Katherine NT is bird-watching heaven. Thank you Julie for reminding me of it. In another, very long-ago life, I was principal of Katherine High School and I think that there I had the best bird watching of my life. In the way that we are
fortunate here in Canberra to be in between regions and see coastal birds or birds normally from further west, Katherine is on a kind of boundary and what you see there never failed to surprise. It is, of course, about the only place to easily see Hooded
Parrots which are restricted to about 100 ks around Katherine. But then there are the finches. Katherine is classic Gouldian territory but other rare finches seem to meet there. Katherine is on the Western edge of Star Finch territory, the Northern edge of
the Painted Finch, the eastern edge of the Yellow-rumped Mannikin and the Southern edge of the Crimson,and Long-tailed finches and the Pictorella Mannikin. At a good watering place at dusk you can see all of them. Thank you for the memories…..
From: Julie Clark <>
Date: Monday, 27 August 2018 at 5:17 pm
To: chatline <>
Subject: [canberrabirds] Out of Area - NT Trip
In case anyone is interested, here is a link to an album of photos taken in the Northern Territory earlier this month - a 13 -day trip that included Darwin, Kakadu,
Katherine and Pine Creek.
Len & I travelled with Jill & Ken and had an amazing bird trip. We saw over 140 species, of which 55 were 'lifers' for me. It surpassed even my wildest hopes!
There were many highlights including -
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watching at least 40 Red-winged Parrots feeding in trees and on the ground at Nitmiluk Visitor's Centre (before our Katherine Gorge Cruise)
-
seeing a flock of Gouldian Finches feeding on the ground
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watching the Hooded Parrots coming down for a drink and feeding quietly on the ground
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watching a family of 3 Red-tailed Black-Cockatoos at the Kakadu Lodge in Jabiru
-
seeing a Jabiru for the first time
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spotting my first Rose-crowned Fruit-dove ... not far from our apartment in the middle of Darwin
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watching beautiful, dainty Comb-crested Jacanas feeding on lily pads and seeing their young ... so very cute!!
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watching Crimson & Double-barred Finch & Chestnut-breasted Mannikins splashing in a puddle under a tap at Casuarina CR
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seeing the pair of Rufous Owls at the CDBG and a pair of Barking Owls on the Lily Walk at Fogg Dam
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hearing a Channel-billed Cuckoo calling to its Torresian Crow 'parent' to feed it
I could go on for hours!!
Photos for those interested (still editing and will continue to add...)
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