The ecoregion’s land area is provided in units of 1,000 hectares. The protection goal is the Global Safety Net area for the given ecoregion. The protection level indicates the percentage of the GSN goal that is currently protected on a scale of 0-10.
Rothschildi is restricted to the Huon Peninsula of Papua New Guinea, in montane and subapline forests from 1,460 to 3,500 m. Rothschildi is known to feed on Pittosporum seeds and the fruits of the genus Schefflera and Freycinetia, as well as some animal matter, like skinks and possibly insects and arachnids, like nearly all of the Astrapia species. It tends to probe knotholes, pecking and tearing among moss and epiphytes while foraging. They spend most of their time in all levels of the forest, excluding the highest canopy, though mainly feeds in the lower levels. The Huon Peninsula Montane Rain Forests blanket one of the most spectacular montane landscapes on the planet. The three mountain ranges―the Finisterre , Saruwaged , and Cromwell and Rawlinson ranges―rise sharply form a narrow coastal plane.
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Blue-eyed cockatoo
This little known bird of paradise is distributed and endemic to the mountain forests of Huon Peninsula, Papua New Guinea. The vegetation of this ecoregion is mostly tropical wet evergreen forest with a large percentage of tropical montane evergreen forest and a small amount of limestone forest. The forest is low canopied, diverse in tree taxa, such as Nothofagus, Lauraceae, Cunoniaceae, Dacyrdium, Elaeocarpaceae, Lithocarpus, Castanopsis, and Syzygium. The Cromwell Ranges are the only extensive unlogged Dacrydium forests in the Southern Hemisphere. Cloud forests heavily laden with moss are characteristic at higher elevations.
Within the Astrapia genus, its seemingly in the middle of the tree, though it’s more closely related to the Ribbon-tailed (A. mayeri) and Stephanie’s astrapias (A. stephaniae) than the Splendid (A. splendidissima) and Arfak (A. nigra) astrapias. The vocalizations of the Huon astrapia are vaguely known, though its calls are described as a rough “jj jj jj”; however, when adult males take flight, their wings produce a “shek” noise akin to a sprinkler, like other members of the genus. Files are available under licenses specified on their description page. All structured data from the file namespace is available under the Creative Commons CC0 License; all unstructured text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and the Privacy Policy. The climate of the ecoregion is tropical wet, which is characteristic of this part of Melanesia, located in the western Pacific Ocean north of Australia.
Splendid Astrapia Bird on mint background – archival print
The Huon Bowerbird Amblyornis germana, recently elevated to species status, is endemic to montane forests on the Huon Peninsula, Papua New Guinea. Huon Birding has identified several key areas near the camp to observe this endemic. Rothschildi is restricted to the Huon Peninsula of Papua New Guinea, in montane and subapline forests from 1,460-3,500 m.
However, this requires a journey of about 4 hours by dinghy from East Cape to Esa’Ala women’s guest house on the north side of Normandy Island to see the Manucode, and then a 90 minute-2 hour boat ride to Fergusson Island where the Goldie’s are. The sea can be rough at this time of year due to the SE Trade Winds – BirdQuest had to abort the trip for this reason this year. This little known bird-of-paradise is distributed and endemic to the mountain forests of Huon Peninsula, Papua New Guinea.
A common species in its limited habitat range, the Huon astrapia is evaluated as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Oviparous animals are female animals that lay their eggs, with little or no other embryonic development within the mother. Terrestrial animals are animals that live predominantly or entirely on land (e.g., cats, ants, snails), as compared with aquatic animals, which liv… The generic name, Astrapia, is derived from the Greek word Astrapaios, which means “flash of lightning”, referring to the iridescent plumage of the genus. Its specific name, rothschildi, is for Lord Walter Rothschild, a famous collector who kept the first specimen in his private museum sent to him by German naturalist Carl Wahnes.
This work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author’s life plus 70 years or fewer. We feature fascinating species, inspiring climate heroes, and impactful projects from around the world led by individuals and community organizations who are making the vision of a green, resilient future a reality. Breeding recorded from October to November, display only recorded in early February.
- Very content with the Emperor we stumbled down another trail to a small hide overlooking the display court of Magnificent Bird-of-Paradise.
- No time to hang around so we immediately began the walk with Mombi to the village of Welawa at an elevation of 250m as we needed to get there before dark to see the Goldies BoP which allegedly hung around trees at the village in the late afternoon.
- The vegetation of this ecoregion is mostly tropical wet evergreen forest with a large percentage of tropical montane evergreen forest and a small amount of limestone forest.
- During courtship displays, the males start with a series of short hops between branches, which is known as perch-hopping.
A latish start due to some sleepy, slow risers and a change of direction today as we walked downhill to the start of the trail leading to the Emperor Bird-of-Paradise display tree. In the semi-dark we began the walk in to the display tree, the trail proving narrow and slippery, but soon arrived and could hear the birds calling loudly. As the light improved we had great views of several male Emperor BoPs displaying in a large tree 70 metres away and indeed from time to time they would fly in and display above us. The birds put on a great show augmented by Magnificent Riflebird calling loudly and offering occasional glimpses as it sped from perch to perch. Very content with the Emperor we stumbled down another trail to a small hide overlooking the display court of Magnificent Bird-of-Paradise.
To my knowledge, we were the first non-commercial birding party to visit the latter two areas successfully in recent years. It was a good trip as we saw all the hoped-for species including Superb Pitta, Manus Boobook, Curl-crested Manucode, Huon Astrapia, Wahnes’ Parotia, Goldie’s and Emperor Birds-of-paradise, Spotted Berrypecker, Cinnamon-browed Melidectes and Spangled Honeyeater. The logistics worked well, apart from the flight that was unable to land at Alatoa due to heavy rain, costing us some birding time, and the rather rough return by boat to the mainland from Normanby Island. It was during the latter voyage that we had the tantalising view of a small party of what appeared to be Grey-backed Tern, a species claimed before from PNG waters but with no accepted records. This isolation has led to the evolution of a highly distinct flora and fauna. For example, the Huon Mountains are home to four endemic bird species—spangled honeyeater, Huon melidectes, Huon astrapia and emperor bird-of-paradise.
BIRD OF PARADISE CATEGORY
Huon Birding has identified several key spots to allow easy observation of this stunning endemic. Back on land we eventually found the ancient Land Cruiser that would take us back to Alotua where we settled into the comfortable surroundings of Napatana Lodge . Birding the grounds produced Sacred Kingfisher, Helmeted Friarbird, Rufous-banded Honeyeater, Chestnut-breasted Munia and Fawn-breasted Bowerbird. Had a couple of beers with JH who had elected to stay in the cheaper Saugeri Guesthouse close by and had added Grand Munia to the list. Ate dinner, later spoilt by the arrogant, bloody minded and unhelpful attitude of Greta, the expat British manger whose role that evening seemed to be to get pissed with the locals and to hell with the passing guests. The Emperor Bird of Paradise is the most distinctive member of the “typical” Paradisea species group.
Thanks to DH, GW finally saw Orange-crowned Fairy-wren – seen by MW in Irian Jaya 16 years earlier. Walked the road which was somewhat quiet so at 11.45 descended once more to the Parotia hide where the bird showed briefly on the ground but did not display. As we drove higher we all noticed a black blob sitting high in a tree on the ridge which, when scoped, proved to be a male Wahnes’ Parotia, our first bird and surely one of the key endemics of the Huon. A female Wahnes’ Parotia was also noted in the tree and further on male and female Huon Astrapia were well seen together with the stunning Spangled Honeyeater and 4 Pesquet’s Parrots, and it was not yet 07.30! As the vehicle climbed slowly up the road to the top of the ridge, Blue-grey Robin was seen and Ashy Robin heard and at 09.00 the truck reached the viewpoint at 1900 metres.
Returned to the car and left the park around 13.00, heading back to POM to change money. The car had a flat tyre and DW took ages to come back and collect us, but then on to the supermarket to buy basic provisions for the next few days at the Huon Peninsula. Returning to the hotel we dumped all the unnecessary gear to meet the 15kg baggage weight restriction for the small plane that would take us to Wasu tomorrow. Went down for dinner and await the arrival of Birdquest led by MvB, returning from Huon, from whom we hoped to get some useful information. In the event they did not appear so we would have to make our own arrangements with the reputedly unfriendly villagers.
This is only possible if the sea is not rough and the locals not at war with each other. If impossible, it is worth visiting the nearby Kandriu Island (also known as Hawaii, though nothing like it!) for small island species. The Huon astrapia, also known as Rothschild’s Astrapia, Huon Bird-of-paradise, or Lord Rothschild’s Bird-of-paradise, is a species of bird-of-paradise belonging to the genus Astrapia. Rothschildi is a rather elusive member of its genus and family.
The Huon Mountains are isolated from other montane regions by the lowland barrier of the Ramu/Markham Basin lowlands. Wahnes’s Parotia is only found in a narrow band of suitable habitat within the Huon Peninsula and is the longest-tailed member of the genus Parotia. The male performs a spectacular courtship “ballerina dance” on the forest floor. We passed the rest of the evening in real “village” style with a dinner of sweet potato, corned beef,pumpkin, greens and noodles with lots of tea. Interesting chat about belief systems and secret valleys with special trees before we retired to our floor for the night.
Alfonzo Bissonnette is a wildlife conservationist and a television personality. He is 29 years old. When he was just four years old, he found his first dead animal on the side of the road. From that day on, he knew that he wanted to work with animals.
Alfonzo has always been passionate about protecting the environment and its inhabitants. As a child, he would spend hours catching bugs and spiders in his backyard, then release them back into the wild unharmed. He later studied Wildlife Conservation at university, and now works tirelessly to protect endangered species all over the world.
Alfonzo is also a television personality. He has been featured on several shows about wildlife conservation, and has even hosted his own show about animal rescue operations.