Watching New Guinea Vulturine Parrot

Vulturine Parrot

This is the picture of New Guinea Vulturine Parrot (Psittrichas fulgidus) that I saw in Sakofsiah mountain range of West Papua. There were three of them that stayed in the fig tree for quite long. They ate the fruits and took a rest for several hours there. Because of continuous hunting, road construction and conversion of rainforest into monoculture palm oil and cacao plantations, the population of the bird decreases rapidly. IUCN has put the bird into the Status of Vulnerable. A different approach has to be done to preserve the natural habitat of this parrot, other tropical birds and wild animals.

Andaer ridge forest in Vogelkop region of West Papua

Ecotourism is one of the solutions to protect them. Local villagers could work as guides, cooks, and porters when tourists come to their village to watch Vulturine Parrot and other birds.
To watch tropical birds in the forest, visitors need to make some preparation and bring suitable birding devices. A good pair of 10×42 or 12×50 binoculars is needed to see birds and animals. For taking pictures, I highly recommend a bridge camera such as the Nikon P900 or Nikon P1000. Users of D-SLR camera can buy telephoto lens Sigma 150-600 mm or Tamron 150-600mm G2.
Visitors need to fly to Manokwari or Sorong city if they want to go hiking and birdwatching in the forest of Mount Sakofsiah. I suggest that visitors travel in a group of 4 people so that they can share the cost. Birds that can also be seen in the region are Wompoo Fruit Dove, Sulphur-crested Cockatoo, Palm Cockatoo, Eclectus Parrot, Mountain Peltop, Long-tailed Buzzard, Pinon Imperial Pigeon, and Magnificent Bird of Paradise, Lesser Birds of Paradise, Magnificent Riflebird, Rufous-bellied Kookaburra, Yellow-faced Myna, Oriental Dollarbird, Blyth's hornbill, and at lot more.
The duration of the tour to Andaer ridge forest should be at least 4 days. If the trip to Mount Sakofsiah is included, we need at least 6 days in total to accomplish the tour.
Bringing raincoat, sleeping bag, and plastic bags to cover camera and other electronic devices in case of raining is highly recommended. When visitors participate in this tour, they have to be physically fit because the trip may involve long walk along mountain ridge and camping in the forest to see more wildlife and birds.
If you are interested in watching Vulturine Parrot, please, contact me by email to: peace4wp@gmail.com or whatsapp: +6281332245180.

Olive-backed Sunbird

Olive-backed Sunbird (Cinnyris jugularis)

I like walking in the morning to see beautiful scenery and watch birds that like to perch on the branches of trees. When I was traveling in Sonder town of Minahasa regency of North Sulawesi, I saw a lot of species of birds. Some of them were small such as the Eurasian Tree Sparrow, Scaly-breasted Munia, and Chestnut Munia.

But there was another beautiful bird that attracted my attention. It was the Olive-backed Sunbird (Cynniris jugularis). The male one had yellow bellied feather and blue throat. His wings were olive green. I was standing still in front of my parents' house when I saw it landing on the branch of a Papaya tree to lick the nectar of its flowers.

Sulawesi Scops Owl

Sulawesi Scops Owl

I did a short night birding in the forest of Minahasa a few hours ago. My main target was Sulawesi Scops Owl (Otus manadensis). It was around 18.00 local time when I heard the call of owl. So, I immitated it by making similar call. The bird was calling from the forest in a distance of approximately 50 meters away from me. I was standing at the side of a road. After replying its calls for around 15 minutes, I heard that the calls from the bird were getting closer. There was a small forest at the roadside. The bird was sitting on the lower branch of a tree around 5 meters above the ground.

Pale Blue Monarch

Pale Blue Monarch

Here is the picture of Pale-Blue Monarch (Hypotimis puella) that I saw when I guided several Taiwanese tourists in the rainforest of North Sulawesi. It was around 10.00 morning time. We were about to leave the forest where we were birding in. Suddenly a small blue bird landed on the lower branch of a tree on the right of us. He stayed for a few seconds and then jumped to other branches of another tree. The feather of the bird was blue. It was a beautiful bird. I immediately aimed my camera to the bird and began shooting him several times. In addition to the bird, we also watched other species such as  Great-billed Kingfisher, Collared Kingfisher, Green-backed Kingfisher, White-necked Myna (Streptocitta albicollis), Large-billed Kingfisher, Yellow-billed Malkoha, Grey-cheeked Green Pigeon, Sulawesi Cuckoo Dove, Sunda Teal, Spotted Whistling-Duck, Barred Rail, and etc.
If you are interested in birding in North Sulawesi, and want me to be your guide, please, contact me (Charles Roring) by e-mail to: leororing@gmail.com or by whatsapp to: +6281332245180.

Azure Kingfisher in Halmahera

Azure Kingfisher

This morning, I accompanied the Taiwanese tourists on a birding trip to the coastal area of Halmahera island. Our main target was Azure Kingfisher and Beach Kingfisher. We focused our birding activity in the harbor area of Sidangoli across from the old ruins of the former plywood making factory.
There, we saw a couple of Beach Kingfisher, Willie Wagtail, Sunbird, and Plover. After that we moved to the bank of the river that was located across from the lodge where we stayed. There was an elementary school near the place where we enjoyed birding. We were waiting for the Azure Kingfisher when suddenly we heard that there were a lot of school children coming out of the school to meet us.