Birding walk (0.5 or 1 day)
Large tracts of foothill forest at the base of the Arfak Mountains near the provincial capital Manokwari support
a well-diversified and colorful lowland forest avifauna, including the West Papua endemic Red-billed Brushturkey and Western
Crowned Pigeon and the restricted-range Painted Quail-thrush, plus six species of widespread lowland bird-of-paradise:
Glossy-mantled and Trumpet Manucode, Magnificent Riflebird, and Magnificent, King and Lesser Bird-of-paradise.
Possible year-round, but most certainly best from June to November.
Please enquire for details on our upcoming departures.
Reasonable physical fitness and good agility are required for this tour which plies some challenging terrain.
We shall collect you pre-dawn at your Manokwari hotel and set out on the one hour's drive by chartered vehicle
to an area of selectively logged and primary foothill forest where we shall be birding along a fabulous forest trail. First stop
will be a known display tree of the King Bird-of-paradise, and it should not take long before we come to grips with this little
gem, in fact the smallest of all paradisaeids, which 19th century naturalist A. R. Wallace so amiably described as 'a wanton waste
of extreme beauty'. The rest of the morning, we shall bird in search of a fine selection of other goodies that occur here:
Red-billed Brushturkey, Orange-footed Megapode, Long-tailed Honey Buzzard, Pygmy and Gurney's Eagle, Grey-headed Goshawk, Sultan's
and Great Cuckoo-Dove, Stephan's Emerald Dove, Thick-billed Ground Pigeon, Cinnamon Ground Dove, Pheasant Pigeon, Western Crowned
Pigeon, Wompoo, Pink-spotted, Superb, Beautiful, Claret-breasted, Orange-bellied and Dwarf Fruit Dove, Purple-tailed, Pinon's and
Zoe's Imperial Pigeon, Greater Black Coucal, Dwarf Koel, White-crowned, Chestnut-breasted and Brush Cuckoo, Moustached Treeswift,
Hook-billed Kingfisher, Common Paradise Kingfisher, Rufous-bellied Kookaburra, Yellow-billed Kingfisher, Papuan Dwarf Kingfisher,
Azure Kingfisher, Blyth's Hornbill, Palm and Sulphur-crested Cockatoo, Yellow-capped Pygmy Parrot, Moluccan King Parrot, Eclectus
and Red-cheeked Parrot, Red-flanked Lorikeet, Black-capped and Dusky Lory, Coconut Lorikeet, Large and Double-eyed Fig Parrot,
Orange-fronted Hanging Parrot, Papuan and Hooded Pitta, White-eared Catbird, Wallace's and Emperor Fairywren, Long-billed
Honeyeater, Ruby-throated Myzomela, New Guinea Friarbird, Spotted, Tawny-breasted, Puff-backed and Mimic Honeyeater, Rusty
Mouse-warbler, Pale-billed Scrubwren, Yellow-bellied, Green-backed and Fairy Gerygone, Papuan Babbler, Black Berrypecker,
Spectacled, Pygmy and Yellow-bellied Longbill, Blue Jewel-babbler, Painted Quail-thrush, Yellow-breasted Boatbill, Lowland Peltops,
Black and Hooded Butcherbird, Boyer's Cuckooshrike, Grey-headed and Black Cicadabird, Black-browed Triller, Grey Whistler, Rusty
Pitohui, Arafura Shrikethrush, Northern Variable Pitohui, Brown Oriole, Spangled Drongo, Northern Fantail, Sooty and White-bellied
Thicket Fantail, Rufous-backed Fantail, Spot-winged, Hooded, Rufous, Golden and Frilled Monarch, Shining Flycatcher, Grey Crow,
Glossy-mantled and Trumpet Manucode, Magnificent Riflebird, Magnificent and Lesser Bird-of-paradise, Black-chinned and Black-sided
Robin, Olive Flyrobin, Yellow-faced Myna, and Olive-crowned Flowerpecker.
Although the weather could have been better, the trip was really even better than expected. You did a marvelous
job in showing the birds and preparing excellent food. — Piet Opstaele, Belgium
If you stick with us for the entire day, we shall enjoy a packed lunch on site and continue our quest for some of
the more elusive species already mentioned above throughout the afternoon. Finally, an optional nocturnal foray could add both
Papuan Hawk-Owl and Boobook, Papuan and Large-tailed Nightjar, Marbled and Papuan Frogmouth, and Wallace's Owlet-nightjar.