Northern Territory June 29 - July 4 2001

I met Gary and Marlene Babic at Darwin Airport from off the Singapore flight on July 29 at 0515, and we headed off to look for Partridge Pigeons and Chestnut Rail at a site near Darwin. This is a great time of year in the NT, cool and sunny with no rain, perfect birding conditions, and it was lovely to be back once again. Red-backed Kingfisher and Little Bronze-Cuckoo showed well, as did both Masked and Long-tailed Finches, then a group of 4 Partridge Pigeons came into view and the strange local form of Grey Butcherbird, the potential split Silver-backed Butcherbird showed very nicely. No rails were visible on a dropping tide, but Red-headed Honeyeater was nice.

Howard Springs gave us a couple of wonderful Rainbow Pitta, hopping quietly then freezing beside the track, and great looks at the local form of Grey Whistler, the rather distinct Brown Whistler. Little Shrike-thrush here looks quite different to those in FNQ, being far paler with a pale mark over the eye, and with a quite distinct voice too. Green-backed Gerygone and Yellow Oriole also made an appearance.

Fogg Dam gave us Brolga, another Rainbow Pitta and very nice Broad-billed Flycatcher. The drive into Kakadu produced Black-breasted Buzzard, and excellent views of Mangrove Golden Whistler at Adelaide River crossing as well as Yellow White-eye and another Broad-billed Flycatcher. We got to Cooinda just in time for the evening cruise on Yellow Waters billabong. This gave us Azure Kingfisher, a Great-billed Heron, Pied Heron and a number of large salties (saltwater crocs) laying on the banks.

Next day we went early to Nourlangie, listening to the beautiful wild whistled calls of Sandstone Shrike-thrush high up on the rocks, whilst a Peregrine soared overhead. A Southern Boobook flushed from the rocks was a surprise, and then we picked up both Chestnut-quilled Rock-Pigeon and 3 stunning Banded Fruit-Doves perched in a bare tree from the viewpoint, with a fly-by White-lined Honeyeater for good measure. Red-tailed Black-Cockatoo, Little Wood-swallow, Diamond Dove and Black-tailed Tree-creeper were useful finds, as was Silver-crowned Friarbird.

The rock art here and at Ubirr was also outstanding, and the park centre is also well worth a look. White-gaped Honeyeater and Great Bowerbird were additions here, as was an Olive-backed Oriole. Cooinda that evening gave us perched views of Varied Lorikeet, and a pair of Barking Owls sat out yapping by the fuel depot as I came to dinner and promptly pulled a few guests out of the restaurant to see the owls, which gave great views.

We left at 0630 for Gunlom, where we climbed up the escarpment track and headed for the dry valley at the top. This had recently been burned, so we focussed on the higher slopes which is where we normally find the grasswren anyway. Today was no exception, we found it calling the raspy "zik" note and had fantastic close views of a male White-throated Grasswren, to my mind the most spectacular of the group. Sandstone Shrike-thrush, two more Chestnut-quilled Rock-Pigeon and a flyover Banded Fruit-Dove added to the list, and White-lined Honeyeaters were singing at several spots, though only one showed.

Leaving Gunlom, Partridge Pigeon showed nicely on the road out. Then we had a piece of luck as we headed south out of the park, finding a big flock of parrots just north of Bukbukluk campsite. There were about 70 Red-winged Parrots, a few Red-collared Lorikeets, and at least 15 Hooded Parrots, including one near adult male and one resplendent adult male who sat atop a tree with two females for minutes on end. This can be a tricky bird to find so we were well pleased with such a good sighting.

Going into Pine Creek, we checked out a dry creek at Bonrook Station and added a very nice Banded Honeyeater to the list, plus White-throated Gerygone and a few Cockatiel. The lookout in Pine Creek gave us two more Hooded Parrots, female plumaged birds that flew in and perched briefly before heading out again, making our park sighting even better as this was where I'd planned to look for them. Black-faced Wood-swallow finished off the day for us.

Next morning we went down to Edith Falls, looking for Gouldian Finch which I have found along this road in the past, though sadly not today. We had to make do with Masked, Crimson and Long-tailed Finches, Jacky Winter, Yellow-tinted Honeyeater and Masked Wood-swallow at the park and lots of Little Friarbirds. It was then time to head back up to Darwin, with a final evening check around the Botanic Gardens. We searched the rain forest gully without much success, then I heard Barking Owl and went to have a look at them, finding a magnificent Rufous Owl as I came back, perched out in the open on a large acacia type tree and giving marvellous views.

Our final day was spent mainly in quest of Chestnut Rail, getting to Middle Arm on a falling tide and spending some 3 hours there perusing the mudbanks sans success, though we did hear them calling. We did however get some fantastic views of an adult Great-billed Heron, saw Azure, Forest, Sacred, Collared and Red-backed Kingfishers during the course of the morning around the area, and added Mangrove Gerygone and Mangrove Robin to the set. Channel Island gave us more hearing records of the Chestnut Rail, plus the mangrove race of Helmeted Friarbird, and the afternoon at Holmes Jungle and Knuckey's Lagoon gave Tree and Fairy Martins, Buff-banded Rail, Australian Pratincole and a fly-by Rose-crowned Fruit-Dove.
The local Lemon-bellied Flycatchers sound unlike the FNQ birds and are browner on the back, the possible split of Kimberley Flycatcher may be better than I'd thought.

The final morning saw us focus on Buffalo Creek for the Chestnut Rail, where again we heard it and where Marlene got a brief look along the edge of the mangroves. A Little Kingfisher was a nice trip bird, as were unexpected Cockatiel and two Beach Stone-curlew, but the best sighting was mammalian. A humpback dolphin (Sousa chinensis) was hunting in a bay formed by the ebbing tide in the creek, circling around and sometimes rolling rapidly from side to side to panic the small fish. It came up for breath every 20 seconds or so, with a quite loud exhalation which I managed to get on tape as the dolphin was only a few metres from us, showing the curious long beak, bulbous forehead and rather small porpoise-like dorsal fin at times. This was a new mammal for me. Other mammals on the trip were dingo, antilopine wallaroo, agile wallaby and little red flying-fox. Overall. a great short break and a wonderful anniversary gift for Marlene.