Birds of Paradise in Sketches and Drawings

Birds of Paradise are beautiful animals. Before the covid pandemic, I often guided visitors on trips across West Papua to watch them. We spent between 3 and 21 days to watch as many of them in the forest both in lowland, lower montane and higher montane forests. Some of the 42 species that I have seen in West Papua include Glossy-mantled Manucode, Lesser Birds of Paradise, King Bird of Paradise, Magnificent Riflebird, Magnificent Bird of Paradise, Western Parotia, Black Sicklebill, Long-tailed Paradigala, Vogelkop Superbird of Paradise, Red Bird of Paradise, and Wilson's Bird of Paradise. There was a bird whose physical appearance was similar to Ribbon-tailed Bird of Paradise that I saw in Tambrauw mountains but I was not sure which species it was because I did not take pictures of it. I was soaking myself in a river when I saw it flying above me over the river. I saw Wallace Standard Wing in Halmahera. 

Vector illustration of Lesser Birds of Paradise

A colored pencil drawing of a male Lesser Birds of Paradise

Because my hobby is drawing, I like to make sketches, drawings and watercolour paintings of these beautiful birds. Although I don't draw birds very often now, I still have got some photos of the artworks in my folder. 

Male and Female Lesser Birds of Paradise in watercolour

The availability of digital drawing application such as Autodesk Sketchbook has enabled artist to create illustration directly from the surface of their cell phone and tablets using a stylus. The artwork can then be offered to customers as printed illustrations on a lot of products such as t-shirt, mugs, skirt, cell phone case, pillow, shower curtain, and a lot more. I used to create vector illustrations using Macromedia Freehand and Inkscape. Later, I decided to use a bitmap based drawing app - the Autodesk Sketchbook. Drawing with stylus is more intuitive than with a mouse. 

Digital drawing of a Male Red Bird of Paradise

However, I still like creating sketches and drawing of animals, flowers, boats, fish and human figures manually using pencil on paper. I have got more freedom when I hold a graphite pencil. 

Most of the artworks are now available to anyone who is interested in having it as printed illustration on various goods such as t-shirts, mugs, and even bed cover on the following online shop: Birds of Paradise and Wildlife Art. Your purchase of products in this shop greatly helps me maintain this blog. This is written by Charles Roring. 

Also read:

• Birding in Minahasa
• Manado City Birdwatching and Sightseeing Tour
• Birding in North Sulawesi
• Birding in Sonder of Minahasa
• Birdwatching in Sulawesi
• Birdwatching and butterflywatching in Sonder

Where to watch Birds of Paradise

According to Wikipedia, there are 42 species of birds of paradise that are known to science. Most of them live in tropical rainforest of New Guinea (i.e. Papua New Guinea + West Papua). Some species can be found in Halmahera, Aru islands and Australia. Their population is experiencing serious pressures due to hunting, ilegal logging, conversion of their natural habitat into human settlements, roads, mono-culture palm oil, cocoa, and coffee plantations and a lot more. 

Birdwatching tourism is still considered as one of the most viable solutions for the protection of birds of paradise and other wild animals in the forest, as well as the preservation of rainforest as a whole.

Lesser Birds of Paradise

Visitors from Poland were walking in Tambrauw mountains to watch birds and other wild animals

In West Papua region (the provinces of Papua and Papua Barat) of Indonesia, the birdwatching tourism attracts thousands of visitors from abroad and inside the country. There are a number of villages and forest areas which tourists can visit to watch birds. Here are some of them:

Birding in Wondama Bay Regency

• Yoppangar Village
• Aisandami Village

Manokwari

• Susnguakti forest
• Dopi river
• Mesirokow forest

Arfak mountains

The forests in the villages of Syioubri, Kwau, Maibri, and Mbenti are important birding sites because they are the habitat of a lot of endemic paradise birds such as Long-tailed Paradigala, Black Sicklebill, Western Parotia, Vogelkop Superb Bird of Paradise; and other tropical birds such as Vogelkop Melidectes, Masked Bowerbird, Vogelkop Bowerbird, and etc.

Sorong regency

• Klatomok Village in Klasouw Valley
• District of Klayeli
• Sorong's ridge forest of Batu Lubang village
• Mangrove forest

Tambrauw Mountains

• Weyos Beach
• Ases Valley and Mount Sakofsiah
• Ayapokiar village
• Fef

For Raja Ampat, the endemic birds of paradise are Red Bird of Paradise and Wilson's Bird of Paradise which can be watched in Waigeo, Gam and Batanta. However, islands such as Misool, and Salawati also have got some species of birds of paradise that are the same as the ones in lowland and lower montane forest of mainland West Papua. 

Most birders will bring a pair of binoculars (famous brands such as Swarovski, Nikon, Zeiss are their preferred choice), and a field guide book. In a group of birdwatchers, a leader will bring a spotting scope. 

Birdwatching tourism enables indigenous people to generate income from the forest that they have through the selling of services, and goods. They can work as guides in the forest, porters, sellers of fuits, and vegetables to visitors, homestay owners and handicraft makers. 

A Male Western Parotia

When the indigenous people get the positive benefits from rainforest, they will protect their precious environment. They cannot easily be tempted by investors who want to buy their land for mining concession or massive palm oil plantation. This is written by Charles Roring. 

Also read:

• Birds of Paradise watching trip
• Red Bird of Paradise
• Watching Red Bird of Paradise in Waigeo Island

• Birding in Minahasa
• Manado City Birdwatching and Sightseeing Tour
• Birding in North Sulawesi
• Birding in Sonder of Minahasa
• Birdwatching in Sulawesi
• Birdwatching and butterflywatching in Sonder

Paradise Riflebird Call

Magnificent Riflebird is a species of bird of paradise that lives in tropical rainforest of Tanah Papua (in English, it is called New Guinea). It can be found in lowland and lower montane forests. The call of the bird can be heard in almost all day. Here is a video of the paradise bird that I recorded using Canon D-SLR camera that was equipped with 600 mm telephoto lens. Although the bird can be heard calling nearly all day, it is quite difficult to find him due to its dark feather. 

The dancing site of this paradise bird can be a hanging vine or a branch of a tree that is in horizontal position. 

Magnificent Riflebird in Manokwari

Birdwatching Sites - There are a lot of places in West Papua where visitors can go to watch the Magnificent Riflebird. Some of them that I know include:

• Klatomok Village in Sorong regency. Visitors who fly to Sorong city in order to take a holiday in Raja Ampat can also take a rainforest tour to Klatomok village by a 4WD car to find this bird and a lot of other tropical bird in the forest. The forest in Klatomok is also the habitat of wallaby, wild pigs, deer, echidna, soa-soa lizard, snake, cuscus possum and etc.
• Tambrauw - This regency has got hundreds of birding sites which visitors can explore to find not only the riflebird but also a long list of birds and other wild animals that are endemic to rainforest of West Papua. 
• Susnguakti forest of Manokwari, and 
• Aisandami Village of Wondama regency. 

Silhouette of the Paradise Riflebird

Magnificent Riflebird (Ptiloris magnificus)

Other interesting tropical birds that can be watched include Pinon Imperial Pigeon, Western-crowned Pigeon, Orange-bellied Fruiy Dove, Pink-spotted Fruit Dove, Glossy-mantled Manucode, King Bird of Paradise, Palm Cockatoo, Eclectus Parrot, Large Fig Parrot, Double-eyed Fig Parrot, and a lot more. 

BIRDING IN MINAHASA

Minahasa is a region in the Province of North Sulawesi, the Republic of Indonesia. It is a good destination for birding visitors. There are a lot of birds which visitors can watch while walking along the forest edge, farmland and paddy fields of Minahasa. There are a number of sites which tourists can explore to watch birds. Some of them are listed below:

Black-naped Oriole

• Tounelet Slope. This is a very small forest in Subdistrict Sonder of Minahasa regency that can be reached by car for around 1.5.hours. Siloam hospital and Birding Minahasa (a birding tour organizer) are located in the vicinity. Birds that can be watched here include: Sooty-headed Bulbul, Sahul Sunbird, Brown-throated Sunbird, Black-crowned White-eye, Sulawesi Swiftlet, Sulawesi Hanging Parrot, Chestnut Munia, Scaly-breasted Munia, Gray-sided Flowerpecker, Yellow-sided Flowerpecker, Black-naped Oriole, Eurasian Treesparrow, Brush Cuckoo, Pale Blue Monarch, White-nest Swiftlet, Sulawesi Swiftlet Pacific Swift, Uniform Swiftlet, Purple Needletail, and etc. 
• High elevation forest of Sonder is the habitat some interesting species such as  Sulawesi Blue Flycatcher, Sulawesi Cuckoo-dove, Sulawesi Pygmy Woodpecker, Sulawesi Myzomela, Crimson Sunbird, Crimson-crowned Flowerpecker, Warbling White-eye, Black-faced Munia, White-faced Cuckoo Dove, and etc. 
• Farmland and Paddy Fields of Sonder is the habitat of more interesting birds such as Zebra Dove, White-eyed Drongo, Finch-billed Myna, Cattle Egret, Little Egret, Purple Heron, Cinnamon Bittern, Sunda Teal, Collared Kingfisher, Yellow-billed Malkoha, White-breasted Woodswallow, and etc.
• More birds can be watched when we visit Mount Mahawu. Red-eared Fruit Dove, Citrine Canary Flycatcher, Sulphur-bellied Whistler, Mountain Tailorbird, Isabelline Bush-hen, Vinous-breasted Sparrowhawk, Eyebrowed Thrush, Maroon-chinned Fruit Dove, Spotted Dove, Sulawesi Leaf Warbler and etc.
• The Nature Reserve of Tangkoko is a must see destination for lowland birds such as Grey-cheeked Green Pigeon, Silver-tipped Fruit Dove, Green Imperial Pigeon, Knobbed Hornbill, Sulawesi Hornbill, Sulawesi Dwarf Kingfisher,Green-backed Kingfisher, Ashy Woodpecker, Lilac-cheeked Kingfisher, Spot-tailed Goshawk, and etc. 

Gray-sided Flowerpecker

Black-faced Munia

If you want a guide to organize your birding trip in Minahasa, please, contact me by whatsapp to: +6281332245180 or by email to: peace4wp@gmail.com

Also read:

• Birding in Minahasa
• Manado City Birdwatching and Sightseeing Tour
• Birding in North Sulawesi
• Birding in Sonder of Minahasa
• Birdwatching in Sulawesi
• Birdwatching and butterflywatching in Sonder
• https://wildlifeminahasa.blogspot.com

Birding in Klatomok Village of Klasouw Valley

Klatomok is a village in Sorong regency of West Papua Province of Indonesia. It is a recommended destination for visitors who are interested in birding and wildlife watching. 

Blyth's Hornbill (Rhyticeros plicatus)

The forest around the village is the natural habitat of such birds as Palm Cockatoo, Sulphur-crested Cockatoo, Red-cheeked Parrot, Large Fig Parrot, Black Lory, Black-capped Lory, Coconut Lorikeet, Pinon Imperial Pigeon, Orange-bellied Fruit Dove, Pink-spotted Fruit Dove, Slender-billed Cuckoo Dove, Magnificent Riflebird, King Bird of Paradise, Twelve-wired Bird of Paradise, Yellow-billed Kingfisher, Red-breasted Paradise Kingfisher, Common Paradise Kingfisher, Sacred Kingfisher, Blue and Black Kingfisher, Rufous-bellied Kookaburra, and a lot more.

Sulphur-crested Cockatoo

Visitors who go to Klatomok village need to bring binoculars, camera with telephoto lens and, if possible, a spotting scope that is mounted on a tripod.  Local villagers can work as porters to help carry these devices when visitors explore the forest. 

Klatomok Village is located in the east of Sorong city

Traveling to Klatomok village is easy. Visitors can go by a 4WD car. It takes around 2 hours from Sorong city to Klatomok village. Visitors usually need to buy food materials such as instant noodles, bread, peanut butter, eggs, smoked fish, biscuits, and bottled mineral water, in supermarket or local market in Sorong city. 

Western-crowned Pigeon in the forest of Klasow Valley

There are homestays in the village which are available for visitors to stay for a few days while exploring the surrounding rainforest. The rooms are not luxurious ones like in other famous tourist destinations around the world. There are mattresses, mosquito nets and toilets which visitors can stay for a few days up to  a few weeks in the forest. 

A European visitor at a homestay in Klatomok village

In addition to birds, visitors may also see other animals such as forest dragon lizard, deer, soa-soa monitor lizards, and a lot more.

Cuscus Possum in rainforest

Local villagers often conduct night tour in the forest for visitors to see animals such as wallaby, snake and cuscus possum. Visitors need to bring head lamps which will enable them to walk through the forest in the dark.  This is written by Charles Roring.

Also read:

• Birding in Minahasa
• Manado City Birdwatching and Sightseeing Tour
• Birding in North Sulawesi
• Birding in Sonder of Minahasa
• Birdwatching in Sulawesi
• Birdwatching and butterflywatching in Sonder

Parrots and Cockatoos in Rainforest of Klasow Valley

Tropical rainforest of West Papua is the natural habitat of hundreds of species of birds including parrots and cockatoos. In lowland and lower montane forests, we could see Sulphur-crested Cockatoo, Palm Cockatoo, Eclectus Parrot, Red-cheeked Parrot, Large Fig Parrot, Coconut Lorikeet, Black-capped Lory, Black Lory, Red-flanked Lorikeet, Double-eyed Fig Parrot, Brehm's Tiger Parrot and a lot more.

Sulphur-crested Cockatoo (Cacatua galerita)

Before the Covid Pandemic reached Indonesia, thousands of visitors travelled to Klasow valley of West Papua to watch birds and see other animals and plants in the forest. One of their destinations was Klasow valley in Sorong regency. There was a village in the valley. Its name was Klatomok Village. Visitors stayed there between 3 days to 1 week to explore the rainforest and see its biodiversity. 

Palm Cockatoo in Klasow valley (Photo: Kostan Magablo)

Local villagers in the forest guided them during the days and nights. In addition to birds, they also saw soa-soa lizards, snakes, cuscus possum, wallaby, deer, butterflies, beetles, and etc. Most visitors brought binoculars and camera with telephoto lens. 

Large Fig Parrot in Klasow valley

Klatomok village was located in Sorong regency of Indonesia. It could easily be reached by 4WD cars from Sorong city. It took around 2 hours ride from Sorong to Klatomok. Visitors stayed in the houses of the villagers which were called homestay. The accommodations  were simple rooms with mattresses and mosquito-nets and toilets. 

Google Map Location of Klatomok Village

Before going to Klatomok village, visitors bought food materials in the supermarkets of Sorong city and brought them to the village by car. Local villagers would cook the food in combination with food materials from the village such as sweet potatoes, and vegetables. Local fruits such as bananas and papayas could also be bought from villagers. 

a homestay in Klatomok village of Sorong regency
West Papua province of Indonesia

The indigenous Papuan people who lived in Klatomok village worked as farmers. Their forest provided them with plenty of sago trees which they processed to make sago flour. Seeing how the mothers extracted sago flour from the trunk of sago tree was an interesting attraction. They also hunted wallaby, wild boar and deer as well as caught fish and shrimp in the river as the source of protein for their meals. 

When the Covid pandemic has been over, visitors may be allowed by government to visit Indonesia again. We hope that this village will be able to receive guests again so that they will be able to generate income while at the same time preserve their precious rainforest environment. This is written by Charles Roring.

Birds in Wondama Bay

I had an exploratory birding trip to Wondama Bay a few months ago. I visited several sites that are suitable for birding including the forest  in the northern region of Wondama peninsula, around Rowi river, Wandamui Hill, and forest along the road to the southern part of Wondiboi forest. 

It was a nice birding trip and I was able to see interesting birds such as Palm Cockatoo, Sulphur-crested Cockatoo, Black-capped Lory, Lowland Peltop, Blyth's Hornbill, Grey Crow, Oriental Dollarbird, Lesser Birds of Paradise, Glossy-mantled Manucode, Spangled Drongo, Black Sunbird, Olive-backed Sunbird, Red Myzomella, Common Paradise Kingfisher, Helmetted Friarbird, Pinon Imperial Pigeon, and White-bellied Sea Eagle, Brahminy Kite, Lesser Frigated Bird. 

I also heard the calls of Yellow-billed Kingfisher, Rufous-bellied Kookaburra, King Bird of Paradise, Red-bellied Pitta, and Hooded Pitta, Pink-spotted Fruit Dove.

Much of the forests in Wondama regency have not been explored. 

Eclectus Parrot

I brought Canon 200D and Tamron 150-600 mm telephoto lens, a good pair of binoculars and a spotting scope. These optical devices greatly enhanced my birding experience. Some people from tourism department and the national park of Cendrawasih bay accompanied me. They enjoyed the birding activity through the spotting scope.

In addition to birding, we also enjoyed swimming and snorkeling where coral reef of Wondama was teeming with abundant marine life. I used Nikon 130 to take pictures of the fish, the sea star and the coastal environment. 

Red-bellied Pitta

Most of the indigenous people in Wondama live as farmers, and fishermen. Their staple food is sago. Sago flour is extracted from the pith of sago palm tree. It is interesting to see how sago flour is made. There are a lot of villages in Wondama where we can see local people make sago.

 In town, they work as government employee, construction workers, teachers, ojek (motorcycle taxi) drivers, and etc. 

The trip to Wondama was great and I highly recommend it to anyone who loves birdwatching, hiking, snorkeling and sightseeing. Anyone who is a nature lover will find a lot of natural places to explore both at sea, islands, and on mainlands.

Wondama is a regency in West Papua province of Indonesia. To reach it, visitors need to take international flight from their country to Jakarta (the capital of Indonesia) or to Denpasar city of Bali island. The next trip is flying to Manokwari city. Airlines such as Sriwijaya, Batik, or Wings/ Lion Air offer regular flights to Manokwari. We can meet visitors at the airport and organize the trip to Wondama by small turboprop aircraft or by passenger boat. 

In the town of Wondama, there are hotels, homestays, restaurants, shops and markets, hospital, banks and ATMs. 

Flight route to Wondama regency

If you are interested in visiting Wondama to enjoy nature based tourism activities, please, contact me by email to: peace4wp@gmail.com or by whatsapp to: +6281332245180.

A British Family Took A Rainforest Tour in Sorong

I have just organised a rainforest tour for a British family in Sorong regency of Indonesia. During the tour, they did hiking to the lek of Lesser Birds of Paradise (Paradisaea minor) which they watch for around 2 hours. They were able to see Blyth's Hornbill (Rhytoceros plicatus), Pinon Imperial Pigeon, Eclectus Parrot (Eclectus roratus), Sulphur-crested Cockatoo (Cacatua galerita), Red-cheeked Parrot and a lot more. The villagers conducted night walk for them to find wallaby and cuscus possum.

European Visitors were taking rainforest tour in
Sorong regency

The tour in the forest of Klasow valley lasted for 3 days/ 2 nights. They enjoyed the tour because they could see tropical birds, butterflies of West Papua directly in their own natural habitat. After taking the tour in the forest of Sorong, they continued their trip to Raja Ampat.

If you are interested in taking a rainforest tour in Klasow valley of Sorong regency, Indonesia and want me to organize your trip, please, contact me (Charles Roring) by email to: peace4wp@gmail.com or by whatsapp to: +6281332245180.

Also read:

• Rainforest Flowers
• Rainforest Tour in Manokwari

Red Bird of Paradise Art

Red Bird of Paradise is a beautiful avifauna. I have seen the bird a lot of times when I go to Waigeo island to guide tourists on birding and snorkeling tour to Raja Ampat regency. Because I like art, I have created some drawings using ordinary watercolor pencils and digitally using vector software like inkscape and bitmap one like Autodesk Sketchbook. The artworks can now be purchased in the form of such products as t-shirts, mugs, pencil skirt, acrylic block, framed art print, postcard, totebags and etc. To buy them, visitors of this blog can visit my redbubble online shop: Nature Art. Or you could select the picture that you are interested to see more products that are available for you.

Red Bird of Paradise is not the only bird which visitors can watch in Raja Ampat. There are a lot of other birds too such as Wilson's Bird of Paradise, Palm Cockatoo, Eclectus Parrot, Red-cheeked Parrot, Great-billed Parrot, Coconut Lorikeet, Pied Imperial Pigeon, Pinon Imperial Pigeon, Lowland Peltop, and a lot more.

Raja Ampat is a great destination not only for birdwatching and wildlife watching in tropical forest but also for snorkeling, freediving and scuba diving. Pristine coral reef sites in Raja Ampat are the natural habitat of various kinds of marine creatures from colorful Striped-surgeonfish to Blue Sea Star and tiny but beautiful Christmas Tree Worm. This is written by Charles Roring.

Watching Red Bird of Paradise in Waigeo Island

There are several places in Waigeo island where visitors can go to enjoy birding. The usual place which tourists go is Saporkren. I personally go further to the south to entrance area of Kabui Bay. There is a guesthouse at the beach where I and my clients stay. Early in the morning, we wake up to have some preparations and tlhave some tea or coffee. After that we will start hiking up the steep slopes to the lek of Red Bird of Paradise. 

Red Birds of Paradise

Birds start to get active at around 06.00. The male land on the top branches of a tree where they usually gather and begin calling his mating partners. Other male birds also come and call their female birds. When the female Red Bird of Paradise have shown up, the male birds will compete one another to perform  their courtship dance. The one that wins the dance competition will mate with the female bird. 

Two male Red Birds of Paradise were performing courtship dance

In general the dance performance lasts from 06.00 to 09.00. Visitor need to bring binoculars to watch them well. Camera with telephoto lens will also be good for shooting the paradise birds. Canon SX70HS, Nikon P900 and P1000 are the ones that birdwatchers bring. Wildlife photographers bring D-SLR camera with telephoto lens to shoot birds and other wildlife in the jungle. 

Because I like art, I created several drawings of birds of paradise both manually using watercolour pencils and digitally using stylus and cell phone. They can be bought in printed versions on such products as t-shirt, cell phone case, bags, tank top, mini skirt, framed art print, water bottle, zipper pouch and a lot more. Here are some of them:

A Couple of Red Bird of Paradise

Male Red Bird of Paradise

I hope that you are interested in buying some of them. When the Covid-19 Pandemic has been mitigated, visitors can travel to Raja Ampat again to watch its birds of paradise and see its beautiful nature. by Charles Roring 🙏

Red Bird of Paradise Art Drawing

I have created some art drawing of Red Bird hiof Paradise. Most of them are digital illustration but there is one that I created manually using ordinary media watercolour pencils on paper. Here is one of the artworks:

Red Bird of Paradise - watercolour sketch

The above art is now available in my Redbubble Online Shop

Red Bird of Paradise lives in tropical forest of Raja Ampat islands. Physically they look similar to Lesser Birds of Paradise from mainland New Guinea. Because of thousands of years of separation, the speciation of the birds led to the creation of new bird species called the Red Bird of Paradise.

Red Bird of Paradise

I also made digital illustration of Red Bird of Paradise (Paradisaea rubra) using Autodesk Sketchbook. It can also be seen in my zazzle tropical artshop and can be ordered at this link: Red Bird of Paradise Art.

Also read:

• Red Bird of Paradise
• Watching Red Bird of Paradise

My Bird Art

During this Covid-19 Pandemic, the flow of foreign birdwatchers is stopped by government. I haven't guided birding visitors for 1 year now. Because I like art, I spend my time creating drawings and paintings of birds, flowers, butterflies and fish, as well as human figure. Most of the artworks are inspired by what I see in nature. Here are some of them:

Art print of my watercolour painting of Lesser Birds of Paradise

Drawing of Lesser Birds of Paradise

Blyth's Hornbill vector art

Lesser Frigatebird

Coloured Pencil Drawing of a male Lesser Birds of Paradise

Sketch of a male Lesser Birds of Paradise

Some of the artworks are made manually using conventional art media such as watercolor on paper but others are created digitally as vector art using inkscape or as bitmap images using Autodesk Sketchbook. 

New Destination for Birding Tour in West Papua

Wondama is a new destination for visitors who like birding. I like traveling to the regency because it has got a lot of forest areas which visitors can explore to watch tropical birds. Golden Myna, Yellow-faced Myna, Blyth's Hornbill, Black-capped Lory, Rainbow Lorikeet, Red-cheeked Parrot, Palm Cockatoo, Sulphur-crested Cockatoo, Pinon Imperial Pigeon, Brown Cuckoo Dove, Wompoo Fruit Dove, Pink-spotted Fruit Dove Lowland Peltop are some of the many birds that can be found there. Visitors can spend around nine days to two weeks exploring Wondama's forest to watch its tropical birds. I suggest that birding visitors travel in a group of at least four to eight people to share the cost of transportation. 

Binoculars are important wildlife watching gear that every birdwatcher needs to bring. Spotting scope and camera with telephoto lens are also highly recommended devices for visitors who like bird watching.

Blyth's Hornbill

I provide birding tour to this destination for visitors who are interested in traveling to Indonesia and spend their holiday in West Papua.  

Sulphur-crested Cockatoo

First, they need to fly from their country to Jakarta and then to Manokwari city. I can meet them at the airport or the hotel where they stay and organize the trip to Wondama. In addition to birding and wildlife watching, they can also enjoy swimming and snorkeling in Wondama too.

Here is email: peace4wp@gmail.com and my whatsapp: +6281332245180. Please, contact me if you are interested in taking the tour. Thank you. Charles Roring.

Related Posts:

• Birdwatching in West Papua
• Birding Tour in Wondama's Forest

Birder's Field Guide Book for Birding in West Papua

When I guide visitors on a birding tour across tropical rainforests in West Papua, I always bring field guide book with me. It can be a hard copy of Birds of New Guinea by Thane K. Pratt, Bruce Beehler et al. or a pdf version of the same book stored in my tablet.

fieldguide book Birds of New Guinea

Recently I received another field guide book, i.e. Birds of New Guinea including Bismarck Archipelago and Bougainville by Phil Gregory. The former one is a very good field guide but the latter is a newer publication with wider coverage. I got a lot of new information about new species, more accurate illustrations of birds that are presented in the book. 

Birds of New Guinea field guide book by Phil Gregory

In my opinion the former book was better in arranging the index pages. It allows birders to find bird illustrations in the book, match and identify the real bird that they see in nature. 

For birding hotspots, especially in West Papua province, there are more places that I know compared to the ones explained in the above books. Places that are not mentioned in the books include:

• Klasow valley (Klatomok Village, Malagufuk Village, and Klayeli) in Sorong regency; 
• Wondiboy nature reserve, Naikere forest of Wondama regency, 
• Susnguakti forest and Mesirrokow forest of Manokwari regency; 
• Mount Sakofsiah and Ases Valley in Tambrauw Mountains; 
• Trans Waigeo Ring Road in Fish Lagoon area of east Waigeo region.

Birding sites in Wondama rehenc

They are good birding sites that may become famous in the future. For Klasow valley, I see that it has rapidly become famous because a lot of tourists have visited it. I introduced Klasow valley especially Malagufuk to the world in late 2014. There was no one in the birding or birdwatching world who knew its existence. I entered the forest and found 2 tents. The local people were about to open the forest to make a new village for them. I and Nico Nauw were lucky to be the first who introduced birding tourism in the the village.

For me, Wondama regency is another important birding hotspot in the near future. As I write more blog posts about birding in the region, it will attract more visitors to the regency. 

Related Posts:

• Birding Tour in West Papua
• Tropical Birding Tours in West Papua