There is a stand of trees just above one of Tufi’s fiords where birds of paradise display at dawn and at dusk each day. Witnessing a dawn display among this pristine rainforest close by Orotoaba village is a never-to-be-forgotten experience.

A one day excursion to Orotoaba village homestay

Bodger Sisimutu, a quiet, enterprising young man form Orotoaba recently located a stand of trees in which Raggiana Birds of Paradise display. This colony of birds is best viewed from just prior to sun-rise.

Orotoaba village is a fifteen minute boat ride from Tufi Resort to the sandy beaches at either Kaviana or Jebo village and then a forty five minute hike along a well-worn bush road to the hill village of Orotoaba, located immediately above the 150 meter high Jebo waterfall.

The tour departs Tufi Resort immediately after lunch and returns at lunch-time the next day.

Raggiana Birds of Paradise - A description of what you might witness as described by A.W.Lauder in Walkabout magazine in the 1940s

“We could hear the calls that came from the timber-clad mountains beyond the kunai. The penetrating notes reached us where we were camped, about a half mile from the group of feather-topped pines which marked the direction from whence came the calls.” (a very loud series of raucous bugles, all on one pitch, but gaining in volume and slowing in tempo at the end: wau wau wau - Wau Wau Wau – Waauu Waauu! or when excited and in display, several males will give a high-pitched ki ki ki ki ki ki…rising and falling in pitch and intensity.) Lauder cut his way through the dense bushes and then recorded that “a call came from close by – which tree? And there it was - a faint touch of colour among the leaves. The binoculars were as yet of no assistance. The bird sat motionless behind its cover, showing only the slightest movement with the exertion of its call. They seem to have a distinct distaste for sunlight, as though afraid their colours may fade under it. It moved completely out of sight. Came a call of a rival male from somewhere in the forest and our bird answered. The cross talk quickened, became excited and voluble. A third joined in the clamour – and a fourth. Then silence, broken now and then by a single note. The bird whose position we watched started to call again. Two females flew into his tree. A flutter of wings, bright colour that sent the butcher bird darting off into the jungle, and the Bird of Paradise flew into its place. The two females, one after the other, perched above it, and were joined by a third. The male bird sat while the females fluttered for pride of place, he called again, a low chuckling. The notes came faster and increased in volume. He swung upside down, holding the bough by his feet like a cocky in a cage. Plumage spread, he continued to swing. The din of feminine applause became deafening. They started to fight angrily pecking at one another. He righted himself and drove one of the females from the tree; the second refused to leave the tree; the third he left alone. The calling continued while he again went through the trapeze performance.”

Bird species observed by Don Lipmanson during a 10 km (4 hour) hike 4th of April 2006 above OROTOBA Village:
Biak Red Lorikeet - Bird of Paradise - (Raggiana) - Blythes Horn Bills - Black Kite - Channel-Billed Cuckoo - Eastern Black Capped Lorikeet - Eastern Red Cheeked Parrot - Eclectus Parrot - Hooded Butcher Bird - Long Billed Cuckoo - Long Tailed Buzzard (Hawk) - Papuan Harrier - Rainbow Bee-Eater - Spangled Drongo - Sulphur-Crested Cockatoo - Torresian Crow - Torresian Imperial Pigeon - Variable Goshawk - White Bellied Cuckoo Shrike - White Shouldered Fairy Wren - Yellow Faced Minor