Coastal Birds in Raja Ampat

The tropical beaches of Waigeo are getting famous as tourist destination. Visitors travel from Europe, North America, Australia, and Asian countries to enjoy their holiday here in Waigeo island. There are beach resorts and homestays that visitors can choose to stay to enjoy swimming, snorkeling, scubadiving, and sunbathing. 

Beach Kingfisher

There are also tourists who travel to Raja Ampat to enjoy birding. There are a lot of coastal birds which they can watch. As a tourist guide, I have organized birding tours for visitors who want to see coastal birds such as Crested Tern, Willie Wagtail, Spice Imperial Pigeon, Beach Kingfisher, Lesser Frigatebird, Striated Heron, Eastern Reef Egret, Pacific Swallow, Torresian Crow, Radjah Shelduck, White-bellied Sea Eagle, Beach-stoned Curlew, Singing Starling, White-breasted Woodswallow, Wimbrel, Plover, Moustached Treeswift, Eastern Osprey, and etc.

My favorite sites for watching sea birds are the Kabui bay and the north-east coast of Waigeo. 

Crested Tern

In my previous birding trip to this beach, I saw Sacred Kingfisher, Mimic Meliphaga, and Shining Flycatcher at this beach. 

To see such birds I often have to run the birding tours by motorized boat to northern and southern region of Waigeo. Because of the waves and movements of the boat at sea, birding will be difficult. 

I usually ask boat driver to bring us to protected waters or to a beach at a bay so that we could enjoy birding easily. Birding by boat is a nice activity because we could go to remote islands or beaches and use our binoculars or spotting scopes to watch birds that perch on the branches of coastal trees.

Singing Starling

Sometimes it is not only coastal or seabirds that we see but also rainforest ones such as the Eclectus Parrot, Rainbow Lorikeet, Red-cheeked Parrot, Rufous-bellied Kookaburra, Shining Flycatcher, Palm Cockatoo, Sulphur-crested Cockatoo, Great-billed Parrot, Pinon Imperial Pigeon, Mimic Meliphaga and a lot more.
How to get to Raja Ampat

Raja Ampat is a great and very beautiful destination for marine and land tours. To reach it, visitors need to fly from their country to Jakarta - the capital of Indonesia. After that, they could continue their trip to Sorong city by domestic  airlines such as Sriwijaya Air, Batik Air, Lion Air or Garuda Indonesia.

A Secluded Beach in Raja Ampat

Tourists can travel to Waisai port by fast passenger ferry. There are also visitors who are picked up by their tour organizer using speedboats. In Raja Ampat there are homestays, beach resorts and lodges which tourists can choose to stay in. Information about accommodation in Raja Ampat can easily be obtained from the internet. - written by Charles Roring

Also read:

Watching Birds and Sea Turtle in Waigeo

Birding and Snorkeling in Raja Ampat

Coconut Lorikeet in Waigeo