Birding walk (0.5 or 1 day)
Vast tracts of foothill forests just west of the Cyclops Mountains near the town of Sentani support a
well-diversified and colorful lowland forest avifauna, including the restricted-range Brown Lory, Salvadori's Fig Parrot,
Mamberamo Shrikethrush and Ochre-collared Monarch, plus eight species of bird-of-paradise: Glossy-mantled and Jobi Manucode,
Magnificent Riflebird, Pale-billed Sicklebill, and Magnificent, King, Twelve-wired and Lesser Bird-of-paradise.
Possible year-round, but most certainly best from June to November.
Please enquire for details on our upcoming departures.
Relaxed birding in flat or only slightly undulating terrain.
We shall collect you at your Sentani hotel and set out on the one hour's drive by chartered vehicle to arrive
around the crack of dawn in an area of secondary foothill forest just west of the Cyclops Mountains. Here we shall bird all morning
along a road through selectively logged rainforest, making incursions into the forest as necessary. All along the road, wacko
Blyth's Hornbills, majestic Palm and Sulphur-crested Cockatoos, and noisy Black-capped, Dusky and Brown Lories and Coconut
Lorikeets may fly overhead as we familiarize ourselves with some of the common or more conspicuous forest birds here: Variable
Goshawk, Sultan's and Great Cuckoo-Dove, Stephan's Emerald Dove, Wompoo, Pink-spotted, Superb, Beautiful and Orange-bellied Fruit
Dove, Pinon's and Zoe's Imperial Pigeon, Brush Cuckoo, Rufous-bellied Kookaburra, Yellow-billed Kingfisher, New Guinea Friarbird,
Tawny-breasted, Puff-backed and Mimic Honeyeater, Yellow-bellied and Fairy Gerygone, Lowland Peltops, Black and Hooded Butcherbird,
Grey-headed Cicadabird, Black-browed Triller, Grey Whistler, Northern Variable Pitohui, Brown Oriole, Spangled Drongo, Northern
Fantail, Spot-winged, Golden and Ochre-collared Monarch, Shining Flycatcher, Grey Crow, Glossy-mantled Manucode, Metallic Starling,
Yellow-faced Myna, and Red-capped Flowerpecker. Scarcer or unobtrusive species we may encounter include Collared Brushturkey, New
Guinea Megapode, Long-tailed Honey Buzzard, Grey-headed Goshawk, Collared Sparrowhawk, Coroneted Fruit Dove, Purple-tailed Imperial
Pigeon, Greater Black Coucal, Dwarf Koel, Long-billed Cuckoo, Little Bronze Cuckoo, White-crowned Cuckoo, Moustached Treeswift,
Papuan Spine-tailed Swift, Hook-billed Kingfisher, Common Paradise Kingfisher, Buff-faced Pygmy Parrot, Papuan King Parrot,
Red-flanked Lorikeet, Salvadori's and Double-eyed Fig Parrot, Orange-fronted Hanging Parrot, Papuan and Hooded Pitta, Tan-capped
Catbird, Emperor Fairywren, Green-backed, Long-billed, Plain and Streak-headed Honeyeater, Meyer's Friarbird, Yellow-gaped
Honeyeater, Rusty Mouse-warbler, Pale-billed Scrubwren, Papuan Babbler, Black Berrypecker, Spectacled, Pygmy and Yellow-bellied
Longbill, Blue Jewel-babbler, Yellow-breasted Boatbill, Boyer's and Golden Cuckooshrike, Black Cicadabird, Rusty Pitohui, Mamberamo
Shrikethrush, Sooty and White-bellied Thicket Fantail, Rufous-backed Fantail, Hooded Monarch, Brown-headed Crow, Jobi Manucode,
Magnificent Riflebird, Pale-billed Sicklebill, Magnificent, King, Twelve-wired and Lesser Bird-of-paradise, Black-sided Robin,
Olive and Lemon-bellied Flyrobin, and Golden Myna. Other sought-after birds that occur here include New Guinea Eagle, Victoria
Crowned Pigeon, Shovel-billed Kookaburra, and Pesquet's Parrot.
If you stick with us for the entire day, we shall enjoy a packed lunch on site and continue our quest for some of
the more elusive species already mentioned above throughout the afternoon. The final hour of light or so shall see us gathered at
an open vantage point to witness evening flights of pigeons, hornbills and parrots, the latter usually including the
restricted-range Brown Lory. Finally, an optional nocturnal foray here could produce both Papuan Hawk-Owl and Boobook, Rufous Owl,
Papuan and Large-tailed Nightjar, and Marbled and Papuan Frogmouth.