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| Black Sicklebill |
The Arfak Mountains of West Papua offer of feast of avian gems including some of the planet's most beautiful birds. A 6-day visit after our Nimbokrang sojourn began with a 2-hour drive from the coastal city of Manokwari in a convoy of three 4-wheel drive trucks to the village of Maybri at 1450m, where we arrived in the early evening. We thoroughly enjoyed our stay at the basic but friendly homestay at Maybri.
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| Maybri Guesthouse |
Great views from the guesthouse over the surrounding forest.
We were up very early on our first morning to be at the village of Syoubri at 1550m to begin our hike up the mountain at 3am. It was a long, slow and muddy ascent in the rain. We passed Sicklebill Camp, where birding groups sometimes overnight, and arrived just before sunrise at our destination – a hide at 2020m overlooking the display area of the glorious Black Sicklebill. We heard males calling around us for a while before one perched atop a display tree at eye-level a short distance away.
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| Black Sicklebill male |
The bird put on a fine display of fluffing its iridescent plumage and jumping about as the occasional female dropped by, one allowing herself to be mated. It was a jaw-dropping experience to see this – a bird I had missed on multiple trips to Papua New Guinea.
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| Black Sicklebill male & female |
We headed back through the misty, mossy forest looking for birds we could expect to find only in the higher reaches of the mountains. We were rewarded with reasonable views of Ashy Robin and Papuan Treecreeper but Papuan Logrunner failed to show. At Sicklebill Camp we had our first Vogelkop Scrubwren and two more high altitude specialties – Rufous-sided Honeyeater and Cinnamon-browed Melidectes. Friendly Fantail was about and... friendly.
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| Friendly Fantail |
We visited a hide further down at 1770m where fruit was left out to attract birds. Here we found the first of many Western Parotias we were to see. The leks used by males doing their dramatic wing display could sadly not be accessed by our group due to growing and unfortunate rivalry between villages for the ecotourism dollars offered by visiting birders.
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| Western Parotias |
Then along came a key target. A Long-tailed Paradigalla put on a decent show as it fed on the red fruit. Outside the hide we were happy to see the difficult-to-find, tiny Papuan Lorikeet in a feeding tree.
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| Long-tailed Paradigalla |
Another female Black Sicklebill put in an appearance. Heading further down the track we saw Vogelkop Melidenctes, Arfak Honeyeater, Black Pitohui and Papuan Lorikeet before getting back to Syoubri.
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| Black Sicklebill female |
We returned to Maybri - our base for the next few days, having largely cleaned up the high altitude forest target species. (Arfak Astrapia was once viewable above Sicklebill Camp but birds were allegedly shot by rival villagers.) One of the joys of our Maybri accommodation is that the homestay is surrounded by the humble abodes of traditional villagers. Our many interactions with these friendly people were enjoyed by them and us in equal measure. Dogs sitting in the pews at a church service? Sure. Various village images below.
Another highlight of Maybri was the first class food, prepared by local women under the guidance of the capable Gina Baware.
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| Cooking up a storm |
Our time around Maybri was focused on several different hides, most with fruit out similar to the one higher up. The first hide we visited had more parotias and our first Vogelkop Superb Lophorinas, with several males showing nicely.
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| Vogelkop Superb Lophorina |
A female and a male immature Magnificent Bird-of-Paradise turned up; others later were to see a male in full plumage. Green-backed Robin was glimpsed a few times from hides.
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| Magnificent Bird-of-Paradise female |
Female Lesser Bird of-Paradise was a regular at this and other hides although no males appeared.
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| Lesser Bird-of-Paradise female |
Another hide was visited by a Black-billed Sicklebird, a hill forest-lower montain forest specialty that can be easily missed.
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| Black-billed Sicklebill |
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| Western Parotia & Black-billed Sicklebill |
Villagers were dispatched to track down 4 species of owlet-nightjar at their day roosts, and we were fortunate to see all 4 over 2 days. First was a Vogelkop Owlet-nightjar in its tree hole – this recently split species is probably the most difficult to see.
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| Vogelkop Owlet-nightjar |
Next was a Mountain Owlet-nightjar spotted on its daytime perch in the lower forest canopy by a sharp-eyed guide.
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| Mountain Owlet-nightjar |
Number Three was the much-wanted Feline Owlet-nightjar. We'd heard one during our night hike up the mountain. Now we were watching one at eye level at its daytime perch.
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| Feline Owlet-nightjar |
Finally a Wallace's Owlet-nightjar was watched peering from its roosting hole.
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| Wallace's Owlet-nightjar |
We visited the elaborate bower of the Vogelkop Bowerbird. The bird initially was shy but more co-operative on later visits. It dutifully put a few colourful objects that we had moved around back in their rightful places.
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| Vogelkop Bowerbird bower |
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| Vogelkop Bowerbird |
The villagers made a makeshift hide out of banana leaves so we could watch another much-wanted Maybri special. White-striped Forest Rail skulked around for a while calling before a male eventually showed nicely.
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| White-striped Forest Rail |
Birds were plentiful around the village. Arfak Catbird was heard often and seen occasionally. Hooded Pitohui fed below the kitchen.
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| Hooded Pitohui |
Olive-crowned Flowerpecker was not expected to be so common at this altitude.
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| Olive-crowned Flowerpecker female |
A fruiting tree outside the church attracted Mountain Fruit Dove and Superb Fruit Dove.
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| Mountain Fruit Dove |
It was also favoured by the fabulous Masked Bowerbird, another contendor for Bird of the Planet. Several females had flown in before a male finally visited a few times, giving everyone a good look.
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| Masked Bowerbird female |
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| Masked Bowerbird male above & below |
On our last day in the Arfaks we drove up a rough and sometimes hair-raising road to 2040m in the Lake Anggi area. Here the montane forest was mossy and more sparse, interspersed with areas of subalpine heath and wet grassland - very different from what we had experienced further down.
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| Heading up the mountain |
This was the hotspot for Grey-banded Mannikin, a delightful endemic confined to a tiny range in these high mountains.
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| Grey-banded Mannikin |
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We saw 60+ in the area, along with the alpine race of Papuan Grassbird. We left the Arfaks to return to Manokwari for an overnight stay at the comfortably Swiss Bell Hotel.
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| We just saw a Feline Owlet-nightjar! |
