IMPORTANT: This expedition will be strenuous, with at least 5 days of >8 hour steep treks on uneven and muddy trails far from any professional medical assistance. We will be using local porters, so participants are only expected to carry daypacks with water and birding gear, but an excellent level of fitness is essential.

Day 1: Morning expedition start at Port Moresby Airport (POM). Flight to Kieta on Bougainville, from where we will drive to Arawa. Night in Arawa.

Day 2-3-4-5-6-7: Hiking to a remote area of primary forest where the virtually unknown Moustached Kingfisher has recently been discovered by local villagers. This superb species will be at the top of our wishlists, along with a long list of endemics named for the island: Bougainville Bush Warbler, Bougainville Thicketbird, Bougainville Crow, Bougainville Whistler, Bougainville Honeyeater, Bougainville Monarch, and Bougainville White-eye. Other specialties of the area we hope to see include Pale Mountain Pigeon, Meek’s Lorikeet, Black-backed Thrush, Brown Fantail, and maybe even the cryptic Imitator Goshawk. Nights camping in the forest.

Day 8: Hike back to the road and descend to Arawa for night in a hotel (and showers!).

Day 9: The lowland forests and wetlands around Arawa hold an array of birds that can be seen only here and in the Solomon Islands, and we will spend the day searching out whatever we can find. Sanford’s Sea Eagles may glide lazily overhead while we search the coconut palms for gaudy Duchess Lorikeets, and we will focus on any remaining Bougainville endemics (Bougainville Crow, in particular, can be tricky to pin down). The endemic race of Woodford’s Rail frequents marshy areas and is likely to be a future split, and we will attempt to follow up on some old records of the ultra-rare White-eyed Starling from this area. Other interesting species we may see in the lowlands include Pied Goshawk, Cardinal Lory, Ultramarine Kingfisher, Solomons Cuckooshrike, North Melanesian Cuckooshrike, Red-capped Myzomela, Oriole Whistler, Cockerell’s Fantail, Steel-blue Flycatcher, Solomons Monarch, Yellow-throated White-eye, Brown-winged Starling, and Long-tailed Myna. We will go spotlighting after dinner in the forest behind town for West Solomons Boobook and, in particular, for the imposing and poorly known Fearful Owl, which is closely related to both the extinct Laughing Owl of New Zealand and, confusingly, the widespread Short-eared Owl. Night in Arawa.

Day 10: Flight from Buka to Port Moresby. 

Day 11: Flight from Port Moresby to Alotau, the south-eastern tip of New Guinea, and gateway to the Louisiades. We will board our liveaboard dive boat and sail overnight towards Sudest. 

Day 12-13: The Louisiade Archipelago is extremely under-travelled, and facilities for tourists do not exist outside of the main town of Liak on Misima. As such, an exact day-to-day itinerary is impossible to ascertain in advance, but we will be aiming to transfer promptly to Sudest and then onwards to Rossel for a stay in one of the villages on the west coast. Sudest is the largest island in the region where most of the Louisiade endemics can be found. The attractive Tagula Butcherbird, along with Islet Kingfisher, White-chinned Myzomela, Tagula Meliphaga, Tagula Shrikethrush, Tagula White-eye, Louisiade Imperial Pigeon, Louisiade Fantail, Louisiade Monarch, Louisiade Whistler, Louisiade Flowerpecker, and Louisiade White-eye are all present. Undervisited and understudied, many of the subspecies here could well prove to be distinct species in the future. The endemic Glossy-mantled Manucode subspecies here has a completely different call to elsewhere in New Guinea, while the plumages of the local Northern Fantail and Double-eyed Fig Parrot look quite distinct indeed. We will also try to get sound recording of the endemic Marbled Frogmouth subspecies, just incase! 

Day 14-15: Slightly further east, we will be in search of Rossel Paradise Kingfisher, Louisiade Pitta, and Rossel Cicadabird, being amongst the first birdwatchers to look for these species on this out-of-the-way island. A number of endemic subspecies can also be found on Rossel, the most alluring being the distinct form of White-bellied Whistler, along with a colourful local variant of Louisiade White-eye. After wrapping up our time on Rossel, we will travel back westwards by boat to further explore Sudest.

Day 16-17: These are our deisgnated backup days to account for flight or boat delays, but hopefully we will be able to use them for extra time on either Rossel or Sudest before heading back west. There are some small islands we might stop at, where the tramp species like Islet Kingfisher and Louisiade White-eye are more common. Not to mention some world-class snorkelling!

Day 18: Docking back at Alotau prewdawn, today we take a flight to Port Moresby, where the tour ends this afternoon.