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Hi all
DAY ONE
Tuesday morning, 12/8/03,
three vehicles and ten people leave Broome in the pouring rain to start our
journey which will take us through some very remote but beautiful country. Due
to the rain we didn?t bother to stop at many lagoons etc that we would have done
otherwise so early birding was limited. A fuel stop provided a chance for
viewing birds in the flowering Eucalypts, Yellow tinted Honeyeater and Brown
Honeyeater.
We continued on without
stops towards our overnight destination of Fitzroy Crossing and the rain petered
out as we headed further east.
Arriving early, we lunched
beside the Fitzroy River and it was very windy but we started to see some good
birds.
Pied Cormorants and Darter
fished the river whilst Whistling and Black Kites patrolled overhead. A perched
Collared Sparrow hawk gave us all great views through the scope.
Other birds seen
included:
Little Woodswallow
Black-faced Woodswallow
Zebra Finch
Red-tailed Black
Cockatoo
Red-winged Parrot
Striated and Red-browed
Pardalote
Restless Flycatcher
Rainbow Bee-eater
Little Eagle
Wedge-tailed Eagle
White-gaped Honeyeater
Rufous Whistler
Cockatiel
White-bellied
Cuckoo-shrike
An afternoon commercial
boat trip on the Fitzroy River through the Geikie Gorge provided a pleasant
interlude and a look at lots of fresh water crocodiles. Birds sighted
included:
Darter
Royal Spoonbill
Sacred Ibis
Black Duck
Fairy Martin
Masked Lapwing
Black-fronted Dotterel
Brolga a party of 2 adults and 1 young
one
After the boat trip we
headed out to our campsite at Brooking Springs (private property). Arriving
close to dark we still managed to see
White-winged Triller
Rufous-throated
Honeyeater
Rufous Songlark
Peaceful Dove
Bar-shouldered Dove
Little Egret
Great Bowerbird
59
species were seen for the day. Dinner was a beautifully cooked dish of fresh
Barramundi. In fact as we had a gourmet chef with us, every night was a culinary
delight and a wonderful mix of variety and flavours. With that special added touch of a
couple of drinks around a roaring campfire.
To be continued
Dick Jenkin
DUNGOG NSW
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