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Bird Watching
269 of Papua New Guinea’s 700 bird species are found in Milne Bay and the best areas for bird watching are on Normanby and Fergusson Islands, home to the indigenous Goldie’s Bird of Paradise and the Curl Crested Manucode. Also of interest in this area is the Claret Breasted Fruit Dove, the Papuan Boobook, the Nicobar Pigeon, the White Eye and the Blue Breasted Pitta.
Milne Bay has 14 birds of paradise but four of these are up in the mountains around Agaun which is hard to get to at this point in time. On the coast there are Bower Birds, Parrots, including Pesquet’s Vulturine parrot, the Black Palm Cockatoo and the Pygmy Parrot, there are Eagles, Hornbills, Frogmouths, Cassowaries and King Fishers. On the Louisiades, endemic birds of interest include the Tagula Butcherbird, the Tagula White Eye and the White Chinned Myzomela. There is also the Louisiade White Eye. An isolated population of the Glossy Mantled Manucode, can also be found on Rossell Island but this is not endemic to Milne Bay.
As most of the thick rainforest is on steep slopes, bird watchers need to be fairly fit to access these sites. We have trained birding guides and accommodation and hides have been put in place near the Lek trees. Sebutuya Bay on the east coast of Fergusson Island has the easiest track for watching Goldie’s Bird of Paradise displaying during the mating season from late August through to November. This can be reached by boat on a day trip from the north coast and the Dei Dei hot springs can be visited on the way back.
Napatana lodge can organise your trip from Awaiama or Dogura and Tawali also has boats available to do this trip. The Louisiades are quite remote and are not easily accessed without private boat charters at this stage but work is going ahead in the areas to develop lodges and passenger boats and possibly flights in.
There is excellent bird watching that can be done in a day from Alotau. Napatana Lodge and Milne Bay Magic have quite a few options to choose from.
Click here to view the list of birds found in Milne Bay.
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About Milne Bay
Bird Watching
