Lying just east of Wallacea, off the western tip of the Vogelkop Peninsula of New Guinea, is the island of Salawati (known as Salwatty in Wallace’s day). The northern end of Salawati, bordering the Sagewin Strait still retains almost all its forest cover and is a birder’s paradise. Kris Tindige reminded us that, during his epic travels, Wallace had in fact tried to reach Salawati from Seram in 1860 but was thwarted by adverse winds and instead sailed north to Waigeo (or Waigiou as it was known then). Had he made it to Salawati he would surely have visited nearby Batanta too and we could have had the legacy of a few more birds bearing his name. Bonaparte had of course already beaten him to Wilson's Bird of Paradise 10 years before, naming it in honour of the 18th century American Ornithologist. Wallace is however still commemorated in the common or latin (or both) names of an amazing 12 bird species, although the current trend to remove the early natural historians from common names may mean this eventually shrinks down to the 8 more permanent latin ones. If you have not done so already, try and get hold of a copy of 'The Malay Archipelago', Wallace's account of his travels. It is a great read and a real source of inspiration to follow in his foot steps.
Salawati Island is still one of the best places to see several sought-after New Guinea endemics including Western Crowned Pigeon, Northern Cassowary and King Bird of Paradise. Strangely only the Cassowary is present on both Salawati and Batanta despite their close proximity and apparently similar habitats. In addition Twelve-wired, Magnificent and Lesser Birds of Paradise are all to be found on Salawati but not at all on Batanta. Conversely it is surprising that both Red and Wilson's Birds of Paradise are both present on Batanta but not on Salawati. The reason for these curious distributions is that Salawati was once attached to mainland New Guinea whereas Batanta has always been separate. It puzzles me why any of these birds have not managed to cross such a short stretch of water in all the time they must have existed here as separate species.
sunrise over Salawati Island
As we were staying at Kris’s guest house on Batanta Island for five nights we had the luxury of taking it a bit easier than most visitors and spent the day after our initial success with Wilson’s Bird of Paradise, 27 September, following a much easier schedule. We crossed the Sagewin strait, stopping en route to admire some Bottle-nosed Dolphins and then visited a small lake on the shore of Salawati, which held a surprisingly large number of ducks for this part of the world. There were at least 30 Spotted Whistling Ducks and 15 Radjah Shelducks, along with a handful of egrets (one of each Great, Intermediate and Little) and both Little Kingfisher and Azure Kingfishers, the former a new bird for all.
Spotted Whistling Ducks and Radjah Shelducks
Salawati Island (photo by Robert Vanyi)
After this brief foray we crossed back to Batanta seeing a total of 4 Bulwer’s Petrels flying west through the strait and then hugged the south coast of the island, looking in vain for the ever-elusive Great-billed Heron. We did manage a few interesting birds: White-bellied Sea Eagle; Red-necked Phalarope & Glossy-mantled Manucode (contender for the title ‘dullest Bird of Paradise’). The remains of the former logging operation jetty could be seen but traces of their activities are quickly being reclaimed by nature.
Homestead on Batanta Island (photo by Robert Vanyi)
In the afternoon we tried the lowland forest behind the village of Wai Lebed however this was quite disturbed and there was a lot of evidence of recent illegal logging with the unpleasant noise of a chainsaw shattering the peace of the afternoon. We retreated back to the remaining forest and garden clearings behind Kris’s guest house, about half a kilometre east along the shore. Our first couple of afternoons, 25 & 26 September, were also been spent in this area and had been quite successful with highlights: Pacific Baza; Long-tailed Buzzard; Grey-headed Goshawk; Pink-spotted Fruit-Dove; Dwarf fruit-Dove; Pinon Imperial Pigeon; Palm Cockatoo; Moustached Tree Swift; Rufous-bellied Kookaburra; Blyth’s Hornbill; Pale-billed Scrubwren; Frilled Monarch; Mimic Meliphaga; Hooded Butcherbird; Red Bird of Paradise (10+ of this excellent endemic of the West Papuan islands of Waigeo & Batanta at a lekking tree, with much activity and display taking place around a couple of visiting females. Sadly their former lekking tree had been cut down to make a dugout canoe and its sorry remains could still be seen lying where they fell) and probably best of all, although seen rather briefly and not by all of us, a White-eared Catbird, which appeared quietly in the canopy below a pair of Wompoo Fruit-Doves but quickly vanished.
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Red Birds of Paradise (photo by Robert Vanyi)
Rufous-bellied Kookaburra Lesser Frigatebird (photo by Robert Vanyi)
We didn’t add much this afternoon but enjoyed some better views and watched the roosting flight of 100+ Eclectus Parrots again, with a few Rainbow Lorikeets and Sulphur-crested Cockatoos joining their noisy parade. Although we were still seeing some good birds we felt a bit restless that we had still not explored the forest on Salawati yet.
We returned to another excellent evening meal cooked by Kris’s wife, Shita, who employed some local women from Wai Lebed to help in the kitchen and serve our meals. This provides some much-needed extra income in this quiet corner of the world. Our stay attracted a lot of attention from the local people giving them a chance to observe our strange customs and habits. A good number of them passed by from time to time during our stay pausing to watch whatever we were up to. After we had finished dinner we planned the next day’s birding.
The area immediately surrounding the guesthouse proved a good birding location and Shita regularly saw something good while we were out, for instance Palm Cockatoo and Channel-billed Cuckoo. We eventually managed to see the resident Hooded Pitta (of the novaeguineae subspecies with much blue on its shoulders), which called every day and sometimes during the night from the tangle behind the bush-toilet; Black Thicket-fantail; Papuan Frogmouth (1 spotlit after dark one evening) and Large-tailed Nightjar (1 seemed to pass by calling most mornings) in the vicinity of the guest house.
Wai Lebed, Batanta Island
Kris Tindige's Guest House View from the dining table
Juszti snorkeling
Without electricity and almost on the equator, where daylight hours are roughly 6 ‘til 6, we found ourselves turning in by 8 each evening, allowing an opportunity for plenty of sleep despite the early starts. That is, as long the chigger bites, sunburn and bee stings did not distract too much. Batanta and especially Salawati are notorious for chiggers (microscopic mites, which burrow unseen into the skin in places where the incresed pressure of clothing brings blood vessels closer to the surface, like the ankles or waist, causing incredibly itchy pimple-like spots that don’t go away for several weeks) however we did not have too much trouble. Maybe a dozen or so bites each and nothing like the 300+ bites possible in places like the Fly River forests of Kiunga in PNG. To ward off chiggers we used pure sulphur powder, used like talcum powder, around our ankles and in our socks and also around the waistline plus some insect repellent as well. There were also hardly any mosquitoes either however there is malaria here so you should take precautions. We had our biggest scare whilst watching the Red Bird of Paradise lek. We were trying to work out the best viewpoint up through the canopy to the open-crowned lekking tree when Stu suddenly called out in pain. I thought he had been bitten by a snake but it was soon clear he was being attacked by a swarm of bees he had just disturbed whilst walking off trail through the under-storey of the forest. Fortunately they did not continue to sting him after he hurried away but he had still been stung numerous times on the head and shoulders. Luckily nothing became of the incident except for some large red lumps.
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Stu examines his bee stings, Batanta Island
On each of the next three days we visited Salawati, twice in the morning and twice in the afternoon. We concentrated on the lowland forest a couple of kilometres to the east of the settlement and made one afternoon visit to the dry river bed leading south from the settlement. The heavily degraded forest around the latter was quiet although we saw quite a lot of Blyth’s Hornbills (30+, with up to 10 in one fruiting tree, including some juveniles); Black Lory (5 flying over, one pair and a juvenile and another pair - a good West Papuan endemic) & Grey Imperial Pigeon (2) but not much else. The afternoons on the islands seemed nowhere near as good for bird activity as the mornings. This was a former area for Western Crowned Pigeon and King Bird of Paradise but not any more.
Both morning visits were very good! We saw both Western Crowned Pigeon and King Bird of Paradise on 28 & 30 September, as well as a Great-billed Heron (at last!), which was spotted by Robi just as it was about to sneak off out of sight around a corner of the coastline. Kris had managed to locate Nalman this time, the local guide, who was very helpful in guiding us along indistinct trails through the forest. He was also great at spotting birds with his hunter’s eyes. Kris has apparently actively discouraged him from hunting the Crowned Pigeons and Cassowaries and they are starting to become more numerous in this area. Nalman now specialises in wild pigs.
Western Crowned Pigeon took a little time to locate but eventually, as we walked up an almost dry river bed, we heard the distinctive loud wing claps, like a gun going off, as we disturbed them feeding on the ground. At the back of the group again, I did not see them take flight however Nalman had soon located one high in a tree, looking down at us. It flew again and landed a short distance away out of sight. After some scrambling up a very steep slope, without much to cling onto and with the camera in one hand I reached Kris, who had relocated it perched not far away and much nearer to eye level than before. I took a lot of photos before the huge dumb pigeon realised what was happening, as ever pushing my luck with slow shutter speeds in the poor forest light, and fortunately a couple of them were OK.
Western Crowned Pigeon
Kris thinks that they are often reluctant to leave a perch due to the huge amount of energy needed for their tail to clear the branch they are standing on!
After the pigeon flew another bird nearby broke cover and joined the first in an even taller tree. They are an amazing sight and although I had seen one of the trio, Southern Crowned Pigeon, before it was still a thrilling experience. Our second sighting was different in that Kris managed to spot one on the ground, below the trail we were following, quite near the beach and most importantly before it had seen us. We could watch it walking around in between the small saplings on the forest floor until it eventually spotted us and took flight, allowing some more perched views before it flew off.
King Bird of Paradise was one of the highlights of the whole trip. On the first morning we used playback to attract the attention of a female and then a male, which responded and called for a while, sparking off a couple of neighbouring males and although it showed quite well briefly it could hardly be described as extrovert. The performance of the males a little further west towards the settlement on our last morning was something quite different. We heard them calling unprompted this time and soon located a male holding court in a medium-sized tree. It seemed to be using the same perches and we could follow its movements quite easily this time. A lot of calling was again being answered by a couple of neighbours and then things got a bit hotter. A female appeared to inspect him, perching on a branch close to him and he quickly became a fluffed up quivering mass of feathers, fanning his wings infront, raising his two peacock tail streamers above his head, raising the blue and white pectoral fins on his chest and producing a fan-shaped disk which completely encircled his neck. He was quite an incredible spectacle.
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King Bird of Paradise
I had seen some limited display before in PNG but nothing to match this. We watched him for about an hour during which time he had two visits from females, but sadly it seems he was ultimately rejected, despite a fine performance, well at least we thought so. The grand finale however, was still to come. After we had walked a little further and seen a couple of notorious skulkers nearby, Rusty Mouse Warbler and Black-sided Robin (both very responsive to playback though), another male King BoP started calling and we were able to watch him in the canopy. He was quickly visited by a female and went through a routine similar to the previous male but ended it by hanging upside down on a branch, wings closed and swinging from side to side like a pendulum. I never saw anything like this before!
Mike Watson, Clitheroe, Lancashire
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