Adventure Birding 'n Outdoors in New Guinea's Wild West
Bruijn's Brushturkey Aepypodius bruijnii is only known with certainty from the largest Raja
Ampat island of Waigeo hence its alternative English name of Waigeo Brushturkey. Copyright © Fabrice Tortey
Waitanta: Waigeo and Batanta
The fabled Raja Ampat or 'Four Kings' archipelago comprises over four million hectares of land and sea off New
Guinea's northwestern tip. Also known as the West Papuan Islands, the group is made up of the four large islands of Misool,
Salawati, Batanta and Waigeo, plus a myriad of smaller satellites, including Kofiau and Gebe, scattered around these.
Whereas Salawati and Batanta lie only five kilometers apart today, the calm and deep waters of the narrow Sagewin
Strait that separates them, betray a dramatically different geological past for the portions of the archipelago respectively lying
to the north and south of the strait.
To the south, Salawati and Misool together with the adjacent Bird's Head or Vogelkop essentially consist of a
large, north-moving fragment of Australian continental crust that has always been in relatively close proximity to its modern
location and is now apparently fully docked. In contrast, Waigeo and Batanta to the north, originated more than 2,000 km to the
northeast in the Pacific as part of an Eocene ophiolitic suite known as the Halmahera Arc!
During Pleistocene lowering of sea-level then, Misool and Salawati were joined into an enlarged Bird's Head
Peninsula, while Waigeo and Batanta were fused to a single landmass: 'Waitanta'.
Waitanta's prolonged isolation produced nearly mythical, endemic feathered life forms such as Bruijn's
Brushturkey Aepypodius bruijnii, Wilson's Bird-of-paradise Diphyllodes respublica and Red Bird-of-paradise
Paradisaea rubra, one by one species that make the hearts of ornithologists and birders alike beat faster. In fact,
every self-respecting world birder is bound to once in a lifetime undertake the pilgrimage to the avian delights of Waitanta.
The village of Wai Lebed on the southern shores of Batanta had been used as a base by famous New Guinea
naturalists like S. Bergman in 1949 and E. T. Gilliard in 1964, and by many birders subsequently seeking Waitanta's violently
enrapturing birds-of-paradise. Unfortunately, however, low-lying sectors bordering the Sagewin Strait in general, and the Wai
Lebed area in particular, have now lost much of their magic in the wake of an illegal logging boom in Indonesian New Guinea from
the turn of the century onward.
Moreover, the brushturkey only occurs on Waigeo, and then quite likely only east of the visually stunning
Mayalibit Bay that divides the island in two. All the more reason then, to redirect the dedicated birder's attention to Waigeo,
which further boasts the highest number of land and fresh water bird species of any island in the Raja Ampat group, including the
delightful Western Crowned Pigeon Goura cristata and mysteriously distributed Brown-headed Crow Corvus
fuscicapillus.
NOVEL BIRDS FROM WAIGEO ISLAND
Wallace's Owlet-nightjar Aegotheles wallacii and Tropical Scrubwren Sericornis beccarii are among
a host of new island records for Waigeo Island first obtained by PE advisor Iwein Mauro back in 2002. Copyright © Iwein
Mauro
Long-lost megapode
Named in 1880 in honor of the immortal Dutch merchant of Ternate, A. A. Bruijn — a dealer in virtually
every product the Moluccas and Vogelkop region had to offer, including natural history specimens — Bruijn's Brushturkey
arguably was the most sought-after bird species of the entire New Guinea faunal region.
Indeed, it were native collectors in the service of the 'King of Ternate' (as Bruijn was nicknamed during the
height of his entrepreneurship) that stood at the origin of the collection of likely all but one of a staggering twenty-four
historical museum specimens known from this brushturkey.
However, despite more than fifteen subsequent ornithological expeditions and reconnaissance visits actively
searching for this megapode, it managed to remain entirely unknown in the living world during the more than 120 years that elapsed
in between its formal description and its ultimate field discovery on Mount Nok in May 2002 by PE advisor Iwein Mauro.
Waitanta birding facts
1
✔One of Earth's greatest bird-watching
destinations.
2
✔Homeland of nearly mythical endemic
birds as Bruijn's Brushturkey and Wilson's and Red Bird-of-paradise.
3
✔Straightforward access to pristine
foothill and hill forests on Waigeo.
4
✔Heartland of friendly Ma'ya and Biak
indigenous peoples, unspoiled by mass tourism.
5
✔The opportunity to combine
bird-watching with an off the beaten track hiking adventure.
❮ ❯
Waitanta endemic birds (5 species)
☑Bruijn's Brushturkey Aepypodius bruijnii
☑Waigeo Shrikethrush Colluricincla affinis
☑Raja Ampat Pitohui Pitohui cerviniventris
☑Wilson's Bird-of-paradise Diphyllodes respublica
☑Red Bird-of-paradise Paradisaea rubra
West Papua endemic birds (3 species)
☑Western Crowned Pigeon Goura cristata
☑Brown-headed Crow Corvus fuscicapillus
☑Olive-crowned Flowerpecker Dicaeum pectorale
Restricted-range species (6 species)
☑Dusky Megapode Megapodius freycinet
☑Moluccan Fruit Dove Ptilinopus prasinorrhous
☑Spice Imperial Pigeon Ducula myristicivora
☑Olive Honeyeater Lichmera argentauris
☑Island Whistler Pachycephala phaionota
☑Banded Yellow Robin Gennaeodryas placens
Widespread goodies
☑Great-billed Heron Ardea sumatrana
☑Gurney's Eagle Aquila gurneyi
☑Red-necked Crake Rallina tricolor
☑New Guinea Bronzewing Henicophaps albifrons
☑Nicobar Pigeon Caloenas nicobarica
☑Cinnamon Ground Dove Gallicolumba rufigula
☑Pheasant Pigeon Otidiphaps nobilis
☑Dwarf Fruit Dove Ptilinopus nanus
☑Long-billed Cuckoo Chrysococcyx megarhynchus
☑Rufous Owl Ninox rufa
☑Papuan Boobook Ninox theomacha
☑Marbled Frogmouth Podargus ocellatus
☑Papuan Frogmouth Podargus papuensis
☑Wallace's Owlet-nightjar Aegotheles wallacii
☑Hook-billed Kingfisher Melidora macrorrhina
☑Common Paradise Kingfisher Tanysiptera galatea
☑Beach Kingfisher Todiramphus saurophagus
☑Yellow-billed Kingfisher Syma torotoro
☑Papuan Dwarf Kingfisher Ceyx solitarius
☑Little Kingfisher Ceyx pusillus
☑Palm Cockatoo Probosciger aterrimus
☑Yellow-capped Pygmy Parrot Micropsitta keiensis
☑Moluccan King Parrot Alisterus amboinensis
☑Great-billed Parrot Tanygnathus megalorynchos
☑Violet-necked Lory Eos squamata
☑Orange-fronted Hanging Parrot Loriculus aurantiifrons
☑Papuan Pitta Pitta macklotii
☑Eastern Hooded Pitta Pitta novaeguineae
☑White-eared Catbird Ailuroedus buccoides
☑Varied Honeyeater Gavicalis versicolor
☑Tropical Scrubwren Sericornis beccarii
☑Chestnut-backed Jewel-babbler Ptilorrhoa castanonota
☑Supertramp Fantail Rhipidura semicollaris
☑Island Monarch Monarcha cinerascens
☑Lemon-bellied White-eye Zosterops chloris
☑Moluccan Starling Aplonis mysolensis
Related links
❯Read on about our short birding
break to Waigeo Island.
❯Read on about our Easy
West Papua birding expedition visiting Waigeo Island.
❯Read on about our other prolonged birding
expeditions visiting Waigeo Island.
Waitanta endemics
7 days/6 nights
Every self-respecting world birder is bound to once in a lifetime undertake the pilgrimage to
Waitanta's avian delights. The glorious Wilson's and Red Bird-of-paradise here surely are contenders to the title of most
beautiful bird on Earth!
❯Read more...