Snow Mountains of New Guinea

Birding hotspot

The discovery in 1938 of the densely populated and agriculturally advanced Grand Baliem Valley in the heart of the Snow Mountains by American mammalogist, explorer and millionaire, Richard Archbold, and the massively supplied, 14 months' expedition he mounted under the auspices of the American Museum of Natural History, may well have been the last great feat of the age of exploration. Among the scores of novelties brought back from the field were no less than 40 undescribed bird taxa, four of which received full species status.

Following in Archbold's footsteps, a superb selection of New Guinea's wonderfully diverse montane avifauna can be seen when hiking through cultivations and upper montane forests up the Ibele Valley onto the Lake Habbema alpine plateau at 3,200 m elevation, above the timberline and in the shadow of Peak Trikora.

Here, in some of the most splendid mountain scenery this side of the Himalaya, lives MacGregor's Honeyeater Macgregoria pulchra. This monotypic genus had long been treated as a bird-of-paradise. However, T. Iredale observed living birds and back in 1956 already indicated that Macgregoria instead is a member of the honeyeater family Meliphagidae, a conclusion which more recently was reinforced by molecular and morphological evidence.

Only five bird species appear to be genuinely confined to the Snow Mountains proper, but a staggering 33 montane restricted-range species occur, three of which actually are West Papua endemics.

Lorentz and Habbema

Habbema certainly sounds most exotic and one would almost swear that it is therefore a local Papuan toponym. However, this alpine lake was in fact named for the Dutch Lieutenant D. Habbema who's military detachment supervised the 1909 Lorentz Expedition to New Guinea led by Dr. H. A. Lorentz. The expedition came first to reach the tropical snow at the base of the jagged summit of Mount Trikora, then called Wilhelmina, an achievement which earned Lorentz the hero status back home.

Interesting detail: each Dayak-porter the expedition employed apparently was rewarded with a tatoe of a snow-clad mountain with a dragon. The 1909 Lorentz Expedition, however, ends catastrophically. During the descent of Mount Trikora, of which the actual summit was never reached, Lorentz falls down and breaks a few ribbs. One Dayak-porter gets lost in the thick fogg and dies of exhaustion. Then, due to lack of food on the return journey, the rest of the expedition nearly succumbs. One Dutch soldier disappears without a trace in the dense forest, and a second Dayak-porter dies totally enfeebled. Eventually, the party manages to reach the expedition vessel 'Arend' which lay anchored on an inland jungle river, still known as the North or Lorentz River.

In 1913 the actual summit of Trikora was reached on a Dutch military expedition led by Captain A. Franssen Herderschee. Sadly, the snow caps on Trikora have now vanished completely, revealing only glinstering limestones.

New Guinea Snow Mountains endemic birds (5 species)

☑Snow Mountain Quail Synoicus monorthonyx
☑Orange-cheeked Honeyeater Oreornis chrysogenys
☑Baliem Whistler Pachycephala balim
☑Snow Mountain Robin Petroica archboldi
☑Black-breasted Munia Lonchura teerinki

West Papua endemic birds (3 species)

☑Rufous-sided Honeyeater Ptiloprora erythropleura
☑Western Crested Berrypecker Paramythia olivacea
☑Smoky Robin Peneothello cryptoleuca

Restricted-range species (30 species)

☑Archbold's Nightjar Eurostopodus archboldi
☑Archbold's Owlet-nightjar Aegotheles archboldi
☑Bare-legged Swiftlet Aerodramus nuditarsus
☑Chestnut Forest Rail Rallicula rubra
☑Painted Tiger Parrot Psittacella picta
☑Modest Tiger Parrot Psittacella modesta
☑Archbold's Bowerbird Archboldia papuensis
☑Sooty Honeyeater Melionyx fuscus
☑Short-bearded Honeyeater Melionyx nouhuysi
☑Leaden Honeyeater Ptiloprora plumbea
☑Yellowish-streaked Honeyeater Ptiloprora meekiana
☑Grey-streaked Honeyeater Ptiloprora perstriata
☑MacGregor's Honeyeater Macgregoria pulchra
☑Belford's Melidectes Melidectes belfordi
☑New Guinea Thornbill Acanthiza murina
☑Loria's Satinbird Cnemophilus loriae
☑Crested Satinbird Cnemophilus macgregorii
☑Papuan Whipbird Androphobus viridis
☑Black Sittella Daphoenositta miranda
☑Wattled Ploughbill Eulacestoma nigropectus
☑Lorentz's Whistler Pachycephala lorentzi
☑Sooty Shrikethrush Colluricincla tenebrosa
☑Short-tailed Paradigalla Paradigalla brevicauda
☑Splendid Astrapia Astrapia splendidissima
☑Brown Sicklebill Epimachus meyeri
☑Greater Ground Robin Amalocichla sclateriana
☑Mountain Robin Petroica bivittata
☑Mountain Firetail Oreostruthus fuliginosus
☑Western Alpine Munia Lonchura montana
☑Alpine Pipit Anthus gutturalis

Widespread goodies

☑Salvadori's Teal Salvadorina waigiuensis
☑Feline Owlet-nightjar Aegotheles insignis
☑Spotless Crake Zapornia tabuensis
☑New Guinea Woodcock Scolopax rosenbergii
☑Black-mantled Goshawk Tachyspiza melanochlamys
☑Meyer's Goshawk Astur meyerianus
☑Papuan Harrier Circus spilothorax
☑Greater Sooty Owl Tyto tenebricosa
☑Eastern Grass Owl Tyto longimembris
☑Papuan Boobook Ninox theomacha
☑Shovel-billed Kookaburra Dacelo rex
☑Mountain Kingfisher Syma megarhyncha
☑Brehm's Tiger Parrot Psittacella brehmii
☑Madarasz Tiger Parrot Psittacella madaraszi
☑Stella's Lorikeet Charmosyna stellae
☑Orange-billed Lorikeet Neopsittacus pullicauda
☑Goldie's Lorikeet Glossoptilus goldiei
☑MacGregor's Bowerbird Amblyornis macgregoriae
☑Black-throated Honeyeater Caligavis subfrenata
☑Papuan Logrunner Orthonyx novaeguineae
☑Slaty-headed Longbill Toxorhamphus poliopterus
☑Tit Berrypecker Oreocharis arfaki
☑Torrent-lark Grallina bruijni
☑Lesser Melampitta Melampitta lugubris
☑Blue-capped Ifrit Ifrita kowaldi
☑King of Saxony Bird-of-paradise Pteridophora alberti
☑Greater Lophorina Lophorina latipennis
☑Lesser Ground Robin Amalocichla incerta
☑White-eyed Robin Pachycephalopsis poliosoma
☑White-winged Robin Peneothello sigillata
☑Island Thrush Turdus poliocephalus
☑Papuan Parrotfinch Erythrura papuana

Related links

❯Browse our checklist of the birds of West Papua