Watching Paradise Birds in Tambrauw

Lesser Birds of Paradise (Paradisaea minor) in Ayapokiar forest of Tambrauw mountains

I offer tours for visitors who want to watch paradise birds in their natural habitat. The destination that I recommend is Tambrauw regency. It is approximately 2 hours ride by a 4wd car from Sorong city. To share the cost of the tour and accommodation,  visitors need to go in a group of several people. Birding tour will be done along a path in the forest and along an open space such as rivers, coastal area, and at the beach. Good physical condition is needed for exploring the avifauna of Tambrauw, especially in the mountains. Every visitor needs to bring a good pair of binoculars. A spotting scope will also be good too but is not a must.

The duration of the bird and wildlife tour is around 3 to 7 days where camping near a river can also be organized to increase the chance for bird watchers to see more birds and other wild animals. There are hundreds of species of birds which birders can see when they go hiking in the tropical rainforest of Tambrauw mountains.  Some of them are listed below:

• Sulphur-crested Cockatoo
• Palm Cockatoo
• Moluccan King Parrot
• Eclectus Parrot
• Red-cheeked Parrot
• Large Fig Parrot
• Black-capped Lory
• Black Lory
• Yelllw-capped Pygmy Parrot
• Josephine Lorikeet
• Coconut Lorikeet
• Olive-crowned Flowerpecker
• Olive-backed Sunbird
• Black Sunbird
• Yellow-faced Myna
• Golden Myna
• Sacred Kingfisher
• Yellow-billed Kingfisher
• Common Paradise Kingfisher
• Rufous-bellied Kookaburra
• Hooked-bill Kingfisher
• Azure Kingfisher
• Papuan Dwarf Kingfisher
• Red-breasted Paradise Kingfisher
• Hooded Butcherbird
• Northern Variable Pitohui
• Hooded Pitohui
• Mountain Peltop
• Lowland Peltop
• Oriental Dollarbird
• Papuan Blyth's Hornbill
• White-eared Catbird
• Masked Bowerbird
• Vogelkop Bowerbird
• Little Egret
• Little-ringed Plover
• Grey-wagtail
• Spangled Drongo
• Magnificent Bird of Paradise
• Lesser Bird of Paradise
• Magnificent Riflebird
• King Bird of Paradise
• Twelve-wired Bird of Paradise
• Glossy Manucode
• Grey Crow
• Torresian Crow
• Black-sided Robin
• Torrent Flycatcher
• Pinon Imperial Pigeon
• Papua Mountain Pigeon
• Pink-spotted Fruit Dove
• Beautiful Fruit Dove
• Long-tailed Buzzard
• Grey-headed Goshawk
• Variable Goshawk
• Brahminy Kite
• New Guinea Harpy Eagle
• Large-tailed Nightjar
• Papuan Frogmouth
• Marbled Frogmouth
• Northern Fantail
• And etc.

Field Guide Books
There are two field guide books. The first one is Birds of New Guinea written by Thane K. Pratt, Bruce Beehler and their friends; and the second one is Birds of New Guinea: including Bismarck Archipelago and Bougainville written by Phil Gregory. There are also a lot of resources about tropical birds of New Guinea scattered throughout the internet which tourists can read from trip reports made by leaders of bird tour companies who used to visit West Papua.

Birding Sites
There are a lot of birdwatching sites in Tambrauw mountains. As a matter of fact, birding activities can be done in most places of the regency. However there are several vocal points which tourists could visit to enjoy birding. Ases Valley, Ayapokiar and Fef are some of the important birding sites which tourists can explore.

How to get there?

There are several ways to get to Tambrauw Mountains. You could either fly to Manokwari city which is the capital of West Papua province or fly to Sorong city. We can meet you at the airport and then organize your trip to Tambrauw Mountains. 

Booking
Please, contact me by email to: peace4wp@gmail.com

Written by Charles Roring

Magnificent Riflebird

Magnificent Riflebird

I often hear the calling sound of Magnificent Riflebird (Ptiloris magnificus) when I guide tourists in lowland and lower montane forest of West Papua. 

The male feather is mostly dark with blue breast that looks like a triangle. We cannot easily find him. I saw the birds several times in Susnguakti forest of Manokwari and in Klasow valley of Sorong regency. In Klatomok village of Sorong regency, this bird can be found in the surrounding forest. I also heard his sounds in Syuan forest in Tambrauw mountains. Some tourists whom I guided saw the bird through a blind which we built especially for viewing the bird in Susnguakti forest.

Animals in Susnguakti forest of Manokwari

Magnificent Riflebird

Magnificent Riflebird is not the only paradise bird that we could watch in lower montane forest of Manokwari. There are Lesser Birds of Paradise (Paradisaea minor), King Bird of Paradise (Cicinnurus regius). In addition to those paradise birds, visitors who explore tropical rainforest of Susnguakti could find Common Paradise Kingfisher (Tanysiptera galatea), Rufous-bellied Kookaburra (Dacelo gaudichaud), Great Cuckoo-Dove (Reinwardtoena reinwarti), Beautiful Fruit-Dove (Ptilinopus pulchellus), Hooded Butcherbird (Cracticus cassicus), Black-capped Lory (Lorius lory), Coconut Lorikeet (Trichoglossus haematodus), cassowary, and etc.
Susnguakti forest is the natural habitat of insects such as: Cruiser butterfly, Silky Owl butterfly (Taenaris catops), birdwing butterfly Ornitopthera priamus, Blue Emperor butterfly (Papilio ulysses); beetles such as tiger beetle, and green jewel beetle. For marsupial animals, I have seen cuscus possum and bandicoot. There are also various kinds of reptiles including snakes, brown grown skink, Papua dragon tree lizard, small forest lizards.

Birding and Wildlife Watching Tour

I offer a 3- day/ 2-night birding and wildlife watching tour in Susnguakti forest of Manokwari. This can be combined with tour lowland forest of Manokwari. Similar birding tours to Sorong and Raja Ampat can also be organized.

Booking

Please, contact me by email to: peace4wp@gmail.com.

Also read:

• Birding and Photography Tour in Tangkoko and Minahasa Highland
• Birding and Photography Tour in Minahasa Highland

Western Parotia

Male Western Parotia Dancing

Western Parotia (Parotia sefilata) is a species of paradise birds that people can watch when traveling to Manokwari. I guided Prof. Richard Ebright - an American biologist on a birding tour to Arfak mountains from 18 to 20 July 2013. In the last day of the tour, we entered a blind that was especially built for watching Western Parotia. The male bird has got black color all over his body with 6 antennas at his head. We had to wait for 5 hours inside the blind that was wet, dark and full of mosquitoes.
In order to seduce his partner, male Western Parotia had to perform a beautiful courtship dance where female Western Parotia perched on a small branch of a tree just above the dancing ground. Before dancing, the male bird cleaned the "stage" from fallen twigs and leaves.

Juvenile Western Parotia

Then he would dance to impress his lover. The style of the dance was similar to ballet.
The Young Western Parotia also Danced!
When we were waiting for an adult male Western Parotia to land on the ground and performed, suddenly, we saw a young Western Parotia landed on the ground. He performed a courtship dance without the presence of a female bird. He was doing a rehearsal. We were very surprised to see that scene. At first we thought that it was another species but later after opening our field guide book, Birds of New Guinea, we determined that it was a young or a juvenile Western Parotia.

During our stay in the blind, we were able to see Spotted Catbird (now it is called Arfak Catbird) and Cinnamon Ground Dove. It was a fleeting moment for the cat bird. Cinnamon Ground Dove was at the dancing site quite long. I think he was there for more than 30 minutes finding grains on the ground. I could make some videos and photographs of this bird. The bird stayed still with her eyes staring at the "peep hole" where I put my camera. I guessed the auto focus lamp of my camera attracted her attention. We also saw two other smaller birds that we could not shoot by my camera.

We returned to Manokwari city again at 12.00. During the birdwatching tour we saw vogelkop bower bird, blyth's hornbill, cinnamon ground dove, spotted catbird, magnificent birds of paradise and two smaller birds that I could not identify. They flew away in seconds before I could take pictures of them.
As a birdwatching destination, Manokwari has got plenty of places where birdwatchers can explore to see tropical birds.
For lowland and coastal birding, Western Crowned Pigeon, Pinon Imperial Pigeon, Beautiful Fruit Dove, Sulphur Crested Cockatoo, Sandpiper, and Kingfishers are some of the birds that can be seen in Manokwari.
Now I spend more of my time organizing snorkeling, birding and sightseeing tours in Raja Ampat,  please contact me: Charles Roring by email: peace4wp@gmail.com.

The best birding site in New Guinea

French birdwatchers in lowland forest
 of Manokwari

I have been guiding international birdwatchers on various birding trips in West Papua for years now. During those trips I saw various species of birds that are endemic to New Guinea island. There are several birding sites I highly recommend to visitors:

Lowland Forest of Manokwari

There is a river in northwest region of Manokwari. Its name is Mesirrokow. It is covered by tropical rainforest that has become the natural habitat of a lot of species of birds such as eclectus parrot, sulphut crested cockatoo, palm cockatoo, blyth's hornbill, coconut lorikeet, yellow capped pygmy parrot, pink spotted fruit dove and many others.

Susnguakti Forest of Arfak Range

Lesser Birds of Paradise in Susnguakti forest
Arfak range of Manokwari

There are paradise birds in Susnguakti forest of Manokwari. Some of them include: Lesser Birds of Paradise, King Bird of Paradise, and Magnificent Riflebird. Common Paradise Kingfisher, Rufous-bellied Kookaburra, Blyth's Hornbill, Hooded Butcherbird can also be seen in the forest. As a matter of fact, birds are not the only animals visitors can watch in the forest. There are also cuscus possum, Papuan dragon lizard, snakes, Large Ground Skink, bandicoot, and colorful butterflies, fireflies that could be watched in this lower montane forest of Arfak range. Tourists who want to go to this forest have to be physically fit.

The Northern Tip of Wondiboy Peninsula

This is an important birding site in Wondama regency. Birds such as Lesser Birds of Paradise, King Bird of Paradise, Magnificent Riflebird, as well as Pinon Imperial Pigeon, Blyth's Hornbill, Black-capped Lory, Lowland Peltop can be watched there. 

Tambrauw Mountains

It is located between the regencies of Manokwari and Sorong. Most of the mountains are covered by pristine rainforest that is the natural habitat of a lot of species of tropical birds such as paradise birds, parrots, fruit doves, kingfishers, pigeons.  The regency of Tambrauw can be reached through Manokwari city and Sorong city.
Because the cost of traveling to Tambrauw mountains is expensive, I highly recommend that tourists come to this region in a group of at least 3, 4 or more people to share the cost.

Birding and Wildlife Watching Equipment

There are some equipment that visitors can bring in order to enhance their birding and wildlife watching experience. In general, birders bring binoculars. From my personal view, a pair of Swarovski EL 8.5×40 or Swarovski SLC 10×42 WB binoculars produces sharp and crisp images of birds, wild animals and unique wild flowers that we see through them. There are also Nikon Monarch 5 10×42, and the very affordable Visionking 10×42 mm binoculars. Sometimes I see birders bring spotting scopes. I used to try a Swarovski ATX 30-70×95. It was a very powerful birding gear. However, it is also expensive.

How to get to birding sites in Manokwari and Tambrauw Mountains?

To reach this hill, read the following instructions:

• First, fly from your country to Jakarta - the capital of the Republic of Indonesia.
• Second, take a domestic flight served by Sriwijaya Air, Garuda, NAM Air, Lion Air or Batik Air to Manokwari city.
• Contact me by e-mail to peace4wp@gmail.com before arriving in Sorong so that I can give you detailed info of tour price. I will meet you at the airport.
• I will arrange a 4WD car and all the necessary logistics that will bring you to Tambrauw.

If you still need detailed information about rainforest tours and birdwatching trips in Tambrauw, you can still contact me at e-mail address. I am sure that you will have a great adventure in West Papua's rainforest.

written by Charles Roring