Eastern Hooded Pitta, Nimbokrang, Papua

Our first ever pitta. This one was lured with worms whilst we were sitting in a hide. It still took 3 multi hour sessions for it to appear.

comments (15)

Christine Young

Lion

Worth the effort! Posted one year ago
1. Ferdy Christant
  
  Lion
  
  No regrets. Posted one year ago

William Bodine

Lion

Beautiful shot. But I am always a pushover for a brilliant green bird in perfect focus. Posted one year ago
1. Ferdy Christant
  
  Lion
  
  I noticed your "green" list hehe. No need to resists, just let it happen. Posted one year ago

Jivko Nakev

Lion

Ferdy, did you manage to count how many new bird species you managed to capture during this trip? Posted one year ago
1. Ferdy Christant
  
  Lion
  
  Hmmm, I have a list but it's on paper, would take a while to make it a de-duplicated list. They will all be "lifers" for us because we did not really do birding in Asia before. The total will not be very impressive though, a significant part of the journey it takes an entire day to see 1 or 2 birds, especially the birds-of-paradise. Posted one year ago
2. 1. Jivko Nakev
    
    Lion
    
    Thanks, Ferdy. I have little knowledge of birds outside Europe, so I was curious on a trip like this how many species might be seen and photographed. But don't worry, you don't have to make a list - we'll see them here anyway. Posted one year ago

Thibaud Aronson

Lion

Niiiiiiiiiiice.
I recently ran into a world birder who told me that pittas are actually easier to see "wild" than antpittas, while I thought it was the other way around! Did you encounter any pittas away from hides? Posted one year ago
1. Ferdy Christant
  
  Lion
  
  We didn't see or hear any other pittas beyond these two.
  
  I'm not qualified to say which one is harder but the statement sounds reasonable to me. I base that on the book "Jewel hunter". It seems pittas have some predictability to them. A particular bare tree it will call from, 3 times, at 5:30 AM, and then no more. Weird stuff like that. So local knowledge seems to be the key weapon. Which is different from trying to enforce an encounter out of the blue, which seems near impossible.
  
  I don't know how that relates to antpittas though. The few we saw were from undervisited areas where playback still somewhat works. We also often have dumb luck I guess. Posted one year ago
2. 1. Thibaud Aronson
    
    Lion
    
    Aha fair enough. I guess I'll have to head that way and try on my own! Because spending hours on end in a hide, even for such a sweet reward, is pretty much my least favorite kind of birding (except perhaps seawatching in a storm or looking at gulls haha) Posted one year ago
  2. 1. Ferdy Christant
      
      Lion
      
      I couldn't agree more that the waiting sucks. For birds-of-paradise there's typically no other way and it would be the exception where I do think it's worth it. Posted one year ago
    2. 1. Thibaud Aronson
        
        Lion
        
        Aha yes BOPs are worth any sacrifice! Posted one year ago