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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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