Islands of the Northern Torres Strait - Boigu, Saibai & Darnley

Collared Imperial-Pigeon

 

The three islands of Boigu, Saibai and Darnley all lie close to New Guinea in Australian territory. Their close proximity to New Guinea means these Islands are some of the most exciting birding locations in Australia. The islands are also amongst the remotest in Australia, access is difficult and there is very limited accommodation making visits for more than one day very difficult.

These rarely visited islands contain some of Australia’s hardest to see birds and the best time to visit these islands is like elsewhere, early morning and late afternoon.

Our tours are held between Nov and April which is the peak time for birds moving between the islands and mainland PNG. 

Beach Stone-curlew

Biogu interior

 

Singing Starling

 

We are now taking names for 2012, 2013 tours.

• Tour 1 - Eight days visiting Boigu, Saibai and Dauan Islands.
• Tour 2 - Twelve days visiting Boigu, Saibai, Dauan, Ugar and Darnley Islands.

April 2012 (8 days) - Monday 16th - Monday 23rd. (4 days Boigu followed by 4 days Saibai and Dauan).

October 2012 (8 days) - Monday 15th - Monday 22nd. (4 days Boigu followed by 4 days Saibai and Dauan).

April 2013 (12 days) - Monday 8th - Saturday 20th. (4 days Boigu followed by 4 days Saibai and Dauan, followed by 4 days Darnley and Ugar).

November 2013 (8 days) - Monday 11th - Monday 18th (4 days Boigu followed by 4 days Saibai and Dauan).

We highly recommend undertaking a series of Japanese Encephalitis vaccinations prior to coming along. Bring: Camera, Water bottle, insect repellant, sunscreen, binoculars, field guide, light weight spray jacket and pants, water proof bag (dry bag), long sleeves and long pants.
It will be hot!

Papuan Flowerpecker

Collared Imperial-Pigeon

 

 

Trip Report

Torres Strait

7-14th October 2007

by Phil Hansbro & Richard Baxter

Horn Island 6-7th Oct

We assembled at Horn Island from various parts of Australia and had an afternoon of productive birding. Walking around the town we managed to find our first real Northern birds of the trip, which included; Rose-crowned Fruit-Dove, Pied Imperial-Pigeon, Radjah Shelduck, a variety of migrant waders, Black-necked Stork, Blue-winged Kookaburra, Helmeted Friarbird, Red-headed, Varied and Dusky Honeyeaters as well as Broad-billed Flycatcher.

On the morning of the 7th we commissioned our provisions from the bottle-shop and boarded the 60 foot air-conditioned cruiser “San Miguel”, which would be our home for the next week. We left Horn Island and cruised to our first stop of Little Tuesday Island. On the way we located many large noddy and tern flocks and had good numbers of Black-naped, Lesser Crested, Sooty and Bridled Terns as well as Common and Black Noddies.

Little Tuesday Island 7th of Oct

It only took just over an hour to reach this island, which was the site of our search for the restricted range Pale White-eye, which is a Torres Strait endemic. We landed on the island and were greeted by a pair of Beach Thick-knees and we soon began to search the island for land birds. We quickly located Rufous fantails, which turned out to be the commonest bird on the island as well as Dusky and Red-headed Honeyeaters. Then we located a fruited tree and all managed to get excellent views of the White-eyes and we saw around 10 in total and a Rose-crowned Fruit-Dove also visited the tree. We also searched the scrub and mangroves for other birds and found many Pied Imperial- Pigeons, Mangrove Golden Whistler, Broad-billed Flycatcher and Spectacled Monarch. Migration is more evident in this part of Australia than anywhere else and we observed a flock of 30 bee-eaters migrating as well as 15 White-throated Needletails.

Pale White-eye

We left the island and headed off to Boigu which was 10 hours steaming. We saw Lesser Friagtebird as we were leaving and caught up with other large tern and noddy flocks on the journey. Surprisingly we came across a flock of all dark migrating land birds, which in the end we decided were most likely Spangled Drongos.

Boigu 8-10th Oct

We spent 2.5 days on Boigu which proved to be very productive. On the first day we arrived ashore before dawn and headed straight to the wetlands near the airport in search of Spotted Whistling-Ducks. We stopped on the way to look at the next Torres Strait speciality, Singing Starlings which have made the areas around the village their home. No luck with the ducks, although we did find nice flocks of Wandering Whistling Ducks and the New Guinea race of Radjah Shelduck and we spent the rest of the morning exploring the island for other specialities and vagrants. Some species are surprisingly common on the island including; Pied Heron, Rufous Night-Heron, Whimbrel, Common Sandpiper, Gull-billed Tern, Bar-shouldered Dove, Pied Imperial-Pigeon, Rainbow Bee-eater, Tawny-breasted, Varied, Brown- backed and Red-headed Honeyeaters, White-breasted Woodswallow, Spangled Drongo (including the endemic northern Torres Strait race), Yellow-bellied Sunbird and Golden-headed Cisticola. We visited several areas of forest in search of such rarities as Papuan Flowerpecker and Collared Imperial-Pigeon and we stopped only to return back to the boat for lunch. We had tantalising but brief views of both the flowerpecker and Collared Imp but were compensated by a range of other excellent birds. Red-backed Button-Quail are relatively easy to see on the island and we had excellent views of this normally very shy species. A pair of Little Whimbrel frequented the airstrip everyday and a cracking male Eclectus Parrot flew over our heads giving excellent views. Other birds of note that we managed to catch up with were Orange-footed Scrubfowl, Buff-banded Rail, Wood Sandpiper, Shining Flycatcher, Black Butcherbird and Large-billed Gerygone.

Little Tuesday Island

 The next morning we returned to resume our search and this time extended our route to cover many more wetlands on the inside of the island. This turned up many more waders and other waterbirds but no more whistling-ducks. We did get some interesting other species including the first of our Large-tailed Nightjar and Cicadabird sightings. We headed into some mangrove forest and we finally rewarded with excellent views of a superb male Papuan Flowerpecker which allowed good photographic opportunities. Just before lunch we headed back to the boat and located a Yellow Wagtail of the race similima. After lunch we boarded our zodiac and had a very enjoyable cruise up the Boigu River to a beach on the far side of the island. We heard many Kingfishers and sighted a Little kingfisher and a Red-cheeked Parrot flew over our heads calling. A pair of Collared Imperial-Pigeons also flew over but only one or two people got reasonable views. We returned to the village to have another check of the ducks but no luck and we headed back to the boat. Another exploration of the island for the morning and the Flowerpeckers were again located at the same site. More grey Imperial-Pigeons flew over and this time some people finally got good views of two birds. Late morning we headed back to the boat (with 25 fresh mudcrabs for dinner!!) and headed off to Saibai.

 

Saibai 10th-12th Oct

We arrived in the afternoon and headed off straight onto the island. We headed to some tall woodland where we soon found our first Collared Imperial-Pigeons, which we flushed and didn’t give good views. We then found several more, which we also flushed before finding some perched which did give excellent views of this stunning bird. We waited by a creek for a while and were rewarded by a close fly-by of Little Kingfisher. While were waiting we also had good views of pairs of Black Butcherbirds and Northern Fantails. Walking through the town to the airstrip we watched a pair of Ospreys at their nest and at the runway were 4 Little Curlews.

The next day we explored other areas of the island and visited known sites for rarities. We started on the West end where a walk through the forest and then visit the East side as well. The walks produced our first Channel-billed Cuckoos as well as Spectacled Monarch and several Black Butcherbirds. We arrived at a creek and within a few minutes a Little Kingfisher gave the first of two fly-pasts and we also discovered a pair of Collared Kingfishers beginning to nest build in a termite mound. Several more Collared Imperial-Pigeons flew over and we managed to get excellent views of an immature male Papuan Flowerpecker. A stop at the airfield produced the first Oriental Plover record for the northern Torres Strait islands and the 4 Little Curlew were still there. At the rubbish tip we found the first Zitting Cisticola of the trip and one of 3 obliging Pheasant Coucals of the day, which are very dark in this region. After lunch we boarded a ute and headed to the inside of the island to a series of swamps. Here there were hundreds of Egrets, a flock of 240 Straw-necked Ibis and many waders including Sharp-tailed and Marsh Sandpipers, Greenshank and Red-necked Stint but the highlight was 2 Australian Pratincoles. We also had several tantalising views of large raptors and a flock of 40 migrating Spangled Drongos. On the drive we saw 3 Brown Goshawks of the dogwa race, 2 Brolga and a fine male Eclectus Parrot. We finished off with a cleansing ale at the bar.

Boigu Wetland

 

Up early again but an abortive trip to attempt to land on the island, the tide was very low and a barge was blocking the slipway so we returned to the boat for a sleep-in but we did watch our now pet Ospreys eating fish on the marker buoys. Mid-morning we boarded zodiacs for a trip along a river that proved to be most rewarding. We set of and started well with 3 Black-necked Storks on the mudflats. We then headed to the mouth of the river and soon found a large Eagle soaring above the mudflats. The bird was all dark brown with bulging secondaries and a long rounded tail. All birders saw the bird and agreed it was a Gurney’s Eagle. This is around the 4-5th record for Australia and was potentially the 800th bird for Mike Carter.

Dauan 12th-13th Oct

After lunch we travelled to the close by island of Dauan. Here we walked around the village and explored the woodlands of the islands.  Pied Imperial Pigeons proved to be very common and we saw several Australian Koels and 3 Eclectus Parrots. A lucky few flushed a nightjar and had good enough views to identify it as a White-throated Nightjar. Another new bird for the trip and an endemic subspecies was Mangrove Golden Whistler. We headed back to the boat and saw a total of 15 Channel-billed cuckoos flying the wrong way. We spent all day exploring the island, with a break for an extended lunch during the hot part of the day. There were no rarities but we did managed to find some new birds for the trip. A real highlight was at least 7 Noisy Pittas of the New Guinea race and excellent views of Rose-crowned Fruit-Dove, as well as 6 Eclectus Parrots. New for the trip were 3 Forest Kingfishers, Emerald Dove 5 Greater Sand and a Grey Plover. We also saw large numbers of some species with 50 Grey- tailed Tattler, 10 Lesser Sand Plover, 10 Koels, 25 Channel-billed Cuckoos and 100 Yellow-bellied Sunbird, at least 10 Large-billed Gerygones, 20 Shining Flycatcher and 8 Rufous Fantail. Other highlights were Buff-banded Rail, Red-backed Button-Quail, 2 Mangrove Golden Whistler, 3 immature Black-faced Cuckoo-Shrike. We left at 3am the next morning for the trip back to Horn Island.

 

Saibai Children

Dauan-Horn Island 14th Oct

A quiet day today and we were back on Horn Island by 11.00am. On the way we saw a few terns including Sooty, Bridled, Black-naped and Lesser Crested and again 5 migrating Spangled Drongo. Back to our hotel and a very enjoyable day relaxing and chatting.

Richard Baxter & Phil Hansbro
Birding Tours Australia

Trip Report

Torres Strait (Boigu-Saibai-Dauan)

16th-23rd Oct 2008.

San Miguel

 

This trip is the second of two Torres Strait birding trips organised by Phil Hansbro and myself to six islands in the Torres Strait. These non-profit trips were held over 7 nights and 8 days, aboard the 60ft cruiser San Miguel.

Prior to starting the trip we all gathered at the Gateway Resort on Horn Island and we birded both Horn Island and Thursday Island prior to boarding San Miguel.  Some of the more interesting species seen were Broad-billed Sandpiper, Rose-crowned Fruit Dove, Blue-winged Kookaburra, Radjah Shellduck, Lesser Frigatebird, Beach Stone-curlew, Little Tern, Barking Owl, Red-headed H/E, Helmeted Friarbird, and two Yellow Wagtails, one on Thursday Island and the other at the Gateway Resort on Horn Island.

We boarded from Horn Island jetty with a Lesser Frigatebird circling the boat and a Common Tern fishing near the jetty.  After an hour or so at sea we began to see Brown and Black Noddy, Common Tern, Bridled and Sooty Tern.  Early on in our journey north towards Saibai Island, Black-naped Tern was common but the further north we traveled we began to see feeding flocks of Black and Brown Noddy.  Amongst these were a few Roseate Terns as well as Crested and Lesser Crested.

An early start on Saibai with our goal to find Papuan Flowerpecker.  We walked to the Eastern end of town and through the coastal vine scrub where we soon started to find some good northern birds including, Orange-footed Scrubfowl, Pied Heron, Osprey, Pied Imperial Pigeon, Large-billed Gerygone, the local subsp of Pheasant Coucal, Rufous-banded and Tawny Breasted H/E, Northern Fantail, Black Butcherbird and large numbers of Yellow-bellied Sunbirds.  As we waited and searched for the Flowerpecker we had good views of two Collared Kingfishers feeding in the nearby creek and well as several Pied Imperial Pigeons flying overhead.  After a two hour search we finally had good views of two PAPUAN FLOWERPECKERS as they landed in some dead canopy branches close by.

Collared Imperial-Pigeon

 

With our mornings target bird seen we headed off to the airport runway where we located four Little Curlew and a lone Australian Pratincole. A search of nearby wetlands and plains produced three Brolga and 2 Oriental Plover. After lunch we returned to the island with our afternoon target being Collared Imperial Pigeon.  This time we walked to the western end of town and after two hours of searching and waiting we had two magnificent COLLARED IMPERIAL PIGEONS land on an exposed branch of a nearby tree giving everyone great views as it continued to reposition itself allowing our group to take many photos of this beautiful bird.  Without doubt the nicest bird of our entire trip.

 The most interesting bird of the day was a large dark grey pigeon which flew out of the rainforest, causing great excitement until it flew directly over our heads revealing itself to be a Topknot Pigeon, which are rare north of Cooktown!  A couple of members of our group successfully searched for Zitting Cisticola near the town rubbish dump on the way back to the jetty ending a very successful first day in the islands of the northern Torres Strait.

A dawn walk around the island produced our first Great-billed Heron of the trip as well as Lesser Frigatebird, Pied and Striated Heron, Brolga, Australian Pratincole, Brush Cuckoo, Large-billed Gerygone, Tawny-breasted and Yellow-spotted H/E as well as further views of Papuan Flowerpecker and Collared Imperial Pigeon.  Our afternoon was spent on the drying wetlands towards the centre of the island where we located a flock of 500 Pelicans.  Also present were Black-necked Stork, Gull-billed Tern, Australian Pratincole and several wader species.

On the 19th we headed for Boigu with our main target bird being Singing Starling. We quickly headed for the large fruiting and flowering trees near the waterfront and after a few minutes our entire group had excellent views of about 30 SINGING STARLING near the jetty. Also that afternoon on the island we found Wandering Whistling-Duck, Wood Sandpiper, Lesser Sandplover, Little Tern, Collared Imperial Pigeon and Large-tailed Nightjar as well as good numbers of Brown-backed, Rufous-banded and Red-headed Honeyeaters.  Red-backed Button Quail were again very common and easy to photograph in the late afternoon at the back of the airport. The most interesting bird of the day was an unusual Needletail seen flying low over the drying wetlands near the rubbish dump in the afternoon.
                                                                                                                                   

The following two days we again birded around the settlement of Boigu, locating Little Curlew, Yellow Wagtail, White-winged Black Tern, Lesser Crested Tern, Rose-crowned Fruit Dove, Collared Imperial Pigeon, Red-cheeked Parrot, Northern Fantail, White-bellied Cuckoo-shrike, Yellow Oriole, Black Butcherbird as well as large numbers of Singing Starling.

On the 21st we departed for Dauan, arriving around midday and giving us a full afternoon ashore as well as the entire following day.  Dauan proved to be immediately productive with the New Guinea race of Eclectus Parrot seen by all as well as Forest Kingfisher, Rose-crowned Fruit Dove, Mangrove Golden Whistler, Koel, Tree Martin, Noisy Pitta and Chestnut-breasted Mannikin.  The following morning some of our group decided to bird the exposed reef and located a Wandering Tattler amongst many other waders.

                                                                                                                                           
Our final day involved traveling back to Horn Island in uncomfortable and windy conditions with a two hour stop at Little Tuesday Island to search for the Torres Strait and northern Great Barrier Reef endemic Pale White-eye.  Two Beach Stone-curlew greeted us at the beach and we soon located several Broad-billed Flycatchers, Mangrove Golden Whistler and a small flock of PALE WHITE-EYE. A nice bird to finish the trip with.

 

Richard Baxter
Birding Tours Australia

 

Trip Report

Torres Strait Feb 2009

Islands visited: Little Tuesday, Saibai, Dauan & Boigu.

Those on board: Richard Baxter (Leader/Organiser), Karen Blake, Mike Carter, Jan England, Dougald Frederick, Andrew Humphreys, Bill & Jack Moorhead, David Mules and Jen Spry.

We departed Horn Island at 8am on 21/2/09 in sunny conditions and a forecast of good birding weather for the next eight days.  Not long after packing our gear in our cabins we arrived at Little Tuesday Island at 9.15am and within minutes we were all in the zodiacs heading ashore. Little Tuesday Island is the first stop for one of our trips four target species. These being, 1) Pale White-eye, 2) Collared Imperial Pigeon, 3) Singing Starling & 4) Papuan Flowerpecker.

After 30min on the island we had located 10+ PALE WHITE-EYE, Rose-crowned Fruit Dove, Red-headed H/E, Mangrove Golden Whistler and Beach Stone Curlew.  We didn’t linger on the island and soon continued our journey north towards Saibai.

Later that afternoon we anchored off Saibai Island in calm conditions with the sun setting over the Torres Strait.  An afternoon storm was brewing over PNG and flocks of Pied and COLLARED IMPERIAL PIGEON were flying from the mainland over to Saibai, while we enjoyed drinks on the top deck. 

We decided to have a non-birding wildlife high light for each day and today’s was a large Green Turtle swimming near the boat adjacent to Saibai. 

Our Accommodation

 

22/2/09 - We arrived onshore pre dawn and walked to the cemetery in search of better views of Collared IMP and our first views of Papuan Flowerpecker.  This morning would prove to be one of the most spectacular I’ve ever experienced in the Torres Strait.   In overcast conditions we began to see flocks of Lorikeets flying south from PNG.  The first flock was definitely Rainbow Lorikeet.  The second flock sailed past minutes later and judging by their calls these birds were another lory species.  A few distant photos were taken but the light was poor and these birds will probably remain a mystery.  These were followed by Red-cheeked Parrots(4) and further flocks of Rainbow Lorikeets. 

At 6.45am the first Fork-tailed Swifts came into view, cruising over the cemetery.  As we watched the flock move across, UNIFORM SWIFTLETS (4) could also be seen as they circled low overhead.  Amongst these a lone HOUSE SWIFT was spotted as it wheeled directly above.  As the flock was nearly out of sight, Mike Carter called PAPUAN SPINE-TAILED SWIFT (1) and a lone bird was seen directly overhead and straggling behind the rest of the main flock.  It wasn’t long and the birds had disappeared over the nearby tree line, leaving ten stunned but very happy birders as light rain began to fall.

Saibai Goshawk

 

The rest of the day was spent exploring the township, airport and nearby forest.  Birding high lights were, Orange-footed Scrubfowl (6), Radjah Shelduck (1), Pied Heron(15), Striated Heron (6), Brown Goshawk A.f.dogwa (1), Collared Sparrowhawk(1), Brolga (3), Oriental Plover (1), Superb Fruit Dove (20), Collared Imperial Pigeon (1), Barking Owl (2), Spangled Drongo (resident Papuan ssp) (15) and Yellow-bellied Sunbird (50).

Whilst walking through the an area of forest near the cemetery I saw a medium sized bird sitting on an exposed branch only 10m ahead of our group.  A quick look revealed a long down curved bill and I quickly informed the rest of the group.  Only two others saw it before it flew and despite searches of the area over the next two days we could not locate this elusive bird.  The only Australian birds with a bill similar are the riflebirds and this bird was not a riflebird.  This was an exciting find but with brief views in poor, dappled light ID was going to be impossible.  On returning to the boat we searched through our PNG field guides and quite easily narrowed it down to either Long-billed Honeyeater or Long-billed Cuckoo, both of which would be new for Australia.

Our non bird high light of the day was a Papuan Black Snake eating a Pacific Rat near the airport.

23/2/09 - An early start in search of the flowerpecker and after a couple of hours, most of the group finally had views of two PAPUAN FLOWERPECKERS, expertly located by Jen Spry.  Later during the day we all had better views of Collared Imperial Pigeon as we cruised the Saibai River.  Other interesting species seen were, Oriental Cuckoo, Large-billed Gerygone, Collared Kingfisher, Cicadabird and Black Butcherbird.

 Our non bird high light of the day was a spectacular Emerald Monitor varanus prasinus hunting through the mangroves adjacent to our flowerpecker tree.

Emerald Monitor

 

24th - On the 24th Feb after an eventful couple of days on Saibai we repositioned to a very wet Boigu and soon had SINGING STARLING (10) near the community church and a stroll around the airport produced Pied Heron (150), Caspian Tern(2), White-winged Black Tern(7), Superb Fruit Dove (15), Pied Imperial Pigeon (20), Rufous-banded H/E(1), Cicadabird(2) and Varied Triller(2).

Non-birding high light for today was Pearl Owl Butterfly (Taenaris artemis).

25/2/09 – We spent the morning exploring the Boigu Wetlands on foot, followed by  the Boigu River by boat adding Striated Heron (4), Black Bittern (3), Black-tailed Godwit (1), Whimbrel (20), Terek Sandpiper (3), Grey-tailed Tattler (1), Lesser Sand Plover(100), Little Tern (35), Rose-crowned Fruit Dove(4), Collared Imperial Pigeon(1), Eclectus Parrot(1), Brush Cuckoo (1) Large-billed Gerygone(4), Red-headed H/E(2), Shinning Flycatcher (25),and Barking Owl (2).

Non-birding high light for today was Green Emperor Dragonfly (Anax gibbosulus)

26/2/09 -  We spent the morning on a remote beach on the western end of Saibai Island.  I’d seen this beach many times before and finally this year managed to get ashore.  We landed between wet season downpours and spent about 2hrs birding what was very good habitat.  We all got drenched but still managed to see Little Tern(8), Bar-shouldered Dove(2), Varied H/E (1), Barking Owl (1), Black Butcherbird(1) and Yellow-bellied Sunbird(20).  This is one place I’d really like to get back to.

That afternoon we arrived at Dauan Island in improving weather conditions and after a short walk came across a flock of Fork-tailed Swifts and amongst them, we all saw a lone Swiftlet.  Several photos were taken which revealed another UNIFORM SWIFTLET.

Other species seen included, Greater Frigatebird, Eclectus Parrot (2) and Black-faced Monarch.

Our Non-birding high light was Least Blossom Bat (Macroglossus Minimus) flushed during the day.

27/2/09 – Our last afternoon before the trip home was spent on Saibai.  We still had unfinished business on this island and most of our group were very keen to return.  We landed just after lunch.  Bill, Jack and others went straight for the western end of the township and into the mangrove fringed remnant monsoon forests in search of the mystery bird from five days prior.  Four others, including myself headed in the other direction for better views of the Flowerpecker.

After less than an hour waiting, we had great views of a male Papuan Flowerpecker and decided to head up to the garbage tip to continue birding.  At 6pm Jan noticed an unusual bird sitting with its back to us on an exposed branch 100m  away.  We couldn’t identify it, so began to walk towards it and as we did it turned revealing an unusual looking cinnamon breasted largish bird.

It was chased away by two crows and flew directly across in front of me at eye height revealing the long down curved ‘sickle’ like bill I had seen on the mystery bird five days prior.  In a straight line we were only 300m from the previous sighting earlier in the week.  It landed on another bare exposed branch and after that, David, Dougald and Jan also had looks at Australia’s first LONG-BILLED HONEYEATER. Other species seen that afternoon were Oriental Cuckoo(1), Metallic Starling(15), Striated Heron(2) and Pheasant Coucal (3).

Non birding high light today was a 100 White-lipped Tree Frogs in a small wetlands on Dauan.

waterfront

 

We spent the final day cruising back to Horn Island, where we spent the rest of the afternoon in the motel pool and around the bar, celebrating a very successful trip.

A very successful trip with some great birds seen, vindicating the decision to visit these islands during the height of the wet season.  Our total bird count for the 8 days was 116 species, with many of these being sub-species unique to the northern Torres Strait. 

 

Richard Baxter           
Birding Tours Australia