Six cars containing eleven PNGBS members and friends gathered at the Baruni turn-off for a run out to Lake Iaraguma and Lea Lea, some 60 km north-west of Port Moresby. While waiting for late-comers a Large-tailed Nightjar was heard calling. Our first stop at a patch of gallery forest by the road produced about 20 species including good views of White-throated Gerygone and a pair of amorous White-winged Trillers. We then continued across the Fairfax Grasslands, seeing Cattle Egrets, all in non-breeding plumage, Singing Bushlarks and a female-plumaged Australian Kestrel. This is the first record of the latter for more than two years.
Our next stop was Lake Iaraguma. Last time I visited the Lake (Jan '90) it was heavily overgrown with Salvinia, an introduced weed, but this appeared to be dying out as more than half the lake was open water. There were not many waterbirds or waders, either here or at Lake Bunu. Of interest were a pair of Brown-backed Honeyeaters which were nest building in a bush on the shore of the lake. Both these birds had neat plum-coloured throats, a feature not mentioned in any guides. The site was revisited a week later, when both birds appeared to have "normal" plumage. It is now assumed the colouring was some type of staining, either from the eucalypts where the birds had been seen collecting bark for their nest building or from some unidentified food source.
From Lake Iaraguma we headed for the end of the road at Lea Lea, en route stopping at Papa where there is a high-tide wader roost amongst the mangroves. This early in the season there were relatively few birds - c. 25 Grey-tailed Tattlers, 3 Sharp-tailed Sandpipers, 1 Whimbrel and 1 Masked Lapwing. We did have good views of a Glossy-mantled Manucode as it perched in the top of a mangrove tree and a pair of Yellow-bellied Sunbirds were nest building. Our normal wader-watching site at Lea Lea was inaccessible as the village of Lea Lea has moved to the south side of the mouth of Rea Rea Creek because the village site north of the mouth is being eroded. It was also high tide, about two hours earlier than that advertised for Port Moresby. So we headed home having recorded 63 species.
Australasian Grebe/ Great Frigatebird/ Lesser Frigatebird/ Little Black Cormorant/ Little Pied Cormorant/ Darter/ Great Egret/ Pied Heron/ Intermediate Egret/ Cattle Egret/ Little Egret/ Whistling Kite/ Brahminy Kite/ Collared Sparrowhawk/ Australian Kestrel/ Pacific Black Duck/ Common Scrubfowl (h)/ Dusky Moorhen/ Purple Swamphen/ Comb-crested Jacana/ Masked Lapwing/ Whimbrel/ Grey-tailed Tattler/ Sharp-tailed Sandpiper/ Gull-billed Tern/ Peaceful Dove/ Bar-shouldered Dove/ Orange-bellied Fruit-Dove/ Pied Imperial Pigeon/ Rainbow Lorikeet/ Red-cheeked Parrot/ Brush Cuckoo (h)/ Pheasant Coucal/ Large-tailed Nightjar (h)/ Blue-winged Kookaburra/ Sacred Kingfisher/ Rainbow Bee-eater/ Singing Bushlark/ Pacific Swallow/ Tree Martin/ White-bellied Cuckoo-Shrike/ Black-faced Cuckoo-Shrike/ White-winged Triller/ Golden-headed Cisticola/ White-throated Gerygone/ Willie Wagtail/ Jacky Winter/ Lemon-bellied Flycatcher/ Grey Shrike-Thrush/ Papuan Flowerpecker/ Yellow-bellied Sunbird/ Graceful Meliphaga/ Yellow-tinted Honeyeater/ White-throated Honeyeater/ Helmeted Friarbird/ Brown-backed Honeyeater/ Rufous-banded Honeyeater/ Grey-headed Mannikin/ Figbird/ White-breasted Wood-Swallow/ Black-backed Butcherbird/ Fawn-breasted Bowerbird/ Glossy-mantled Manucode/ Torresian Crow : 63 Species
Originally published in PNGBS Newsletter 261: 2-3.
Our next stop was Lake Iaraguma. Last time I visited the Lake (Jan '90) it was heavily overgrown with Salvinia, an introduced weed, but this appeared to be dying out as more than half the lake was open water. There were not many waterbirds or waders, either here or at Lake Bunu. Of interest were a pair of Brown-backed Honeyeaters which were nest building in a bush on the shore of the lake. Both these birds had neat plum-coloured throats, a feature not mentioned in any guides. The site was revisited a week later, when both birds appeared to have "normal" plumage. It is now assumed the colouring was some type of staining, either from the eucalypts where the birds had been seen collecting bark for their nest building or from some unidentified food source.
From Lake Iaraguma we headed for the end of the road at Lea Lea, en route stopping at Papa where there is a high-tide wader roost amongst the mangroves. This early in the season there were relatively few birds - c. 25 Grey-tailed Tattlers, 3 Sharp-tailed Sandpipers, 1 Whimbrel and 1 Masked Lapwing. We did have good views of a Glossy-mantled Manucode as it perched in the top of a mangrove tree and a pair of Yellow-bellied Sunbirds were nest building. Our normal wader-watching site at Lea Lea was inaccessible as the village of Lea Lea has moved to the south side of the mouth of Rea Rea Creek because the village site north of the mouth is being eroded. It was also high tide, about two hours earlier than that advertised for Port Moresby. So we headed home having recorded 63 species.
Australasian Grebe/ Great Frigatebird/ Lesser Frigatebird/ Little Black Cormorant/ Little Pied Cormorant/ Darter/ Great Egret/ Pied Heron/ Intermediate Egret/ Cattle Egret/ Little Egret/ Whistling Kite/ Brahminy Kite/ Collared Sparrowhawk/ Australian Kestrel/ Pacific Black Duck/ Common Scrubfowl (h)/ Dusky Moorhen/ Purple Swamphen/ Comb-crested Jacana/ Masked Lapwing/ Whimbrel/ Grey-tailed Tattler/ Sharp-tailed Sandpiper/ Gull-billed Tern/ Peaceful Dove/ Bar-shouldered Dove/ Orange-bellied Fruit-Dove/ Pied Imperial Pigeon/ Rainbow Lorikeet/ Red-cheeked Parrot/ Brush Cuckoo (h)/ Pheasant Coucal/ Large-tailed Nightjar (h)/ Blue-winged Kookaburra/ Sacred Kingfisher/ Rainbow Bee-eater/ Singing Bushlark/ Pacific Swallow/ Tree Martin/ White-bellied Cuckoo-Shrike/ Black-faced Cuckoo-Shrike/ White-winged Triller/ Golden-headed Cisticola/ White-throated Gerygone/ Willie Wagtail/ Jacky Winter/ Lemon-bellied Flycatcher/ Grey Shrike-Thrush/ Papuan Flowerpecker/ Yellow-bellied Sunbird/ Graceful Meliphaga/ Yellow-tinted Honeyeater/ White-throated Honeyeater/ Helmeted Friarbird/ Brown-backed Honeyeater/ Rufous-banded Honeyeater/ Grey-headed Mannikin/ Figbird/ White-breasted Wood-Swallow/ Black-backed Butcherbird/ Fawn-breasted Bowerbird/ Glossy-mantled Manucode/ Torresian Crow : 63 Species
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