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Trip Report Darwin, Kakadu, Arnhemland and Katherine 1-15 July 2000

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Subject: Trip Report Darwin, Kakadu, Arnhemland and Katherine 1-15 July 2000
From: Russell Woodford <>
Date: Fri, 21 Jul 2000 14:02:57 +0800
From: "Allan Morris" <>

Subject: Trip Report Darwin, Kakadu, Arnhemland and Katherine 1-15 July 2000
Date: Thu, 20 Jul 2000 14:41:18 +1000


My wife and I spent two weeks in the Top End visiting family and friends, looking at the birds, learning about the aboriginal culture and enjoying the scenery and the swimming holes. This was my fourth visit to the Region although on this occasion I had the benefit of two books about birdwatching which had not been published at the time of my last visit in 1994. They were Finding Birds in Australia's Northern Territory 1997 P.Donato et al and Birds of Darwin, mangroves & mudflats 1996 Denise Goodfellow. Both books were quite helpful, however the former gave better advice about what birds could be found at what reserve or site. The new Charles Darwin National park, just to the east of Darwin City is not mentioned in either book.

There were some problems though, the mangrove boardwalk at East Point, a recommended site to visit, has been closed for some time while repairs are being carried out (?), while the mangrove boardwalk at Channel Island near Darwin, so well described by Donato et al is permanently closed to the public, although we managed to get in! Most of the time we were on our own but one day was spent birdwatching with my nephew Steven Popple, a Landcare Co-ordinator in Darwin and subscriber to birding-aus, and another day with my Central Coast colleague, Robin Benson, up in Darwin for the Hockey Carnival. Altogether 161 species were seen in the 14 days and 34 atlas sheets will be submitted in due time!

As for Stephen Mugford (Northern Territory Trip Report 17/7/00) one of the first birds seen were the 10 or so Australian Pratincoles on the airport as our Cessna 210 was taxi-ing up for take-off to Mt Borradaile Wilderness Camp, in West Arnhemland where we spent the first 3 days of our trip. We saw 90 species here which included wonderful views of waterbirds on the Coopers Lagoon at sunset on the first day. My conseravtive estimate was 20,000 Magpie Geese, 3000 Plumed Tree-Duck, 3000 Pied Heron & 1000 Glossy Ibis along that lagoon. Nesting Sea-Eagles & Whistling Kite, 2 Brahminy Kite, 100s Night-herons This was in addition to all the Egrets, 3 Brolga, 11 Black-necked Stork, Radjah Shelduck with ducklings, Collared Sparrowhawk & Hobby, Sacred, Forest, Red-backed & Azure Kingfisher (but no Little Kingfisher!), Wandering Tree-Ducks, many Jacanas with chicks at all stages, Whiskered Terns and a lone Caspian Tern and a few Green Pygmy-Geese. It was a great sight and was repeated again the following day as we travelled to the base of Mt Borradaile by boat before being taken up to the various rock art sites. At the Rainbow Serpent Rock art sites there was a pair of Sandstone Shrike-Thrushes and a White-lined Honeyeater, 4 Black-banded Pigeons, Helmeted Friarbirds & Brush Cuckoos calling incessantly. Dusky Honeyeaters were seen near here and then only once again at Howard Springs, 10 days later. Back around the Camp, the common birds were Little Friarbirds and Red-collared Lorikeets feeding in the flowering Woolybutts, Bush Stone-curlews in the camp at night, Red-tailed Black Cockatoos feeding on the Pandanus Cones, Grey-crowned Babblers & plenty of Red-winged Parrots. In the undergrowth along the flowing streams we saw Black Bittern, Northern Fantail, Shining Flycatchers, Red-backed Fairy-wrens, Broad-billed & Leaden Flycatchers & Masked Finches. Around the rock art sites on Mt Borradaile were the expected Great Bowerbirds, 6 Black-banded Pigeons & Blue-winged Kookaburras. On a trip to the "Great Art" site, another large sandstone outcrop to the south, we saw Wedge-tailed Eagles, a pair of Black-breasted Buzzard, Little Woodswallows, Rufous Whistler and another Sparrowhawk. In the paperbarks here we saw a number of calling Brush Cuckoos and the usual Yellow Orioles, White-gaped & White-throated Honeyeaters, White-bellied Cuckoo-shrikes, Rufous-breasted & Rufous-throated Honeyaters etc. We returned to Darwin staying at the City Gardens apartments, not far from the Botanic Gardens and checked on all the birds, looking for Rufous Owls without success. Reef Egret, Lemon-bellied Flycatcher and TreeMartins were the only new birds picked up at East Point Reserve, but the following morning along the back of Casuarina Beach and utilising the boardwalks through the mangroves there (new since my last visit), found Coucal, Drongo, Grey Whistlers, Red-headed Honeyeater, Scrubfowl, Large-billed Gerygone, Emerald Dove, Long-tailed Finch & many birds previously sighted. A quick visit to Charles Darwin National Park added Olive-backed Oriole, Weebill & Silver-crowned Friarbird to the list. A morning was spent a Fogg Dam where a number of Magpie Geese still had half grown or even smaller goslings, Intermediate Egrets appeared to be nesting in paperebarks to the east of the Causeway, while Crimson Finches, Reedwarblers and Little Grassbirds were commonly seen & heard. Then onto Wildman River Wilderness Lodge (not too much wilderness, more over-grown, weed infested and buffaloe damaged floodplain) where Barking Owls called throughout the night, Pipits were on the airstrip, and Little Corellas & Restless Flycatchers were abundant. The following morning we undertook a boat cruise on the Mary River near Rocky point, one large croc eating a large pig was interesting and there were plenty of waterbirds to see including nesting Sea-Eagles, plenty of Black-necked Storks and Plumed Tree-ducks, a Brown Falcon, Shelducks & Magpie Geese with young, and the only pair of Black-fronted Plovers for the trip! We spent two days in Kakadu, revisiting favourite haunts. We found Chestnut-breasted Mannikins on the banks of the South Aligator River, Jacana & Rufous-breasted Honeyater feeding young at Mamukala Lagoon bird hide, and a White-browed Robin near the observation block, Barking Owls & Bush Stone-curlews at Kakadu Resort, Rose-crowned Fruit-Dove calling at Bardedjilidgi Walking Track along the east Alligator River in the monsoon forest, another Black-breasted Buzzard at Cooloborie Brook crossing, west of Jabiru, Mistletoebirds at every stop, a Gull-billed Tern & Black Bittern at Mamujala wetland, Sandstone Shrike-thrush again at Noulangie Rock and another Sparrowhawk at Ambalangly Lagoon. Altogether 80 species in Kakadu. Travelling via the Mary River Road House and Pine Creek, we made for Katherine on 9 July, stopping at some waterholes on the Edith Falls Road looking for finches. Found only Masked, Double-barred and Long-tails, the latter nesting in the pandanus, but here the Jacky Winters put in anappearance as did Little Woodswallows. Played the real tourist in Katherine and enjoyed the new Visitors Centre at Katherine Gorge NP, the only place where we got Apostlebirds during the trip. Two early morning trips were made to Chinaman's Crek, 12 km west of Katherine on the Victoria Highway, once a Gouldian Finch and Hooded Parrot site. Obviously we dipped on the Gouldians, but did find 2 Hooded Parrots, along with Cockatiels, nesting Fairy Martins, Pallid Cuckoo, Grey Shrike-thrush, the usual doves & finches, and a lone Wedge-tailed Eagle. On the morning of 11 July, 5 km west of katherine, 2 Ground Cuckoo-shrikes were seen on the edge of the road and Pied & Grey Butcherbirds were common. Off to Lichfield, the usual stop on the Edith Falls road produced by only view of Sitellas, the very pied form, for the trip, along with many Red-tailed Black Cockatoos & Masked Finches. A Black Falcon was seen near Adelaide River, Lunch at Coomalie Creek rest area found us watching an Azure Kingfisher & fighting off the Blue-faced Honeyeaters from our food. Finally Northern Rosellas were located in Lichfield NP near the Florence Falls turnoff, at several sites over two days where there were also nesting Grey-crowned Babblers. Flocks of Little, Helmeted and a few Silver-crowned Friarbirds were feeding in the flowerinfg Woolybutts, while Brown Quail were flushed from the long grass. In nearby Batchelor 2 Varied Lorikeets were with the Red-collared Lorikeets, these being much less common than on previous trips. At Wangi Falls, Bee-eaters, Northern Fantails & Drongos could be watched while swimming, and Greenant Picnic area, LNP finally a Black Butcherbird! 40 species seen in Lichfield NP

We returned to Darwin, staying this time at the Botanic Garden Apartments where in my morning visit to the gardens, I found the highlight of our trip, a pair of Rufous Owls with their almost white newly (?) fledged young - about 50m from where I had looked previously! The location is about 100 m from the top car park near the childrens climbing playground equipment and directly above a small board walk.The Scrubfowl are a delight in the gardens and very active both in the morning & the evening. A trip to Darwin Dam found more Shelduck ducklings, a Pied Cormorant, Black-tailed Treecreeper, Whistling Kite on nest, just an ordinary Cisticola, and many bushbirds - a very good early morning site. A trip to the Channel Island mangroves enabled us to see Yellow Whiteye, several Rainbow Pittas, more Black Butcherbirds & Red-headed Honeyeaters, Mangrove & Large-billed Gerygones. Good views here of an Osprey nesting on a power staunchion. Today Steve & I lunched at Howard Springs and then did the monsoon forest walk, lots of Scrubfowls, Rainbow Pittas, Grey Whistler feeding young, Drongo, Shining Flycatchers and a Little Shrike-thrush. We came home via Knuckeys Lagoon Reserve where there were about 30 Pratincoles, many Green Pygmy-Goose and a White-browed Crake. There were ofcourse Magpie Geese, Whiskered Terns Wandering Tree-Ducks, and a wonderful 5 minute view of a Black-breasted Buzzard flying low and then circling over the Lagoon. Our last stop this day was at Matara HockeyField car park, where at the edge of the carpark, feeding and watering in a drain were many Chestnut-breasted Mannikins, Crimson & Double-barred Finches. We spent some time trying to turn some of the immature mannikins into Yellow-rumped Mannikins without success! The following morning, after I had shown Robin Benson the Rufous Owls, we headed off first to the back of Casuarina Beach where we saw about 35 species in a short time, including Yellow White-eyes, Drongos, Black Butcherbirds, Shining Flycatchers & 3 Little Bronze-Cuckoos together is some sort of dispaly. Then onto Buffalo Creek where the tide was well out - 12 species of waders on the sand flats included Red-capped, Mongolian & Greater Sand Plovers, Great Knot, Bar-tailed Godwit, Eastern Curlew, Whimbrel, Grey-tailed Tattler, Red-necked Stint, Grey Plover & Sanderling! 40+ Collared & Sacred Kingfishers, many Gull-billed Terns plus 3 other species, Reef Egrets & many more. The Chestnut Rail could be heard calling in the mangroves but did not appear although it was seen the morning before opposite the boat ramp the morning before & by me on previous trips. A walk through the mangroves found Mangrove Golden Whistler male but not the Mangrove Fantail & Mangrove Robin seen by Robin the morning before. The final places visited were Holmes Jungle in the middle of the hot afternoon, only a Brown Falcon & many Crimson Finches were of special interest, and back to Knuckeys Lagoon. Here we found only Golden-headed Cisticolas (no Zitting) but had great views of Sea-Eagle, Brahminy Kite, Brown Goshawk and two Black-necked Storks circling over the lagoon. Our trip was great - good company, good food & good adventures! A full bird list will be available on request.

Alan Morris


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