Five members of the
PNGBS and 10 others celebrated the Queen’s official birthday by leaving the
heat of Port Moresby for the cooler delights of Myola. Myola lies in the heart
of the Owen Stanley mountain range at a height of 2080m and is less than 25
minutes flying time from the capital. However, the contrast could not be
greater. Myola is a small satellite village of about 20 huts, two of which are
the guest house sleeping quarters and common room, situated on the edge of moss
forest and the swampy grassland of the Myola basin. The origin of this
grassland is uncertain although a blackened slope where the vegetation had been
burnt suggested one possible cause.
This was the first time
we had trapped birds using mist nets at Myolas. Rings (bands) were supplied by
the Australian Bird and Bat Banding Scheme. The nets were sited close to the
track leading to the Kokoda Trail. Over the weekend we caught, ringed, weighed
and measured 16 birds of 10 species: four Ashy Robins, all caught in the same
net, three Fan-tailed Berrypeckers, two Regent Whistlers, a pair of
Black-billed Cuckoo-Doves and one each of Bronze Ground-Dove, Mountain Mouse
Warbler, Friendly Fantail, Black Fantail and Rufous-backed Honeyeater. Pride of
place though went to a female Macgregor’s Bowerbird caught on the Sunday. She
was a large, powerful bird with uniform olive-brown plumage and a pale
yellow-orange underwing. It was nice to confirm the presence of this species at
Myola. We have subsequently heard of a bower close to where we caught this
bird.
We spent the weekend in
the vicinity of the village as we did not want t oleave the nets unattended for
too long. Even so about 40 species were recorded. An unidentified fruiting tree
proved attractive to several species including a pair of Loria’s Birds of
Paradise, several Fan-tailed Berrypeckers and the noisy Belford’s Melidectes.
Individual Stephanie’s Astrapias , usually females or subadult males were seen
occasionally at the forest edge, close to the village. In the grassland of the
Myola basin Tawny Grassbirds were common, Spotless Crakes were heard calling
but not seen and King Quail, in small groups, were recorded for the first time.
Our long weekend break,
6 – 8 June 1987, ended with a flight back to Moresby early on Tuesday morning,
We all enjoyed our stay and would like to thank the villagers of Myola for
their hospitality and Talair for getting us there and back.
Species List: r =
ringed; h = heard
Harrier sp, New Guinea
Harpy Eagle (h), Brown Falcon, Wattled Brush-Turkey, King Quail, Forbes’
Forest-Rail, Spotless Crake (h), Black-billed Cuckoo-Dove (r), Bronze
Ground-Dove (r), White-breasted Fruit-Dove, Papuan Mountain Pigeon, Goldie’s
Lorikeet, Fan-tailed Cuckoo, Sooty Owl (h), Mountain Swiftlet, Glossy Swiftlet,
Forest Kingfisher, Pacific Swallow, Island Thrush, Spotted Jewel-Babbler (h),
Lesser Melampitta, Blue-capped Ifrita, Tawny Grassbird, Mountain Mouse-Warbler
(r), Large Scrub-Wren, Buff-faced Scrub-Wren, Gerygone sp, Dimorphic Fantail,
Black Fantail (r), Friendly Fantail (r), Black-breasted Boatbill, Black
Monarch, Canary Flycatcher, Ashy Robin (r), Blue-Grey Robin, Regent Whistler,
Rufous-naped Whistler, Fan-tailed Berrypecker (r), Red-collared Myzomela,
Rufous-backed Honeyeater (r), Belford’s Melidectes, Common Smoky Honeyeater,
Grey-headed Mannikin, Macgregor’s Bowerbird, Loria’s Bird of Paradise,
Stepahanie’s Astrapia. 