10th August: History repeated itself with another pre-dawn walk up to a Red Bird of Paradise lek (a different one to the prior day) but unfortunately the location was the only difference and the wind and our luck remained the same…
Heading down the hill we then spent just over an hour at a stakeout site for the Papuan Pitta and this very elusive bird eventually came into the clear very briefly before rapidly moving off. No photo but a lovely sighting of a bird I tried extensively for in Cape York with no success.
Whilst waiting for the pitta to show, a Black-Sided Robin kept us entertained and offered up great views.
Leaving the forest our guide spotted a Northern Common Cuscus crossing over the road and we got views of this usually nocturnal marsupial.
Our relatively early departure from the forest was to enable a mid morning boat ride out to Kri Island. Kri is a relatively small narrow forested island just off the coast of Waigeo and took about 45 minutes over a choppy sea in a small boat.
We had a few hours one Kri and based ourselves at a dive resort where we birded the grounds before lunch.
The different location offered up a range of new birds that generally offered up great views, having been habituated to people moving around the resort.
In particular the Common Paradise Kingfisher and Glossy Manucodes appeared to be everywhere.
There was also a fruiting tree right next to the main building which was alive with starlings, honeyeaters and fruit doves.
The trip back was equally bumpy but we passed close to a feeding flock of seabirds and managed to get naked eye views of Black-naped Tern, Common Tern, Bridled Tern, Lesser Frigatebird and Bulwer’s Petrel.
After drying off we headed back up the hill to the site we unsuccessfully visited in the morning to try again for the Red Bird of Paradise. The wind was certainly calmer and it wasn’t long before the tree was breifly visited by a splendid male Red Bird-of-Paradise before we enjoyed more prolonged views of either an immature male or female Red BoP.
This second Red BoP hide afforded good views of the lek tree and was not at such a steep angle as the first hide visited. With better conditions, it would have given great views – one for next time!
Abusy but very productive day that ended with a beer watching the sun go down over the sea. A fantastic end to a fantastic day
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