Papua New Guinea Cruise

PAPUA NEW GUINEA CRUISE SEPTEMBER 20–OCTOBER 6, 2019 Aboard the Caledonian Sky Purple-bellied Lory © Warren Regelmann LEADERS: DAVID JAMES & DAVID WOLF with the Zegrahm staff LIST COMPILED BY: DAVID JAMES & DAVID WOLF VICTOR EMANUEL NATURE TOURS, INC. 2525 WALLINGWOOD DRIVE, SUITE 1003 AUSTIN, TEXAS 78746 WWW.VENTBIRD.COM It is said that “variety is the spice of life,” and this cruise certainly served up a wide variety of experiences. We birded from isolated mainland villages to remote offshore islands and recorded a broad sampling of island and coastal lowland birds of the New Guinea region, yet still had time for snorkeling on some of the healthiest coral reefs in the world. At almost every stop we were greeted with friendly enthusiasm and a diverse array of cultural experiences, often in idyllic tropical settings. At times the scenery was spectacular, much of it shaped by the forces of vulcanism and plate tectonics. All of this was complemented by informative and entertaining lectures and guidance from the naturalist staff aboard the very comfortable Caledonian Sky. We did a lot! We got off to a great start with our first field trip, an afternoon visit to the extensive grounds of the Pacific Adventist University near Port Moresby. Here we found a nice assortment of easy-to-see waterbirds around the ponds before it started drizzling; peeked into a thicket at the avenue-type bower of the shy Fawn- breasted Bowerbird; and had great looks at typical savannah species like the Rufous-banded Honeyeater and Australasian Figbird. Then it began to rain harder, but that did not deter us from getting a little wet to see a fabulous Papuan Frogmouth, looking for all the world like the stump of a broken tree limb. Unfortunately, the rain continued all through the night, and the next morning found us stopped by flood waters blocking the highway to Varirata National Park. This was a disappointment, so after watching the dawn movement of a surprising variety of birds at the flood, we switched to “Plan B,” birding our way towards the coast. Stops in the sparse dry savannah produced good looks at Blue-winged Kookaburras, Fawn-breasted Bowerbirds, and a pair of Black-backed Butcherbirds at the nest, among others, but then a flat tire on the bus stopped us. At this point, we retreated back to town for lunch and a visit to the National Museum and Nature Park before boarding the Caledonian Sky. Our first morning aboard the ship found us cruising the Coral Sea, scanning for pelagic birds and spotting at least a dozen Tahiti Petrels, several Wedge-tailed Shearwaters, and a beautiful Red-tailed Tropicbird, a bird not often seen in New Guinea waters. That afternoon we visited our first island, Suau. We were the first cruise ship ever to visit this island, and literally the entire village turned out for the big event of our arrival, greeting us with speeches, traditional dances, and a chance to visit with the locals. The birders chose to skulk around the back perimeter of the village, getting acquainted with some of the typical birds of the islands, including Orange-fronted Fruit-Dove, Singing and Metallic starlings, and Black Sunbird. By far our best find here was the tiny Papuan Hanging-Parrot that appeared in a bare tree several times before disappearing into a fruiting fig. Fergusson, one of the Orange-fronted Fruit-Dove largest islands of the David Wolf D’Entrecasteaux group, was our stop the next morning. We made an early landing in a small village shaded by big epiphyte-laden trees and were immediately greeted with stunning Purple-bellied Lories feeding on the unusual pink flowers of a big orchid. Nearby, the distinctive tremolo calls of the Curl-crested Manucode sounded off in the second-growth and remnant trees, and it wasn’t long before we had all seen this bird-of-paradise, found only on these and the Trobriand Islands. A rather hot walk to the active and extensive Dei-Dei Hot Springs Curl-crested Manucode © Warren produced our first looks at big Blyth’s Hornbills, while Regelmann migrating flocks of huge Channel-billed Cuckoos flew past, Victor Emanuel Nature Tours 2 Papua New Guinea Cruise, 2019 and Eclectus Parrots and Sulphur-crested Cockatoos flapped overhead. A visit to nearby Dobu Island that afternoon found us walking through the extensive native gardens, shaded by breadfruit trees and coconut palms, and again we had great looks at the manucode. Overnight we traveled further into the Solomon Sea, to tiny Kuyawa Island in the remote Trobriand group. Just as the first birders landed, it began to rain, but a few hearty souls stuck it out and wandered the beach to the tip of the island, finding 6 species of migrant shorebirds. When the rain finally let up in the late morning, some of us followed a local villager on an informative tour through the newly-planted gardens to the other end of the island. Here we found several remnant trees that were in fruit and attracting Island Imperial-Pigeons and Claret-breasted Fruit-Doves. These two were the first of the “small island tramps” that we would see on the trip, birds that are confined to small and remote species-poor islands and largely absent from the nearby species-rich islands and mainland. Now it was back to the mainland at Tufi, where deep volcanic fissures have carved steep-sided inlets into the mountains. Here our delayed captain, passengers, and luggage finally caught up with us. The birders hiked along the rim of the forested cliff above the “fiord,” highlighted by numerous sightings of Blyth’s Hornbills, a Brown Oriole (not to be confused with the common Helmeted Friarbirds), and an Orange-footed Scrubfowl for one group. Later we commandeered Zodiacs and silently cruised up a narrow channel into the swamp forest. Here we discovered a fabulous Palm Cockatoo at super-close range, seemingly “frozen” to the snag where it was working on a nest hole. By now we had settled into a rhythm, the days passing quickly. At Lababia we birded the swamp forest behind the village, to the distant beat of the drums from the “Taro and Tuna Festival,” while beautiful Tami Island provided some of the most elaborate costumes and crafts Palm Cockatoo © David Wolf seen on the trip. From the port town of Madang the birders explored inland to the Baitabag Conservation Area, a patch of lowland rainforest that is the site of an amazing new canopy crane. A few adventurous souls even went up in the crane, where they had treetop views of Black-browed Trillers so close you could almost touch them, while the rest of us down below observed myzomelas at a flowering forest tree and watched a Lowland Peltops hawking from the crane itself. This aerial sallier typically chooses the highest perch around, and this one certainly did! That afternoon, as we enjoyed lunch on the deck, we sailed the short distance to Karkar Island, an active volcano rising dramatically from the sea. The scenery was amazing, but birds seemed nonexistent, except for the hordes of Torresian Imperial-Pigeons gathering around the village trees as the afternoon waned. Our final stop on the mainland was at the mouth of the Sepik River. Just before leaving at dawn for a Zodiac cruise along the banks of the river, a stunned White- faced Storm-Petrel was discovered on the ship and examined closely in the hand. The bird had apparently come aboard during the night, and it provided one of the very few records for this species anywhere in New Guinea waters. Our Zodiac cruises here were largely dancers on Tami © David Wolf rained out, though not before we all saw multiple Victor Emanuel Nature Tours 3 Papua New Guinea Cruise, 2019 White-bellied Sea-Eagles and one lucky Zodiac spotted a Great-billed Heron, so after breakfast we joined the crowd in Kopar village and watched the dances and a dramatic parody of “the old mother and the cannibal,” a performance that delighted the local crowd as much as the visitors. Here too we met “Chris the Cassowary,” a village pet that had been raised to adulthood from a wild-caught chick. A highlight of the trip was our stop the next morning, at tiny and remote Alim Island, in the middle of nowhere south of the Admiralty Islands. This uninhabited island harbors a major nesting colony of Red- footed Boobies, and the looks were up-close and personal. All the while, ethereal White Terns danced overhead, with swarms of frigatebirds above them and Black Noddies coming and going from the trees where they nest. Here too were small-island specialties like the Beach Kingfisher, Bismarck Black Myzomela, and Island Monarch, but perhaps the most exciting find was a Nicobar Pigeon that flushed and landed where all three Zodiacs could be maneuvered into viewing range. This island tramp is threatened or gone over much of its vast range. Little did we know what the next day would bring. Beach Kingfisher © Warren Regelmann Red-footed Booby David Wolf Tingwon, our final small island, was perhaps our most satisfying stop for island specialties. While finishing breakfast on the deck, several of us spotted high-flying flocks of chunky dark birds over the island. Wait, oh my god, those are Nicobar Pigeons! Scanning the horizon we realized that they were everywhere in the air, and I began counting, eventually tallying at least 2,200 individuals in little over an hour as they commuted to an unknown destination. Upon landing we then found 3 of them calmly perched in the shade of a village tree, and soon everyone had enjoyed prolonged scope studies.

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