Papua New Guinea

Tari Valley

Information

SITE RANK

2

HABITAT Montane forest, woodland, grassland

KEY SPECIES Birds-of-paradise including Blue, Superb, Raggiana and King of Saxony and Princess Stephanie’s and Ribbon-tailed Astrapias, bowerbirds

TIME OF YEAR Good all year round

The extravagant head plumes of the male King of Saxony Bird-of-Paradise can be twice as long as the bird’s body.

A site that holds more species of birds-of-paradise than anywhere else on earth certainly has a very special claim to fame, and this mantle currently belongs to the Tari Valley, in the Central Highlands of Papua New Guinea. The montane forests on the valley sides regularly hold ten species or more of these famed and incomparably weird and wonderful beauties, along with a superb set of other mouth-watering New Guinea birds.

The main attraction may be birds-of-paradise, but this is not, in fact, birding in paradise. In fact, it can be hard and frustrating work. There are frequent lulls when the forests are deathly quiet; the large, moss- and epiphyte-covered trees hide the birds well; most species stick to the high canopy or hide away in the undergrowth; and the adult male birds-of-paradise, which are inevitably the stars, are vastly outnumbered by females and sub-adult males and can be difficult to track down. This is all to do with these birds’ social system. Most species are polygynous, small numbers of usually mature males monopolizing display sites and copulations, while the rest look on. It can take as long as seven years for a male to become a court-holder, with the fabulous plumage to match, and some never make it at all. The females, which for the most part perform all the breeding duties alone, are generally dowdy in comparison with their mates, but are also easier to see. Every sighting of a male is the result of hard slog.

The birding is tough, but the rewards are at times sensational. There really is no such thing as an ordinary male bird-of-paradise, after all. Even the more soberly plumaged compensate by being a bit weird, such as the Short-tailed Paradigalla, a small black bird with bright, light blue and yellow wattles by its eye, and a tail so short as to be almost indecent. Meanwhile, the spectacular ones are just incredible, such as the Tari’s Valley’s twin stars, the Blue Bird-of-Paradise and the Black Sicklebill, two species listed as Vulnerable by BirdLife International. The Blue Bird-of-Paradise is a medium-sized bird with a bold black back and breast, save for two half-moons of brick-red on the lower belly. The wings, however, are bright blue and most of the tail feathers are equally blue ostrich-like plumes, giving the impression of a crow wearing a blue tutu. The tail also has two long streamers that are slightly swollen at the end, like antennae. When a female approaches a lek, the males suddenly embark on a bizarre courtship display, in which they hang upside down from a branch and sway from side to side, blue plumes shimmering, and the metallic hum they make could, fancifully, be accredited to static being picked up by the antennae. Not many visitors are able to witness this astonishing sight, but those who do come away as changed people.

The male Black Sicklebill, meanwhile, is a far more imposing bird than the Blue Bird-of-Paradise. It is much larger, with mainly dark, glossy plumage and its long, decurved bill gives it a rather primitive look. Its shape, however, is dominated by its sabre-like tail, which can be 1 m in length. There is a specially favoured ridge for Sicklebills near Ambua Lodge in the valley, and here it is occasionally possible to see a male displaying: iridescent blue fans either side of the breast are puffed out to frame the bird’s head, while the huge tail is also fanned and the bird crouches down, almost horizontal.

The forests in the Tari Valley are rich in fruit and insects, and are remarkably free of predators and competitors for the birds. There are no squirrels or monkeys, nor any terrestrial terrors such as cats or mustelids. This benign scenario is thought to have enabled the birds-of- paradise to evolve outrageous plumage and display routines without compromising their ability to live and feed. Thus the species mentioned above are only part of the pageant. There is also the famous Raggiana Bird-of-Paradise which, like the Blue Bird-of-Paradise, performs communally in a lek; these species are largely reddish-brown, with bold yellow head and green throat, but when they display they uncover from their flanks a silky orange fan of plumes, which shimmer over their backs, making them look as though they are ablaze, half way up their forest tree. Two astrapias, Princess Stephanie’s and Ribbon-tailed, display dark plumage and absurdly long, ornate tails; the Superb Bird-of-Paradise shows off harlequin plumage, and Lawes’s Parotia is adorned with six hair-like plumes tipped with spatules, three on each side of the head. The extraordinary King of Saxony Bird-of-Paradise manages to trump even these; from each side of its head spring quills that are more than twice as long as the bird itself. They are powder-blue in colour, and only have clumps of barbs on one side, making them look like the old writing quills.

The birds-of-paradise, indeed, show a greater diversity of feather structure than any other family of birds in the world, and this fact, it turns out, did not escape the attention of the New Guinea people. The indigenous tribe here is the Huli, and it is famous for two reasons. First, the people were living a stone-age existence, completely unknown to the outside world, until the 1930s, when gold-seeking Australians first stumbled this way. Second, they live up to their nickname of ‘Wigmen’ by adorning their hair with flowers and feathers from the forests – and not for tourists; they wear this traditional dress routinely. Feathers from birds-of-paradise and other species are culturally and economically important, and have been widely traded in these parts for centuries. Meanwhile, the Huli traditional dances mimic the various display routines of their revered avian neighbours.

The Huli are not the only other inhabitants to admire bird-of-paradise feathers. So, it appears, does another bird of the forests, Archbold’s Bowerbird. This essentially dull-coloured bird has forsaken the acquisition of extravagant plumes in favour of constructing an elaborate bower, which involves the placing of much material, such as orchid blooms, in the trees, and also includes a remarkable mossy mat on the ground, on which it arranges those astonishing blue plumes of the King of Saxony Bird-of-Paradise in an unusual case of one bird using another’s plumes to impress a potential mate.

The bowerbirds of the Tari are no less impressive, in their way, than the birds-of-paradise. Macgregor’s Bowerbird, for example, is famous for constructing a ‘maypole’ bower, in which a slender sapling is surrounded by short sticks, arranged like spokes, to make a conical tower up to 3 m tall. These may be structures rather than plumage, but visitors fortunate enough to see them can be just as impressed as they are with the more gaudy forest inhabitants.

One other quirk of Papua New Guinea is the presence of the world’s only poisonous birds, which have toxins in their plumage. Several species, such as the Black Pitohui and the Ifrit, are so endowed; perhaps these amazing forests are not so benign after all.

Adult male birds-of-paradise, like these Raggiana Birds-of-Paradise, can be hard to see, since they make up only a small proportion of the population of each species.

A Crested Berrypecker lives up to its name. It is a relatively common and conspicuous member of the forest community.

All but one of the world’s nine owlet-nightjar species are found on New Guinea; this is a Barred Owlet-Nightjar.