Wednesday, August 7, 2019

Watching Birds with Singaporean Tourists in Waigeo Island

Today I guided six Singaporean tourists on a birdwatching trip in southern region of Waigeo island. We visited the rainforest of South Waigeo, the ring-road area of Marinda airport and the Warduwer beach. We watched Wilson's Bird of Paradise, Common Paradise Kingfisher, and Frilled Monarch in the forest. Because the vegetation in the forest was dense, it was not easy to see birds.
Singaporean tourists in Waigeo island
Singaporean birdwatchers at Warduwer beach of Waigeo island
After watching birds in the forest, we continued our trip to Warduwer beach. Here, more birds could easily be seen including the Torresian Crow, Claret-breasted Fruit Dove, Pinon Imperial Pigeon, Willie Wagtail, Lesser Frigatebird, and Eclectus Parrot and Sulphur-crested Cockatoo, Claret-breasted Fruit Dive and Hooded Butcherbird. Before lunch time, we still had a short birding trip a long the road in the east and north of Marinda airport where we saw Grey-headed Goshawk, Rainbow Bee-eater, Oriental Dollarbird, Wimbrel, and Eastern Great Egret.
The Singaporean birdwatchers brought binoculars, Swarovski and Kowa spotting scopes. They also brought D-SLR and Nikon P900 bridge cameras for taking pictures of birds. These equipment significantly enhanced their birding experience.
During lunch time at Putras resort, we saw Beach Kingfisher, and Yellow-faced Myna. We took a rest until 15.00 and continued our birding trip to a road in the west of the airpot. There we saw Pinon Imperial Pigeon, Eclectus Parrot, Helmetted Friarbird.
Watching Birds in Waigeo island
At 17.00, we returned to Warduwer beach to enjoy birdwatching until 18.30. Here, we saw more birds including Pink-spotted Fruit Dove, Beautiful Fruit Dove, Palm Cockatoo, Red-cheeked Parrot, a male Red Bird of Paradise (male), Glossy-mantled Manucode, Rainbow Lorikeet, and a lot of other birds that we saw in the morning.
Warduwer beach is a great place for birdwatching. A resort is being constructed at the beach. It will be an ideal place to stay for birding visitors who plan to take their holiday in Waigeo island of Raja Ampat. It also has got beautiful house reef. Visitors who like swimming and snorkeling can stay at the resort too.
Thick clouds were gathering in the sky. We decided to return to the resort again. Tomorrow, we will go to the forest to see Red Bird of Paradise.
If you are interested in traveling to Raja Ampat and want me to organize your tour, please, contact me (Charles Roring) by email to: peace4wp@gmail.com or by whatsapp to: +6281332245180.