Conditions were perfect to see the Chestnut Rail at Buffalo Creek near
Darwin. The tide was below 4 metres and it was 6.50 am ?light but the sun not
yet up. According to Niven McCrie in his guide "Finding Birds in Darwin Kakadu
and the Top End" this was prefect conditions but as we all know in birding there
is no such thing as a certainty. As I pulled up at the boat ramp and walked
around the car to get my scope out of the boot, I casually scanned the opposite
bank with my binoculars and there were not 1 but 2 Chestnut
Rail. I got fantastic views in the scope once I had it set-up.
Others birds around the boat ramp included Striated Heron, Spangled
Drongo, Helmeted Friarbird, Red-headed Honeyeater, Lemon-breasted Flycatcher,
Orange-footed Scrubfowl
One down 8 to go. This was an 8-day trip to the Top End to get nine very
difficult birds and this was an excellent start
After a day exploring Darwin (and what a vibrant city is it compared to our
last visit in 1990), the afternoon birding was to be the famed Holmes Jungles
Swamp. Target species-Red-backed Button-quail and
Zitting Cisticola. The habit looked less than inviting
consisting of thick waist high grass. I waded in and within 5 minutes had
flushed an all-dark Button-quail which by a process of elimination I decided had
to be a RBBQ. Despite hours of wading through this very unpleasant habit over
several days, I never flushed another; the closest was something fluttering
through the grass away from my feet.
There were dozens of Cisticola here. Almost all were clearly Golden-headed
but eventually I found one with distinct yellow tonings, I was happy to tick. I
saw other at a roadside stop near Mary River on the Arnhem Highway
Other birds at Holmes Jungle Swamp included Crimson Finch, Tawny
Grassbird, Bush Stone-Curlew, Forest Kingfisher, Grey Whistler,
Peaceful Dove, Rufous Fantail and literally 100?s of
Black and Whistling Kites.The next species was the
Chestnut-backed Button-Quail. Niven had told me that the CBBQ
had been seen near the Pine Creek Cemetery at Easter so this seemed a good place
to start. The habit between the Cemetery and the Sewage Ponds was open woodland
with thigh high grass that was relatively easy to walk through. After 10 minutes
or so I flushed a covey of 6-8 CBBQ which exploded in all directions affording
reasonable views. I managed to flush a single bird again but that was it. Other
birds on the Ponds were Black Duck, White-necked Heron, Austalasian
Grebe and Pied Stilt.
After checking out Edith Falls (beautiful spot but no Hooded Parrot) with the
best bird Grey ?Crowned Babbler, we spent the night in
Katherine. Next day we headed down toward Timber Creek. The highlight of the
trip was Victoria River Crossing. The dark red cliffs surrounding the area are
fantastic. I saw a female Purple-crowned Wren and a
Black Breasted Buzzard as well as excellent views of a perched
Brown Goshawk.
At Timber Creek, I searched the airport for Star Finch and Yellow-rumped
Mannikan. The secondary site was the access to Victoria River and while
Long?tailed Finch were common, it took me some time to find a flock of something
else. This something else was mostly immatures and while I was trying to work
out what they were, a fabulous male Star Finch landed into the
binocular view. I also flushed 3 Red-chested Button-quail in
the grassland between the Victoria Highway and the airport. I clearly saw the
Orange- buff flanks and they flushed very differently from the CBBQ and RBBQ and
I saw the "white streaking" in the back. I then drove up to the lookouts where a
birder had reported 60 mostly immature Gouldian Finches. I saw
three immatures between the Sunset and Town Lookouts. Another nice bird for the
trip there was Black-tailed Treecreeper. We watched the sunset
at the Lookout. Beautiful!! Gouldians were also reported drinking in puddles on
the Bullita track inside Gregory National Park.
