Overview:
Two birders (Stuart Warren and author Colin Reid) based in Brisbane (southern Queensland) birding in the Northern Territories in search of 40+ target species. We ‘restricted’ ourselves to the Darwin environs, Kakadu National Park and the Mataranka (Elsey National Park) area; (i.e. we did not venture further west to Victoria River/Timber Creek or south to Alice Springs)
Getting there and getting around:
We flew Virgin Australia on special discounted fares obtained via their Happy Hour (4-6pm each weekday) I was lucky enough to have sufficient points to cover the entire cost of my flights, Stu paid $350 return.
We had hired a car from Hertz via the website carhire.com.au - which I have always found very useful as it compares prices across all the major hire companies – and had organised a Toyota Corolla ‘or similar’ with the intention of asking for an upgrade on arrival. We did and were offered a Camry but at an additional cost of $3 a day (I thought upgrades were free?) – we accepted, however, and appreciated the additional boot space for discrete storage.
The real stinger in hire cars in Darwin is the limited mileage. It appears that all hire companies will only allow 100 kms per day, after which you pay a cost per kilometre. In our case it was 25 cents a kilometre over the 800 ‘free’. This is ridiculously unfair as 100 kms a day would hardly take you out of Darwin. Another, smaller, trap is that the other fees increase as well dependent on the overall mileage – something I emailed Hertz on my return. The end cost of the hire car to us was $374 for the initial hire (we did 2022 kms and, having to pay for 1222, =) $305 extra mileage and the ‘hidden incidental costs’ increase brought the final price to $790.)
(PS I received a phone call from Hertz a little over a week later in response to my emailed feedback. Steve explained that they do it because everyone else does it, which, as I pointed out doesn’t make it right. Hint – booking a car via Tourism Top end, or via the Tours option when calling Hertz, will get you the option of unlimited mileage – but at a cost of $30 - $50 per day extra. May be worthwhile considering if Alice Springs was to be included in the itinerary – in our case it would have resulted in extra expense)
Other points to be aware of, incidentally, are the rules stipulating no driving at night and no driving on unsealed roads – the latter almost impossible in Kakadu if one wants to bird the highlights.
We had Stu’s Tomtom to navigate our way around – although probably not strictly necessary it was great not to have the stress of trying to read maps or street directories, especially in and around Darwin – although we didn’t bother using it once we had left the town.
Kakadu. I feel I should offer some comments regarding Kakadu and my expectations and observations. It fell short of both. Nourlangie Rock was informative, Gunlom was picturesque, Yellow Waters was interesting, however there was a lot of driving in between with no special scenery and no access to anything else. I had expected the scenery to be more dynamic, awe inspiring, dramatic, instead it appeared a bit worn, over used and access restrictive.
There are only two sites one can access on bitumen off the main road - Nourlangie Rock and Yellow Waters/Cooinda and, even with a 4WD, places such as Gunlom and Twin Falls/Jim Jim Falls are 40 – 60 kms of unsealed road driving.
Birds aside I wouldn’t rush back, in fact we found there were bigger numbers of birds outside the park and except for the specialties on the sandstone escarpments I can see no reason to go there.
Maybe I’m being harsh and will probably have some critics - remember these are my observations as a first time visitor with some expectations - but you need to be aware of the distances when planning a visit and realise that one can drive for a long way through featureless bush between stops.
I was disappointed – Kakadu has been a place of mystery and promise for a long time, even in my non-native-Australian mind, and I had been looking forward to seeing it for myself.
Accommodation:
We had come to camp, carrying our one man tents, sleeping bags, mats and minimal cooking/eating equip. Camping was easy although varied in price from $17 to $35 per night (that’s for both of us in separate tents). We couldn’t really see how the extra cost was justified as we got a similar piece of dirt and similar showering facilities in all locations regardless of price. The ground was pretty hard all over and after finding a rock each on the first night to punch in the tent pegs, we took them with us for the rest of the week…
Mataranka ($23) was probably the nicest camp site and provided the most facilities – i.e. a camp kitchen but no cooking utensils. Mary River ($19) had no cooking facilities but did offer restaurant meals at a reasonable price. Pine Creek – basic toilet and shower facilities only ($17), Cooinda (Yellow Waters) ($35) - had a camp kitchen with no running water (go figure) and meals at unreasonable prices! Gunlom ($20 per night) was a basic NP campsite with great showers and Lee Pt in Darwin ($35) offered only showers in a council estate kind of atmosphere…
Communication:
Mobile phone communication was unavailable in most areas and even where we saw others using mobiles mine did not appear to pick up a signal except in Katherine. I had it turned off most of the time as a result.
We didn’t look for public internet services but the campsite in Mataranka offered a wireless option in their kitchen area and I am sure there is an internet café and possible WiFi in Katherine at least.
Preparation:
We had made exhaustive enquiries regarding our target species via emails to Birding Aus and received several replies all identifying a couple of key areas. We had read and noted the relevant pages from the latest ‘Complete Guide to finding the birds of Australia’ by Thomas and Thomas and reviewed all the lists we could in Eremaea for the specific sites in an attempt to reduce our options as accurately as possible. We had pored over, highlighted, read and reread McCrie and Watson’s ‘Finding birds in Darwin, Kakadu and the Top End’ and referred to it on a daily, if not hourly, basis during our trip. It proved to be extremely helpful and despite its ‘age’ (2nd edition, 2006) very up to date. There were two areas where time has affected the data – the Red Goshawk nest has moved across the road approx 100 meters from the description in the book and White-throated Grasswrens have not been seen on the Gunlom escarpment for several years – it would appear they have moved on or died out at that location.
We had received the latest update and best locations for species from the famous Keats and are much indebted for their generosity and accuracy as it proved to be on the money on several occasions!
Trip Summary – birds.
As neither of us had been to the North of the Northern Territories before we had a wish list as long as today and tomorrow – we wanted about 50 species between us. To cut a long story shorter, and assist with quick reference, I will summarise the birds I believe most birders who read this report would want too.
Firstly, the bad news, we dipped on the following species:
Great-billed Heron
Chestnut Rail
Rufous Owl
Partridge Pigeon
Mangrove Fantail
Yellow-rumped Mannikin
Pictorella Mannikin
So if you were hoping to gain advice on these, we can only tell you what WE tried – and believe you me, we tried!
Chestnut-backed Button-quail: we got perfect info for this one and saw a covey of 6 relatively quickly along the Marrakai Track. Very discreet - and very pleasing.
Banded Fruit Dove: we struggled with this one. Thought it would be ‘easy’ at Nourlangie Rock, and eventually did get one there despite the advice of rangers and information pointing us elsewhere.
Northern Rosella: we expected this to be tough – but we got it at three different locations over two days – a small creek stop 3 kms south of Fergusson River, Copperfield Dam and near Bukbukluk lookout in Kakadu.
Hooded Parrot: nearly tore our hair out in Pine Creek the first visit, got it the second time and again next morning south of Fergusson River. Its one of those that you almost expect as a given … and then become frantic when its not that easy.
Barking Owl: this was a big one for both of us having spent many hours looking at other locations. We were a bit lucky, possibly, in that we had one in the car headlights at Fogg Dam within a hour of leaving the airport and another on the road to Gunlom. We did hear them at several locations but they always seemed to be some distance away and we failed in any further efforts to locate them.
Rainbow Pitta: we got ours at Howard springs – really the only location where we really tried. We did half heartedly play for it elsewhere but, as our tale will tell, left it for the last day – and what a stunning bird!
Black-tailed Treecreeper: I hadn’t realised how difficult this can be – we got ours on the Marrakai Track, but didn’t have a peep anywhere else and it appears others have missed out on this big creeper.
Yellow-tinted Honeyeater: we were in the right place at Elsey NP and Mataranka but didn’t see a sign of it, so we had almost given up hope when we lucked on a pair near Fergusson River – although that location is listed as the most northerly possible point (in our trip). This one was a real pleasure!
Bar-breasted Honeyeater: we had heard it was hard and we only saw one, although we appeared to be in the right environment on several occasions. We had it at Mary River on the Bamboo Walk.
Buff-sided Robin: Stu was really keen to see this, I didn’t rate it as highly as some other species, however, when we did connect with a pair in Elsey NP I was very pleased we had – it’s a smart looking bird.
Mangrove Golden Whistler: Adelaide River crossing twice and a pair at Leanyer Sewage farm. Females easy, males much more discrete.
White-breasted Whistler: we wanted a male, but had to settle for two females at Adelaide River and 1 near Leanyer Sewage farm in Darwin.
Sandstone Shrike Thrush: Gunlom escarpment - and away from the river. We think this may not be as easy as one expects, although it is very responsive to playback.
Arafura Fantail: Adelaide River Crossing – we had two in seconds, another I hadn’t targeted overly, not too dissimilar to Rufous Fantail.
Gouldian Finch: For me the bird of the trip in terms of difficulty and surprise. Stunning little guy that lived up to expectations and left us wanting more. Pull-in 3 kms south of the Fergusson River between Pine Creek and Katherine – an excellent site described in more detail below.
Red Goshawk, Chestnut-quilled Rock Pigeon, Masked and Long-tailed Finch, Yellow White-eye, Paperbark (nana) and Broad-billed Flycatcher, Rufous-banded, Red-headed and White-lined Honeyeaters, Green-backed Gerygone and Varied Lorikeet were also part of our successful tally, but possibly not of as much interest. All ‘fell’ either easily or repeatedly almost as expected.
There were also other birds Stu needed that I had had in other locations – Banded Honeyeater, Lemon-bellied Flycatcher and Rufous-throated Honeyeater being three such which were also seen, but are not so NT specific.
We did use playback via iPod – this might offend some, but in a short time frame out of the breeding season we felt it did little harm and make no apologies.
Please note: There were some birds that were just so common everywhere it’s pointless noting them at every location so assume that the following birds were seen consistently – Bar-shouldered Dove, Peaceful Dove, Toressian Crow, Rainbow Bee Eater, Whistling Kite, Black Kite, Red-tailed Black Cockatoo (race macrohynchus), Great Bowerbird and White-bellied Cuckoo-shrike.
The Trip
21.8.11 The flight left Brisbane at 21.00 (9pm) on Saturday night and so we had a leisurely dinner and a virtually traffic free drop off in plenty of time to board and relax. Arriving in Darwin 4 hours later was a less pleasant experience. Tired, stiff, sticky-mouthed we found our way to the Hertz rental desk and opened up negotiations for our car. The young guy offered us an upgrade in response to my question - @ an extra $3 a day, as noted above - we accepted the deal including the max 100 kms a day mileage.
Darwin suburbia was dead as we drove cautiously south (I kept forgetting it was south, not north. I don’t know why but this confusion persisted with me through the week) The car hire ‘rules’ negated the insurance if the car was driven outside city boundaries after dark so we kept an intense eye out for drunken locals, lost wildlife or insomniac cattle. Reaching Humpty Doo we kept going, searching eagerly for the turn off of the Arnhem Highway to our planned destination tonight. Fogg Dam is outside the city boundaries and there are no street lights, but it was, relatively speaking, an easy drive and I would do it again given the same circumstances.
As we drove up to the causeway Stu urgently asked me to halt the vehicle – well, he yelled ‘STOP’ – and, being an obliging kinda guy, I did………to see the first bird of the trip, in fact the first bird in Darwin and a long sought after lifer for both of us – a Barking Owl standing on a wooden pole a scarce 3 meters in front of the car perfectly lit in the headlights. It turned its head and glared at us – big yellow eyes looking directly into the headlights – Wow, what a start, what a bird! It lazily took off and disappeared into the darkness and we continued on across the causeway, noting the ‘Do Not walk across the Causeway cause there’s a big crocodile in residence’ sign with interest.
The dam wall is very low to the water, in fact the ‘dam’ is more a wetland area than a water-filled ‘dam’ and so Stu spotlit the water surface as we crawled along and, much to his satisfaction, spotted a small croc for a few seconds before it sank below the surface in that menacing kind of way they have.
We parked up in the car park at the far end of the causeway and stepped out into the surprisingly cold night air. We could hear 3 or 4 Barking Owls woofing away -an absolutely exciting sound and one that suggested good birding ahead – I mean, with a start like this how could anything go wrong?
We slept in the car – very comfortably as it happens – and woke just before dawn. A spectacular morning and one I would love to repeat.
Going up to the top floor of the hide and watching as the sun broke across the wetlands and hundreds of birds began to move – Whistle duck of both species, Pied and Night Herons, 3 species of Ibis, Egrets, 2 species of Spoonbill, Radjah Shelduck, a Black-necked Stork, Masked Lapwings and Australian Pratincoles all materialised in the next 40 minutes or so. Small passerines began to appear in the trees immediately behind us as our second ‘tick’ – Rufous-banded Honeyeater provided close views followed closely by Paperbark Flycatcher along with Varied Trillers, Rainbow Bee Eaters, a Dusky and several White-throated Honeyeaters, a (race flaviventris) Australian Figbird and, in the top of the closest Pandanus Palm, a couple of Crimson Finches. A flock of several hundred Little Corellas streamed across the sky while two Sulphur-crested poked around the trees in the carpark and a single Red-tailed Cockatoo called as it flew past.
A party of tourists arrived in a couple of 4WD Land Rovers and we left them the hide while we scouted the car park. A few minutes and Stu had two more lifers – White-gaped Honeyeater and Lemon-bellied Flycatcher, (race flavigaster). A couple of Leaden Flys got some serious interest until we decided their bills just weren’t big enough and a Yellow Oriole kept calling stridently from cover.
It was all going off!
We walked back to the causeway in some vague hopes of seeing the ‘Croc’ instead picking up a single Orange-footed Scrubfowl, Gull-billed and Whiskered Terns and a couple of really blue Forest Kingfishers.
Heading back towards the hide two birders walked towards us – it was Sheryl and Arthur Keats on one of their final visits before flying back to Brisbane! They told us to waste no time in going to the Marrakai Track as the morning was getting on, so we did.
The turn off to the Marrakai Track is not well signposted – which is strange as it is the only one that goes from the Arnhem Hwy through to the Stuart Hwy. ‘If you reach the Corroborree hotel – you’ve gone too far’, Arthur had said, and, using that information, we found it, an unsealed red track turning off to the right (when heading south.)
We drove out to the first ‘ridge’ – 10 kms from the Arnhem Hwy – and parked up to walk into the rocky, blasted looking environment along the ridge top itself. It was hot, dusty and windy – not the best conditions for birding, however, a flicker of life ahead and we had our fourth tick - Long-tailed Finch – 3 of them sat up in a dead tree. Brilliant. We had just got over that and had had a good look at them when Stu stage whispered me over and pointed down the slope into the gully – Chestnut-backed Button-quail, 6 of them – it took me a few seconds to see them against the ground walking hurriedly in a rough line up the far side of the gully. Within a few more seconds they had vanished.
We, as quietly as we could, moved down our slope, across the gully and up the far side – to find nothing, they had disappeared. Feeling a bit cheated we cast around and suggested options – mine was to continue up the gully as that was basically where they were heading, Stu’s was that maybe they had sat down back where we had first seen them? He returned quietly to that area while I watched from a distance, not really expecting anything. A hand waving behind his back while he watched something in his bins attracted my presence and there on the slope below us, heads only showing over the rise, were two Button-quails – they must have sat tight as we walked right past them…. We had excellent views of their big bills and streaked head pattern before moving in and gently stirring them to short flights and speedy walks before they too disappeared. As we walked back towards the car we flushed another from a spot we had searched before too….. pretty sneaky!
Back at the car we reviewed the other possibilities for this spot – Black-tailed Treecreeper? Hmmmmm no sign of any Treecreeper … we started driving back towards the Arnhem Hwy with thoughts of a cold drink or coffee when once again Stu demanded I bring the vehicle to a halt. Screaming ‘Black-tailed Treecreeper’ at the top of his lungs (I might exaggerate a little here and there, but I’m sure you get the picture) he was out and running back up the road as I hurried to follow.
Within seconds we had 6 birds in the trees surrounding us – the biggest treecreeper in Australia it used its tail like a Woodpecker to brace itself off the trunk and their ringing calls echoed through the bush despite the increasing wind.
As we walked slowly through the trees 3 small finch like birds rose out of the grass and were swept up to tree top level – I checked out a single perched apart from the pair and shouted ‘Masked Finch, I have a Masked Finch’, which dragged Stu’s immediate attention away from the BTTs. The other two finches were Long-tailed – super comparison, the yellow bill of the Masked instantly obvious despite similar head/face markings. We also had Weebill, White-throated Gerygone, Helmeted Friarbird, the leucoptera raceof Varied Sitella, White-winged Trillers and a Little Wood swallow before heading back to the car and to the Corroborree Hotel for much needed refreshment.
Two hours we sat in the shade of the wide verandah watching a Great Bowerbird come and go and eating pies and pasties.
Next stop Adelaide River crossing – a non-descript bridge in the middle of nowhere with an edging of pretty scrappy riparian vegetation, including a thin line of mangroves, which was to provide one of the most exciting 20 minutes of birding I have ever experienced!
We parked at the Jumping Crocodile coffee shop and before I had closed the car door Stu had 2 Red-headed Honeyeaters in the tree above. Moving on when they did, we walked over towards the river bank. It was pretty blocked up by fences and pontoons so we followed directions given and walked under the highway to the locked enclosure just the other side. In the next ten minutes had 2 Green-backed Gerygones, 2 Arafura Fantails and 3 Mangrove Golden Whistlers (2 females and a slippery male) almost at our feet, literally. A Paperbark Flycatcher overhead completed that scene. We didn’t know where to look first, but eventually both got great views of all 3 lifers.
Almost sated we waited till they tired of us as well and then walked back along the bank through the coffee shop/entrance to the Jumping Croc and just the other side had our first definite Broad-billed Flycatcher – what a bill! This one as it happened was directly overhead and I swear the bill almost eclipsed the sun! I think some tourists thought the crocs had jumped into the trees as they looked up with some concern at our exclamations and dramatic finger pointing….
Moving out the other side of the enclosure we followed our noses down a track to a gate, across a small deserted paddock and into some brush behind the mangroves. We were rewarded for our efforts with another pair of Mangrove Golden Whistlers and, almost unbelievably 2 female White-breasted Whistlers. These were not listed as being at this site in any of the literature but with their heavy dark bills, very pale undersides with faint streaking on the breast and throat and grey uppers we had no doubt of their origins. They expressed interest in the playback too – although we didn’t manage to lure a male within sight. Another Paperbark Fly, a Varied Triller, White-throated Honeyeaters and a female Red-headed Honeyeater were also present and a Golden-headed Cisticola perched up on a fence line as we returned to the coffee shop.
Sitting in the shade revelling in our luck and muttering ‘what a day’ over and over I pointed out a large croc lazily drifting in the river below – all a bit incongruous when seen over a skinny flat white (good coffee incidentally - if the woman makes it, not so good if it’s the guy).
Heading south we were drained, but still keen, so stopped off at the Mary River Excavation Ponds located opposite the 150 km sign for Jabiru which is on the left (look for ‘J’ and ‘150’ on a small square stuck on a pole).
As we drove off the road a flock of, what appeared to me to be, small parrots flew overhead – I called them for Varied Lorikeets but they vanished before we could get any bins on them. We wandered around the pond closest to the road seeing several Double-barred and Crimson Finches, but no unusual birds among them. However a medium sized bird with bright white wing patches flying overhead intrigued us – some sort of Myna? Some new species we hadn’t catered for? Nope – just the northern form of Blue-faced Honeyeater (race albipennis), this sight was to be repeated over the next 7 days and every time, I think, we both hesitated for a millisecond as the white wing flashes indicated something different.
Splitting up I had a couple of Imperial Pigeons in a tree and a Brown Goshawk swept past. Shortly after that – probably stirred up by the hawk – a flock of 12 Red-winged Parrots loped overhead, followed by screaming flocks of both Rainbow (race rubitorquis) and Varied Lorikeets. Walking further away from the pond I had several perched up in an open canopied tree and sustained views of their slightly comical clown like face with its white eye patches surrounded by the usual pale green feathering. Cute! Catching up with Stu again we tracked down another flock and both enjoyed further views of this northern Lorikeet.
Late afternoon now and we headed on for our first nights destination – Mary River Caravan and Campgrounds. Booked in and enquired about the Rufous Owl we had heard had been seen in the immediate area recently – the lady at reception knew nothing to add to what we already had.
We picked a camp site and pitched the tents – the ground was rock hard and so I located a couple of rocks to use as hammers. We ended up carrying these rocks in the car for the whole time and they proved very useful each night! We were pretty knackered – it had been a very big day. 14 Lifers for me, 16 for Stu, 12 hours solid birding, 3 hours sleep…. We opted for a meal in the restaurant rather than the cold meat, boiled egg and crackers I had brought from Brisbane and enjoyed a huge chicken schnitzel, chips and salad washed down with a couple of big lemon, lime and bitters, followed, of course by coffee while we wrote notes, discussed plans for the morrow and reviewed the day’s success.
We spot-lit the trees as we returned to camp and wandered around the edges of the campsite with hope but no success. Very distant barking Owls did not enthuse us to search further, bed beckoned and Stu was asleep in his tent before I had fully sorted myself in mine.
22.8.11 Dawn saw us up and out again, raring to go. We washed a boiled egg and a muesli bar down with water and headed for the Bamboo Walk. This walk runs alongside the Mary River and promised a good variety of birds. Over the next couple of hours we had Aust Darter, Rufous Night Heron, a perched up White-bellied Sea Eagle and a white phase Grey Goshawk (stunning), Red-winged Parrots, flocks of Rainbow and Varied Lorikeets, Green-backed Gerygones, Red-headed and Rufous-banded and best of all, a single Bar-breasted Honeyeater. Another bird we had both longed to see for some time, this was, in fact, going to be the only BBH on the trip so it was perhaps fortunate we spent some time watching it fly catch and chase other Honeyeaters from its Paperbark tree hanging over the river.
Leaden and Shining Flycatchers, Varied Trillers, Mistletoebird, both Olive-backed and Yellow Orioles, Sacred Kingfisher and Spangled Drongos. There was a lot going on but not quite enough to bring us new birds, we circled back to camp via an open field and felt the full force of the late morning sun and increasing wind as we trudged along.
We broke camp, thought about coffee in the dining room in the camp site, decided to wait and have it at our next planned stop – the Aurora Resort in Kakadu beside the South Alligator River. We passed through the sandstone pillars marking the boundary of the park and stopped shortly thereafter at the unmanned information centre where we collected a booklet about Kakadu from a box on a pillar. We arrived a little while later at the Aurora Resort to find…. Both coffee machines broken, very little for sale and a general lack of interest or enthusiasm in a run down looking reception/bar area. We both bought our park passes here ($25 each for a 14 day pass and noted the advice to ‘Carry This With You At All Times’ – maybe they identify your remains by it when a croc gets you?), Stu bought an expensive map and we got back on the road.
We had passed over the South Alligator River bridge when he suggested we check out the trees along the river bank – it hadn’t looked like much, cringing in the mid day heat, hammered by the southerly wind, but we turned around and went back and parked in the car park, as you do….
Wandering along the tree line we turned up a surprising number of species – almost immediately another lifer for both of us – Yellow White-eye sipping nectar from sparse red flowers on some old gnarled trees. Whistling Kites at a nest and a possible cuckoo chick in a Lemon-bellied Flycatcher’s nest that Stu spotted 20 meters or so up a tree, we could only see one chick completely enveloping the nest so assume it was a cuckoo. Paperbark Fly, Sacred Kingfisher, Blue-winged Kookaburra and Rufous-banded Honeyeater were also noted.
We were pretty pleased with our find and headed on in higher spirits, arriving at Jabiru after another 40 kms of bush. Jabiru is the main town in Kakadu and as such had a supermarket and a coffee shop - well it did have other small shops which we weren’t really interested in. First stop the coffee shop where, following a confusing conversation, we were served two large Soy Flat Whites in mugs, extra hot and a single cup of skinny flat white. I have no idea what went wrong with the order, but we had only wanted 1 coffee each – mine shd have been the skinny flat white, while Stu prefers Soy milk, both in mugs, extra hot… anyway it was good coffee and despite the soy milk we enjoyed it very much….
To the supermarket where we stocked up on food for the coming week – noodles, long life milk, processed cheese, corned beef, apples, mandarins, more noodles and, best of all, a small cylinder for my gas stove top which I had brought in just such hope! We could now make our own (instant) coffee – the elixir of life as we know it! The prices in the supermarket weren’t bad, but when we filled up with fuel it was $1.63 a lire – at least 20 cents/litre more than we were used to.
(Note – we found the fuel price in Pine Creek on the Stuart Hwy to be even worse @ $1.65/l, Katherine had the best prices - we got it for $1.41/l @ Woolworths – that’s competition for you).
We left Jabiru and got on the road to Pine Creek , stopping shortly thereafter at Bowali Visitor’s Centre – nice display, friendly staff, no bird knowledge although they did try to help.
Next stop Nourlangie Rock and surely Banded Fruit Dove, White-lined Honeyeater, Chestnut-quilled Rock Pigeon, Sandstone Shrike-thrush would fall into our laps?
16 kms off the main road – bitumen access, we parked up and fought against the tide of tourists heading back to their buses. A park ranger stopped us and asked for our passes! Wow – its true, you need to Carry Them With You At All Times!! I was impressed. What if we hadn’t had them? Would we have been turned away? Charged a fee? Arrested? I’ll never know ‘cause I was so excited I forgot to ask. In anticipation and fear we Carried Them With Us for the next 5 days …. but were never asked for them again – go figure.
Anyway – back to the birds….. we headed up the path, under the fig trees beside the Rock, looking, listening, peering, nothing. The fig trees reputed to hold the Banded Dove were pretty scatty – they didn’t look like they would hold up a fig bird, never mind a large, fat pigeon. We ended up at the lookout point and looked out – no flying pigs, nothing much moving except for Friarbirds calling and occasionally showing in the forest below.
Heading back down the track towards the rock, I suggested we walk a little bit along the 12 km ‘Don’t Walk This Alone’ Baark bush walk and so we did, up and over the first hump and within a few minutes we had a White-lined Honeyeater for our trouble. Very close views of this neatly marked species, I even got some acceptable shots on my Panasonic Lumix.
We went back to the lookout and faintly on the afternoon breeze we could hear a Dove calling – sounded like a Banded should sound, so down into the trees along side the rock again, but we couldn’t find anything.
The C-q Rock-Pig and Shrike Thrush? Not a sign, we hung on every corner, checked every crag, stood motionless and watched the ‘Rock’ until 17.30 and saw nothing that resembled either. OK, that’s cool, it’s our first site, there are others….
Back to the car, the rangers meanwhile had gone and we thought a quick look at Anbangbang Billabong might be worthwhile – Intermediate Egret, Magpie Goose, Plumed Whistle-ducks, Green Pygmy Geese, Jacanas, Whiskered terns and a very large wild pig standing in the far end of the ‘pond’ and we were back in the car and heading towards our camp site for the night – Gunlom.
I had really little idea of how far it actually was and, now, on reflection, Cooinda/Yellow Waters would have been a preferable option for camping at this point, however, I had set my mind on Gunlom so Gunlom it was going to be…..
As we hammered west Stu tried to work out how far it was. Actual signposted distances are rare in NT fro some reason, the direction is pointed out, but the distance is often left to another sign, if you’re lucky, some way down the road you have chosen, which makes it difficult to turn back. Maybe its because there are so few choices it doesn’t really matter how far it is – but it was a phenomenon I hadn’t encountered before and it didn’t make planning any easier.
The result for us was we had a long way to go to get to Gunlom – approx 90 kms + 40 kms unsealed after that and it would be dark in an hour…. We made the turn off as the sun dropped below the far escarpment and for the next hour suffered the corrugations, dust, gravel and rocks, wash outs and holes, dips and hills of a road that was classed as ‘open’ to 2WD. Well I guess it was OK, but a bit more rigorous than I would have preferred. We did have some luck though – headlighting a second Barking Owl in the road for a few seconds before it flew up into a roadside tree and then on into the bush as its eyes re-adjusted. Close to Plum Tree Creek a nightjar flew across the headlights and although we both registered a good impression of the wing pattern, both failed to note the tail and so it remained unidentified, but most likely a Large-tailed Nightjar, the only one of the trip unfortunately.
We got to the camp site without further incident, found a spot, tented up, cooked dinner – coffee, noodles, muesli bars, fruit and more coffee - showered (great showers, plenty of hot water) and crashed.
23.8.11 Up at 5.15, over an hour before dawn, we whispered our way thru coffee, boiled egg and muesli bars and then headed over to the escarpment for the climb we had been anticipating for months. I had formed a bit of a concern regarding the ‘climb’ from the way people had spoken about it, however, 20 minutes later with one stop about half way, we were at the top which in fact was no more than a tough walk with some big steps thrown in. Magic view – us being the first there and it being dawn - the sky turned slowly lighter blue as we watched and the trees and rocks came into sharper focus – definitely worth getting up early for!
Following the path over the top and down to the river brought us to the swimming pool to end all swimming pools – we referred to it as the Infinity Pool from then on. Perched a few meters behind the edge of the escarpment, when one is submerged to the shoulders nothing else is visible except the view – pretty cool! However, now was not the time and we headed on up the track beside the creek following instructions, turned off and hiked ourselves up onto first one outcrop, then with more effort, a second. We sat in the early morning light watching the valley below – little was moving, although Stu spotted a Black Walleroo on a ledge several hundred meters away and a flock of Red-tailed Black Cockatoos crossed the skyline discussing their plans for the day.
Stu suggested after a while that maybe playing for the Rock Pigeon may elicit some response. I turned the speaker on, chose the call on the iPod and as it played thought I heard a call behind me. Turning around as best I could perched on the crag I spotted a Chestnut-quilled Rock Pigeon sitting at the entrance to a horizontal split in the rock about 20 meters away! It sat patiently for several minutes while I photographed it and we examined every detail before taking off with a distinct slap of its wings and glided down a rock below us, being joined by another from in front of us! Wow!
Well, if it worked for one….. a few minutes later a pair of Sandstone Shrike Thrushes were in close proximity providing crippling views for even longer. Two excellent birds in a very short space of time, we were on a roll!
Unfortunately our roll hit an end at that point and despite trying for another hour and a half we failed to gain any sign of our third escarpment species – the Grasswren. There was little spinifex around, but we tried several locations, sitting and watching, playing the call occasionally, on both sides of the creek until we decided that a swim was in order and retired to the infinity pool.
We descended back down the escarpment in late morning and worked our way down the creek bed below the falls and lower pool. We had Dusky and White-throated Honeyeaters, Leaden Flycatcher, and a Brown Goshawk among the more common species, but not our hoped for target – Banded Fruit Dove.
Returning to camp as I prepared lunch (being the kitchen bitch) Stu wandered off to find his first Banded Honeyeater virtually over the tents, a pair, the male showing only briefly, moved away in a short period. It was very hot, very windy and very dry and it sucked the energy right out of us. We had a shower and sat inside the shower block and found that to be the most comfortable place until the afternoon started to cool a little.
Taking the walk to ‘the Billabong’ we went as far as the banks of the Alligator river without seeing much of any consequence except a large flock of about 90 Red-tailed Black Cockatoos streaming past at tree top level. Shining Flycatcher, Red-winged Parrots, Varied Lorikeets, Little and Silver-crowned Friarbirds, Forest Kingfishers, Golden-headed Cisticola, Great Bowerbird, Northern Fantail and White-gaped Honeyeater are on my list for the day either on that walk or around the campsite itself and we found a Great Bowerbird’s bower in the grass behind the campsite. Wandering down to the lower pool below the falls to look again in the trees for the Fruit Dove, again with no luck, we did bump into a park ranger who did know about birds and provided some helpful information.
We rested and had a ‘dinner’ of noodles and baked beans before heading down to the trees in the creek bed to spotlight for owls – again with no luck, but we did see two snakes hunting in the pools below the foot bridge – probably File Snakes – and a variety of fish and freshwater crayfish.
24.8.11 Our third day and it seemed we had been doing this for ever. Up at dawn, broke camp and headed out onto the road back to the bitumen. We had heard from a couple of sources that the WT Grasswren had been recorded by park rangers near Plum Tree Creek so were determined to try again there. Pulling in off the road we noticed an apparent increase in spinifex so hopes were high. We tried both sides of the river and lucked onto 4 more Chestnut-quilled Rock Pigeons on an exposed outcrop which required us to cross the dry creek bed to reach. A Common Bronzewing on the road’s edge gave us some excitement initially and 3 Red-winged Parrots and 2 Little Wood Swallows completed the bird life at PT Creek that morning.
At last back on the bitumen, much to my relief, we looked out for and stopped at the Ranger’s Station. The ranger we had met the day before had told us that Northern Rosellas used the hot water systems on the roof to gain water from and he had had to chase them away on occasion because of the noise. There were none the day we were there – but there were plenty of Rainbow Lorikeets, Friarbirds, Noisy Miners, and a Grey Butcherbird apparently using the facilities.
So, next stop Pine Creek and Hooded Parrot! Well we found Pine Creek, but we didn’t find any Hooded Parrots. We drove around and up and down and in and out of that town for about one and half hours finally stopping for a coffee and huge sausage roll in the cafe in lieu of lunch. It was the middle of the day and, obviously, not the time to see them – the info we had, said ‘late in the day or early morning’ – but you can’t be everywhere in the early morning so we pushed on to Katherine (90kms). Arriving there we stocked up on food in Woolworths, another gas cylinder from the camping store, ice creams and fuel and headed south for Mataranka, another 110 kms down the road.
23 kms short of the town we spotted a dead bird on the side of the road, pulling in it was obvious it was a raptor and subsequent investigation identified it as a Red Goshawk! Our first and it was dead, it wasn’t even warm, although it was a bit ripe… It appeared to have little real damage apart from a broken wing, possibly swooping too close to the road it had been clipped by a passing truck - we reckoned it to be a first year bird as its head was quite dark and yet it showed no sign of nest damage to tail or primaries.
Mataranka appeared to be a nice sort of place but we didn’t actually stop in ‘town’, but headed immediately down the signposted turn 5 kms on Martin Rd to Mataranka Cabins and Camping camp ground. The Red Goshawk had been nesting in the grounds to one side however in recent years they had moved across the road to another private property. This was all quickly described to us by the proprietor of the camp ground, a map provided and 3 minutes later we were looking at a female Red Goshawk on the nest 100 meters inside the fence line! We set up the scopes, prepared the camera, made coffee and noted other birds in the immediate vicinity (White-winged Trillers in particular, Striated Pardalote, Lemon-bellied Flycatcher, Horsfield’s Cuckoo and 2 White-faced Herons) while she occasionally stood up, moved around and once, to our great excitement, flew off the nest to chase a Whistling Kite that had approached too close for her liking. All this activity suggested to us that she had an egg or eggs in the nest.
We had been there about 40 minutes when I noted a man approaching across the paddock from the house on the property we were watching, I whispered to Stu that this was going to go one way or the other – we’d be asked to move on or we’d be invited in… it proved to be the latter and John was very friendly and happy for us to enter his front yard, as it were, and set up closer to the nest tree. I would not suggest for a second that anyone rocks up and just walks in – I would suggest waiting, as we did, for an invite. I believe if John is there one will be forthcoming and his observations of the Goshawks behaviour is amazing for a non-birder.
He told us the male would return around dusk and we had about 30 minutes before that point so we decided to go back to the campsite and put our tents up while we had a bit of light. We were back in 20 and set up about 40 meters from the base of the tree, however, the male did not return that evening and the female settled down quite happily for the night completely uncaring about our presence and we left her to it.
After a shower we made dinner in the camp kitchen (fridge, toaster, kettle, stove top, microwave and washing up facilities, but you need your own utensils and cooking equip) and then headed down the road, a short walk, to the Bitter Springs Thermal Pool. In the dark by the light of our torches the water was crystal clear and shoals of small fish darted near the surface, the water was pleasantly warm and it was a weird sight in the thick bush surrounds. The campground owner had told us that they had heard a Rufous Owl calling in the area recently and that was our target. We searched the trees and spotted a Tawny Frogmouth (race phalaenoides) but that was it and we returned to our tents ready for a good nights sleep.
That wasn’t to be as I was awakened at 12.15 by Stu calling me from his tent asking if I had heard it? I did - a low hooting in the deathly quiet of the night. Did I want to go for it? What do you think? We dressed and hurriedly evacuated the tents under a star filled sky.
We placed the owl behind the toilet block but there was no way into the bush without making too much noise, then another started calling back from closer to the campsite in the bush beside a small creek running under the road. We found rough tracks on each side of the creek and entered both, but found our way blocked by muddy side creeks that we were unable to find a way across and so, after an hour or so of trying had to give up and return to bed, leaving the owl still calling repeatedly.
25.8.11 Dawn saw us back at the Goshawk’s nest tree, she was still in residence and within 30 minutes he made his appearance, a Rainbow Lorikeet held in his talons. He gave her the kill and attempted to mate, but she was only interested in the food and told him so in no uncertain terms. He perched in the tree above us, preened and snoozed while she consumed the Lorikeet and continued to scold him in a very human like manner. We watched, scoped both birds, took photographs and just enjoyed being so close to one of Australia’s rarest raptors for an hour or more before finally tearing ourselves away and heading back to break camp. (Stu’s first Rufous-throated Honeyeater put in a brief appearance while we were watching the nest, we also saw a family party of Red-backed Fairy Wrens, Rufous Whistler and Paperbark Flycatcher among more common species).
We had decided that the Botanical Walk in Elsey National Park offered the best option for a walk and so drove back through Mataranka and down John Hauser Drive. We were looking for honeyeaters – Yellow-tinted in particular, but found instead a very responsive pair of Buff-sided Robins (cerviniventris) who proved to be much more interesting than I had thought. We also had White-gaped and Brown Honeyeaters, Azure Kingfisher, Rufous Night Heron, Shining Flycatcher, a grey phase Grey Goshawk and a Northern Fantail’s nest.
Back to Katherine and a coffee and muffin in the Coffee Club in the main street while I caught up with my notes, a pair of Zebra Finches built a nest in a tree on the centre divide and Stu boned up on the next destinations – Chinaman and Chainman Creeks, 15 and 18 kms west of the town.
These were to prove a disappointment although, once again it was late in the morning and the heat was up. Chinaman Creek in particular was ….disgusting, actually. Empty beer cans and liquor bottles, rubbish, human excrement, fires and a general destruction of the local habitat surrounded the clear, flowing creek. Spray painted graffiti on the old road described the Benjari mob as being the local drinkers and I didn’t feel comfortable hanging around too long. For a people who continually espouse the land as being important it is difficult to understand how they explain this sort of behaviour.
We went on to Chainman Creek which was dry but undamaged and saw a few birds there, but nothing of note, having being particularly interested in finches at these sites.
Back to Katherine and a milkshake and cheese burger from Mackers to compensate for lunch, then on, north this time, towards Pine Creek again.
Taking the Nitmiluk National Park turn off, Edith Falls Rd, we pulled off left 5 kms in and walked the bank of the creek bed with its billabongs and high banks looking for finches. It was early afternoon and still very hot so we didn’t rate our chances too highly. We did have Paperbark & Leaden Flycatcher, Rufous Night Heron, Golden-headed Cisticola, Crimson Finches, Blue-faced Honeyeaters, Little Friarbird and Azure Kingfisher and, when we separated for a while, I had the only Black Bittern of the trip, flushed from the river bed into a nearby tree. We met up again and sat to watch a pool for a while. A group of 6 Masked Finches flew overhead and perched up some distance away, but did not seem inclined to come down to drink so we headed on towards Pine Creek.
Arriving there at 17.00 we drove alongside the football pitch and old railway station, checked the water gardens and the sprinklers at the Lazy Lizard campsite – plenty of Rainbow Lorikeets, a couple of Grey-crowned Babblers (race rubecula) and White-browed Woodswallows, but no sign of any Hooded Parrots. We set up near the campsite where we could see any movement in most of the most likely spots and I made coffee while Stu kept an eye out. 17.30, 17.45, 18.00, 18.15 – nothing. Were we going to be the only birders not to get Hooded Parrot in Pine Creek? It was getting desperate, but before we booked in to camp anywhere we decided we would try a last drive around before dark and find them we did. Up the street beside the playing field and there on a fence of a private residence sat a male and several females with more females on the ground feeding on weed seeds on the roadside verge. A dog scared the birds up and we followed them up the road eventually counting about 30 birds, but only two fully feathered males. The light was bad, the view was relatively poor, but we did enjoy getting to see this pretty little Parrot.
We had planned to camp at Copperfield Dam, but found that camping is no longer permitted, we considered Nitmiluk NP but it was 50 kms away, so maybe Umbrawarra Gorge? Heading in on the unsealed road, again in the dark, after about 5 kms we found a river crossing neither of us were interested in trying to cross so we turned back to Pine Creek. We checked into the Lazy Lizard campsite close to a Great Bowerbird’s bower and slept through a noisy door slamming, truck revving, pub closing night.
26.8.11 Up again at dawn, boiled egg, fruit and coffee before breaking camp and heading back up the Katherine road to a site described by the Keats, and documented in McCrie and Watson, as a Wayside stop 3 kms south of the Fergusson River bridge.
We got there not long after 7 (or dawn in this part of the world) turning off at the long truck stop, driving to the end and walking alongside the railway track towards the concrete ‘bridge’. There were Masked and Long-tailed Finches feeding in the grass and suddenly Stu was calling ‘Gouldian Finch, I have a Gouldian’ – and perched 5 meters up in a dead tree a single black-headed male sat up long enough for us to take in all the details before dropping down out of sight. Wow - this was one bird I had not expected to get!
We moved on slowly to the bridge and ended up sitting on the concrete side looking down onto the creek below for the next three hours enjoying the spectacle as birds came to drink and bathe. We had Black-faced and White-breasted Woodswallows, Hooded and Red-winged Parrots, White-winged Trillers, Black-faced Cuckoo-shrikes, Weebills, Masked, Long-tailed, Crimson and Double-barred Finches (race annulosa) and the Gouldian (presumably the same bird) put in another appearance, White-throated, Brown, Rufous-throated, Blue-faced and Banded Honeyeaters, White-throated Gerygone, Leaden Flycatcher, Little and Silver-crowned Friarbirds, a Pheasant Coucal, Striated Pardalote and Red-backed Fairy-wren. It was all going off, as they say, but best of all was the pair of Northern Rosellas and the pair of Yellow-tinted Honeyeaters that dropped in! We had both given up hope on the latter when we left the Mataranka area, but Fergusson River is listed as a possible site and we were rewarded.
A Black-necked Stork flew over while a Collared Sparrowhawk flew through the scene twice and, when I went to the car for some food, Stu had the only Diamond Dove of the trip and I had the only Jacky Winter! Around 10 it all died off and we decided to move out.
Stopping at Copperfield Dam to brew the necessary coffee a pair of Northern Rosellas flew in to the tree above while a single Cockatiel (only one of the trip) and a Brown Falcon flew overhead.
We fuelled up again in Pine Creek @ a surprisingly expensive $1.65 a litre and headed in to Kakadu again. Stopping off at Bukbukluk Lookout we saw a Collared Sparrowhawk and a Golden-headed Cisticola in the heat of the day but little else. We stopped again just a short distance later and walked the banks of the creek in our search for Banded Fruit Dove. A trio of Northern Rosellas gave us our third view of this species and we also had a Brush Cuckoo, Spangled Drongos, Shining Flycatcher and flushed a flock of 20 Brown Quail from the grassed banks.
We got to Cooinda mid-afternoon and booked in to the Yellow Waters cruise ($97 including buffet breakfast, a bonus!) for the next morning and a campsite for the night ($35). We made camp and had a quick look around – Rufous-banded and White-gaped Honeyeater, Intermediate Egret, Radjah Shelduck and Mistetoebird – before heading off to Nourlangie Rock to try yet again for Partridge Pigeon and Banded Fruit Dove. We drove the road in slowly scanning the sides for no result and then hurried in to the deserted rock area searching the thin fig trees for the dove. Nothing. Over the hill at the beginning of the Baarck Bushwalk to check the forest in the gully below. We had White-lined Honeyeater again, Sacred and Forest Kingfisher; then we heard a Dove calling and scrambled down the slope into the forest, but couldn’t see anything in the trees. Feeling discouraged Stu suggested we try the lookout and as we reached the top he spotted, finally, our quarry - a single bird sitting in the open in the top of a tree close to the rock 300 meters away. Its white head and chest stood out clearly against the dark stone and we watched as it called repeatedly in the gathering dusk.
We drove the road again looking for the pigeon but arrived back at Cooinda pigeon-less, but pleased we had at last scored with the dove!
Noodles and corned beef tonight in the camp kitchen without any running water (4 gas rings and a fridge though). Then to the open air bar to have a drink, proper coffee and note writing. We noticed a number of the indigenous population drinking in the bar area and were a little surprised as we understood there were restrictions on serving alcohol in these areas, we assumed they were employees of the resort. The ranger we had spoken to at Gunlom was entertaining the mostly tourist crowd with guitar and song and recognising us asked, in the middle of a song, if we had seen our birds.
Last drinks were called at 10 and we were happy to leave to return to camp, being tired and having a date with a boat at 6.15 the next morning. Unfortunately our sleep was disturbed until 3am by a noisy bunch of locals yahooing, fighting and singing – a disappointing experience given the class of resort we were supposedly staying at. We did hear Barking Owls and Bush Stone Curlew calling in the early hours.
27.8.11 We were at the bus stop at 6.15 and off to Yellow Waters almost immediately. 10 minutes later and we were boarding a flat bottomed boat at the dock and then Margaret took us out onto the Billabong and eventually the South Alligator River. The bird life was prolific and the views stunning.
We got to within touching distance of Little and Azure Kingfishers, spitting distance of Black-necked Storks and Rufous Night Herons, we saw Brolgas, Magpie Geese, dozens, if not hundreds of Intermediate Egrets, Comb-crested Jacanas, Radjah Shelduck, Green Pygmy Geese, Plumed Whistling Ducks, Paperbark, Lemon-bellied and Shining Flycatchers, Pied Imperial Pigeons, White-necked Herons, Little Egret, Gull-billed and Whiskered Terns, 3 species of Ibis, Crimson Finch, a pair of White-bellied Sea Eagles and an Australian Hobby. And then there were the crocodiles, of course, the reason most of the tourists are here. 3 – 4 meter long reptiles within stepping distance of the boat, they were sluggish, apparently docile, despite the food basket within jumping distance. Quite deceptive I assume, but generally the birds held our attention! Margaret was very informative and an excellent boat operator and we thoroughly enjoyed the 2 hour cruise. Back at the boat ramp an immature Brush Cuckoo perched up nearby as we discussed Partridge Pigeon sites with Margaret then back to the resort for a big breakfast and completion of a feedback form regarding our experiences at Cooinda.
Broke camp and back up the road a bit to drive around Mardugal camp site (we should have camped here last night and would next time – it’s cheaper and quieter than Cooinda…) Nothing of note. Once again we drove the Nourlangie access road, but only to the gate (incidentally we worried each evening we were there that we would get locked in, advice we have is the gate is never closed its just threatened).
Bowali Visitor Centre was our next stop, another PP hangout – but not today. White-gaped, Rufous-throated and White-throated Honeyeaters and a Northern Fantail.
On to Jabiru to drive the streets as another possible PP site – once again, nowt but dust and Bar-shouldered Doves.
At this point we agreed that we would probably have to admit defeat, we had 5 birds targeted in Darwin and needed to get there before dark to set up camp in preparation for the last day of the trip. However we couldn’t go past the Mary River campsite without a last check (PP is a possibility on the driveway in) and the Excavation Pits, again nothing of note.
Finally the Adelaide River crossing and a 30 minute stop, including coffee, brought us 4 Mangrove Golden Whistlers, Mangrove Gerygone, Paperback, Lemon-bellied and Broad-billed Flycatchers, 4 Yellow White eyes, 2 Arafura Fantails and a Black-necked Stork instead of the hoped for Great-billed Heron.
Getting in to the outer suburbs of Darwin mid-afternoon we decided we might as well try Leanyer Sewage Works as we were within reach and it would save us time tomorrow. We found our way to the end of Hodgson St and nervously parked the car ensuring nothing was visible through the windows, headed off through the dry scrub to the pipeline and along beside it to the fence. We had not organised access to the works, of course, but this is available, seemingly, if enough notice is given in advance. There were a number of species inside including a huge number of Pied Herons, Plumed Whistleduck, Australian Pratincoles, Whiskered Terns, Silver Gulls, Radjah Shelduck, a single Cattle Egret and approximately 10 Common Sandpipers. We spent a little while searching for anything unusual but were disinclined to walk around the fence as there was no established track and we weren’t confident it was worth the effort. We walked back along the pipeline and concentrated our efforts on the mangroves to one side, seeing a Buff-banded Rail, Collared Kingfisher, Yellow White eye, Rufous-banded Honeyeater, Double-barred Finch, White-gaped Honeyeater, a pair of Mangrove Golden Whistlers and a single female White-breasted Whistler. Almost back at the car and in the last bits of bush 8 Long-tailed Finches lifted off the ground in front of us and perched up giving good views.
Interesting location, but without access a difficult place to bird.
We drove, in a round about way, to Lee Point and booked in to the Lee Point Caravan Park ($35) which reminded us of a council estate for some reason. It looked like an ex-military type park, however, the showers were hot and the water plentiful and security seemed pretty good given the barbed wire topped fence surrounding the park. Noodles for dinner again….
28.8.11 Our last day and we had targeted 5 birds in Darwin. Great-billed heron – maybe we’d pick one up somewhere; Rainbow Pitta – we would try Howard Springs and take it from there; Mangrove Grey Fantail – we had a couple of locations and hadn’t finalised anything specific; Rufous Owl – Botanical Gardens, we figured as it was a roost, time would not matter; Chestnut Rail – Buffalo Creek on a dropping tide and we thought the tide first thing was pretty good – an 8m high tide at dawn, taking 2 hours to drop to 4m which, we were assured, was the best tide. So, as B. Ck was a mere couple of Ks up the road we were there before dawn.
We had heard that one needed to be very careful where one left one’s car in the Darwin suburbs as break-ins were common – not anything specific for Buffalo Ck, but certainly for some of the other locations (Holmes Jungle, for example) - and we had consciously made plans to avoid visiting some of them as a result.
We found a compound at B Ck where for $10 we could park our car behind a security fence watched over by the operator and his dog – we decided to take the option. If I went back today for the same exercise I wouldn’t bother. One can park right beside the boat ramp and on Sunday morning there were enough cars coming and going to make it quite safe. We also had little need to wander far from the car, after checking out the beach and getting eaten alive by sand flies before the Tropical Strength Aeroguard saw them off – there wasn’t a whole lot to see out there – a few Pacific Golden Plovers nicely coloured up, a single Australian Pelican, Eastern Curlew, a Common Greenshank and a few Red-capped Dotterel to add to our trip list. We did have Emerald Doves (race longirostris) along the road – showing a smart white shoulder patch different from our Queensland birds. We played for Rainbow Pitta but only saw Spangled Drongos, White-breasted Woodswallow, White-gaped Honeyeater, Lemon-bellied Flycatchers in the scrub between road and beach.
So - back to the boat ramp and for the next four hours we watched the tide drop and, it appeared, most of the male inhabitants of Darwin come up with their trailer, reverse down the ramp, detach the boat, start the engine, drive the car away, come back on foot carrying cans of coke/bags of ice/bait/lunch/hat/kitchen sink, get in the boat and chug/roar off down river. I could feel Stu’s frustration as the morning wore on and we thought the last boat in Darwin MUST have gone only to hear the now familiar rattle of yet another trailer behind us. It was only to be expected and, in fact, I had prophesised the night before that this would be the case and anyway, wouldn’t the Rails be used to it?
Well may be they are - but they didn’t show that Sunday morning. Despite two sets of eyes continually scanning the far bank as the tide dropped and apparently delicious areas of mud just waiting to be ‘railed’ opened up the little buggers just sat back in the mangroves and laughed at us – we heard them on several occasions cackling away deep out of sight on the far side of the creek. We even had them do the same on our side, but were unable to entice them out or find them among the mangrove roots.
We did have Red-headed and Rufous-banded Honeyeaters, Black Butcherbird, Eastern Reef Egret, Common Sandpiper, Yellow White eyes, Mangrove Gerygones, Crested tern, Yellow Orioles, Sacred kingfisher and an Australian Darter to amuse ourselves with in the meantime so it wasn’t a complete loss – the Butcherbirds especially were pretty cool.
However by 10.30 we had had enough and disappointedly headed back to the campsite to retrieve our tents. We had been locked out and our PIN gate code didn’t work anymore, as we had only booked one night, and had to get the manager to open the boom gate especially for us going in and coming out.
Once out we headed for Howard Springs – we needed a lift after our disappointment and we wanted Rainbow Pitta.
It was approaching midday when we got to Howard Springs and hot. We walked in to the first footbridge without seeing anything – and then had 3 or 4 birds calling in response to brief playback. We waited and after a few minutes a bird appeared, a stunningly beautiful bird with his black head and chest, red vent, pale green back and blue shoulder – what a cutie! He hung around for quite a while and we were able to get very close and a lot of photographs were taken before he flitted off into the bush again. During this time we also had a pair of Grey Whistlers pass us by – the NT brown race, which on reflection and comparison to the female White-breasted Whistlers were so different there could be no doubt of separate species. A Rose-crowned Fruit-dove called above, but refused to show itself, a pair of Green-backed Gerygones, Northern Fantail, Leaden Flycatcher, Orange-footed Junglefowl, Spangled Drongo, Shining Flycatcher and Sacred Kingfisher completed our list in the hour and a half we took to walk the circuit.
Coffee and cake at Fannie Bay’s (self named) Hot Spot was in order and we sat out some of the heat of the day among the trendies in our sweat stained shirts and dusty boots and paid above market rates for average coffee and, admittedly, good cake.
East Pt Reserve was our next site – Mangrove Grey Fantail our next target. It was very hot and still as we walked out through the dry bush to the mangrove boardwalk. Little Friarbird, Green-backed Gerygone, a female Mangrove Golden Whistler, Broad-billed Flycatcher (briefly), Black Butcherbird and, at last, good views of Red-headed Honeyeater in the lower mangroves, but no luck with our target.
Where else could we try that was close? Kukaluk Bay? Lots of Brown Honeyeaters, a couple of Red-headed Honeys and an O-F Scrubfowl was all we found.
We decided that it was time for the Botanical Gardens as we wanted to give it a good go before dark. We had advice that the owl roosted ‘along the rainforest boardwalk, look to the left as you walk up’ so we found our way there via the park maps and searched the trees along the boardwalk, both sides, eventually and just about every other tree in the rainforest area for 2 hours before deciding there was no owl here today. There’s no doubt we could have missed it and we have no reason to doubt the advice provided - it just wasn’t our day! We did have a Collared Sparrowhawk fly in and perch up briefly, Imperial Pigeons, Aust Figbirds (the yellow variety of course) Green-backed Gerygones, Orange-footed Scrubfowl, White-browed Woodswallow and Blue-winged Kookaburras. We paid our respects to the original Rufous Owl tree behind the toilet block standing in silence as we contemplated the destruction by the Parks and Wildlife – then we left.
We needed to wash the car so we asked around and found a car wash, spent $8 and 30 minutes, vacuuming, scrubbing and high-pressure hosing the car till it shone. We filled up with fuel and re-packed our bags on one side of the forecourt before cruising the streets of Darwin for a while checking out the early evening activities – plenty of drinking going on – and ended up at the Wharf area for a meal of Barramundi and Chips while watching the giant Batfish in the water below.
Finale – we spent time over dinner and then a couple of coffees in a Turkish café getting to the airport at 23.00, gave the car back to (Ms) Hertz and queried the final sum, then found that we couldn’t check our bags through until 90 minutes before the 01.45 flight! All airlines were the same and so all passengers were trying to find seats or a bit of free floor to lie on until such time as we got through security and relaxed in the departure lounge on the very comfortable chairs up there. (PS. I emailed Virgin regarding this ridiculous situation and have had a reply advising they will ‘pass the info on to their local team’).
The flight left on time and arrived a few minutes early in Brisbane at 5.55 – we managed to sleep a little this time and arrived home relatively refreshed and ready to go!
Learnings:
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again - preparation and research from local birders is invaluable. If we hadn’t had the up to date info from other birders who responded to our enquiries our trip would have been much less successful. Our thanks also to those who offered suggestions and advice regarding car hire and camping spots as well.
More research re distances would have been helpful in planning, but definitely the 130 km speed limit (outside Kakadu, 110 in the reserve) and quality roads does make distances easy.
Thomas and Thomas and McCrie and Watson were constantly referred to and provided excellent information, however, one can’t visit all the sites properly in this typical period of time so one has to make the best choices one can and live with the outcome. We have, as Stu put it, ‘unfinished business in NT’ and we’ll be back to address that down the track.