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Snow Mountains specialties

Following in the footsteps of American mammalogist, explorer and millionaire Richard Archbold, a superb selection of New Guinea's wonderfully diverse montane avifauna can be seen when hiking through cultivation and upper montane forests up the Ibele Valley onto the Lake Habbema alpine plateau at 3,200 m elevation above the timberline, in the shadow of Peak Trikora. Here, in some of the most splendid mountain scenery this side of the Himalaya, lives the abberant MacGregor’s 'Bird of Paradise' Macgregoria pulchra, perhaps the star attraction of the trip.

Day-by-day itinerary

Day 1 [Saturday] Noon to early afternoon arrival at Jayapura’s Sentani Airport on domestic flight from the Indonesian gateway of your choice. After check-in at our hotel in the Sentani area we shall transfer to nearby Lake Sentani for a relaxed late afternoon’s birding walk in open country bordering the lake. Goodies we might encounter here include Fawn-breasted Bowerbird. Dinner and overnight in Sentani hotel.

Day 2 [Sunday] Following a hearty pre-dawn breakfast in our Sentani hotel, we shall transfer to Sentani Airport for the early morning flight to Wamena, the administrative and transportation hub of the up to 20 km wide and more than 80 km long Grand Balim Valley of the Snow Mountains. The short, one-hour hop lifts us across the vast expanses of lowland floodplain forest of the ‘Meervlakte’ with its myriad of meandering rivers, along the precipitous northern scarp of the Snow Mountains, finally into the beautifully landscaped Grand Balim upland valley at a chilly 1,500 m above sea level. We shall then drive out for two hours along a new road to the magnificent Lake Habbema alpine plateau at c. 3,200 m elevation, above the timberline in the shadow of Peak Trikora. Here we shall start our exploration of the Snow Mountains in the mid-morning with a gentle walk through the alpine meadows as we slowly adjust to the altitude. Glossy and Mountain Swiftlets abound and it should not take long before we spot our first Alpine Pipit or flock of colorful Snow Mountain Munias, but to find the secretive Snow Mountain Quail we may need to persevere. After lunch we’ll have the entire afternoon to search the grasslands and scrubby hillocks in the vicinity of the lake for this sought-after species while other goodies we should come across here include Orange-billed Lorikeet, Papuan Harrier, Brown Falcon, Australian Kestrel, Australian Hobby, Orange-cheeked Honeyeater, Short-bearded Melidectes, Papuan Thornbill, Brown-breasted Gerygone, Lorentz’s Whistler, and Papuan Grassbird. The last hours of light we shall spend about the lake itself which holds Salvadori’s and Grey Teal, Pacific Black Duck, Eurasian Coot, and Little Grebe. The migratory Hardhead can be numerous in season and the resident Spotless Crake is common along the marshy lake shore. After dinner a nocturnal foray could produce Grass Owl and roding New Guinea Woodcock.

Day 3 [Monday] After an optional spotlighiting session and our pre-dawn breakfast, we shall direct our efforts to the heathy hills abutting the northern edge of the Habbema plateau. The open stands of Libocedrus-pines and associated shrubberies constitute the preferred habitat of the glorious MacGregor’s 'Bird of Paradise' and early morning is the best time to get to grips with this star bird. Other noteworthy species in this habitat and the scattered pockets of closed forest here include Whiskered and Orange-billed Lorikeet, Brehm’s and Painted Tiger-Parrot, Black-throated, Orange-cheeked, Black-backed and Smoky Honeyeater, Mountain Mouse-warbler, Large Scrubwren, Papuan Thornbill, Garnet and Alpine Robin, Lorentz’s Whistler, Great Wood-swallow, Friendly Fantail, and Mountain Firetail. After lunch we’ll have the entire afternoon to bird through grasslands and shrubbery toward a camp around the 3,225 m pass into the Ibele Valley. After dinner here a nocturnal excursion may produce Archbold’s Owlet-Nightjar, Archbold’s Nightjar as well as New Guinea Woodcock.

Day 4 [Tuesday] Following an optional nocturnal foray and our usual pre-dawn breakfast we shall focus on the interface between open heathy pine forest and closed mossy cloud forest first light. Here we stand another chance of seeing MacGregor’s Bird-of-paradise as well as Sooty Melidectes, Splendid Astrapia, and Crested Berrypecker. We will then shift to the mossy forest on the other side of the pass primarily in search of the shy and retiring Archbold’s Bowerbird and the skulking Greater Ground-robin. Other sought-after species in evidence in the upper stretches of the stunning mossy forest here include Belford’s Melidectes, Lesser Melampitta, Black-throated, White-winged and Alpine Robin, Ifrit, more Lorentz’s Whistler, and Fan-tailed Berrypecker while Torrent-lark is regular along the stream below the pass. After lunch, we shall continue our quest for these most-wanted species and in particular take time to monitor known bowers of the Archbold's Bowerbird from a hide in the dire hope of obtaining excellent views of this very shy species. Dinner and optional spotlighting session in the vicinity of the pass.

Day 5 [Wednesday] After an optional nocturnal excursion and our pre-dawn breakfast we have an entire morning to pursue some of the more elusive species mentioned above. After dinner we will bird down to a new camp at 2,800 m elevation at the edge of a planted Pandanus-grove locally known as Yaubagema, the ‘Mosbosch Camp’ of the Third Archbold Expedition to New Guinea. Birds we shall look out for more specifically here include Brown Sicklebill, King-of-Saxony, Loria’s and Crested Bird of Paradise while other goodies present include Fan-tailed Cuckoo, Rufous-throated Bronze-Cuckoo, Papuan, Whiskered and Yellow-billed Lorikeet, Brehm’s and Modest Tiger-Parrot, Black-billed and Great Cuckoo-Dove, White-bibbed Fruit-Dove, Shining Imperial-Pigeon, Papuan Mountain Pigeon, Chestnut Forest-Rail, Black-mantled Goshawk, Papuan Treecreeper, Archbold’s Bowerbird, Orange-crowned Fairywren, Red-collared Myzomela, Olive-streaked and Black-backed Honeyeater, Belford’s Melidectes, Smoky Honeyeater, Papuan Scrubwren, Mountain Gerygone, Greater and Lesser Ground-robin, Canary Flyrobin, Garnet and Black-throated Robin, Ifrit, Varied and Black Sittella, Lesser Melampitta, Rufous-naped and Regent Whistler, Splendid Astrapia, Great Wood-swallow, Mountain Peltops, Hooded Cuckoo-shrike, Dimorphic Fantail, Wattled Ploughbill, Black-breasted Boatbill, Fan-tailed, Tit and Crested Berrypecker, and Mountain Firetail. An optional spotlighting session after dinner may produce Sooty Owl, Jungle Hawk-Owl, Large Owlet-Nightjar, Archbold’s Nightjar, and New Guinea Woodcock.

Day 6 [Thursday] After an optional nocturnal foray and our pre-dawn breakfast we’ll have an entire day to search for some of the more elusive species enumerated above. Dinner and optional spotlighting session.

Day 7 [Friday] After a final morning’s birding around Yaubagema we shall bird down after lunch toward the village of Daela where we shall spend the night. Birds along this stretch include Mountain Kingfisher, Red-breasted Pygmy-Parrot, Modest Tiger-Parrot, Long-tailed Buzzard, Olive Straightbill, Olive-streaked and Black-backed Honeyeater, Buff-faced Scrubwren, Blue-grey Robin, New Guinea Logrunner, Spotted Jewel-Babbler, Mottled Whistler, Short-tailed Paradigalla, Island Leaf-Warbler, and Streaked Berrypecker.

Day 8 [Saturday] After our pre-dawn breakfast at Daela, we shall require most of the day to hike down to Beneme from where vehicles await us to transport us back to Wamena for dinner and a good night’s sleep. Species along this predominantly open country section of the Ibele Valley, which currently retains little forest altogether, include Blue-breasted Quail, Brahminy Kite, Brown Falcon, White-shouldered Fairywren, Black-throated and Rufous-sided Honeyeater, Ornate Melidectes, Golden Whistler, Superb Bird of Paradise, Great Wood-swallow, Stout-billed Cuckoo-shrike, Black-bellied Cuckoo-shrike, Pied Bushchat, Golden-headed Cisticola, Capped White-eye, Tawny Grassbird, Red-capped Flowerpecker, Lemon-breasted Berrypecker, Grey-winged Longbill, Blue-faced and Papuan Parrotfinch, and Black-breasted Munia.

Day 9 [Sunday] After a pre-dawn breakfast at our Wamena hotel we shall board the early morning’s flight to Jayapura and connect onward to the Indonesian gateway of your choice. If you stay on for our Northern Lowlands extension, we shall require most of this day to drive out and hike to our secluded Muaib jungle camp, where we'll enjoy a first, relaxed evening's birding in splendid primary lowland forest on alluvium.

Rainbow Lorikeet Trichoglossus haematodus is but one of 14 colorful parrot species to be expected on a birding foray into the northern lowland forests of New Guinea.

EXTENSION
Northern lowlands
forest birds

This extension carries us to pristine alluvial lowland forests just west of the Cyclops Mountains near Jayapura, home to a rich and colorful lowland forest avifauna that includes Northern Cassowary, two megapodes, dazzling forest kingfishers, a profusion of parrots, the delightful Victoria Crowned-Pigeon, and a whopping eight species of bird of paradise.

Snow Mountains specialties

Day-by-day itinerary

EXTENSION Northern lowlands forest birds

Related links

EXTENSION
Northern lowlands
forest birds