Huon Astrapia Wildlife in Papua New Guinea

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.

Met Grace & Ken at the jetty and the small boat was soon whizzing across the bay to Kandriu Island . On arrival met by the local head man Jack Daniels who immediately showed us Yellow-bibbed Fruit-Dove sitting low in a tree by his house. Spent the next couple of hours walking round the island with an ever increasing gaggle of kids, seeing Spice Imperial Pigeon, McKinlay’s Cuckoo-Dove, Island Monarch, Bismarck Black Myzomela, Melanesian Scrubfowl and Beach Kingfisher among others. Returned to the main island late morning and idled the afternoon away, latterly on Ken & Grace’s super slow e-mail. As heavy rain had begun, we walked back to the edge of the trail leading from the forest, took some shelter as best we could and ate lunch.

This portion of New Guinea is a very active tectonic area with a complex geologic history. The surface geology of this ecoregion is a combination of Miocene siltstone, conglomerate, volcanics, and limestone. The Finisterre Range in particular consists of one steep ridge of limestone.

The rain would not let up so we endured a miserable walk back to the Mission. The ladies produced dinner using our supplies plus local rice and vegetables. We talked a lot about how to handle things tomorrow but it was really DW’s play and he seemed to want to target the local dissenters, have a strong talk with them and then pay them to act as guides. Breeding behavior is relatively vaguely known, though thanks to Tim Laman and Edwin Scholes’ observations, their behavior better understood. During courtship displays, the males start with a series of short hops between branches, which is known as perch-hopping. During this display, the male adjusts his position to suit the eye of the observing female constantly.

Lastly, what is called a post-copulatory tumble occurs, where, after mating, the male and female tumble towards the ground, entangled together while doing dramatic twisting and flapping, an unusual behavior even for the eccentric Paradisaeidae family. Nesting occurs from October–November; its nest is a firm, shallow cup made up of vines, dirt, rootlets, and roots, atop a foundation of broad leaves and moss, all constructed solely by the female. She lays a single, pinkish, blotched egg with fine streaks of lavender-greyish. Incubation unknown, though the nestling period is up to 27 days, with all parental duties tended to by the female only.

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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.

Facts About Huon astrapia

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.

• Huon Birding has identified several key areas near the camp to observe this endemic.
• It takes around 5-6 years to reach full adult plumage, like its congeners.
• 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.
• At 09.40 we began walking the Circuit Trail, seeing Dwarf Whistler and Sooty Thicket-Fantail.

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.

Huon astrapia from Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux de Paradis et Des Rolliers ( by Jacques Barraband (1767- .

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.

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.

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. Welcome to BirdForum, the internet’s largest birding community with thousands of members from all over the world. The forums are dedicated to wild birds, birding, binoculars and equipment and all that goes with it. All PNG images can be used for personal use unless stated otherwise. The above preview shows how to use the live preview on this website. The image displayed is just an example, and is not available for sale.

We admired the view of the forest and its little villages dotted around and then began to walk back down the road. We hadn’t gone too far when we encountered a flock including Yellowish-streaked, Rufous-backed and Black-throated Honeyeaters together with the much wanted Spotted Berrypecker and Mottled Whistler. Spotted Berrypecker seemed fairly common with 10+ birds seen and we even found an active nest in a roadside tree. 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. A fairly stiff walk then followed with brief views of Curl-crested Manucode, endemic to the islands here, before we arrived around 17.00 at Welawa, a village of 3-4 basic huts surrounded by vegetable gardens.

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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.

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.

Met up with Augustus, the park ranger/guide who soon took us to daytime roosts of Marbled Frogmouth and Barred Owlet-Nightjar which was great – we probably also disturbed a roosting Barking Owl which flew off without anyone getting a good view. Back at the clearing Boyer’s Cuckoo-Shrike, Black Myzomela and Green-backed Gerygone were seen but a calling Painted Quail-thrush could not be located. The male has black plumage with a glossy blue crown, dark olive-green back, an iridescent purple-green elongated nape feathers, and a very long and broad purplish black tail. The female is smaller than male, and has blackish-brown plumage with pale barring on its abdomen. Concerned by the rising wind and somewhat behind schedule we pressed on, arriving at Sadowai around 10.00, immediately noting the choppy water in the sheltered bay. Captain Raymond was waiting and told us that the proposed trip to Duchess Island for Nicobar Pigeon and Louisade White-eye was off as we would need all our time and fuel to get back to East Cape.

Donning our waterproofs we set off and once clear of Sewa Bay the water in the channel was running fast with 3 foot swells, not much when you are standing on the shore but pretty impressive in a boat only 3foot above the water in the open sea. Many fewer birds on the crossing although the palish grey mantle and wings of a party of 5 black-capped terns that flew across the bows were very suggestive of Grey-backed Tern rather than Bridled Tern. In the early afternoon we walked down the road seeing Mountain Peltops, Ornate Fruit-Dove and Pink-spotted Fruit-Dove , White-bellied Cuckoo-Shrike, Pygmy Honeyeater and an immature/female Emperor BOP and Riflebird. The rain began in earnest and soon was pouring down in torrents as we sheltered under the eaves of a building at the side of the road along with school children and villagers who giggled a lot at our presence.

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.

Another cramped hide meant that White-eared Catbird was only seen by some along with Papuan Drongo and Dwarf Whistler, but although we could hear the Magnificent BoP calling there was no sign of it coming to the display court. Around 09.00 we emerged to walk the trail, seeing Hooded Pitohui and Crinkle-collared Manucode feeding in a huge tree and further along the trail 4-5White-rumped Robin put on a surprisingly good show. Following a slightly thicker porridge and raisin breakfast we headed back up to Satop, picked up the guides, drove up the valley and then walked a rough trail down to a hide that had been built adjacent to the display court of a Wahnes’ Parotia. Superb Bird of Paradise was briefly see on the walk in but on a chilly morning our uncomfortable 90 min wait in the cramped hide gave only brief views of the Parotia – we also heard an invisible Lesser Melampitta calling close to the hide. We climbed back out the valley to the road and walked a little way before taking another trail that led upward into dense closed forest. Regent Whistler and Huon Astrapia were seen on the way and once on the trail Grey-streaked Honeyeater, Mountain Leaf Warbler, Yellow-billed Lorikeet were found as was a perched Long-tailed Buzzard which soon flew off.

Checked out and picked up JH from his hotel, arriving at the airport in good time for the flight. Just as well we did as the flight in a small Dash 8 proved to be overbooked and several very irritated people were told they would have to wait for a later flight. Arriving back in POM we checked into the Granville where lack of electricity in our standard room meant a free upgrade to an “Executive” room. Didn’t make much odds if you dislike cockroaches – they occur in both!! Spent an hour at the Datec internet place, recently upgraded to broadband, a first for JH in PNG, then back to the Granville while JH went to the airport to pick up the first two of the other 4 participants for the main tour.

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 little-known astrapia is a medium-sized bird-of-paradise species, excluding the tail. The males reach up to around 69 cm long and weighs up to 205g, including the tail, while the smaller female is around 47 cm (18.5 in) long and weighs slightly less at 200g. It takes around 5-6 years to reach full adult plumage, like its congeners.

Plenty of Eclectus and Eastern Black-capped Lories but no BoPs – finally we did hear some although seeing them proved virtually impossible due to the horrible overgrown rocky terrain and the fact that the birds were in high dense canopy. It was a real struggle and none of us had a decent view before dusk brought activities to an end. Leaving DH in the forest the others headed down the trail to an open area, where we took a short break before returning the hide. The bird seemed closer, calling just above our heads but nothing could be seen until for just a couple of seconds it blazed in, iridescent green, burnished gold and mahogany brown, perched on the display pole and just as quickly shot back into cover. Meantime DH had a big flock of mainly monarchs and fantails plus a Long-billed Honeyeater. Long lie for us and casual breakfast, JH returning at 09.45 from his morning walk and hitch to Rossun and back.

The YUS Conservation Area engages local communities in forest and tree kangaroo conservation. Forests continue to be lost at the lower elevations adjacent to largely cleared lowlands and helicopter logging contributes to degradation. Hunting of tree kangaroo and echidna can diminish vulnerable populations over time. This is an account of the trip undertaken immediately before my budget tour of PNG that followed the “standard” itinerary see surfbirds. I had been to Manus in 1999 but not to the Huon Peninsula or D’Entrecasteaux Archipelago which held the last of the PNG birds-of-paradise I needed .

Continuing down the road we encountered Brehm’s Tiger Parrot, Tit Berrypecker and following a quick lunch on the road at 13.15 added Brown Falcon, Mountain Kingfisher, Mid-mountain Berrypecker, Brown-breasted Gerygone and Brown-backed Whistler. With some difficultly we finally saw another of the Huon endemics, the vocal but elusive Cinnamon-browed Melidectes. Around 15.30 the truck picked us up and we made our way down to Satop, somewhat painfully for those sitting over the wheel arches of the vehicle as it bumped along the rough road. The day’s only disappointment was a stop at the beer shop where we found the beer was “finished”. Dropped off by the now friendly Satop villagers and headed back to the Mission. As it was still bright and sunny we continued further down the valley but activity was low so we soon returned to the mission to relax with a cup of coffee at the end of a very successful day.