Artist, naturalist and vet, John Gale, shares his account of his adventures to Papua New Guinea in search of the magnificent Queen Alexandra’s Birdwing butterfly, the inspiration behind his beautiful Ornithoptera alexandrae print.
Three years ago I met up with Charles Dewhurst, SBBT’s first Secretary, who arranged for me to visit Papua New Guinea (PNG) with the plan to see Queen Alexandra’s Birdwing butterfly, Ornithoptera alexandrae (QABB) in the wild but also and more importantly, to produce some artwork of this extraordinary butterfly. Here I account the events that enabled me to achieve these lifetime dreams.
January 2023 saw me making a speedy recovery from my second hip replacement and I was emailing Charles on a regular basis. To my amazement he managed to arrange for me to visit the Popondetta region of PNG later in the year to spend time researching and visiting lowland rainforest forest to look for QABB.
So, I planned a three week trip to PNG for June that year; I would spend two weeks in the Highlands, Mount Hagen region collecting art material for Birds of Paradise paintings and then a week in Popondetta looking for QABB. I sent my brother Neil, who runs ‘The Magic of Life Butterfly House’ in Wales a message saying I had brought a flight to Popondetta – that meant one thing, I was on the Quest for Queen Alexandra’s Birdwing Butterfly.
There are two populations of QABB which is only found in Oro Province, PNG. There is a lowland population around the Popondetta plain and the other on the Managalase Plateau at 800m in elevation, which is south of Popondetta. Both these areas are only about 50km square, this is a very localised butterfly indeed!
The forest I visited was west of Popondetta. I was welcomed to a small village of only a few houses which was accessed along palm oil and forest tracks, crossing rivers and travelling past remote settlements. Surrounding the village were small fields of crops, then beyond that was the forest. Clearings in the forest had a variety of flowering shrubs, specifically planted to attract butterflies.
Seeing QABB in the wild is difficult, I visited the forest daily for 5 days and failed to see it. I had heard that a Japanese film crew had spent 3 weeks in the same forest 18 months previously and only seen QABB on two occasions. Birdwing butterflies are generally active from 6.30am to about 11am, and then again from 4pm onwards, the rest of the time they are not very active and roost. A couple of times the locals called out QABB as one drifted high across the canopy, a frantic rush to the spot but they were gone.
On my last day, Darren Bito, who was looking after me in Popondetta, gathered my group, said a prayer for us to find QABB and then we headed back into the forest for the last time. Sitting in the forest, the same feeling I had had for the last few visits of ‘this isn’t going to happen’ starting to overwhelm me, when suddenly there was a huge Birdwing flying across a large gap in the canopy. I immediate got my binoculars onto her and saw the diagnostic ‘art decor’ pattern of the hind wing and screamed out QABB. Rocko, who had accompanied me on every visit to the forest shouted out QABB at the same time. There she was, a female Queen Alexandra’s Birdwing in the wild in a forest on the Popondetta Plain in Oro Province, PNG, the largest and one of the rarest butterflies in the world, a childhood dream come true at 10.40am on the 22nd June 2023!
I had been in contact with Charles every other day or so, reporting progress and finally I could say I had found QABB, but boy it had been hard work and I couldn’t have cut it any finer in managing to see this extraordinary butterfly. After my goodbyes and tremendous thanks to everybody who had looked after me in Popondetta I returned to Port Moresby planning a couple of days in Varirata NP before going home, there was still one unexpected adventure to come while in PNG!
I met up with friends in Moresby to take me to Varirata NP for a couple of days to see Raggiana Bird of Paradise. I was still pinching myself that I had seen QABB and enjoyed sketching and photographing Raggiana Bird of Paradise all part of planning an oil painting. We saw some other fabulous birds and what a great way to end an amazing three weeks in PNG.
The next day I visited Varirata again and the beautiful view point with the stunning backdrop looking south towards the lowlands and Moresby in the distance. It was very early in the morning and we were the first people at the view point.
Suddenly, there were four masked men walking very fast towards us. The smaller man had a gun and the others large bush knives. My goodness – bandits. I immediately took my camera card out of my camera and put it in my back pocket. They were on us very quickly, with a gun in my face and bush knives threateningly being lunged at each of us they took all our cameras, optics and back packs, they ransacked the car and even took my packed lunch, and then they fled into the forest.
We left the park and I returned to my hotel in Moresby. I had to get ready to go to the airport for an evening flight back to the UK. I didn’t feel very stressed by what had just happened, I filled out a police report and sent a message home to my family saying guess what just happened!
I look back at my trip in June 2023 and put it down as probably the most amazing trip I have ever undertaken. I met so many remarkable people, who offered their hospitality and kindness, shared their food and showed me their incredibly beautiful country. In no way do I hold any resentment to the young men who robbed me, I hope they can find a way to move themselves forward and peace.
Over the following months I focused on QABB artwork from my trip, showing males and females, as well as the food plant Artistolochia dielsiana. I want my artwork to show butterflies active and alive, keeping well away from images of set specimens. I’m still working on QABB paintings in my studio from my 2023 trip and will present these as they are finished.
Illustration plate showing male and female Queen Alexandra’s Birdwing painted at life size. John Gale ©
So there we are, that’s my story of QABB during June 2023.
There is however, just one little detail missing, I haven’t seen a male….!
In early March 2025, I learnt with great sadness that Charles had died. I count myself very lucky that I had got to know Charles over the last two or so years. We kept in regular contact, talking about QABB, New Guinea, wildlife art, butterflies and paintings, and he set me up to achieve a childhood dream to see Queen Alexandra’s Birdwing Butterfly in the wild and I thank him immensely for that wonderful gift.
John Gale, September 2025.
