Birds in East New Britain

Birds: A umana Beo

iki pic

Ismael K. Isikel Edited 08/01/2018

The general name for bird in Kuanua is beo. There are many of them in East New Britain and not all of them are listed here. More names will be added as they are identified and described. Some are just listed without any description.This is not a scientific classification of birds. It is basically the names of birds in Kuanua with some descriptions. Depending on dialect, some names may vary in spelling.  Some of these birds are migratory and pass through East New Britain in their travels. This post consists of two parts. The first is a list of terms associated with birds and the second is the list of birds.

Terms associated with birds

 Some terms associated with birds include:
 iwuna -  feather
pukai -  fly
pukapukai - flying
rakan - roost
rakarakan -  roosting place
mata - hollow.
po - nest
kiau - egg
telek- hatch
loko - male bird
nana - female bird
beo na ta - sea or shoreline bird
tolok - peck

List of birds

 

Balu - Pigeon

Bulukua - A long-tailed feathered black bird that feeds on the ground, much the same as a chicken scratching for grubs on the ground.

Buna - Fruit dove

Dima  This bird appears like a kingfisher but slightly smaller. It frequents areas where there is water such as rivers, creeks, and along the sea shores. Brown to orange chest and the rest is dirty dark blue. Very fast in flying keeping to just above ground level.

Gi or Lokokiakia - White chested and blueish all over. Some of the feathers have one side blue and the other side white which is prominently featured on the two long tail feathers. These two long tail feathers are commonly sought after for various dance decorations. It nests in termite hives found on tree trunks. It burrows the termite hive to make a nest. Normally it lays two eggs.

Giliau - A bird with black back feathers and white chest. The beak is orange as well as the legs.

Iai -  A ground black bird. It runs very fast and even outruns hunting dogs. They can be mistaken for human babies crying.

Inga - A type of parakeet that is smaller than a mumur.

Iu - Swift. Can be seen gliding for hours without perching. When not gliding it perches on dry tree branches.

Kabakabal -  Swallow. It lives and nests in caves.

Kakaruk - Chicken. 

Kakmal - Nightjar. Brownish bird that nests on the ground. It builds its nest in camouflage manner blending in with the immediate surroundings. If disturbed wherever it nests, it will relocate. 

Kalangar - Parrot.
             Kalangar mangmangilu - red color parrot
             Kalangar mapina pa - green color parrot.
Kalangar is the type of parrot found in East New Britain. It nests in hollows of tree trunks. It eats corn, banana, pawpaw and other garden foods such as peanuts. It feeds on food in unattended gardens as well as from the forest.

Kalawup or Balu kotkot - A species of pigeon that feeds on the ground. It has a crest that appears like grey mud.

Kau   A light brown middle size bird. It nests mostly on coconut palms.  Its name is given to the time of the early morning dawn as Kau or Kaukau. It marks this hour by 'crying' and of course waking people up. Another name for dawn is kawunwun.

Kawiwi - Kite. A terror to hens and chicks.One of its favourite meal is newly hatched chicks.

Kamuk -  Black and grey with white chest. The tail feathers are long and it makes a moo sound. There is one that is rarely seen that is white all over. It comes down to the ground to feed.

Kererek -  A black feathered bird with two curved tail feathers. They are usually seen in pairs.


Kik - Kingfisher. It is also called kikiu in another dialect of Kuanua spoken by Boawa and Wuatam people.

Koki or Muar - Cockatoo

Kokok - A night bird.

Kotkot  Crow or Raven, and also goes by the name Blackbird

Kuakua - There are two types of Kuakua. One is slightly bigger than the other and it is called Kuakua na pete. The smaller is called kuakua. Both are light brown with long tail feathers. It appears similar to rock pigeon.

Kuloko - Cuckoo

Kulinga - Lorriekeet

Ku'uk or Maima - A species of bird related to the Bird of Paradise. It is black with two middle long tail feathers. Similar to the owl, it is a night bird.

Kurkur - Owl. There is only one species of owl that is grey with little white spots. The tail feathers are short. It lives mostly in hollows in tree trunks. Its hooting resembles the distant lone barking of a dog.


Logalogo or Pap - A species of eagle with white chest and neck and the rest is brown. It is smaller than the minigulai.

Loko - Rooster

Malip -  Red and black in color and a favorite for aerial bird trappers of Toma. It is a common pet bird for many.  At times the phrase 'kipkip malip' is affectionately used to refer to anyone from Toma. The aerial bird trappers from Toma are the best in trapping birds such as muar, malip, and kulinga. Kipkip malip means bird bearer or carrier. From time to time men, the bird trappers, from Toma would sell birds at the market. It was an exotic site in the the old Rabaul market as the bird trappers would carry the birds around town selling them to interested buyers. The birds would be secured on a long wood or thin bamboo pole and carried on the shoulder.

Minigulai - Eagle. The bigger of the eagle species is known as minigulai.

Mumur - Parakeet.

Murup or Muruk - Cassowary

Neneoro - There are two types of neneoro. One type is highly migratory and move in flocks while the other type are usually seen in pairs and remain in one area. Neneoro could be a species of robin but this needs confirmation.

Ngiok or Ngeok - Wild fowl. Two known nesting areas in the vicinity of Simpson Harbour is Tavurvur and Tavana. A wild fowl lays its eggs by digging a hole in warm soil, lay the eggs,  and bury them to incubate and hatch. A hen lays four eggs in the same hole but in places them apart from each in different spots.

Pakupak - In Tolai folklore the Pakupak is a harbinger of death in the village. They fly around in pairs. One is black and the other is light brown to orange. Obviously one of them is a female and the other is male

Parupir - Humming bird.

Ruk - A green with orange neck ground bird. It completes its nest using the spiny roots of yams ( mamia) as a protection ring round the nest to deter other predator birds. I recently noticed that it inhabits areas close to old mamia (yam) gardens.
 
Tenge  Wren. There is one type of wren that frequent coconut palms. It is called ulmere. It is a tiny beautiful bird with a red chest hence the name ulmere. The lower body is glossy black.

Tamatamalakau It is slightly bigger than a wren and grey in color, and almost the size of a robin.

Uk - a species of fruit dove. It makes a sound that almost calling Jesus (Iesu) in Kuanua that goes something like, Uk, uk, uk, To Ietu. The name given to it comes from the sound that it makes - uk.

Ulia - Sandpiper. Ulia is a shoreline bird like the tuwik (plover).

Wuira - Starling. It is black with red eyes.  Another type is called wianao that is not as black as the red eye. The chest feathers are light.


Wuawuat - Appears similar to the Kuakua but shorter with dark brown feathers. Unlike the Kuakua, the Wuawuat feeds on the ground. There are two species of wuawuat. One is called wuawuat and it is brown and the other is called wuawuat golagolo. It also feeds on the ground.  Both appears similar to the rock pigeon.

Wurugada - A tiny dark brown bird with a beak similar to a finch and parrot. They fly around in flocks like starlings and frequent grass areas. The name wurugada is taken from a tall reed-like grass known as gada. Wuru here  means search and hence its name wurugada, literally translated to English as 'grass searcher.   Wurugada is the same as the Red-Throated-Ant-Tanager.