Vogelkop bowerbird, Papua - 2017
Magnificent Bird of Paradise, Arfak Mountains, Papua 2017
Magnificent Bird of Paradise, Arfak Mountains, Papua 2017
Magnificent Bird of Paradise, Arfak Mountains, Papua 2017
Photograph 1 – Inspection and cleaning of bower by Masked Bower Bird, Papua 2017
A birder’s dream… Seeing Bird of Paradise (BOP) in the wild was in my bucket list. In two lines, birds of paradise are among the most beautiful creatures on earth—and an extraordinary example of evolutionary adaptation.
The experience we had was challenging, a totally new one – the trip proved that I can survive without phone, internet, electric power for more than a week.
We lived with the tribes and when learned about them it was a real shocker, till recently they were cannibals.
Last year September decided to fly to Indonesian side of Papua New Guinea to try our luck of getting a glimpse of BOP. We had a four hours flight from Jakarta to Manokwari and landed early morning there. Our guide, Zeth, was at the airport to receive us, and from airport, we drove straight to buy provisions for our whole stay, as nothing is available uphill in the rain forests, what all we need must be collected from Manokwari before we start our climb. Once we filled our pick-up truck with provisions and our luggage, we started our bumpy rides up through the mountainous terrain of Afrak. By noon we reached our first stop to the base camp. From the road, it was an adventurous trekking through the slopes of the rain forests. Since we had to physically carry, we stripped off our luggage to the bare minimum, our plan was to be in this place for only a day and the target was three rarities.
After lunch, which in one word I will describe as one of the tasty meals I had in my life, decided to visit the masked bower bird which normally has a scheduled visit to its Bower in the evening. Again, through the treacherous slopes cautiously after a short trek reached the make shift hide (a small shed camouflaged enough to keep us out of sight of the birds) from things collected from the forest, where we patiently waited to see the masked bower and it turned up at the scheduled time. While we were waiting in the hide, could see parakeetes and other bird’s native to the forest giving us their glimpse of the brilliant colors they possess. The first glimpse gave us a clue of what is lying ahead for us in the coming days, the hard labor we had to overcome will be nothing in comparison to the gorgeous sights.
Waited for the female, she only gave us a glimpse and went away, seems not impressed and as it was getting dark as the bird left, we rushed back to the base camp and finished our dinner and was in bed as we had to wake before dusk. Only source of lights are the flash lights we carried and slept in the middle of the rain forest. We had the luxury to sleep in one of the biggest bed rooms and use most spacious bath rooms which was under the open sky in the make shift camps they arranged, slept on the temporary coats made of bamboo, with the virtual protection on many mosquito coils burning around and enjoying the sound of music system harmonized to the tunes of the rain forest. Having the dreams of what is lying ahead, soon I switched on my snoring mode which was not at all a disturbance for my team as all were in the same shape.
Next day early morning just as the day broke we took a chance to see the masked bower, but this time we were not lucky, we didn’t wait long there as we need to return back to the camp to get our first glimpse of Magnificent BOP. The display site of magnificent BOP was relatively close to the camp and was lucky enough to get the glimpse of another superb bird about which all have at least seen through the shop clippings circulated in whatsapp or must have read and saw the beautiful videos in the internet by the BBC or by the National Geographic Channel.
After spending balance of our morning with the magnificent BOP had a quick lunch and went back to the hide to see the Magnificent BOP’s courtship, was lucky to see it in full glory the same evening and photograph them.
The BOP species all lived in the same part of the globe. The main food for them are fruits but they are omnivorous. All the birds of paradise possess large powerful feet and bills usually for accessing difficult to extract fruits. They are sexually dimorphic (Males and females have a totally different appearance). The males of most species are extremely ornate and use complex bizarre display behavior during courtship. Females of most species are brown. In all the plumed species males play no role in parental care and follows polygamy. Females build the nest and lay one egg and rear a single chick per year. One thing we observed was no monkeys or squirrels or no mammalian carnivores to consume the fruit, nut or a threat and make the bird of paradise its prey. These helps to have the male bird develops huge plumes and has no risks to dance (display) on the ground while displaying the rich color. Because of the rich fruit trees in rain forests the BOPs enjoy an abundant high energy food source without spending much time and effort. Less time and effort are spent for searching food, opened new possibilities including the polygynous breeding which fosters extreme sexual selection. For polygamy breeding system to be possible female must be very selective and must be able to spend tremendous amount of time observing courtship displays and she must be able to provision her offspring by herself. Whereas the males must be able to spend in ordinate of time courting females without the competing need of hunting for food. While with Zeth, he explained more and gave us a better understanding to top up our researched knowledge.
All magnificent bird of paradise puts their courts on sloping ground. The bird performs their courtship from vertical saplings near the ground. The males hop on the ground while clearing and maintaining the courts and remain aloft while females are in attendance. The courtships are quite impressive in which the male leans back from a vertical sapling to become perpendicular to the perch and the body is outstretched and its brilliant green breast shield is flattened along the front side while his yellow nape-cape is flipped up to form a golden hallow. Encircling the back of the head the male display traits are in hap hazard or random they have to please the female. The female keeps good watch on all this by looking down at him from just above the sapling.
Because of the courtship displays the male bird of paradise is receiving the biggest attention but the real heroes are the females. As they make their mates most beautiful and wonderful by the sexual selection where the success in mating and the survival are determined by the members of their own species. The rules of attraction controlled by females. The females won’t revive any help from their partners such as nest site preparation, food or protection from predators and competitors. The females only consideration is that their descendants reproduce.
During the courtship display the male birds produce sound and also display their inside of mouth, a fluorescent greenish color.
Also had the chance to see the Greater Bird of paradise and few more species which were in our list. The greater BOP’s were displaying high up above the trees, could see the courtship displays through the binoculars. Next day morning after another failed attempt to see the magnificent bird of paradise returned back from this camp back to start our climb up to the road so that we can get back to the waiting pick-up truck and reached the home village of Zeth Wonger, who was at one time the best hunter of the region, but now the biggest conservationist. To write about Zeth will be another full story, which will be attempted later. He was one of the man who guided Sir David Attenborough from BBC and other crews to show the world these spectacular beauties and wonders of the natural world. Was fortunate to be his guest at his place.
While we were at his place started our preparations for our next leg, getting camera gears ready and some good rest. When at the dinner table, Zeth shared his experience and was describing about the terrain what is lying ahead, at one point I even started thinking of returning back. But the wonder what was to be seen took the upper hand. Will write about this in the later issues.
