Papua New Guinea: Birding Attenborough’s Paradise

Papua New Guinea (PNG) is undoubtedly a birder’s paradise. Thirty-four birds-of-paradise (BoPs) live on the island of New Guinea, of which 31 can be found in PNG, and a large number of these are possible on this tour – get ready for sensory overload! The island is home to approximately 400 endemic bird species. Together with awe-inspiring scenery, endless rainforests, and fascinating highland societies that only made contact with the outside world in the 1930s, this makes PNG a definite must-see destination for any avid birder and nature enthusiast.

Raggiana Bird-of-paradise is the national bird of Papua New Guinea (PNG) and we will look for displaying birds in Varirata National Park during our PNG birding tour.

Our first birding of the tour will be at Varirata National Park and the Pacific Adventist University. Varirata is home to the beautiful Raggiana Bird-of-paradise, Growling Riflebird, Crinkle-collared Manucode, Forest Bittern, Hooded Pitohui, Brown-headed Paradise Kingfisher, an array of spectacular fruit doves, and much more. While at the university campus we could find the remarkable and huge Papuan Frogmouth, the localized Fawn-breasted Bowerbird, day roosting Barking Owls, and giant Blue-winged Kookaburra.

We will fly to the world famous city of Mount Hagen in the western highlands, where we base ourselves at nearby Kumul Lodge and Komange Eco Lodge, the holy grails of PNG highland birding sites. We will have our first look for stunning (but often shy) Blue Bird-of-paradise and, at Kumul’s legendary feeding table, some of PNG’s most spectacular birds await us in the form of Ribbon-tailed Astrapia (the adult males are surely one of the best-looking of the island’s birds-of-paradise?), Brehm’s Tiger Parrot, Stella’s Lorikeet, Crested Satinbird, and more. The Kumul Lodge and Komange Eco Lodge areas also hold a host of other birds-of-paradise, such as Brown Sicklebill, Greater Lophorina (formerly part of the Superb Bird-of-paradise complex), King of Saxony Bird-of-paradise, and Lesser Bird-of-paradise. We will also look here for Wattled Ploughbill, Mottled Berryhunter, Blue-crowned Ifrit, Crested Satinbird, Loria’s Satinbird, Lesser Melampitta, and many other incredible and highly sought-after birds.

The birds-of-paradise are all special, however Blue Bird-of-paradise takes it up a notch or two!

After our highland birding, we will fly west to Kiunga. Kiunga is a port town on the Fly River in the Western Province of PNG. In this remote part of the country (including the basic Kwatu Camp) we will search for a host of breathtaking special birds, including the giant Sclater’s (formerly Southern) Crowned Pigeon, the bizarre Twelve-wired Bird-of-paradise, the gorgeous King Bird-of-paradise, Trumpet Manucode, Little Paradise Kingfisher, a range of parrots and fruit doves, and positively glowing Flame Bowerbird!

King of Saxony Bird-of-paradise is a remarkable bird and we will focus on having good views.

From Kiunga we will head north to Tabubil, and the little-visited Star Mountains, where we will undertake our birding in the mid- and high-elevation zones. We will search for some hard-to-find and highly sought species, such as Splendid Astrapia, King of Saxony Bird-of-paradise, Greater Bird-of-paradise, Queen Carola’s Parotia, Short-tailed Paradigalla, Black Sicklebill, Brown Sicklebill, and Greater Lophorina. Lots of other exciting species await us in the mountains. After this final birding we will end the tour back in Port Moresby.

This tour will give you an unforgettable experience of birding in PNG, one of the most amazing destinations in the world, providing you with a lifetime of memories of the simply gorgeous birds-of-paradise, as well as a long list of other impressive, unique, and endemic birds.

You may also like to consider our Papua New Guinea: New Britain Premium Extension – Bismarck Archipelago Birding tour. This short tour focuses on New Britain, Bismarck Archipelago, and Solomon Islands endemics, with highlights including Melanesian Megapode, Blue-eyed Cockatoo, Black-capped Paradise Kingfisher, New Britain Dwarf Kingfisher, Bismarck (New Britain) Pitta, and Golden Masked Owl.