22 July 2025

PNG Highlands – short report

I spent 6 nights at Kumul lodge mainly looking for birds during the day, but did a bit of mammal watching when weather cooperated. Carlos’s trip report covers the area well, as does the Hobcroft (2022) paper, so I am not adding much new here. During the day I spotted a single Calaby’s Pademelon (or Alpine Wallaby) at the lodge, which seems to be getting more comfortable near people, and another individual at night in the forest. Also seen during the day were Speckled Dasyure and Black-tailed Dasyure. At night I saw 3 Masked Ringtail Possum, many Black-tailed Giant Rat, a Moss-Forest Rat and a New Guinea Glider.

There seems to be a significant amount of confusion among the local guides about mammals, so I’d recommend bringing photos and guides to show them pictures (Wilson seems to be the most knowledgeable guide for those of you self-organizing trips). Some guides believe there are tree kangaroo around the lodge, others say they are only found high up on Mount Hagen (seems more plausible). Several of the foreign bird guides also did not know their mammals, so info about what is or is not present in the highlands is not great.

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BrettHartl
Recovering obsessive birder, trying to pay more attention to full diversity of vertebrates (and invertebrates and plants occasionally). I work at the US-based Center for Biological Diversity on endangered species policy and law.
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