Adventure Birding 'n Outdoors in New Guinea's Wild West
Spotless Crake Zapornia tabuensis is the commonest species of rail in the mid-montane wet
grasslands of the Anggi Giji basin in the Arfak Mountains on New Guinea's Bird's Head or Vogelkop Peninsula. Copyright ©
Iwein Mauro
Anggi Giji basin
Extension to Arfak montane specialties birding break (3 days/3 nights)
The twin mountain lakes of Anggi Giji and Anggi Gita, situated at c. 1,800 m elevation in the Sougb-country of
the southern Arfak Mountains, were first visited by a western naturalist in 1904, but it was a young Ernst Mayr who in 1928, at the
beginning of an extremely productive career in ornithology and evolutionary biology, discovered the area's paramount ornithological
attraction on the eastern shores of Anggi Giji: the beautiful Grey-banded Munia, until today known only from here and nowhere else
on Earth!
The visually stunning Anggi Giji basin is also an excellent place to come to grips with more widely ranging wet
grassland specialists like Lewin's Rail and Spotless Crake, and stands of swampy Pandanus-dominated forest at the base of
the surrounding slopes support the nearly mythical Shovel-billed Kookaburra, with a good selection of the montane Arfak avifauna
waiting to be explored uphill.
When?
Possible year-round, but most certainly best from June to November.
Scheduled departures
Please enquire for details on our upcoming departures.
Physical effort
Relaxed birding in flat or only mildly sloping terrain.
Tour summary
Day 7 > Mount Indon and Anggi Giji basin.
Day 8 > Anggi Giji basin.
Day 9 > Anggi Giji basin and Manokwari.
Day 10 > Manokwari.
Tour description
Day 7 > Mount Indon and Anggi Giji basin After breakfast and a final morning's birding in the Mount Indon
area of the Arfak Mountains, we shall set out on the three hours' drive by chartered 4WD-vehicle to our host village near the
shores of Lake Anggi Giji, enjoying a packed lunch en route. Along the seasonally fluctuating lake edge, Pacific Black Duck,
Tricolored Grebe, Nankeen Night Heron, Great and Intermediate Egret, Little Pied and Little Black Cormorant, and Eurasian Coot can
be numerous, and it shall not take long before we spot our first Grey-banded Munias, which in season can congregate in flocks of
more than 150 individuals. But observing the two secretive rails may require considerable effort and is influenced also by water
levels in the basin. Come evening and we shall take up position near locally exposed muddy stretches at the interface between water
and grassland or reedbeds. Here both Lewin's Rail and Spotless Crake ordinarily come out to feed toward dusk, and we may hear both
species vocalizing in season. Other birds we may see here include Yellow and Black Bittern, Baillon's Crake, White-shouldered
Fairywren, Australian Reed Warbler, and Papuan Grassbird. Dinner and overnight in village residence.
Day 8 > Anggi Giji basin Following a hearty nocturnal breakfast, a pre-dawn foray could produce Papuan
Boobook, Large-tailed Nightjar and Feline and Mountain Owlet-nightjar. Around the crack of dawn then we hope to find the nearly
mythical Shovel-billed Kookaburra as it starts calling from the surrounding forested hill slopes. Other noteworthy forest birds
that we may encounter here include New Guinea Woodcock, New Guinea Eagle, Vogelkop Bowerbird, Rufous-sided and Western Smoky
Honeyeater, Vogelkop Melidectes, Mountain Mouse-warbler, Vogelkop Scrubwren, Fan-tailed Berrypecker, Papuan Sittella, Black
Sicklebill, Ashy Robin, and Lesser Ground Robin. We shall enjoy a packed lunch on site and continue our search for some of these
most elusive species throughout the afternoon, with a potential resit for the Shovel-billed Kookaburra around dusk. Dinner and
overnight in village residence.
Day 9 > Anggi Giji basin and Manokwari After breakfast and a final morning's birding in the Anggi Giji
basin, we shall enjoy lunch at our village abode and drive back to Manokwari, making several birding stops en route. Dinner and
overnight in Manokwari hotel.
Day 10 > Manokwari We shall enjoy breakfast in our Manokwari hotel and transfer you to Manokwari's Rendani
Airport to check you in for the first morning flight to Jakarta or alternative destination.
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