The Bird of Paradise is one of the rarest birds in the world found in Papua New Guinea. It is very elusive and make it's habitat up in the highlands far away from villagers. (Best viewed large)

A chance encounter on a mating dance from a bird of paradise.

What a nice shot!

Nothing less than beautiful!

Very nice capture - almost surreal! My only gripe is that if you're going to use a drop shadow outside the frame, make sure to crop it so that all the gradient is still in it. It detracts from the overall beauty you've captured.

In Papua New Guinea the Huli Wigmen of the Tari highlands wear a variety of local birds' feathers in their colorful ceremonial wigs. Some use the Sulphur-Crested Cockatoo crest feathers, Musschenbroek Lory tail feathers, and Superb Bird of Paradise breast feathers as their head dress. These wigs are very expensive for these men and the wigs are carefully maintained. The feathers of certain species, especially those of the birds of paradise, are becoming harder to obtain as the birds retreat deeper into the forest away from human encroachment. These people revere the feathers of the exotic birds that they admire because of their beauty, their singing ability, and their ability to fly and believe that wearing these feathers will impart some of these desirable qualities to the wearer.

 

Audubon is squirming....beautiful!

Thanks Michele, Roger, Don and Michael. This is one of my favourite image as it's so difficult to capture one of them in a mating dance.

Excellent capture!

Hi Alec,

 

Having spent 2 years in PNG, I must say you have been lucky with this great snapshot. I do recommend you the 16th september, national day, for the wonderful "singsing", eq. meeting of tribes of the whole country, for an unbelievable exhibition of dancers. You must not miss it ! Can stand in Port-Moresby or Mount-Hagen, be aware... Also the National Botanical Garden of Port-Moresby, with the world largest collection of orchids. A pity I could not find proper films and proper process, good digit cameras didn't exist yet. I had some friends from Tari and Mendi, the place for Huli Wig Men, they all had a hole in their noses :-) Helmets made of natural hair with feathers are simply wonderful. Also women from Manus, with the darkest skin that can be encountered, are to be shot when they put gold powder spots on their faces. At least, have a trip to Trobriand (Kiriwina) Islands, first half of July, for the yam harvest. Canoes are uniquely decorated, and the joy is all around the island.

 

Tankyu tru, lukim yu !

 

(Sogeri is a peaceful village about 80 kms from Port-Moresby, close to the National Park...)

 

http://www.trekearth.com/members/Sogeri/photos/Oceania/Papua_New_Guinea/

wow wow wow

a grand photo! bravo

Hi Sogeri (Mike Borkland). Thanks for your very informative guide to the happenings in PNG. Your website on TrekEarth is awesome. Some of the best wigman shots I have seen. (Hope you don't mind me attaching an image of yours here) Although I only visited the capital Port Moresby it was like going back in time. I love diving and will probably make a trip to Madang if I go this year again.

Hi Alec,

 

Couldn't get your email, so I answer you here.

 

This pic is of an old woman, the hat is about 10 kilos, and you could see on the other pic that she was absolutely tired, after hours of dancing under sunshine and dust. I didn't upload those pics on photo.net, because of a lack of quality... The films got very bad process and I can't use them anymore, I've only bad prints. I do think I'll go back there, even if I had hard time some five years ago :-)

 

I hope for you to get in touch with Dick Knight, the owner of Loloata Resort, 20 kms of Port-Moresby. He is a very fine and pro diver, he got very well awarded at Antibes' submarine photo contest. His resort-hotel is, at least, a lot more safe than Madang (if safety exists in PNG), the garden is loaded with wild animals he saved after injury... Just in case : http://www.loloata.com/

 

By the way, you can try pictures on the market places of Mendi, Tari, and a special recommandation for Ialibu. But it's not very fair to take pictures of people from the south east islands (motu) without their agreement : they don't like to feel disturbed by foreigners, even if they are quite smily. They say about highlanders that they smell bad, while highlanders say that people from the seaside don't have knees because they hardly trek in the mountains :-) A place to avoid : Gulf province. A place to go : Sepik and the villages along the river. Detailed infos at PNG Arts, Boroko district in Port-Moresby.

 

It's, at least, the "nambawan" (number one) country I have ever visited, just before northern Laos... and Cairns, Daintree, up to the York Cape.

 

Regards, Mike

Thanks Mike for your swift reply. During my last visit I stayed at the heavily fortified Holiday Inn at Port Moresby. I was surprised at the crime rate in PNG. Even walking outside the hotel is not safe according to the reception! Of course being curious (like in Fiji Island) I hired a car and even visited the notorious fishing villages and mingle with the villagers. I hear stories about why the retail stores have guards and sundry stores which are secured with prison-like bars to keep out robbers. I will probably need a guide on my next trip to be on the safe side.

If the bird was slightly more in focus, it woul dreally help for me. great looking bird.

Hi Joe, if you look at the eye you can see that it's actually in focus. I didn't use sharpening tool to focus it further as I didn't want unneccessary artifacts appearing. The quick mating dance of the bird also makes it difficult to capture sharp.