I often see kingfishers when I guide visitors in lower montane forest, lowland and in the islands of West Papua. Some of them are listed below:
Common Paradise Kingfisher (Tanysiptera galatea) - I saw the bird for the first time in Susnguakti forest of Manokwari. It was a lower montane forest of Arfak mountains. I was guiding an expatriate family from Beijing. At that time they were watching Lesser Bird of Paradise. I was waiting at lower slope. I sat quietly and did not make any movements or sounds. After sitting for 30 minutes, suddenly I heard a bird landed on a higher branch of a tree on the right of me. I did not know what it was but I quickly turned on my digital camera Fujifilm Finepix HS50 EXR and aimed it at the bird. He was sitting on the branch for less than 5 seconds after that he flew away. This bird looks very similar to Little Paradise Kingfisher and Kofiau Paradise Kingfisher but different in size, length of the raquet tails and coloration of the feather. In general, the Common Paradise Kingfisher has got longer tails. In field guide book: Birds of New Guinea, the juvenile has got significantly different colors. We may think the juvenile as a different species.
I also have got another opportunity of taking pictures of the bird again when I was guiding a Filipino lady in a 3 day/ 2 night hiking and camping tour in the forest. We were waiting for the Lesser Birds of Paradise to show up. She was the first to see the bird. I told me where he was by pointing her finger to the bird. This time the bird was around 10 meters away from me but at a lower branch of a tree. So, I had a near eye level shooting position. I carefully took out my camera and made multiple shots. I could not shoot the whole body and tail of the Common Paradise Kingfisher but I was quite happy with the results. The blue head, orange bill, white chest and shiny black of his eyes look beautiful in the picture.
I also saw the bird in Klasow valley but I could not make any pictures of this blue feather kingfisher in that forest. As a matter of fact in West Papua, based on the map of bird distribution, the Common Paradise Kingfisher can be found in coastal area of Manokwari, Arfak mountains, Tambrauw Mountains, Sorong regency, Raja Ampat (Waigeo, Gam, Batanta, Salawati, except Misool), South-Sorong regency, Maybrat regency, Fakfak, Kaimana, Nabire, Waropen region, Jayapura and its surrounding lowland and lower montane forest and some parts of Tanah Merah region of Merauke.
I offer birding tours for anybody who is interested in visiting Manokwari, Arfak mountains, Numfor island, Klasow valley, Sorong, and Tambrauw mountains in West Papua province of Indonesia with me as a tour guide. The tour can be a private tour or an open tour where other visitors can join. Please, book your tour by contact me (Charles Roring) through e-mail at: peace4wp@gmail.com or send whatsapp message to my number: +6281332245180.
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