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Waitanta endemics

Every self-respecting world birder is bound to at least once in a lifetime undertake the pilgrimage to Waitanta’s avian delights. This birding break now brings the long-lost Bruijn’s Brush-turkey as well as Waitanta’s two fabled birds of paradise within reach of any reasonably fit bird-watching group with a genuine sense for adventure. Just arriving on an island the stature of Waigeo, entering the breathtakingly beautiful, fjord-like Mayalibit Bay, surrounded by scenic, precipitous limestone karst country, is an overthrowing experience, let alone the journey inland to seek those glorious feathered inhabitants that few people have laid their eyes on before.

Day-by-day itinerary

Day 1 [Saturday] Early afternoon arrival at Sorong’s DEO Airport on domestic flight from the Indonesian gateway of your choice. We shall set out immediately on the three hours’ speedboat ride to Waifoi at the far end of Waigeo’s Mayalibit Bay. We’ll have snacks aboard and stop en route at the Siam River mangroves and tidal mudflats, where water birds as Radjah Shelduck, Little Pied Cormorant, Great-billed and Striated Heron, and Australian Ibis occur year-round, alongside a selection of migrant Palearctic waders in season. Other birds we may encounter here include Little Kingfisher, Large-billed Gerygone, and Torresian Crow. We shall spend the last hour of light at a tiny islet that is being used by roosting and nesting Nicobar Pigeon and Spice Imperial-Pigeon. After dinner at Waifoi, an optional nocturnal foray here could produce Papuan Frogmouth and Large-tailed Nightjar.

Day 2 [Sunday] We may start out early with an optional short nocturnal excursion, and after a hearty pre-dawn breakfast, will bird all morning toward a camp at 345 m elevation. Blyth’s Hornbills and colorful parrots that include Rainbow Lorikeet, Black-capped Lory, Palm and Sulphur-crested Cockatoo, Red-cheeked and Eclectus Parrot, fly overhead as we acquaint ourselves with the vocal or behavioral conspicuous subset of the interior forest avifauna: Yellow-billed Kingfisher, Brush Cuckoo, Slender-billed and Great Cuckoo-Dove, Stephan’s Dove, Wompoo, Superb and Beautiful Fruit-Dove, Purple-tailed and Pinyon Imperial-Pigeon, Mimic and Tawny-breasted Honeyeater, New Guinea Friarbird, Variable and Rusty Pitohui, Hooded and Black Butcherbird, Brown Oriole, Northern Fantail, Spangled Drongo, and Yellow-faced Myna. After lunch at camp, we will monitor one of several display courts of the Wilson’s Bird of Paradise from a hide, in the dire hope of witnessing the full array of amazing display postures of this extremely sexy bird at close range. Having truly absorbed this, we will spend the last hours of light at a display tree of Waitanta’s other endemic paradisaeid, the Red Bird of Paradise, and take ample time to observe the several fine males that normally gather here, interacting with soliciting females. Jungle Hawk-Owl and Marbled Frogmouth are possibilities here on an optional nocturnal foray after dinner.

Day 3 [Monday] Following an optional nocturnal stroll, we’ll enjoy our breakfast while listening to the developing dawn chorus, which here invariably includes Hook-billed Kingfisher, Rusty Mouse-warbler, Olive Flyrobin, Black-sided Robin, and Variable and Rusty Pitohui among others. We’ll have a welcome resit or otherwise second observation session at one of the Wilson’s Bird of Paradise courts. Besides, while sitting quietly in the hide, there’s always a chance of a Cinnamon Ground-Dove or Pheasant Pigeon casually walking across the court, or we could attract skulkers as Red-bellied Pitta and Rusty Mouse-warbler. After lunch, there will be another opportunity to monitor either Wilson’s or Red Bird of Paradise or we could simply bird in the vicinity where we may be rewarded with sightings of Variable Kingfisher, Rufous-bellied Kookaburra, Hook-billed Kingfisher, Common Paradise-Kingfisher, Double-eyed Fig-Parrot, Moluccan King-Parrot, Long-tailed Buzzard, White-eared Catbird, Red-throated Myzomela, Long-billed and Puff-backed Honeyeater, Fairy and Yellow-bellied Gerygone, Grey Whistler, Little Shrike-thrush, Brown-headed Crow, Glossy-mantled Manucode, Lowland Peltops, Black-shouldered Cicadabird, Sooty Thicket-Fantail, Spot-winged, Golden and Frilled Monarch, Yellow-breasted Boatbill, Olive-crowned Flowerpecker, Black Berrypecker, and Green-crowned, Plumed and Pygmy Longbill. Dinner and optional spotlighting session.

Day 4 [Tuesday] As always, a nocturnal foray prior to our pre-dawn breakfast remains a possibility. Today, we will require the entire morning to cover three relatively difficult kilometers to a camp at 730 m elevation in the summit area of Mount Nok. After lunch on site, we will bird all afternoon in the vicinity of camp, spending the last hour of light near a known roosting tree of the enigmatic Bruijn’s Brush-turkey. After dinner, an optional nocturnal effort could produce Jungle Hawk-Owl, Wallace's Owlet-Nightjar, and Marbled Frogmouth.

Day 5 [Wednesday] Following an optional nocturnal stroll and pre-dawn breakfast we’ll make sure to sit in a hide in front of a tended incubation mound of Bruijn’s Brush-turkey at first light. We shall monitor the mound all morning in the hope of getting to grips with the mound-tending male. After lunch, we will bird all afternoon in the vicinity of camp spending time at water sources and at a known roosting tree of Bruijn’s Brush-turkey towards dusk. Other birds we may see here include Hook-billed Kingfisher, Pheasant Pigeon, Gurney’s Eagle, the highly distinctive steini-subspecies of the Black Myzomela, Mountain Honeyeater, Beccari's and Pale-billed Scrubwren, Green-backed Gerygone, and Brown-headed Crow. Dinner and optional nocturnal foray.

Day 6 [Thursday] After an optional nocturnal walk and pre-dawn breakfast, we shall either monitor the incubation mound of Bruijn’s Brush-turkey if necessary, climb to the summit of Mount Nok, where we’ll enjoy a magnificent view over the island if the weather allows, or simply bird in the vicinity of camp. After lunch, we will require most of the afternoon to bird down to a camp at 60 m elevation along the Wai Paley River. We may spend the last hour of light birding along the river, followed by dinner and a good night’s sleep.

Day 7 [Friday] Following an optional nocturnal foray and pre-dawn breakfast, we will bird first light along the river and spend all morning birding toward a camp at 30 m elevation along the Waremag River. Huge communal incubation mounds of the Dusky Megapode are scattered everywhere throughout the pristine flat bottom-valley lowland forests here, and it should not take long before we feast our eyes on a couple of Western Crowned-Pigeons as they break the relative silence with their clapping wing beats to alight in nearby tall forest trees. After lunch on site we will bird all afternoon upstream along the river where we may see Azure and Variable Kingfisher, Yellow-capped Pygmy-Parrot, Great-billed Parrot, Moustached Treeswift, New Guinea Bronzewing, Pink-spotted, Claret-breasted, Orange-bellied and Dwarf Fruit-Dove, Red-necked Crake, Grey and Grey-headed Goshawk, Collared Sparrowhawk, White-eared Catbird, Red-throated Myzomela, Spotted, Brown-backed and Green-backed Honeyeater, Brown-headed Crow, Glossy-mantled Manucode, Red Bird of Paradise, and Yellow-eyed and New Guinea Cuckoo-shrike. Also here, Jungle Hawk-Owl and Marbled Frogmouth are possibilities on an optional nocturnal stroll after dinner.

Day 8 [Saturday] After an optional nocturnal foray and pre-dawn breakfast we will bird first light along the river in search for some of the more elusive species mentioned above, and then bird all morning toward Waifoi. After lunch here we shall transfer to a tiny islet in the Dampier Strait where we will have a relaxed evening’s birding in search of regional small island specialists like the prasinorrhous-subspecies of White-bibbed Fruit-Dove, Olive Honeyeater, Island Whistler, Rufous Fantail, Island Monarch, Moluccan Starling, and Lemon-bellied White-eye. Other noteworthy birds present here include Dusky Megapode, Beach Kingfisher, Violet-necked Lory, Spice and Bicolored Imperial-Pigeon, Great-billed and Striated Heron, Varied Honeyeater, and Metallic Starling. Dinner.

Day 9 [Sunday] After a hearty pre-dawn breakfast, we will have a final short birding excursion around the islet, and transfer to Sorong’s DEO airport in time for the midday domestic flight to the Indonesian gateway of your choice.

Green-crowned Longbill Toxorhamphus novaeguineae is one of four species of Longbill, a bird tribe entirely confined to the New Guinea region.

EXTENSION
Sorong lowlands
forest birds

This extension carries us to alluvial lowland forests near Sorong, home to a well diversified and colorful lowland forest avifauna that includes Red-billed Talegalla, dazzling forest kingfishers, a profusion of parrots including the restricted-range Black Lory, the delightful Western Crowned-Pigeon, and a whopping six species of bird of paradise out of which the Twelve-wired Bird of Paradise probably stands out as particularly sought-after.

Waitanta endemics

Day-by-day itinerary

EXTENSION Sorong lowlands forest birds

Related links

EXTENSION
Sorong lowlands
forest birds