Despite the heat and humidity, and the recent unseasonal conditions - no wet season this year to speak of, and not much of a winter either - the birding was fantastic. I personally added 76 new species, some others even more. Even the couple of 700+ birders on the trip added some new ones. The tour started in Darwin, ended in Kununurra, and included the Mitchell Plateau, where no less than 7 Black Grasswrens at a time scampered around within metres of our group. Undoubted highlight for me was the unexpected Letter-winged Kite on the Parrys Lagoon floodplain. Spectacular scenery, a really nice group of people as travelling companions plus a host of new birds. One of the group has a blog where she's put up some pics (she was with us only for 2nd half of the trip) which you can see at
kayparkinbirding.blogspot.com . The days were long (breakfast as early as 4.10am!) and seldom back before 6.30pm for dinner - a couple of cases of heat exhaustion (but not among the hardy Canberrans), many hours trudging through mangrove mud / long dry grass / rocks,
and more rocks...! 231 species seen by the group for the trip, and some even surprised guide Phil - the Chestnut Rail at Wyndham, the Kite in an unexpected location, a single
Black-tailed Native Hen at Parrys Lagoon and several Freckled Duck at Lake Argyle.
