Darwin & Kakadu Trip Report May 2006
Tim Dolby
On the 25 May I travelled up to Darwin from Melbourne for the Birds
Australia AGM. After the AGM I was joined by my good friend Greg Oakley,
and we hung around for a week to do some birding.
May in the Northern Territory is the beginning of the dry season, and
the weather is perfect! 30 degrees, not a cloud in the sky, humidity
levels are low, and importantly the dry weather roads are have all just
opened. On Sunday 28 May we participated in the NT Twitchathon: members
of the team included Tim Dolby, Greg Oakley and local ornithologist (and
good bloke) Chris Brady. It was great fun! For the record we came
second, 126 bird species in 12 hours, compared with the winners 128. To
compensate for this however we did score the best bird for the 'thon,
Gouldian Finch, which easily made up for our 2 bird loss.
Overall the birds seen in NT were fantastic! The final list included two
bird species I had not calculated on seeing on this trip, Gouldian Finch
and Red Goshawk, despite having reliable sites for both species
elsewhere. Seeing the Gouldian was particularly satisfying because it
appears that our record may be the closest wild record of this finch to
Darwin. With some fortune we also managed to catch up with all the
sandstone escarpment specialists, White-throated Grasswren (I even got a
few photos if anyone interested), Banded Fruit-Dove, Chestnut-quilled
Rock-Pigeon, Sandstone Shrike-thrush, White-lined (& Banded Honeyeater),
Variegated Fairy-wren lavender-flanked ssp. Other good birds seen on the
trip included Rufous Owl, Chestnut Rail, Lesser Crested Tern & Mangrove
Golden Whistler and Little Woodswallow.
Birding around Darwin is a rewarding experience, with good numbers of
excellent birds found within cooee of the centre of the city.
Charles Darwin University: the uni hosted the BA AGM, so I spent the
first 2 days of the trip slipping out to birdwatch during the lunch
break etc. I concentrated mainly on the area between the uni and the
beach. Birds here included Torresian Imperial-Pigeon, Varied and Rainbow
Lorikeet (red-collared ssp), Red-winged Parrot, Osprey, Pacific Baza,
Channel-billed Cuckoo, Little Bronze-Cuckoo, Green-backed, Large-billed
& Mangrove Gerygone, honeyeaters included Rufous-banded, Brown, Dusky,
Red-headed (which were common and easy to see), White-gaped,
Bar-breasted & White-throated Honeyeater, Lemon-bellied Flycatcher, Grey
Whistler (Brown ssp), Striated Pardalote (yellow rumped Black-headed ssp
uropygialis), Northern Fantail, Orange-footed Scrubfowl (a common garden
bird), White-bellied Cuckoo-shrike, Varied Triller, Red-backed
Fairy-wren, Yellow White-eye, Masked, Long-tailed & Double-barred Finch
and Chestnut-breasted Mannikin.
Buffalo Creek and Lee Point: some of the birds seen here included
White-bellied Sea-Eagle, Brahminy Kite, Nankeen Night Heron, Azure
Kingfisher, Striated Heron, Rose-crowned Fruit-Dove, Rainbow Pitta and
finally, late in the evening of the last day of my trip, Chestnut Rail.
Chestnut Rail is actually relatively straightforward to get at Buffalo
Creek: at dusk hen it is low tide look across the river from the boat
ramp, wait for a quiet period i.e. when there are no boats. Simple! Both
Large-tailed Nightjar and Barking Owl were heard at Buffalo Creek. At
Lee Point some of the birds seen included Whimbrel, Eastern Curlew,
Great Knot, Sanderling, Pacific Golden Plover, Lesser Sand & Greater
Sand Plover, Eastern Reef Egret, Australian Pelican and Caspian,
Gull-billed, Crested & Lesser Crested Tern.
East Point: Eastern Reef Egret, Grey Plover, Grey-tailed Tattler, Common
Sandpiper, Collared Kingfisher, and Rose-crowned Fruit Dove.
Holmes Jungle: Red-backed Button-quail (and 2 Helmeted Guineafowl and a
Indian Peafowl).
Botanical Gardens & Darwin Airport: a single Rufous Owl seen next to the
toilet block and at the airport the last two birds for my trip were Bush
Stone-Curlew and Barking Owl, heard at 11:00 pm while parking the hire car.
Fogg Dam: I visited Fogg Dam twice: once briefly during the thon and
then on my last day, spending a good 5 hours just mulling around. What a
fantastic place! Some of the birds seen here included Magpie Goose,
Wandering Whistling-Duck, Radjah Shelduck, Green Pygmy-goose, Cattle,
Little, Intermediate & Great Egret, White-faced, White-necked, Pied &
Nankeen Night Heron, Straw-necked Ibis, Royal Spoonbill, Black-necked
Stork, Whistling Kite, Orange-footed Scrubfowl, Comb-crested Jacana,
Whiskered Tern, White-winged Black Tern, Brush Cuckoo, Azure, Forest and
Sacred Kingfisher, Blue-winged Kookaburra, Rainbow Bee-eater, Rainbow
Pitta, Red-backed Fairy-wren, Dusky, Red-headed, White-gaped,
Bar-breasted & Rufous-banded Honeyeater, Lemon-bellied Flycatcher, Grey
Whistler, Northern Fantail, Broad-billed Flycatcher, Restless Flycatcher
(Paperbark ssp nana), Green-backed Gerygone, White-bellied
Cuckoo-shrike, Varied Triller, Yellow White-eye, Tawny Grassbird,
Chestnut-breasted Mannikin and Crimson Finch. Also seem at Fogg Dam were
Freshwater Crocodile and a very loud family of Wild Pig.
Arnhem Hwy: the first big surprise for the trip was twitching Gouldian
Finch during the NT Twitchathon. We saw a black faced bird in
grassland/monsoon forest 45 kilometres from Darwin on the Arnhem Hwy:
immediately east of the J200 (Jabiru 200) road sign. (Another
black-faced Gouldian was later seen near the same spot.) From all
indications this is the closest record of a wild Gouldian Finch to
Darwin. This spot proved to be alive with birds, including Masked,
Long-tailed, Double-barred & Crimson Finch, Chestnut-breasted Mannikin,
Northern Rosella, White-bellied Cuckoo-shrike, Varied Lorikeet,
Black-tailed Treecreeper & Blue-winged Kookaburra. The initial reason we
stopped at this site was because someone thought they had spotted
Grey-crowned Babbler. This was basically the only woodland bird we
didn't record at this site! Despite this, we jokingly kept calling it
the Grey-crowned Babbler site.
Adelaide River Crossing: a brief stop at the Adelaide River crossing
produced Mangrove Golden Whistler.
Kakadu Hwy: the other big surprise for the trip was a magnificent Red
Goshawk 20 km south of Yellow Waters. About 20 metres up, the goshawk
flew directly over our car, turned and flew back over the car, and then
banked to left. About the size of a Little Eagle, you don't realise how
big this goshawk is until you actually see one. Near the township of
Jabiru we also saw the first of many Partridge Pigeon. Frilled-necked
Lizard and Antilopine Wallaroo were also recorded.
Gunlom (Waterfall Creek): we arrived at Gunlom in high spirits. This was
our target destination for the whole trip with aim to track down the
sandstone escarpment specialists. After many hours of clambering over
the uppermost rocks we eventually got onto a pair of White-throated
Grasswren, which we saw at a football sized plateau immediately behind
the uppermost escarpment. In the process of searching for the Grasswren
we also recorded the other sandstone specialists: Banded Fruit Dove
(seen in the dark gullies highest up the escarpment), Sandstone
Shrike-thrush, White-lined Honeyeater, Banded Honeyeater,
Chestnut-quilled Rock-Pigeon, Helmeted Friarbird (the sandstone ssp
ammitophila), Variegated Fairy-wren (lavender-flanked ssp dulcis). At
the base of the falls there were large flocks of Red-tailed
Black-Cockatoo, Black-breasted Buzzard, Little Woodswallow, Varied
Lorikeet, Northern Rosella, Great Bowerbird, Blue-faced Honeyeater,
Pheasant Coucal, Blue-winged Kookaburra, White-gaped Honeyeater,
White-throated Honeyeater, Silver-crowned Friarbird, and we also saw a
Black Wallaroo at the top.
A note about birding in this area in May: most of the guides suggest
that the sandstone birds can sometimes be seen lower down the escarpment
(eg near and around the top of the waterfalls). This may be true in
spring, at the end of the dry, when there is little water, and birds
need to come down to drink from Waterfall Creek. However in May, which
is the beginning of the dry, there was plenty of water around higher up,
and therefore we only recorded the specialists in the uppermost reaches
of the escarpment.
Pine Creek: our final destination for the trip was Pine Creek for Hooded
Parrot. After a short walk we saw a male bird in a tree in the main
park, also adding Red-backed Kingfisher and Crested Pigeon to our trip list.
Bird List NT 25th May to 2nd June 2006
? Little Pied Cormorant
? Little Black Cormorant
? Australian Pelican: Lee Point
? Magpie Goose
? Wandering Whistling-Duck: Fogg Dam
? Radjah Shelduck: Fogg Dam
? Green Pygmy-goose: near Fogg Dam
? White-faced Heron
? Little Egret
? Eastern Reef Egret: both morphs at Buffalo Creek
? Intermediate Egret
? White-necked Heron
? Pied Heron: Darwin rubbish tip, Fogg Dam
? Great Egret
? Cattle Egret
? Striated Heron: Buffalo Creek
? Nankeen Night Heron
? Australian White Ibis
? Straw-necked Ibis
? Royal Spoonbill
? Black-necked Stork: Fog Dam
? Osprey: Charles Darwin Uni
? Pacific Baza: Charles Darwin Uni
? Black-shouldered Kite
? Black-breasted Buzzard: Arnhem Hwy, Boulder Creek, Gunlom
? Black Kite
? Whistling Kite
? Brahminy Kite: Buffalo Creek
? White-bellied Sea-Eagle: Buffalo Creek
? Wedge-tailed Eagle: Arnhem Hwy
? Little Eagle
? Brown Goshawk
? Collared Sparrowhawk
? Red Goshawk: Kakadu Hwy 20 km south of Yellow Water
? Brown Falcon
? Nankeen Kestrel
? Peregrine Falcon: Gunlom
? Orange-footed Scrubfowl
? Red-backed Button-quail: flushed Holmes Jungle Swamp
? Chestnut Rail: low tide at dusk opposite Buffalo Creek boat ramp
? Brolga
? Comb-crested Jacana: Fogg Dam
? Whimbrel: Lee Point
? Eastern Curlew: Lee Point
? Marsh Sandpiper: Lee Point
? Common Sandpiper: East Point
? Grey-tailed Tattler: East Point
? Ruddy Turnstone: East Point
? Great Knot: Lee Point
? Sanderling: Lee Point
? Red-necked Stint: Lee Point
? Pacific Golden Plover: East Point
? Grey Plover: East Point
? Red-capped Plover
? Lesser Sand Plover: Lee and East Point
? Greater Sand Plover: Lee and East Point
? Masked Lapwing: miles ssp
? Silver Gull
? Whiskered Tern: Fogg Dam
? White-winged Black Tern: Fogg Dam
? Gull-billed Tern: Lee Point
? Caspian Tern: Lee Point
? Crested Tern: Lee Point
? Lesser Crested Tern: Lee Point
? Rock Dove
? Emerald Dove
? Crested Pigeon: Pine Creek
? Partridge Pigeon: Jabiru, Kakadu Hwy & Gunlom
? Chestnut-quilled Rock-Pigeon: Gunlom
? Peaceful Dove
? Bar-shouldered Dove
? Banded Fruit-Dove: Gunlom
? Rose-crowned Fruit-Dove: Buffalo Creek, East Point
? Torresian Imperial-Pigeon: Darwin
? Red-winged Parrot
? Northern Rosella: Charles Darwin NP & Arnhem Hwy
? Hooded Parrot: Pine Creek
? Red-tailed Black-Cockatoo
? Galah
? Sulphur-crested Cockatoo
? Little Corella: Adelaide River
? Rainbow Lorikeet: red-collared ssp rubritorquis
? Varied Lorikeet: surprisingly numerous around Darwin
? Brush Cuckoo
? Little Bronze-Cuckoo
? Australian Koel
? Channel-billed Cuckoo: Charles Darwin Uni
? Rufous Owl: Botanical Garden
? Barking Owl: Lee Point and Darwin Airport
? Southern Boobook
? Tawny Frogmouth
? Large-tailed Nightjar: Lee Point
? Azure Kingfisher
? Blue-winged Kookaburra
? Forest Kingfisher
? Red-backed Kingfisher: Pine Creek
? Collared Kingfisher: East Point mangroves
? Sacred Kingfisher
? Rainbow Bee-eater
? Dollarbird
? Rainbow Pitta: Lee Point, Fog Dam
? Black-tailed Treecreeper: Arnhem Hw& Kakadu NP
? Red-backed Fairy-wren
? Variegated Fairy-wren: lavender-flanked ssp Gunlom
? White-throated Grasswren: uppermost escarpment Gunlom
? Striated Pardalote: yellow rumped, black-headed ssp uropygialis
? Green-backed Gerygone
? White-throated Gerygone
? Large-billed Gerygone: taller mangroves
? Mangrove Gerygone: shorter mangroves
? Brown Honeyeater
? Dusky Honeyeater
? Red-headed Honeyeater
? Banded Honeyeater: Gunlom and Yurmikmik escarpments
? White-lined Honeyeater: Gunlom
? White-gaped Honeyeater
? White-throated Honeyeater
? Black-chinned Honeyeater: golden-backed ssp laetior Pine Creek
? Little Friarbird
? Helmeted Friarbird: & sandstone ssp Gunlom
? Silver-crowned Friarbird: Charles Darwin Uni and NP
? Bar-breasted Honeyeater: East Point & Fogg Dam
? Rufous-banded Honeyeater
? Blue-faced Honeyeater
? Lemon-bellied Flycatcher
? Mangrove Robin
? Grey Whistler: brown ssp simplex
? Mangrove Golden Whistler: Adelaide River
? Rufous Whistler
? Sandstone Shrike-thrush: sNourlangie & Gunlom
? Grey-crowned Babbler
? Willie Wagtail
? Northern Fantail: common fantail
? Grey Fantail
? Leaden Flycatcher
? Broad-billed Flycatcher: common at Fogg Dam
? Restless Flycatcher: paperbark ssp nana at Fogg Dam and Charles Darwin
Uni
? Shining Flycatcher: in mangroves near Darwin Hospital
? Spangled Drongo
? Torresian Crow
? White-breasted Woodswallow
? Black-faced Woodswallow
? Little Woodswallow: Gunlom
? Pied Butcherbird: colleti ssp
? Black Butcherbird:
? Magpie-lark
? Olive-backed Oriole
? Yellow Oriole
? Figbird:
? Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike
? White-bellied Cuckoo-shrike
? White-winged Triller
? Varied Triller
? Tree Martin
? Yellow White-eye
? Golden-headed Cisticola
? Zitting Cisticola: Holmes Jungle swamp
? Australian Reed-Warbler
? Tawny Grassbird
? Rufous Songlark
? Crimson Finch: phaeton ssp (western) black-bellied
? Double-barred Finch
? Masked Finch: personata ssp Charles Darwin Uni & Arnhem Hwy
? Long-tailed Finch: red-billed ssp acuticauda
? Gouldian Finch: Arnhem Hwy near J200 (Jabiru 200) road sign
? Chestnut-breasted Mannikin
? Mistletoebird
? Weebill
? Helmeted Guineafowl: Holmes Jungle
? Indian Peafowl: Holmes Jungle
170 species & also Antilopine Wallaroo, Black Wallaroo, Wild Pig,
Freshwater Crocodile, Frilled-necked Lizard, Yellow-spotted Monitor,
Olive Python, Cane Toad
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