MADANG PROVINCE, PNG — Before I came to a place where parrots lived, I’d always been excited by the idea of the colorful, intelligent, incredibly varied birds. I looked forward to getting to know them, to admiring them, to observing them.

But I don’t have good feelings toward the family right now.

Again this morning before class, I saw the small green psittacids I first observed yesterday. Again, I was unable to observe them in any sort of meaningful detail whatsoever. They are small, they move fast, and they stay hidden when they aren’t moving.

And I had another run-in with the mysterious shriekers that fly over every morning. I actually managed to glimpse them today as they flew over. I couldn’t see any green, or blue, or red, or yellow … no colors except possibly an orangey-red on the face or bill. I didn’t think the lighting was that bad. Where were the field marks?

Looking through the field guide, I have begun suspecting that they are Dusky Lories. The description of noisy flocks that roost at high elevations and then descend to feed seems to fit the behavior pattern I’m observing in these birds. But it’s just a hunch, and right now I don’t have the visual evidence to back it up.

Late afternoon before supper was better. All birding must be completed before supper, of course, because afterward it is dark. Today I got a great look at a White-bellied Cuckoo-Shrike — the best I’ve had. It was so close that I could finally see its black beady eye. Sure enough, the mask extends up to the eye and no further.

I stayed for a few minutes after the dinner bell had rung, looking out over the canyon. Just as I was ready to head for the dining hall, I saw something flying down below. I got on it as quickly as I could. Light grayish head, contrasting with brown back. It landed in the canopy and by some miracle stayed visible between branches. Its head and breast were a pale, rosy gray, and across its lower breast was a thin black horizontal band.

As I hurried away to dinner, I heard it hooting, a deep, resonant hoot.

Its name? Zoe Imperial-Pigeon. What a wonderful name for a lovely bird.

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