July 16-August 3, 2025 with Doug Gochfeld & Jesse Fagan (ext. to Aug. 8)
(For best viewing of the media in this trip list, enjoy it at leisure on a computer, with a nice hot mug of something at hand).
For those who have been, no explanation is necessary. For those who have not, no explanation will suffice. And so it is with Papua New Guinea, perhaps more so than any other place I guide birding tours to. The clashing and melding of the modern world with centuries of tradition, the animals, both avian and not, and their bizarre and retiring behaviors, the potential for naturalizing discoveries, and of course, the culture itself, all combine to make for a unique one-of-a-kind journey.
We met up in Brisbane, Australia, and traveled as a group to PNG’s capital city of Port Moresby, settling into our usual comfortable oasis within the city. We then had a late lunch before heading out for our first sample of New Guinea birding, heading to the renowned Varirata National Park for a couple of hours of fun with fruit-doves, kookaburras, and birds-of-paradise – a lovely start to our grand adventure!
The next day was devoted almost entirely to travel, as we made our first foray into the arena of domestic air travel in PNG, flying from Port Moresby to Kiunga for the lowland section of the tour. Though we had to sweat it out for a time, the flight ended up going off without a hitch (as would all of this tour’s flights, thankfully), and we landed in Kiunga and then took the three-and-a-half hour drive to the mining town of Tabubil in the lower foothills. This was our base of operations for two days of productive birding, as we took a headlong dive into the fauna of this spectacular island. We covered several sites, from the tried-and-true birding locations of Dablin Creek and Ok Menga to relatively newly open locations with still-unknown, and largely untapped, potential, like Henry’s Road and the breathtakingly scenic high elevation Hindenburg Wall site along the newly opened Tabubil-Telefomim Road.
At Ok Menga, we got good views, in both binoculars and scope, of Shovel-billed Kookaburra, a notoriously difficult bird to see, even if you are hearing it loudly, well, and incessantly, at point blank range. In fact, this was by far my best experience with this species, so it was a great way to kick things off. We also had some views at the impressively large, yet tricky-to-see, Pesquet’s Parrot there, along with some more common fare. Other fun birds during our exploration of these hills included Short-tailed Paradigalla, Lorentz’s Whistler, Plum-faced Lorikeets in the highest reaches of Hindenburg Wall, along with a really cool-looking, well-camouflaged, as-yet-unidentified frog (an amazing spot by Jesse), and great looks at Wallace’s Fairywren, White-crowned Koel (Cuckoo), and Papuan Hanging-Parrot at the lower foothill elevations.
Then it was back down to Kiunga for three-plus days of birding in the sweaty lowlands. We did a combination of roadside birding, forest trail birding, and boat birding, and found more than a sampling of the lowland possibilities here. We had good looks at Purple-tailed Imperial-Pigeon, Lowland Peltops, Gray-headed Cicadabird, three species of Imperial-Pigeons (Collared, Pinon’s, Zoe’s), repeated encounters with impressive Blyth’s Hornbills, and a triad of “Golden” birds: Golden Cuckooshrike, Golden Monarch, and Golden Myna. During our repeated studying of riverine swiftlets, the groups of larger, fast-flying, distinctively-shaped Papuan Spinetails really stood out, and we had brief views of male Twelve-wired Bird-of-Paradise, which was avoiding its display perch, likely due to the Pacific Baza pair camped out nearby. The riparian forest walk we did as a break from our all day boat trip presented us with some challenging forest birding, but yielded Hook-billed Kingfisher, Little Paradise-Kingfisher, Common Paradise-Kingfisher, a well-hidden Sclater’s Crowned-Pigeon on its nest, and brief, mostly naked eye views, of a small chattering group of the legendarily elusive Campbell’s Fairywren, perhaps a first sighting on a Field Guides tour! Our evening night birding expedition ended up producing spectacular walkaway views of a very placid Marbled Frogmouth, and auditory experiences with both Papuan Owl (formerly called Papuan Hawk-Owl), and Wallace’s Owlet-Nightjar. Before we checked in at the airport to depart these lowlands, we made a morning birding stop there, which, after a quiet start, eventually produced some birds, most notable being a nice flock of Crimson Finch!
The highlands are, for many people, the most looked-forward-to section of a trip to New Guinea, with its mix of rich and (in)famous cultural traditions, and mysterious, spectacular, and sometimes bizarre, bird life. We split our time here between Kumul Lodge and Rondon Ridge. At Kumul, our time was split between birding on the grounds of the lodge property, and van excursions to the neighboring valleys and hills. At Kama village, it felt like we were as much objects of observation by the locals, as the birds were objects of our own observation, whereas on our two visits to Murmur Pass, and our time on the trails of Rondon Ridge, it sometimes felt like we were the only humans in the mountains. The highlights between all of these locales were many, and they weren't solely avian. In addition to the highlight birds, we had several species of interesting native mammals, including three species of ringtails (plus a fourth seen after hours by Doug), a cuscus, and several Speckled Dasyures!
The highlands are the region to come to for the best diversity of Birds-of-Paradise (BoP), and the list of our BoPs ran long: Ribbon-tailed Astrapias with their obscenely long, flowing white tail streamers, and their cousin Stephanie's Astrapia, with their jet black tail; Lesser Bird-of-Paradise, Kama's prize, showing it's bright yellow bustle on its song perch, King-of-Saxony Bird-of-Paradise with its bizarre long plastic-like head plumes, waving around in the wind, or any time it turned its head, making its sizzling bacon display song; the impressive Brown Sicklebill and its machine-gun like call resonating through the forest, the turquoise-shielded Greater Lophorina (formerly Superb BoP), and of course, the shy but gorgeous Blue BoP, which we finally caught up to at Rondon, after a tricky and fruitless hike for the species a few days earlier.
The highland birding is not all about BoPs though. They hold a wide array of other spectacular feathered friends, and we saw a pile of them, including all the endemic families of the island. Wattled Ploughbill is not usually the most difficult, but it took a while, and we eventually had great views of a singing male at Rondon. Mottled Berryhunter performed abnormally well at Murmur Pass a couple of times, including for scope views, and we eventually saw both Tit, and Eastern Crested Berrypeckers well - great birds! The ground-dwelling birds of New Guinea are renowned for their shyness and how difficult they are to see, but we did great with them this year: we played hide-and-seek (mostly hide) with a Spotted Jewel-Babbler, but had great looks at Lesser Melampitta, Forbes's Forest-Rail, AND New Guinea Woodcock. Other highlights included Blue-capped Ifrita, a mind-blowing male Crested Satinbird, Black-breasted Boatbill, and Black Pitohui.
Our final two and a half days of the main tour were devoted to birding around Port Moresby, and we visited the campus of Pacific Adventist University for a couple of hours on an afternoon, and spent the balance of our birding time in the large and bird-rich Varirata National Park, one of the more diverse accessible birding sites in the country. The former site provded Fawn-breasted Bowerbird (and its bower!), a procession of huge Channel-billed Cuckoos, and a perched Papuan Frogmouth (and Common Myna, perhaps a capital area first record, but hopefully one that does NOT gain a foothold!). Varirata, meanwhile, was a fire hose of new birds, and the mixed flock birding was particularly exciting. The big show-stopper here was the spectacle of Raggiana Birds-of-Paradise in full on display mode upon our first morning arrival. Highlights just behind this spectacle were great views of Papuan Pitta and Barred Owlet-Nightjar, and good views of Greater Black Coucal, the poisonous (not venomous) Hooded Pitohui, and another Papuan Frogmouth. Flowering tall trees in the forest gave us a mix that included Red-flanked Lorikeet, Spotted Honeyeater, and Spectacled Longbill. Fruit-doves and kingfishers were also both well-represented, with Superb, Dwarf, Beautiful, Pink-spotted, Orange-bellied, and Wompoo on the dove front, and the latter including Brown-headed Paradise-Kingfisher, Papuan Dwarf-Kingfisher (great views, adorable!), Yellow-billed Kingfisher (point-blank, walkaway views in the wide open), and the striking Rufous-bellied Kookaburra. It was then a goodbye to to those of our group who would not be travelling onward to New Britain on the extension, and we had one last nice dinner as a full group, where we reflected on our highlights of the past three weeks in the country.
Our flight to New Britain was uneventful, and our transfer from Hoskins to Walindi Plantation Dive Resort was smooth, getting us there in time to take a load off and have a little break, before an exploration of the grounds yielded the group our couple of Bismarck endemics, and a group of what would be our only Lesser Frigatebirds of the tour. We then spent the next three days birding sites within striking distance of Walindi, including much of one day on a lovely boat trip, complete with Spinner Dolphins, delightful snorkelling, and a tasty homemade lunch. It also featured several species of endemic birds that are only found here on off shore islands, making for a well-rounded and realy enjoyable day. The landbirding was rewarding as well, with Nicobar Pigeon, Violaceous Coucal, Papuan Grassbird, Purple-bellied Lory, and Pale-vented Bushhen among the wide selection of birds that we had good experiences with. The oil palm plantations of New Britain can be disheartening, but they also might be the easiest place on the planet to see Black Bittern and Buff-banded Rail well. Some of the highlight species we prioritized, and connected with, were Black-capped Paradise and New Britain Dwarf kingfishers, Melanesian Megapode, Singing Parrot, and less encountered species such as Bismarck Monarch, Black-bellied Myzomela, and Black Honey-Buzzard. A few of us also went for a night walk around the Walindi grounds, and had multiple species of bats, including the strikingly patterned, poorly known, and seldom reported Bismarck Flying-Fox!
While on the subject of non-birds, a full accounting of the non-birds on this extremely biodiverse tour would be impossible, but a summary of the mammals and some of the other noteworthy creatures we encountered are listed below:
This was a banner year for mammals for our Papua New Guinea tour, and most of these were spotted at night, where we expended more effort than usual looking for creatures of the darkness. Our full near-complete (I am perhaps forgetting a couple of unidentified and briefly seen bats or rodents) mammal list follows:
Speckled Dasyure (Neophascogale lorentzii) - Three at Kumul, one at Murmur Pass
Masked Ring-tailed Possum (Pseudochirulus larvatus) - Kumul
Pygmy Ring-tailed Possum (Pseudochirulus mayeri) - Kumul
Coppery Ringtail (Pseudochirops cupreus) - Kumul
Mountain Cuscus (Phalanger carmelitae) - Kumul
Rat sp.? (Muroid of some type) - In the field near Kumul
Black-tailed Giant-Rat (Uromys anak) - Near the feeders at Kumul
Small tree mouse (genus Melomys) - Kumul
Bat in suborder Yangochiroptera - Flying over Kiunga
Great Flying-Fox (Pteropus neohibernicus) - Fly & Elevala Rivers, New Britain
Spectacled Flying-Fox (Pteropus conspicillatus) - The bat roost at PAU
Tube-nosed Fruit-Bat (Nyctimene sp.) - The awesome hanging bat we found in the forest at Varirata
Bismarck Flying-Fox (Pteropus capistratus) - The even more awesome-looking bespectacled flying-fox that Doug and Brian saw at Walindi
Naked-backed Fruit Bat (Dobsonia sp.) - One or two species in this genus were at Walindi
Spinner Dolphin (Stenella longirostris) - Boat trip from Walindi
Indo-Pacific Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops aduncus) - Boat trip from Walindi
We saw far too many other creatures to list on this trip list, but some of the notable non-bird, non-mammal, animal highlights follow. In addition to the list below, there were hundreds of moths, dozens of butterflies, a couple of mantises, and several more species of lizards (mostly skink), mostly that I haven't found an identification for yet. Some of the moths have been identified as species new to iNaturalist, and indeed some had not been photographed before this. Such is the way in New Guinea, where all that stands between a naturalist and discovery is stepping outside.
Scorpion (Genus Hormurus) - Jesse requested of Jimmy that we see a scorpion, and Jimmy sent a couple of the boys off into the woods looking for one. They came back fifteen or twenty minutes later with a Hormurus, and it's even possible that one day we'll have a species ID on this one!
Blind Snake (Family Typhlopidae) - We had a Blind Snake slithering along the trail at Varirata, and despite photos and videos, it is likely that we will never know the species identification, as there are double-digit numbers of similar species known from New Guinea, and who knows how many undescribed species that look similar! Either way, a great find!
Hindenburg Frog (Family Microhylidae) - Jesse made a great find of a cryptically patterned frog high up at Hindenburg Wall, and it has so far defied identification. Indeed, perhaps it is an undescribed species.
Cane Toad (Rhinella marina) - Plenty on New Guinea, and then completely insane numbers alongside and in the road at the New Britain oil palm plantations in the evening. I stopped counting when we got over 200.
White-lipped Tree Frog (Sandyrana infrafrenata) - The big green frog that was perched on a large leaf as we made our way back through the palm plantation at night on New Britain.
Bismarck Ringed Python (Bothrochilus boa) - A several-foot-long version of this species squiggled across the road in the oil palm plantation as we were heading back from an evening at the Kulu River on New Britain.
Pacific Bluetail Skink (Emoia caeruleocauda)
Obscure Emo Skink (Emoia obscura)
Kopstein's Emo Skink (Emoia jakati)
Asian House Gecko (Hemidactylus frenatus)
Papuan Hermit Spider (Nephilengys papuana) - The big orange and black spider at the outhouse at our picnic area along the Elevala River.
Lichen huntsman spider (Genus Pandercetes) - the spider that blended perfectly into the lichen and moss-covered water pipe at Dablin Creek was in this genus.
Coscinocera anteus "Hercules Moth" - The large moth that Connie had on her room window at Rondon was one of this huge species. "Hercules Moth" is actually the common name of a different species in the same genus, but the phrase is often used as a catchall for the entire genus of similar-looking huge moths in the Emperor Moth subfamily.
Cocytia durvillii - The spectacular looking "clear-wing" moth that flew across the Elevala River and landed on our boat, and that Jimmy caught and showed to us inside the boat.
If you’re viewing this on a computer, the slideshow gallery below has some more nice visual treats from the tour. Enjoy!
You can see my complete trip report on eBird at this link: https://ebird.org/tripreport/402077
You can download a combined PDF of this page and the eBird report at this link: https://fieldguides.com/triplists/png25TRIPLIST.pdf
-- -Doug Gochfeld (Treeswift)