Dear Birders,
it all started with an e-mail from my mate Biggles in Darwin 10 days ago. He
had seen a Franklin's Gull at Stokes Hill Wharf and wanted the birding world to
know about it. I didn't have the time to get to Darwin at the time but the
photos on Niven McCrie's website certainly looked good (http://ntbirds.net/).
Then Del Richards was kind enough to report the presence of Red-rumped Swallows
north of Mossman (north Queensland).
A search for frequent flyer tickets showed availability of a morning flight
Sydney to Darwin on Saturday, a very early flight on Jetstar Darwin to Cairns
and a Monday morning Qantas flight Cairns to Sydney on Monday. It all fell into
place very nicely. Only question was would the birds still be there! Then just
before I left Niven put up on his news page a sighting of a Grey Wagtail at
Palmerston STW in Darwin. Wow, three possible birds.
Off the plane in Darwin and straight to the car park at Stokes Hill Wharf. As I
drove in a Silver Gull flew just above the car from left to right and landed on
a lamp post right beside the Franklin's Gull. It was sitting there nodding cars
into the car park like a well trained ticket collector. And a very nice bird it
is too. An adult in winter plumage it is crisp and good looking, slate grey
back and white underparts and tail. A small red tip on the beak and the
distinctive white band on the primaries between the grey and a black terminal
portion. That left the rest of the afternoon free for Palmerston STW. There
were lots of nice birds there but no sign of the Wagtail unfortunately. despite
staying until dark there was no sign of that damn Spotted Nightjar that Niven's
book suggests may be along the road to the STW - perhaps not surprising since
this is the wet season and Niven's recommendation is for the dry season.
The very early flight survived and an hours drive north of Cairns I pull into
Somerset Drive where the Red-rumped Swallows had been seen. There were a few
Fairy Martins on the wires and Australian Swifts hawking over the canefields
but no swallows. Oh well it is early in the day they might come back in the
afternoon. I drive to Newell Beach but there are few Swallows (certainly no
Barn Swallows) or Martins. Then on to Mossman Gorge for a look. Then north
again intending to drive to the Daintree for a look see but pulled into
Somerset Drive and there on the power lines were some birds of two distinct
sizes. The smaller Fairy Martins and the larger three Red-rumped Swallows.
Second tick for the weekend and thank you Del Richards.
That left time for a trip up Mt Lewis. The road is surprisingly good now and
there were heaps of birds up high but no Parrot Finch. As I left the clearing
it started to rain but fortunately not too hard until I got down to the Tavern
and then it turned into a real tropical downpour accompanied by fierce winds
that toppled a few trees and tore off branches with great ferocity. It was
still light when I got to Kingfisher Park but they had no power due to the
storm that had by now passed. A visit to the Red-necked Crake pool was
unproductive but before leaving in the morning Keith drew attention to a red
phase tawny Frogmouth which was a nice sighting that I had not seen before.
All the best
Peter
==============================www.birding-aus.org
birding-aus.blogspot.com
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