DUNCANVILLE, TEXAS — For the past year or so, I have been corresponding with Michael Tarburton about the birds of Papua New Guinea and the South Pacific. For many years, Mike taught at PNG’s Pacific Adventist University, where I had an awesome day of birding last year. I have appreciated his knowledge, enthusiasm, and helpfulness over the course of our correspondence, and I’m writing now to promote a really incredible resource that he publishes on the Web.

Bird Checklists for 440 Melanesian Islands contains annotated checklists (in PDF form) for islands in eastern Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, and New Caledonia. Mike has painstakingly collated and formatted thousands of observations into what is, as far as I know, the most comprehensive and detailed resource of its kind anywhere on the Web.

Even my own observations, gathered as I traveled through PNG in 2005 and 2006, found a place in some of the checklists. I never could have imagined that I would be the first to document the introduction of White-naped Friarbirds to Hus Island or the apparent spread of Atoll Starlings to Wuvulu. But discovery is a way of life in the South Pacific, and birdsofmelanesia.net is an indispensable companion for the adventure.

DUNCANVILLE, TEXAS — Nearly eleven months ago (how is that possible?) I wrote a post called Backyard birds in PNG. Not only did I see many of those birds daily in the Aiyura Valley, I also became acquainted with their songs and calls. Shortly before I left last October, I turned on the recorder one morning to capture a few of their voices.

• Willie-wagtails (Rhipidura leucophrys) are perhaps the most frequently encountered bird in PNG. They thrive from the hot, sticky lowlands to the cool mountain valleys, and they seem perfectly content to live near people. Here’s a rather faint recording of a song phrase. Their bright, perky songs can be heard at all hours of the day and night.
  • rhipidura-leucophrys.mp3 (00:03, 50 KB)
  • rhipidura-leucophrys.wav (00:03, 132 KB)
• Grey Shrike-thrushes (Colluricincla harmonica) whistle varied, musical phrases. It’s a joy to wake up to this song!
  • colluricincla-harmonica.mp3 (00:40, 633 KB)
  • colluricincla-harmonica.wav (00:40, 1.69 MB)
• Brush Cuckoos (Cacomantis variolosus) puzzled me for months. They start calling before dawn and continue after dusk, but from March to July, I never actually saw a bird, and I had no idea what species this was. Finally, I saw Brush Cuckoos on Pak Island, Manus Province, and the mystery was solved. The birds sound plaintive and frantic to me; I imagine them saying, “Wait for me, Wait for me, WAIT FOR ME!” In this recording, two birds are calling together.
  • cacomantis-variolosus.mp3 (00:34, 548 KB)
  • cacomantis-variolosus.wav (00:34, 1.47 MB)
• Morning chorus. Given what you’ve just learned, you should be able to identify some of the songs in this sample. Others though, you’ll be hearing for the first time. The recording starts out with a different version of the Brush Cuckoo’s call — a descending series of whistles. At about four seconds in, an Ornate Melidectes (Melidectes torquatus) gives three warbling calls. At about the 15 second mark, you can hear a Brown-breasted Gerygone (Gerygone ruficollis) begin soft, stuttering whistles in the background. A Pacific Swallow (Hirundo tahitica) chatters briefly during seconds 21-23. The occasional screeching in the background is from distant Rainbow Lorikeets (Trichoglossus haematodus).
  • highlands-morning-chorus.mp3 (00:37, 594 KB)
  • highlands-morning-chorus.wav (00:37, 1.59 MB)
• Unidentified songster. Yes, we end this post with a plea for assistance. There was one song I never could positively identify, but I did manage to get a marginal recording. In this clip, I’ve snipped out the spaces between the bird’s phrases so that you hear them one right after the other. In actuality, the phrases were separated by gaps of 5-15 seconds. If you know what this bird is or know anyone who might, please let me know!
  • unknown-png-bird.mp3 (00:05, 91 KB)

DUNCANVILLE, TEXAS — My thoughts are far from chilly, wet Texas tonight. Come away with me. Hear the voices of New Guinea birds.

I recorded these birds in the hill forest just above Madang town, Papua New Guinea, in June 2005. The quality isn’t like National Geographic, but then neither is my equipment.

• White-bellied Cuckoo-shrikes (Coracina papuensis) are widespread in the lowlands. See my picture here.
  • coracina-papuensis.mp3 (00:07, 116 KB)
  • coracina-papuensis.wav (00:07, 305 KB)
• Variable Pitohuis (Pitohui kirhocephalus) are one of the few birds known to be poisonous. The birds I saw near Madang looked similar to Mehd Halaouate’s Variable Pitohui photo in the BirdForum database (also on the page are brief comments on the bird’s toxicity). I have to confess, I’m about 99% certain that this recording is the pitohui, but unfortunately, I didn’t label the file back when I recorded it. If I’m wrong, somebody please correct me.
  • pitohui-kirhocephalus.mp3 (00:08, 138 KB)
  • pitohui-kirhocephalus.wav (00:08, 375 KB)
• Helmeted Friarbirds (Philemon buceroides) are abundant in PNG’s lowlands, and their raucous cries are one of the most commonly heard bird sounds. A Papua New Guinean in Western Province told me that when the birds begin to call in earnest toward evening, the people know it’s time to leave their gardens and start walking home. Like Carolina Wrens, Red-eyed Vireos, and many other songbirds, Helmeted Friarbirds sing several different versions of their song, as you can hear below.
  • philemon-buceroides-01.mp3 (00:07, 114 KB)
  • philemon-buceroides-01.wav (00:07, 308 KB)
  • philemon-buceroides-02.mp3 (00:13, 213 KB)
  • philemon-buceroides-02.wav (00:13, 583 KB)
  • philemon-buceroides-03.mp3 (00:09, 151 KB)
  • philemon-buceroides-03.wav (00:09, 410 KB)

SPRINGFIELD, MO. — During eight months in Papua New Guinea, I visited parts of the nation that few other Westerners have ever seen. The problem was that I rarely had time to look for birds, except right around the villages or towns where I was staying. That, of course, is usually not the best way to see the really stellar birds that inhabit the islands.

So I decided, not knowing when or under what circumstances I’d return, that I’d take my final few days in the country and just go birding — really birding — and try to find some of the most spectacular birds in the world.

I emailed Kumul Lodge, asking if they had space for me at the last minute. They did. And so, from October 30 to November 3, I lived high in the mountains of Enga Province, where I birded, ate, slept, and birded again.

This is part one of that story.

PORT MORESBY, PNG — I’m hot and sticky, listening to House Sparrows chirp and cars roar past somewhere beyond the open louvers.

But yesterday, I was in a different world. Cloud-bottoms brushed the treetops, and Crested Berrypeckers foraged in the dense, chilly green. A Brown Sicklebill called in the distance, and he sounded like arcade gunfire. Red-collared Myzomelas sang in the canopy trees, and scrubwrens darted across the road as we pulled away.

Tomorrow, I will be in a different world again: the world inside a metal tube where there are no birds, hurtling through space at speeds our forefathers suspected might be fatal, if they imagined them at all.