Dear Birders,
My wife and I have just returned from a 15 day trip to Darwin, Kakadu and the
Kimberleys. The initial 13 days (23 Sept to 5 October) were on a guided trip
with Klaus Uhlenhut and the last 2 on my own but greatly assisted by Darryel
Binns.
In all some 200 species were seen. Highlights (for me at least) were as follows
:
Howard Springs
Rose-crowned Fruit-dove
Rainbow Pitta - a pair came in to a very short taped call and stayed around
providing excellent views
Buffalo Creek
An early morning stake out on a falling tide found the elusive Chestnut Rail in
the usual spot across the river from the boat ramp. While the group waited for
this species I scoped the wader population on the beach to find a host of
species including Sanderling, but still returned in time for the rail!. Green
Backed Gerygone was found in the tres along the road into the boat ramp.
Pine Creek
Produced Hooded Parrot in the Water Garden in the middle of town as well as a
number of finch species.
Chinaman Creek, Katherine
This creek is some 16 Km along the Victoria Highway from Katherine (Section
7.23 in Thomas and Thomas). There was quite a bit of water still in the creek
which reduced the significance of the pools mentioned by T&T. Between the
Highway and the old road we saw
Gouldian Finch (both red and black faced races with a number of young) and
Hooded Parrot.
Mataranka
We saw the Red Goshawk (presumably female) at Mataranka Cabins with 2 chicks
covered in white down with a few pin feathers coming through. Unfortunately we
did not have time to wait for the male to show.
Mary River Roadhouse
Northern Rosella were present in the trees behind the roadhouse.
Gunlom
An early start at Gunlom was productive of all we could hope for except the
White-throated Grasswren. White-lined Honeyeater was seen in the trees at the
top of the falls and further into the valley we found Sandstone Shrike-thrush
and Chestnut-quilled Rock-pigeon. A number of flocks of Varied Lorikeet flew
over.
Nourlangie Rock
Banded fruit-dove was seen from the lookout and then great views on the rock
art track when a couple of birds flew in and perched above our heads.
Anbangbang Billabong
31 species were seen in an hour including Restless Flycatcher (Paperbark form)
feeding young.
Muriella Park
The red-eyed form of Partridge Pigeon was flushed on the road into Muriella
Park and one provided great views perched.
Yellow Waters Cruise
An afternoon cruise on Yellow Waters provided a feast of waterbirds but not the
hoped for rarities despite the best efforts of our guide and driver.
Kununurra and Surrounds
A feast of finches were provided at Kununurra with
Yellow-rumped Mannikins
Long-tailed Finch
Masked Finch
Zebra Finch
Chestnut-breasted Mannikin
Crimson Finch
Star Finch
Double-barred Finch
and (on the last morning)
Pictorella Mannikin.
We saw no Gouldians in this area but did have a plethora of other good birds.
Among these was the Buff-sided Robin near the lakeside caravan park.
Lake Argyle Cruise
A splendid morning was spent on the lake and provided sightings of the
White-quilled Rock-pigeon; great views of Oriental Plover and a possible
Long-toed Stint. This last bird was wading in deep black mud at the edge of a
low island adjacent a group of sharpies. To all the world it looked like a
miniture sharpie (slightly smaller that a Red-kneed Dotterel). It had a
streaked brown cap, wing coverts with broad black centres and a longish
slightly downturned bill. There was little in the way of a white eyebrow and a
speckled band stretched across the chest. Unfortunately the legs looked black -
probably because of the mud but possibly because it was not what I thought!
There were more Yellow Chats than one could poke a stick at on the same island.
Mitchell Plateau
Produced the Kimberley Honeyeater (to be split from the White-lined) but
unfortunately not the Black Grasswren. The BG was heard but did not choose to
show itself in the time we had available at the site.
Lanyer STW
A trip to the Lanyer Sewerage Works with Darryel produced a couple of Yellow
Wagtails and a Little-ringed Plover.
Holmes Jungle
Daryel produced good sightings of both the Red-chested Button-quail (in short
grass) and Red-backed Button-quail (in longer grass and reeds). I flushed both
species the following day for others but provided much less satisfactory views.
Many thanks to Klaus for a great trip and to Darryel for his assistance in
Darwin.
Regards
Peter Marsh
==============================www.birding-aus.org
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