Dear Birding Aussers
I have just returned from trying out the new birding tracks at Kumul Lodge on
the slopes of Mt Hagen in the New Guinea Highlands and thought some of you
might be interested in these new choices you have.
I spent two weeks at the lodge doing some work on Bowerbirds but also did some
recreational birding as well and that is what I will concentrate on here.
These tracks have just been cut purely for birding but I also saw and
photographed some excellent orchids, ferns, clubmosses etc. and the tracks are
in addition to the 1hour tracks around the lodge that some of you will be
familiar with.
The first track is a half day walk starting down the road about 3 kilometres.
It travels through fairly steep terrain but very good forest to an area of
forest called Pegites where there is a Macgregor's Bowerbird Maypole Bower.
Highlights on this walk were King-of-Saxony Bird-of-Paradise, Fan-tailed
Berrypecker, and Papuan Lorikeet. The BOP was singing his heart out to just
one female.
The second track starts another 2 km down the road and takes a whole day - if
you are looking for birds. This route starts with a steep climb through the
village gardens (an education is itself) and real forest only starts above the
highest garden. Only 100m into the bush I saw and heard the best
King-of-Saxony BOP display I have ever seen. We also saw Tawny Grassbird &
White-shouldered Fairy-wren on the way up through the garden area and Dimorphic
Fantail on the way down. In the forest known as Kanasas we also saw
Yellow-billed Lorikeet, Regent Whistler, Red-collared Myzomela, Stephanies
Astrapia, and several bowers built by Macgregor's Bowerbird.
The third track is the most exciting and you need to be fit to tackle all of it
though Max their bird specialist would be happy to take you just as far as the
Archbold Bowerbird's bower (1 hour each way if you are fit) or any part of the
distance. This track is the reopening of an ancestral route and goes all the
way to the top of Mt Hagen (3727m). It takes 6-8 hours to reach a cave on the
treeline where you sleep on the grass-lined floor of a rock overhang, next to a
roaring fire. Day two you can walk as far as you like on the alpine grasslands
where I had good views of Alpine Pipits, and the valleys for up to 150 km away.
Day three you walk home again through some of the best forests I have ever
seen anywhere in the south Pacific.
Bird highlights in this forest were Mountain Robin, Painted Tiger Parrot,
Crested Berrypecker, Orange-billed Lorikeet, Long-bearded Melidectes, Papuan
Lorikeet, and NG Thornbill.
Birds around the lodge, which is right in the forest at 2861m altitude (which
is higher than Mt Kosciusko) are not hunted and often come quite close. Some
of the highlights I saw were: Black Sicklebill, Brown Sicklebill, Ribbon-tailed
Astrapia, Stephanie's Astrapia, Crested BOP (whole family. I saw the male on
five days and had my breath taken away each day for the contrasting brilliant
orange-gold upper and the absolutely black lower are just so striking)
Plum-faced Lorikeet, Blue-capped Ifrita, Papuan Scrubwren, Canary Flycatcher,
Crested Berrypecker, Long-tailed Shrike, Friendly Fantail, White-breasted
Fruit-Dove, Goldies Lorikeet, Chestnut Forest Rail, Mountain Nightjar, and
Mountain Owlet-nightjar.
Mountain Firetails, Island Thrushes, Common Smoky Hon, Grey-streaked Hon.s,
Glossy Swiftlets, White-winged Robins, Rufous-naped Whistlers, Friendly
Fantails, & Belford's Melidectes are just so common around the lodge buildings
and gardens that you give up looking at them.
The lodge itself is in a safe area and they will pick you up from the Mt Hagen
airport. There are no mosquitoes, the food is excellent (even for vegetarians)
and the price is a quarter of the better known lodges. I give it a very high
recommendation for birds and orchids. It is run by the village some kilometres
away, they have bird and orchid specialists and Paul the manager can be
contacted at
Staying there for two weeks was one of the greatest bird experiences of my life
- and I have had many experiences in a number of south Pacific countries.
Happy birding
Mike
Prof Mike Tarburton
Dean: School of Science and Technology
Pacific Adventist University
PMB, Boroko
Papua New Guinea
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