On June 26th Jane and I headed north for a few days birding in the NT. This
was our first birding trip in the Territory and we were keen to see as many
of the endemics (and those commonly found there and less common elsewhere)
as possible. On trips like these, Jane is a ?fellow traveller?, that is
someone with a good eye, a fair knowledge of birds and enough interest to
enjoy birding without the dedication that gets one up obscenely early or
takes one to otherwise unpleasant places like mangrove swamps plastered with
RID?.Our route was to be south then west and back to Darwin.
The trip started auspiciously when the plane taxied past an AUSTRALIAN
PRATINCOLE sitting large as life on the grass at the airport. Not a great
birding opportunity but a clear look and a new species for our list.
Grabbing the 4WD, we headed out south and in mid afternoon saw the L Bennett
resort signposted on the left. We decided it was time for a short break and
headed in for a drink, an ice cream and some low intensity birding round the
car park area. Almost immediately we identified WHITE-GAPED HONEYEATER, one
of our target species and were quite elated, not realising that the NT seems
to be carpeted with a mixture of these and Brown HEs. We also logged, in
rapid succession, WHISTLING KITE, MAGPIE LARK, RAINBOW BEE EATER, BLACK
KITE, GALAH, FIG BIRD, LITTLE CORELLA, BLACK CHINNED HE (the NT Golden
Backed subspp), PEACEFUL DOVE, GT BOWERBIRD, BROWN GOSHAWK, WILLIE WAGTAIL,
RED-TAILED BLACK COCKATOO, BLACKFACE CUCKOO SHRIKE, PACIFIC HERON, BURDEKIN
DUCK and TORRESIAN CROW. We had outstanding views of RED-WING PARROTS
(previously spotted more fleetingly on several occasions in FNQ, but never
this well observed) and also identified an OSPREY sitting on the nest on the
far side of the lake.
We then headed south to Pine Creek, arriving just after 5pm and with only
about a half hour of really good light left. We took a stroll from out motel
up the road next to the rubbish dump to meet an equally relaxed PARTRIDGE
PIGEON strolling across the road. Such an easy sighting and, we thought,
probably the first of several?not so, this was it for the trip, but such a
good sighting that we would not complain.
There were BLUE-FACED MINERS around and many BAR SHOULDERED DOVES as well as
other species we had seen at L Bennett, such as Peaceful Doves. RAINBOW
LORIKEETS (the Northern, red collared variety) came hurtling through, we saw
WHITE-BREASTED WOODSWALLOWS circling and also several ?brown? fairy wrens
which we identified as probably VARIEGATED FAIRY WRENS. As we came towards
the top of the rise we found more parrots and, after a short while realised
with great excitement that we were among a flock of 30+ HOODED PARROTS. In
20 minutes we had found 2 of the key species we were looking for?what a
start!
Next morning, further short trips around Pine Creek added SPANGLED DRONGO,
LITTLE CUCKOO SHRIKE and PIED BUTCHER BIRD (Silver Backed Form) before we
headed out on the road to Gunlom, in the southern part of Kakadu NP.
Along the way we spotted BROWN FALCON and LITTLE FRIARBIRD before a short
stop at the turning off the bitumen yielded another target?NORTHERN ROSELLA.
Gunlom itself was mixed. The place is spectacular, with a huge pool of cool,
clear water surrounded with pandanus, paperbarks and other trees at the base
of falls tumbling out of sandstone cliffs. It looked ?birdy? and, with
reports of Chestnut Quilled Rock Pigeons on the slopes and White Throated
Grass wrens on the Spinifex at the top, we climbed with anticipation. Well,
it was beautiful country and we did immediately identify BROWN HE. Boy, did
we identify these?everywhere, with the greatest range of calls I?ve ever
heard. But apart from that?nothing. Some considerable time elapsed before we
decided to return in search of drink and lunch, the return trip adding
nothing at all until, just short of the bottom we got excellent views of a
pair of NORTHERN FANTAILS.
After lunch, we scoured the campsite, turning up numerous Little Friarbirds,
a larger but unidentified Friar (?juvenile Helmeted?,we weren?t sure) as
well as lots of Brown and White Gaped HEs mobbing a Crow.
A little disappointed, we left the falls and started back towards Pine Ck.
Finding a likely place at a crossing, I scoured the bush for 30 mins without
seeing anything and hearing only an odd Brown HE call for our pains. When I
returned to the car Jane was with the field guide, trying to decide which
finch she had seen which had a long tail and a bright yellow/orange beak.
Much gnashing of teeth from the ?experienced? birder followed, but we moved
the vehicle about 40 m further down the road in the direction where the
finch was last seen. Almost immediately, I was rewarded by an outstanding
view of a single, LONG-TAILED FINCH, which then promptly flew off.
Nonetheless, this immediately led to a rich and rewarding little episode.
Scanning the area for any sign of life, we spotted LITTLE WOODSWALLOWS,
followed in very short order by a good sighting of a flock of about 6 Long
Tailed Finches and then a SILVER-CROWNED FRIARBIRD. STRIATED PARDALOTE and
LEADEN FLYCATCHER followed quickly, along with inconclusive sightings of
what might have been Sandstone Shrike Thrush and might not?we would have
liked it to be, but we only saw it briefly and it was doing uncharacteristic
things, like hanging out in a tree, albeit very close to a sandstone
outcrop.
Time was pressing, and we had to push on to our next over night stop at Maud
Ck Lodge just outside Katherine Gorge. Along the way, various road side and
telegraph wire sightings added CRESTED PIGEON, RED-BACKED KINGFISHER,
BLACK-FACED WOODSWALLOW, WEDGE TAILED EAGLE and DOUBLE BARRED FINCH.
Maud Ck Lodge was a great place to stay?excellent accommodation and
conveniently located?but our time in Katherine was pretty uneventful in
birding terms. Around the lodge we logged numerous Brown and White Gaped
HEs, Peaceful Doves and other common species, adding to out trip list MASKED
LAPWING (the Northern subspp), YELLOW ORIOLE, BUSH THICK KNEE (calling
overnight), SHINING FLYCATCHER (Pair), GREAT EGRET, WHITE-BELLIED SEA EAGLE
(a pair magnificently cruising in convoy along the river behind some
Burdekin Ducks), OLIVE-BACKED ORIOLE and BROWN QUAIL.
Cruising around Katherine Low Level we added only GREY CROWNED BABBLER,
WHITE THROATED HE and LEMON-BELLIED FLYCATCHER, although this last was an
excellent sighting which allowed us to really become much more familiar with
a bird previously logged from fleeting sightings.
At Nitmiluk we had a glimpse of a passing PEREGRINE FALCON and not much else
before an expensive and rather second rate lunch. After lunch, we walked
through the picnic area to the river. In the picnic area we added APOSTLE
BIRDS and also observed at very close range a fairly tame Great Bowerbird
putting on a terrific display with its iridescent crest. From here, a long
walk up the cliff and back round to the Park HQ (well over 1 hour) was
almost bird free apart from the odd White Gaped HE call, some D-B Finches
hunted down from calls in a Spinifex area and the yellow form of the
WEEBILL.
Late in the afternoon, a cruise along the road towards Katherine yielded a
wonderful view of a JABIRU taking off, WHITE WINGED TRILLERS and FAIRY
MARTINS. We were, however, puzzled to be exploring so much ?birdy? looking
country and seeing both so few birds and so few species?a day?s pretty
assiduous work in a new area having added less than 20 new spp to the trip
list.
Next day we set off for Timber Ck. The trip added STRAW-NECKED IBIS and
CATTLE EGRET and, at a short and pleasant stop near a creek VARIED SITELLA,
PALLID CUCKOO, RESTLESS FLYCATCHER and RUFOUS WHISTLER along with several
previously sighted HEs. We stopped at Victoria R crossing and scouted for
fairy wrens, but without success.
Timber Ck was, however, totally different to Katherine. We arrived at lunch
time and settled for coffee and sandwiches in the treed area adjacent to the
shop and gas station. Hardly had we sat down before we got an excellent
sighting of a BLACK-TAILED TREECREEPER in the trees across the road followed
by several Long Tailed Finches flying around us, and then an obliging
YELLOW-TINTED HE posing and calling immediately overhead.
After putting our gear into motel rooms, we strolled around the caravan
parks and creek seeing CRIMSON FINCHES, WHITE FACED HERON and GOLDEN-HEADED
CISTICOLA but not Gouldians, although they were said to frequent the area
near the swimming pool.
>From here, we drove out to the airport, sighting an AUSTRALIAN KESTREL along
the way. The airport was heaven. Alighting from the car we began putting up
SINGING BUSHLARKS every time we moved, and in no time there were numerous
Long Tailed Finches about. Then Jane spotted something else and a careful
search revealed STAR FINCHES feeding in long grass, many juveniles but with
some full plumage adults. We watched these with glee before Jane insisted
that she had yet another finch species in view. So it seemed?and by now we
were making jokes about her being the finch expert?but we could not seem to
make sense of the green backed, pale bellied bird she was pointing out. It
was some little while before a cry of triumph went up?we had GOULDIAN
FINCHES, a large flock of them and the puzzle was solved?immature Gouldians.
Indeed, in quite a large flock of 20+ birds we could only spot about 4 in
full adult plumage, all black headed.
Soon after, we put up a family of RED-BACKED FAIRY WRENS.
The following morning was, by NT standards rather cold?indeed, after
starting out in open necked shirt and shorts, I ended up donning a T shirt
and rain jacket as well. A trip to the race course was largely fruitless
(and windswept), adding only a large number of JACKY WINTERS to the trip
list. But then what could I expect? The ?finch moll? as she was jokingly
calling herself had gone off on a river trip, taking all new finch sightings
with her. Nonetheless, the racecourse sally ended in excitement. As I drove
very slowly back to town hoping to see something in the grassy margins I saw
a raptor that was instantly ?different??unlike the ubiquitous Black Kites
and numerous Whistling Kites we saw, this one had a high dihedral and
floated lightly across the sky. Screeching to a halt (as much as one can
from 10 km/h) I scrambled out and locked the glasses on a BLACK BREASTED
BUZZARD, with the unmistakeable bull?s eyes in the wings and, as it turned,
the black breast. Awesome!
Stoked with hot tea, I visited the windswept hills above the cemetery and
was rewarded for a long scramble over rock and grass with clear sightings of
GREY FRONTED HE.
In the afternoon the sun came out, the ?finch moll? rejoined me and we went
back to the race course. Immediately?of course!?we struck finch gold again.
On the horse troughs in the holding yards we had outstanding views of MASKED
FINCH and Long Tailed Finch in a mixed flock, able to see and compare the
tiniest details.
Another short visit to the airport yielded excellent views of a large flock
of Star Finches?mainly juveniles?some further excellent sightings of
Gouldians (still no Red Headed forms) and CHESTNUT BREASTED MANNIKINS.
We would have liked to seen and diligently searched for, other mannikins,
but without success and so left Timber Ck early on the Saturday, before the
sun was up, hoping to spend some time at Victoria R Crossing as we headed
back towards Darwin. Along the way we stopped in at Joe Creek to make
another search of sandstone cliffs, hoping for White Quilled Rock Pigeons
and Sandstone Shrike Thrush but, as with other searches of sandstone areas
drew an almost complete blank.
Our luck was in at Victoria R, however?we struck a group mist-netting
adjacent to the river, including a local PWS ranger and an American PhD
student, who had a female PURPLE CROWNED FAIRY WREN in hand and had recently
released her male partner who was hopping about and cursing them roundly. We
had great sightings of them and others in the surrounding grasses and a long
and interesting discussion with the netters. They suggested visiting the old
crossing to find mannikins?we did but were unsuccessful, seeing numerous
Crimson Finches, Brown HEs, Corellas and a Peregrine as well as adding
SULPHUR CRESTED COCKATOO and LITTLE EGRET to the trip list.
Pressing on through the day, having concluded that 11.00-3.00 was just about
useless for birding we decided to visit Fogg Dam in the late afternoon on
our way in. We began with seeing VARIED TRILLER in the car park and then
decided to take the monsoon forest walk. This took some time and, apart from
hearing what we believed were Rainbow Pitta, was really rather
unrewarding?lots of walking and precious few birds. At the far end, where we
emerged from the forest we sighted FOREST KINGFISHER, MAGPIE GOOSE, AUST
REED WARBLER and AZURE KINGFISHER. In general, however, the walk confirmed
our previous experience, which is that organised ?walks? are, despite the
signs and promises, low grade ore.
Returning to the car park, we decided to head out along the dam. Almost
immediately we spotted RUFOUS BANDED HE and also had a glimpse of what was
probably a juvenile Bar Breasted HE, but not a sighting you could be certain
of. Along the dam we came across more PIED HERONS in one place than we had
previously seen in our lifetime, along with numerous COMB CRESTED JACANAS,
Magpie Geese, Egrets, including INTERMEDIATE EGRET, as well as SACRED IBIS,
a DARTER and GREEN PYGMY GEESE. Beautiful place and one to be revisited
another time.
The next morning we started out for a day with Denise Goodfellow as our
guide?a wise choice being both a knowledgeable guide and a most interesting
companion. Even before we met, we saw a BRAHMINY KITE soar over, then we met
up with Denise and headed for Leanyer Sewage Ponds. These were rich in new
species for our trip and, quite quickly, for our life lists. Three
terns?WHITE WINGED, WHISKERED and GULL BILLED?were added on arrival along
with PELICAN, PIED STILT and AUST GREBE. In a path at the back through
mangroves we saw the NT form of the GREY WHISTLER (known locally as the
Brown Whistler and certainly seeming a quite different bird) and then
followed in rapid succession, RED-HEADED HE, GREEN-BACKED GERYGONE, and
YELLOW WHITE EYE. We could hardly believe our eyes! RICHARDS? PIPIT,
MANGROVE GERYGONE, MARSH SANDPIPER were soon found and we also saw 2
Australian Pratincoles.
Leaving the ponds, Denise took us to a nearby grassy area and quickly found
ZITTING CISTICOLA. Then I kitted up for a mangrove trip in search of
Chestnut Rail and all those things starting Mangrove (Kingfisher, Robin,
etc) but this was the one blank of the day?glimpses of one or two HEs and a
Black Kite that wandered back and forth overhead mewing?and lots of insects.
In the afternoon we drove to Howard Springs, being overflown by PIED
IMPERIAL PIGEONS. At the springs we added HELMETED FRIARBIRD, LITTLE SHRIKE
THRUSH and SACRED KINGFISHER as well as being ?serenaded? by a huge flock of
Corellas. We heard, and, eventually were rewarded by seeing, RAINBOW PITTA.
A most enjoyable day.
The following day at East Point. We added REEF HERON, MANGROVE HERON, TREE
MARTIN, PHEASANT COUCAL and WHIMBREL to our list, along with numerous White
Gaped HEs, Peaceful Doves and D-B finches, the latter acting as the
?sparrows? of the park areas, picking up crumbs around rubbish bins etc.
In the afternoon we returned to Howard Springs. I added BRUSH CUCKOO before
spotting a monarch flycatcher. Was it a Leaden or a BROAD-BILLED FLYCATCHER?
I rather think the latter. We had seen numerous Leadens along the way and
this one was rather greyer with a very dark throat, hanging around a
paperbark swamp?but while I could identify that much it was away before I
could make any specific pronouncements about beaks, so I put this down as a
?probable? and left it at that. This was followed by a fantastic sighting of
a Rainbow Pitta, posing and grooming on a log for better part of 10 minutes
only about 4m from me and quite unconcerned by my presence.
After this, birding was basically done for the trip, other than adding
SILVER GULL when we spent some time at the wharf?a species we were amazed
not to have seen earlier.
All in all, we saw just over 120 species including 21 definite lifers. We
realised that this was not the ?best? time to visit the NT, in that the
breeding season was just over, there were many juveniles around (quite
confusing at times), the migrants were away and the dry not advanced enough
to concentrate others around water sources. Generally, we found 11-3 to be
unproductive and 4-6 pm the best. Still the weather was kind, the birding
still enjoyable and our first visit to the Top End whetted our appetite for
more.
And for non-birders, we strongly recommend sunset at Darwin Sailing Club.
Watch the sun set in the sea and have a quiet drink in tropical warmth?hard
to take but someone?s gotta do it?
Stephen Mugford
===========================================
Dr Stephen Mugford
QQSR
Box 12
Gungahlin, ACT 2912
Tel: 02 6242 1008
Fax: 02 6242 1024
Mob: 0411 466 640
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