A Weekend in Tari

The Tari area, in the Southern Highlands Province, is the home to some of the stranger and more spectacular of PNG’s birds. With the opening of Ambua Lodge, in early 1986, it has acquired a reputation as one of the top birding locations in the world. Bird tours, from all over, visit the lodge and an extensive list of species, including 13 birds of pardise have been recorded. A booklet detailing the species to be seen in the area, written by Brian Frinch and updated by Cliff & Dawn Frith and Nick Gardner, is available from the lodge. Although several members of the PNGBS have visted the area, and stayed at the lodge, little has appeared in the PNGBS publications.

Ambua Lodge lies at about 2200m on the edge of the inhabited and cultivated Tari Basin and unspoilt moss forest, The township of Tari lies 700m lower while the forest above the lodge extends to the grassland of Tari Gap at 2800m. Within this altitude range can be found a wide variety of birds and nearly every species seen will be a New Guinea endemic.

We visited Ambua Lodge on an Air Niugini weekender package in early October 1987. It was the first time this year we had been away on our own and, with due deference t PNGBS members, it made a very nice change. We arrived in Tari before mid-day and were transported to the lodge. The bird-watching was delayed by lunch and then heavy rain but later we found a fruiting tree in the woods below the orchid garden which was attracting several birds of paradise. Over the weekend we watched this tree for about 8 hours and recorded the following feeding on the ripe black berries: an adult and juvenile Short-tailed Paradigalla; a female Blue Bird of Paradise; a female Lawes Parotia and male and female Loria’s Bird of Paradise. Female Brown Sicklebill and Ribbon-tailed Astrapia were seen nearby. An impressive complement of birds and all within the lodge grounds.

Early on Saturday morning we got a lift up to the gap and began walking down to the lodge. In the low scrub bordering the grassland we watched a female Crested Bird of Paradise feeding on small berries and a pair of Crested Berrypeckers feeding in the next bush. The machine gun-like call of a male Brown Sicklebill could be heard almost continuously and a female was watched foraging along moss-covered branches. Lower down, in the open moss forest, the ‘radio static’ call of a male King of Saxony Bird of Paradise was heard and eventually located, displaying in the top of tree with his antennae waving in all directions, an unforgettable sight. Our stroll down the hill became a sprint through heavy rain and we arrived at the lodge soaked to the skin. The log fire in the lounge was most most welcoming.

On Sunday we went below the lodge and saw Superb Bird of Paradise and numerous Island Leaf Warblers but not the hoped for Black Sicklebill nor male Blue Bird of Paradise. The reaminder of the day was spent in the lodge grounds. A Torrent-Lark was seen near the spectacular waterfall across the road; a pair of Varied Sittella foraged on the trunks of trees along the driveway and a female Macgregor’s Bowerbird was seen in the wood below the orchid garden.

Only a few of the species we recorded this weekend are mentioned above. Our list is presented below, but a dedicated birder could add many to that over a long weekend. For a birder visiting PNG this area must be high on the list of places to visit. Nowhere else in the country is it possible to find so many endemic species which are so readily accessible. For example, we saw 10 species of Birds of Paradise in our first 24-hours. For non-birders there is the intriguing culture of the Huli Wigmen, the inhabitants of the Tari Basin, who use bird of paradise feathers in their head-dresses. It is a fascinating destination, whatever your interest.

Species List: h = heard only,

New Guinea Harpy-Eagle (h), Little Curlew, Black-billed Cuckoo-Dove, White-breasted Fruit-Dove, Papuan Mountain Pigeon, Papuan Mountain Pigeon, Dusky Lory, Rainbow Lorikeet, Papuan Lorikeet, Yellow-billed Lorikeet, Tiger-Parrot sp, Rufous-throated Bronze-Cuckoo, Papuan Boobook, Mountain Swiftlet, Glossy Swiftlet, Pacific Swallow, Long-tailed Shrike, Pied Chat, Island Thrush, Tawny Grassbird, White-shouldered Fairy-Wren, Large Scrub-Wren, Buff-faced Scrub-Wren, Black Fantail, Friendly Fantail, Canary Flycatcher, Black-throated Robin, White-winged Robin, Blue-Grey Robin, Varied Sittella, Fan-tailed Berrypecker, Crested Berrypecker, Red-collared Myzomela, Rufous-backed Honeyeater, Grey-backed Streaked Honeyeater, Belford’s Melidectes, Yellow-browed Melidectes, Common Smoky Honeyeater, Hooded Mannikin, Mountain Firetail (h), Torrent-Lark, Great Wood-Swallow, Macgregor’s Bowerbird, Crested Bird of Paradise, Loria’s Bird of Paradise, Short-tailed Paradigalla, Brown Sicklebill, Ribbon-tailed Astrapia, Stepahanie’s Astrapia, Lawes Parotia, King of Saxony Bird of Paradise, Blue Bird of Paradise.

First published in Muruk 3(1): 20-23 co-authored with Jenny H. Hicks