Subject: Subdued clothing
Date: Feb 25 17:00:12 1996
From: "CHRISTINE W. MAACK" - 73201.3124 at compuserve.com


I appreciate the opportunity to name-drop about just having gotten back from
Papua New Guinea, where we birded from the Ambua Lodge for birds of paradise,
among things. They have a very good bird guide, an Enga man, Joseph Toawa (not
sure of last name), who taught himself the local birds and knows where they hang
out. He wouldn't let us wear any white clothing when going into the forest to a
bower or display tree. Even the white lining of a hat lying on the ground needed
to be covered. Other light colors, like light blue or tan, didn't seem to
matter. However, since the Archbold's Bowerbird did not come down to his bower
while we waited, we may have still had some incorrect clothing on.

PNG is a great vacation place, by the way. They get practically no tourists
(17,000 last year was a bumper crop) despite having many nice hotels and lodges,
mainly I guess because of their reputation for crimes against non-nationals.
However, I think Miami is giving them a run for their money. So far, I've spent
7 weeks there in two visits and never even felt threatened. The regular people
are shy but very friendly. Service is sometimes puzzlingly amiss, sometimes
fine. Information is hard to get. I'd be happy to provide more info and details
if any of you are thinking of checking it out.

Chris Maack
Bird Treatment & Learning Center
Anchorage, AK
73201.3124 at compuserve.com