A day well spent around Victoria River Roadhouse

For a change I decided not too stray too far from the campground at Victoria River Roadhouse on the weekend. Normally it would be up early, drive off somewhere, stop at any roadside water - pools of water, creeks, dams etc. and get to the end of the day exhausted from concentrating on both driving and bird-watching. So it was nice just to enjoy the surrounds of the area with only a short 5 minute drive to and from the boat ramp.

The scenery I find just stunning. I still got up early and walked along the "old" bridge, amazed at the lack of people doing the same. The escarpment lit up with the morning sun and the Victoria River is hardly flowing, allowing for wonderful photo opportunities with the cliffs and the water reflections.

Incredibly, my first bird noise whilst I was under the bridge was the Purple-crowned Fairy-wren. Even beat the Crimson Finches which is not easy to do. There were a host of small birds flitting around. Golden-headed Cisticola (still love the name), White-throated Honeyeaters, Willie Wagtails, Weebills, as well as the other aforementioned fairy-wrens and finches. Rainbow Bee-eaters constantly swooped and then sat on branches whacking the caught insect. Great Egrets and White-faced Herons sat in the shadows on the banks of the river, while Blue-winged Kookaburras called through the bush from somewhere beyond sight.
After an hour or so, still  untroubled by another human, I sauntered back to camp, moved to what I thought was a nicer area under a tree near the speargrasses and saw the Brown Quails mentioned in the previous post.
I headed down to the boatramp after the quail experience and found a few things along the road on the way in. A Nankeen Kestrel munching on a (now) dead lizard, a Rainbow Bee-eater perched beautifully on the barbed wire, Red-backed Kingfisher flying just in front of the car on the roadside, and eventually made it to the car park area at the boat ramp to be greeted by another Blue-winged Kookaburra, and the now familiar sound of the Purple-crowned Fairy-wren. I walked down to the ramp itself and glimpsed a Striated Pardalote nest. These are small holes in the dirt bank just before the ramp. As I was watching I saw one of the birds disappear into the hole. Within a minute it had come out again and flown off. I decided to sit and watch from a distance and see if this was a regular occurrence. I saw a flash of yellow black etc. zip into the hole. Camera at the ready, I was amazed to see what re-appeared:

Striated Pardalote

It was a very special thing to see, along with all of the other wonderful sights. I'd recommend spending a day exploring to anyone, and it was nice to spend a bit of time chatting with a few people I met, very interesting people and some very enjoyable chats.

Here are some scenery shots followed by some more bird shots.

Golden-headed Cisticola

Great Egret

Nankeen Kestrel with prey

Rainbow Bee-eater

Red-backed Kingfisher

White-throated Honeyeater

A few recent bird photos

Blue Bonnets in South Australia

Curlew Sandpiper in Victoria

Golden Whistler in Victoria

Golden-headed Cisticola in Victoria

Grey Currawong in South Australia

Hoary-headed Grebe in South Australia

Sooty Oystercatcher in South Australia

Striated Fieldwren in Victoria

A trip to Holmes Jungle Nature Park - bird photos

A quick trip to a place I haven't visited before that is full of strange new noises and birds, both familiar but not encountered for a while, and those often encountered in the last few days, was always going to run overtime. I started out at Palm Creek where I heard something that sounded like a large wild cat, even though I knew it was a bird of some sort. Without a recording it is difficult to even guess at what that was, although the locals may have a good idea. Black Kites and a few Whistling Kites were in the trees almost as thick as the bats we have at our campground at night. As I walked away from the car, at least 30 flew from nearby branches and added to the collection of Black Kites already filling the skies above.

After having a quick look at Palm Creek, and a short walk into the Forest Walk, I drove up to the picnic area at the other end of the Forest Walk (not that I knew that at the time), and then walked a little way along the path towards the top picnic area, until finally I realised the time and headed back to where I should have been.

I hope you enjoy some of the moments I captured in my short time.

Chestnut-breasted Mannikan

 Forest Kingfisher

Golden-headed Cisticola

Great Egret

Little Bronze-cuckoo

Spangled Drongo

Black Kite

Brown Falcon

Canberra Birds 2 - Golden-headed Cisticola

These two Golden-headed Cisticolas were playing around with some Superb Fairy-wrens and it took me a little while to realise they weren't just part of the "pack". It was probably the noises they were making, and even if I was a bit slow on the uptake, I'm glad I realised what they were:

Kakadu small birds

Spending 2 weeks in Kakadu and the Douglas-Daly region was a time to get used to the sounds of new birds, and the small birds were no exception. By far the friendliest was the Lemon-bellied Flycatcher. A very inquisitive bird that constantly flew close to where we walked. On more than one occasion, one of these little birds came to almost arms length above me on a branch and there was not enough distance to get all the bird in the photo. More similar to a robin rather than the other flycatchers, but a delightful, busy bird to watch.

The fantails were an interesting mix. The grey fantails would display themselves, and fan their tails, whereas the Northern Fantail was much less extravagant with its tail movement, and the Mangrove Fantail was extremely shy in comparison. The Northern Fantail was in many of the treed places the lemon-bellied flycatcher was, and was similar in that its movements were largely catching insects, then perching and watching until the next victim was spotted. The Mangrove Fantail was only spotted in the pandanas-strewn riverside of the Douglas River, in the thickly branched lower regions of the larger trees or close by to this cover.

Perhaps the most surprising small bird I saw (for me) was the Golden-headed Cisticola. I had seen these birds in Victoria and was delighted to see them again. They were in the tall grasses around the campground at Gunlom and were easy to hear, but not the easiest to spot wandering around. However, standing quietly and close to the tall spears beside the campground and in the grass/thickets near the camping ground manager's/day use toilets (always a tricky thing with camera in hand!), they usually came up for a perch to see what was around.

Australasian Grebe, Golden-headed Cisticola and White-browed Scrubwren

These photos were taken in Victoria at a Nature Walk about 20 kms east of Nhill and at the Werribee Treatment Plant near Lake Borrie.

Nature Walk:

Beach Rd roadside next to Lake Borrie, Werribee Treatment Plant: