birding-aus

NT topend trip report

To: "Birding-aus" <>
Subject: NT topend trip report
From: "Michael J Hunter" <>
Date: Thu, 11 May 2000 09:44:17 +1000
 
Easter is usually dry in the Territory, but this year had a very late wet.Some sites [Waterfall Creek, Ubirr, Yellow Waters] were inaccessable, waterhole specials and most of the ducks and geese were dispersed. ..The countryside was very green, cool weather on the mostly cloudy days, and relatively few mosquitoes and flies.
 
We essentially targeted  inland birds, omitting serious mangrove, shore and seabirds, many of which we knew from Broome.
 
We have lived in Darwin, and been to most of the sites before a few times, looking for native Palms, and only as casual birders.The Top End is still magic, albeit less innocent each time we go. The end of the wet is probably the best time to visit, if not for super-ticking, but the numbers of bushbirds is phenomenal.
 
                 Sites and their Highlights.Background birds like Rainbow Bee-eater, White-bellies Cuckooshrike and many others not listed here. Shodde's splits are listed under the new names.Unless followed by a ?, only certainty IDs are listed. Listed in order seen.
 
Day 1, April 22
Darwin Esplanade 6.45 am
Rufous-banded Honeyeaters,Whitethroated Gerygones, Varied Trillers.
East Point 8.45-9.30
Bush Stone Curlew[2],Grey-tailed Tattler[8],Green Gerygone[4], Grey Whistler 1,Raibow Pitta 1
Lee Point 10.45
Many Easter Fishermen.Yellow White-eyes.
 
Lunch at Parap Markets, and visited Denise Goodfellow's bookshop, seek and obtain Good advice on Chestnut Rail,admire Denise's paintings for upcoming birdbook.
 
Holmes Jungle Swamp 2.30
Road closed [unnecessarily], walk in.Grass headhigh, Button-quail areas under water.
Radjah Shelduck,Chestnut-breasted Mannikin[pr].Dollar-birds, vividly coloured.Cisticola.
At carpark;Long-tailed finch,Black-rumped local subspp. of Double-barred Finch, Brown Honeyeater sounding like Australian Reedwarbler up a tree.
 
Knuckey'sLagoon 4.00
Sea-Eagles 2,Comb-crested Jacanas, Plumed Whistling-Duck 2, Green Pygmy-goose 2,Crimson Finches 5, Chestnut-breasted Mannikins pr. Flushed a button-quail? Cisticolas 2 ?, looking very yellow ,no head streaks, but Niven McCrie says the were probably Zitting Cisticolas.
 
Howard Springs Caravan Park 5.30
Northern Rosella,Blue-faced Honeyeater,Little Friarbirds'
 
Howard Springs Nature Reserve 8.00 am 2.5.00 on return but included here.
Orange-footed Scrubfowl 3, Satin Flycatcher 6, Dusky Honeyeater ++, Rainbow Pitta 2, appeared to call me as I walked past, stopping only when I stopped and looked at them , when they started foraging, totally unafraid although I was 3-4m away, The blue wing patch is literally iridescent in the gloom of the undergrowth.Spangled Drongos in a shrieking match.
 
 Day 2 23.4.00
 Huge numbers >100, of Whistling Kites. One sitting on the wires was very rufousy/red but just a Whistling Kite., on road into
Fogg Dam 9.00
Paperbarks on south end of dam wall; Yellow-bellied , Broadbilled and Paperbark Flycatchers, Brown, Dusky, White-throated,White-gaped,Rufous-banded and Barred Honeyeaters.Pheasant Coucal,Night Heron, Pied Heron 50, Great, Intermediate,Little and Cattle Egrets, Royal Spoonbills, 50 , Darter, Magpie Goose 50,.Blue-winged Kookaburra, Crimson Finches, tourists galore, rendering the rainforest walk unviable birdwise.
 
Kakadu Highway and River crossings
Almost no waterbirds in extensive roadside swamps.Black-breasted Buzzards, 2, circling low over recently burnt grassland/scrub.Red-tailed Black Cockatoos.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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