ECLECTUS ADVENTURES IN NEW GUINEA
We met with Roy Mackay, the Director and we stayed in the guest house. The guest house is an open white-bricked room with cots or bunks that can handle around 9 people. The room is not closed so every insect there could come and attack your body. Vitamin B and OFF sure helped me A single latrine is out in back, if that was what you could call it. But for New Guinea this was terrific and we did not complain a bit. We were two nutty photographers out in paradise photographing everything that moved. The frogs and insects made more noise at night than I had ever heard before in the tropics.
CREATIVE CUISINE
We did not bring more than a two-day supply of food, so we ate some of Roy's canned dog food and canned smelt on the third day. Then we headed back to Mt. Hagen to get more foodstuffs on the fourth Day, and came back on the fifth day. George just couldn't stand eating canned dog food with grit in it and he absolutely hated the canned fish that wasn't tuna. We sure lost weight on this trip.
On the side of Roy Mackay's house just to the left of the screen door was the biggest orb weaver spider I had and have ever seen. It was brightly colored with black and yellow on its body and its body was the size of a standard chicken egg. No kidding! Its legs were out 9 to 10 inches away from its body and it was in the center of a standard orb weaver web that we are familiar with in the States, only much larger. Roy said we could photograph it but did not want us to disturb it--a man after my own heart.
The Sanctuary was around 1000 meters in elevation and 6 degrees south of the Equator and might as well have been on the Equator. The Sanctuary held a number of animals, both birds and mammals, all from New Guinea. We observed a captive male Count Raggiana Bird of Paradise that was in adult plumage--a stunning specimen. There were birds of prey, tree kangaroos, my first sighting of a Ducorp's Cockatoo, Cassowaries, Cuscus, etc. with probably over 65 flights and cages.
THE BIRDS OF PARADISE LEK TREE
Within the Sanctuary was a tree with several open branches (cleared of all foliage) high in the canopy. This was a Lek tree for the Lesser Bird-of-Paradise. The Lesser is one of several Bird-of-Paradise species ( Raggiana, Greater, Red, Emperor of Germany and Goldie's) that are a promiscuous species that displays in tree-top Leks. This is to say that these places are gathering places for males. The same tree is used for many years by the same species that can number from four to twenty adult and immature males.
It was originally thought that the main purpose for these Leks was for the male to dance and show off in hopes of enticing a female to mate with him. It was thought that each female would select a mate out of the group but this was proven conclusively wrong. Modern field studies show that the activities of the males at the Lek is to determine which individual male will occupy the "cock-of-the-roost" position in the Lek. It is this top position bird that all the females come to be fertilized by.
Each and every female mates with the "top" male bird that is selected by the other males as having this coveted position. It is not known exactly what influences the males to choose a particular male for this position however.
The females of these and other promiscuous Bird-of-Paradise species take sole responsibility of building the nest and caring for a single young.
Early on the first morning we observed a sight that will never leave me. There were six male Lesser Birds-of-Paradise dancing, posturing and showing off. No females were in sight but this is very common. July to September was their lekking period and we were there in late July. It was perfect. The Lesser Bird-of-Paradise will elevate its golden-yellow plumes while bending forward. It brings up its brown wings over its back until they touch. Then it will lower its head and tilt its body forward until it appears to be upside-down, a sight reminiscent of what the early explorers said, "Out of this world."
ECLECTUS IN NEW GUINEA
During the six days spent in the Sanctuary, I observed 26 male Red-sided Eclectus Parrots and only one female. It was breeding time so I assumed that the females were on nests. The Sanctuary was several acres in size but this was where I observed all the Eclectus Parrots. I never did see them fly high overhead above the canopy that is always described in the reference books. These males would fly low under the canopy from 30 to 90 feet above the ground. They were bullets as they flew overhead. They went like straight arrows with their chunky bodies and quick-flying wing beats. What alerted me was their familiar call, everything from the alarm call to the bonging sounding throughout the rainforest.
I thought I might die from Malaria there, but for this Eclectus enthusiast, I was in a dreamland. These birds were in the wild and there was not a single feather missing, and they were so bold and fast. While George was asking the natives (there was a native village just outside the Sanctuary) for insects, reptiles and amphibians, I was out late in the evenings watching for Eclectus. They were far more visual in the evenings than in the mornings.
Every Eclectus male was by itself and was not with any other bird. Of course the native fruit trees were fruiting in great abundance and there was no problem for any bird to find food at this time of year. I could see very well the bright red under wings of the males when they came directly overhead--simply spectacular. This is something that aviculturists seldom see unless they handle their pets. Their undergarments were really beautiful.
Every Eclectus person knows about the fine hair-like feathers that are on the chest and necks of their Eclectus. No one knows that these fine hair-like feathers are also on many of the Birds-of-Paradise, proof that both groups of birds came as gifts from the Sun.
An observation that is almost never known in avicultural circles is that there are references and reports that there are communal Eclectus nests in the wild. We know that there can be several nests within the same tree but this is not what I am speaking of. There are reports that from 3 to 8 helpers will assist the nesting female in the wild. It is assumed that they are juveniles of a previous clutch but this is not proven. These helpers are both male and female. It is almost certain that this is how the "master" parents teach the offspring every detail of reproduction. No one but the "master" pair mate with each other; there seems to be a tight bonding between the mated pair. This is something we should think about in the future of captive Eclectus reproduction.
INSECTS OF NEW GUINEA
There were numerous insects that could be found in the forest. One of the most fascinating was the Macay Spector and relative to the Walking Stick. It is harmless but is the ugliest looking creature one could imagine. It is full of knobs, spikes and long antennae. They ranged from four to seven inches in length. The natives were not keen on bringing in insects for us but frogs were more their style. We had caught a Macay Spector (it cannot fly) and were looking for a bigger one to photograph. We brought the four inch insect in our hands and showed it to the natives. They were horrified. They seemed never to have seen it before and could not believe we were handling it. We knew perfectly well what the insect was biologically as it was on our list to find. The natives had a huge superstition toward this insect and we were very careful never to bring a surprise to them in the form of an insect thereafter. Besides spiders, there were colorful beetles, brilliant red and green-bodied bot flys and plenty of odd looking creatures--a wonderland under every bush. No, they were not under every bush, but compared to the US they were. Every morning we were out walking the trail looking for banana slugs, wood borers and every other type of creature that we could unearth.
THE VILLAGE CHIEF
The chief of the local village (next to the Sanctuary) was a real favorite
of mine. Went to visit him often. He had no wife and he was missing one
eye from a battle with a local village many years ago. Through an
interpreter, I learned that he was in his eighties and still very ambulatory.
He could have been sixty or ninety for all I know, but this wrinkled old man
told of many tales of his past. Sixty was a very old age for the
highland peoples. Very few people made it to that age. He told of the
first white men with their fire sticks that killed his people and the
great celebrations known as Sing Sings in New Guinea. I had a picture
taken of him with myself and George, and when we left the last time to go
the airport, he gave me a huge Kina Shell necklace that was stained from
many years of sweat on the leather that went around his neck. It has
some small cowrie shells poorly sewn onto the leather.. He put it around my
neck and would not take anything for it . This treasure is still one of
my prized possessions. The Kina Shell was the highland people's money
not very many years before. They traded with the lowland peoples for it.
It is like a huge abalone shell of which a curve is removed so the shell
looks like a large crescent or a half moon shape. The gift given to me
was a very large one approximately eight inches across.
