Birding walk │ 0.5 or 1 day
Vast tracts of foothill forest just west of the Cyclops Mountains near the town of Sentani support a
well-diversified and colorful lowland forest avifauna, including the restricted-range Brown Lory, Salvadori's Fig Parrot,
Mamberamo Shrikethrush and Ochre-collared Monarch, plus eight species of bird-of-paradise: Glossy-mantled and Jobi Manucode,
Magnificent Riflebird, Pale-billed Sicklebill, and Magnificent, King, Twelve-wired and Lesser Bird-of-paradise.
Possible year-round, but most certainly best from June to November.
Please inquire for details on our upcoming departures.
Relaxed birding in flat or only slightly undulating terrain.
We shall collect you at your Sentani hotel and set out on the one hour's drive by chartered vehicle to arrive
around the crack of dawn in an area of secondary foothill forest just west of the Cyclops Mountains. Here we shall bird all
morning along a road through selectively logged rainforest, making incursions into the forest as necessary.
All along the road, wacko Blyth's Hornbills, majestic Palm and Sulphur-crested Cockatoos, and noisy Black-capped, Dusky and Brown
Lories and Coconut Lorikeets may fly overhead as we familiarize ourselves with some of the common or more conspicuous forest birds
here: Pacific Baza, Variable Goshawk, Sultan's and Great Cuckoo-Dove, Stephan's Emerald Dove, Wompoo, Pink-spotted, Superb,
Beautiful and Orange-bellied Fruit Dove, Pinon's and Zoe's Imperial Pigeon, Lesser Black Coucal, Dwarf Koel, Little Bronze Cuckoo,
Brush Cuckoo, Rufous-bellied Kookaburra, Yellow-billed Kingfisher, New Guinea Friarbird, Tawny-breasted, Puff-backed and Mimic
Honeyeater, Yellow-bellied, Green-backed and Fairy Gerygone, Lowland Peltops, Black and Hooded Butcherbird, Boyer's Cuckooshrike,
Grey-headed Cicadabird, Black-browed Triller, Grey Whistler, Northern Variable Pitohui, Brown Oriole, Spangled Drongo, Northern
Fantail, White-bellied Thicket Fantail, Spot-winged, Golden and Ochre-collared Monarch, Shining Flycatcher, Grey Crow,
Glossy-mantled Manucode, Metallic Starling, Yellow-faced Myna, and Red-capped Flowerpecker.
Scarcer or unobtrusive species we may encounter include Collared Brushturkey, New Guinea Megapode, Long-tailed Honey Buzzard,
Grey-headed Goshawk, Collared Sparrowhawk, Coroneted and Dwarf Fruit Dove, Purple-tailed Imperial Pigeon, Greater Black Coucal,
Long-billed and White-crowned Cuckoo, Moustached Treeswift, Papuan Spine-tailed Swift, Hook-billed Kingfisher, Common Paradise
Kingfisher, Buff-faced Pygmy Parrot, Papuan King Parrot, Red-flanked Lorikeet, Salvadori's and Double-eyed Fig Parrot,
Orange-fronted Hanging Parrot, Papuan and Eastern Hooded Pitta, Tan-capped Catbird, Emperor Fairywren, Green-backed, Long-billed,
Plain and Streak-headed Honeyeater, Meyer's Friarbird, Yellow-gaped Honeyeater, Rusty Mouse-warbler, Pale-billed Scrubwren, Papuan
Babbler, Black Berrypecker, Spectacled, Pygmy and Yellow-bellied Longbill, Blue Jewel-babbler, Yellow-breasted Boatbill, Golden
Cuckooshrike, Black Cicadabird, Rusty Pitohui, Mamberamo Shrikethrush, Sooty Thicket Fantail, Rufous-backed Fantail, Hooded
Monarch, Brown-headed Crow, Jobi Manucode, Magnificent Riflebird, Pale-billed Sicklebill, Magnificent, King, Twelve-wired and
Lesser Bird-of-paradise, Black-sided Robin, Olive and Lemon-bellied Flyrobin, and Golden Myna.
Other sought-after birds that occur here include New Guinea Eagle, Victoria Crowned Pigeon, Shovel-billed Kookaburra, and
Pesquet's Parrot.
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.
The final hour of light or so shall see us gathered at an open vantage point to witness evening flights of pigeons, hornbills and
parrots, the latter usually including the restricted-range Brown Lory.
Finally, a nocturnal foray here could produce both Papuan Hawk-Owl and Boobook, Rufous Owl, Papuan and Large-tailed Nightjar, and
Marbled and Papuan Frogmouth.