy-Wrens, Northern Variable Pitohui and a group of Salvadori’s Fig-Parrots feeding high overhead. 

Emperor Fairywren

The walk out of the forest was tough, with barely a trail to follow as we climbed over fallen logs, vines and roots making the going underfoot extremely treacherous and we eventually made it back to the lodge at 12.30 utterly exhausted in the high temperature.

Hook-billed Kingfisher

An hour after lunch we set out on another short drive to a spectacular viewpoint overlooking mile upon mile of pristine forest where we saw Pinon’s Imperial-Pigeon, a distant Jobi Manucode picked up by Pete, another Long-tailed Honey-Buzzard, several Lowland Peltops, at least 4 Rufous-bellied Kookaburras, Channel-billed Cuckoo and a confiding Hook-billed Kingfisher to end the day on a high note.

A Two BoP Day

The day started with me finding a Papuan Frogmouth, whilst my group were having an early morning cup of coffee at 4.30am and which obligingly stayed for everyone to see. Shortly after we were walking up the hill, trying for Papuan Boobook without getting any response, so continued to the Lesser Bird-of-Paradise display lek. We spent the next hour and a half from sunrise marvelling at these extraordinary birds displaying in the canopy overhead. I think someone said they were the cream egg bird, which rather accurately describes them but what an exotic-looking bird! 

Lesser Bird-of-Paradise

Their loud call rang through the forest and when you eventually got your bins on one perched high up in the canopy, you could see it puffing its ‘cream egg coloured’ tail out and shaking it, while it splayed its body horizontally and holding its wings out. Wow!  Once satisfied with the views we walked a further 15 minutes along a trail to the display site of King Bird-of-Paradise but nothing was happening here. So we walked around to another tree where, sure enough, the male was actively displaying in the canopy and after a little patience we were rewarded with great views of this brilliant red and white bird! In fact, there may have been more than one male as this supersonic vision of brilliant red and white zoomed around the canopy chasing after the females and sometimes it seemed it was everywhere at once. A picnic breakfast followed, during which a Rusty Mouse-Warbler began calling and the battle began! I don’t know how this bird could move around the forest without any of us seeing it, but it was like a ghost. When I first played the call it flew straight in at us, perching for a nanosecond about 3 feet right in front of us and that was it. Over the next maybe 45 minutes we tried various methods, moving position, placing the speaker way off in the forest but none of it did any good. So we eventually gave up and began walking slowly back towards the lodge, seeing barely anything save a Grey Crow. But boy it was hot here today and the forest was incredibly dry which might indicate why we didn’t have much activity. So it was a relief to get back to the lodge for lunch and a rest. 

 

However, William and I decided to walk up the trail and spend a bit of time at the canopy tower – what a good move this was. No sooner had we started out than a Blyth’s Hornbill flew over and a pair of Long-billed Honeyeaters appeared not too far away from us. At the tower we enjoyed the view over the treetops and had a constant stream of birds appearing. We began with the first of several Black-browed Trillers, followed by Mimic Honeyeater, Streak-headed Honeyeater, a flock of Metallic Starlingsfeeding on some berried below us, another Blyth’s Hornbill flying past, Black Butcherbird, Eclectus Parrot, a cracking Sulphur-crested Cockatoo perched nearby, Pale-billed Sicklebill appeared briefly, 3 Salvadori’s Fig-Parrots flying overhead and a Red-cheeked Parrot. But by now it was nearly time to depart for the afternoon session so we walked back to the lodge and saw a group of Crimson Finches and Streak-headed Mannikin that Royke had found in the field behind the lodge. 

 

The afternoon session was pretty productive as we birded an open area in search of Fawn-breasted Bowerbird, which was eventually scoped perched up in a distant tree next to our first Meyer’s Friarbird. We also saw its amazing bower with an ‘entrance path’ of cut grass stems about 15 feet long leading up to the bower! Incredible! In fact, this area was very busy as we also saw a superb Ivory-billed Coucal, White-breasted Cuckooshrike, Orange-bellied Fruit-Dove, a pair of Shining Flycatchers and some other common species.

Orange-bellied Fruit Dove

Leaving here we drove to another patch of forest and walked inside to the river where we searched for Shovel-billed Kingfisher, but only managed to hear one along with a Hook-billed Kingfisher. 

Marbled Frogmouth

However, I did manage to call in a fantastic Marbled Frogmouth that sat rather insolently overhead, totally ignoring the spotlight and camera clicks! So not a bad day at all.

West Papua - Our First BoP Action!

We were off on a very short drive to the Twelve-wired Bird-of-Paradise site this morning and following a 100m walk inside the forest were in position before sunrise. The birds preferred display site was a vertical bare branch some 30m above the forest floor and around 15 minutes after sunrise the male flew in and began calling. What an extraordinary-looking bird! Over the next 90 minutes we had repeated views as he stayed for 5-10 minutes before flying off, only to return a few minutes later. A couple of times we were treated to the full-on courtship display as he circled his branch, up and down whilst keeping his body horizontal. Amazing! 

Twelve-wired Bird-of-Paradise

A Lowland Peltops took advantage every time he flew off to use his branch as a song post and was an amazing looking bird in its own right. Amazingly a Pale-billed Sicklebill flew in once and lingered for a minute before flying off. 

Lowland Peltops

Pale-billed Sicklebill

We also saw a party of Papuan Babblers passing close by and a White-bellied Thicket Fantail gave the usual brief looks. The clearing behind us then took centre stage with Golden Monarch, Black Butcherbird, Boyer’s Cuckooshrike, Double-eyed Fig-Parrot, Orange-bellied Fruit-Dove and Black-billed (Bar-tailed) Cuckoo-Dove being seen.  

 

Our next stop was a nearby bridge which offered a pretty decent vantage point over the forest and we saw Large-billed Gerygone, Rainbow Bee-eater, Black Sunbird, Red-capped Flowerpecker, Streak-headed Honeyeater, flyby Coconut Lorikeet, Papuan Spinetail, and a superb Long-tailed Honey-Buzzard. 

Long-tailed Honey Buzzard

With the temperature soaring to ridiculous levels we took a trail down along the stream that didn’t go very far but offered us some shade and we nailed Amboyna Cuckoo-Dove and an Arafura (Little) Shrike-Thrush. 

 

I must admit it was something of a relief to get in an air-conditioned car and drive back to the lodge for a 3 hour siesta. In the afternoon we drove back to the same area as this morning and walked along the road picking up Black-capped Lory, Streak-headed Mannikin, scoped a pair of Orange-bellied Fruit-Doves, saw more Coconut Lorikeets, and had another male Twelve-wired BoP. We ended the day at KM6 with Yellow-faced Myna and a Black-billed Coucal teed up nicely in the scope, but unfortunately only a couple people saw a Papuan Nightjar flyby.

West Papua - Nimbokrang

Our flight left just after midnight and landed at 07:20 into Jayapura, in the ornithological wonderland of West Papua. After meeting up with our local guide, Royke Mananta and his crew, we drove to a nearby hotel for some much-needed breakfast. Afterwards we paid a visit to some nearby grasslands where our first introduction to the delights of this awesome island produced in just a few minutes: Papuan Harrier, Pygmy Eagle, Whistling & Brahminy Kite and a flock of Blue-tailed Bee-eaters. We followed this up with Brown Quail, Brush Cuckoo, Willie Wagtail, Bright-headed Cisticola, Buff-banded Rail, Tree Martin, Grand Mannikin, Oriental Dollarbird, New Guinea Friarbird and eventually a few Hooded Mannikin. 

 

Then we set out on the two hour drive to our lodge at Nimbokrang. Upon arrival we had lunch before walking up the hill behind the lodge. We hadn’t gone far when a Rufous-bellied Kookaburra was scoped and allowed some very decent photo opportunities. A few Moustached Treeswifts were perched on nearby telegraph wires and some Yellow-faced Mynas flew over. The muddy trail slowly wound its way uphill and along the next section we did battle with White-bellied Thicket Fantail, on a couple of occasions just getting the briefest of glimpses. At the first ridge we scoped a pair of Grey Crows before heading into the Lesser Bird-of-Paradise  ‘hide’. Several males were calling upon arrival but none were visible for ages and then only briefly which was very frustrating but most people managed some sort of view. 

 

Leaving here rather reluctantly when any chance of BoP action had gone we walked down to the canopy tower and staked this area out seeing several Zoe’s Imperial-Pigeons, Eclectus Parrot perched below us, a weirdly-stunning Pesquet’s Parrot perched at eye-level not too far away, a flyby Sulphur-crested Cockatoo and some Metallic Starlings to round off our first day in West Papua.

Jakarta Bay Boat Trip

We had a boat trip out into Jakarta Bay this morning aimed at seeing Christmas Island Frigatebird but it turned out to be so much more than that. We began from our ‘downtown’ starting position by sailing out of the channel towards the bay and within ten minutes had our first of over 20 Milky Storks to be seen today. Classified as Endangered by BirdLife International due to a rapid decline in its stronghold of Sumatra caused by intense hunting pressure at its nesting colonies, as well as more general human disturbance and the old nutshell of reclamation of its favourite coastal habitat for feeding. It’s a very sad situation and difficult to see a positive outcome here. It was a real privilege to see so many right on the edge of the huge metropolis of Jakarta, although it wasn’t the most salubrious of settings! 

We saw over 20 Milky Storks this morning...

Another highlight was seeing so many Sunda Teal, initially just flybys, but then out in the bay on some old, abandoned ships we saw many and apparently they nest in these old ships! We also saw a few Cerulean Kingfishers but again, mainly flybys, as well as Pied Triller, Bar-winged Prinia and eventually the ultimate prize of a Javan Coucal perched up and showing nicely, albeit a little distantly.

Sunda Teal

There were many other birds seen including House Swift, Javan Pond Heron, Black-backed Swamphen, Oriental Darter, Gull-billed Tern, White-breasted Waterhen, Sacred Kingfisher, Javan Myna, Freckle-breasted Woodpecker, Pacific Swallow, Pink-necked Green-Pigeon, Red-breasted Parakeet, Racket-tailed Treepie, Little Black Cormorant, a couple of Pied Stilts and a close Javan Plover. Nice!

Javan Plover

Javan Pond Heron

More Milky Storks were seen

Many Purple Herons were seen this morning

Then we headed out into Jakarta Bay seeing White-bellied Sea Eagle and Whiskered Tern, before reaching some poles where flocks of Great Crested and Black-naped Terns were roosting, with a couple of Common Terns. 

Great Crested Tern

And then we came across several roosting groups of frigatebirds, most of which turned out to be Christmas Island Frigatebirds and we were treated to outstanding close views of 59 of them, plus 3 Lesser Frigatebirds and a single Greater Frigatebird. Awesome! Once we were satisfied with the views we headed back to the mainland seeing Pied Imperial-Pigeon and a Pacific Reef Egret to round off a great boat trip.

Christmas Island Frigatebirds

Greater Frigatebird

Boas took us for lunch and coffee before we headed to the mangroves in the heat of the early afternoon. This turned out to be a good move as we saw Sunda Pygmy Woodpecker next to the car park, Golden-bellied Gerygone, Malaysan Pied Fantail, another Freckle-breasted Woodpecker, Indonesian (Brown) Honeyeater, Striated Swallow, a single Little Cormorant in a roost of Little Black Cormorants, and eventually a pair of Cerulean Kingfishers perched.

Sunda Pygmy Woodpecker

It had been a great day but we were all tired by now and with a midnight flight to West Papua we decided to head to a nearby hotel for a rest and a refreshing shower before heading to the domestic terminal and the next stage of our adventure. Thanks Boas for being an excellent and very knowledgeable guide.