During a recent trip to the Top End, the boys and I stayed at Gunlom in Kakadu. It is a lovely campground and there are a number of walks, including one to the top of the waterfall into the sandstone country. There are 4 endemic birds on this walk that can be seen at various times. The Black-Banded Fruit Dove supposedly sits in the trees on the way up the slopes, the Chestnut-quilled Rock Pigeon is seen coming down to the creek at the top of the waterfall, I did manage to see that a couple of years ago, the White-throated Grasswren supposedly comes down to drink about once an hour but despite a number of attempts to spot this bird I have yet to see it, and finally, the Sandstone Shrike-thrush.
I was sitting in the same area I had seen the Chestnut-quilled Rock Pigeon. The boys had wandered a little way up the creek to look for frogs and small fish. I was watching some Little Woodswallows huddle together on a branch in a dead tree across the creek, and Brown Honeyeaters flit amongst the creek-side shrubs. Suddenly a medium-sized brownish bird flew into the small fig tree opposite me and crept under the overhang of the large rock. I readied the camera, not really expecting to get decent photos. The bird was quiet. I could just make out its outline in the shadows. It then hopped across the ground and out into the sun. A Sandstone Shrike-thrush for sure. The camera clicked away. I looked upstream towards the boys but they were now out of earshot and I didn't want to disturb their play, or the bird. The bird then hopped around the rock and I thought that would be my rather fleeting experience. To my delight, it then hopped out onto the top of the rock, in full sun. Again the camera clicked away. Out of the corner of my eye I could see a second bird. This one had just come out from the base of the fig, still in the shadows. I wasn't sure which way to point the camera, then the bird on top of the rock made my choice simpler by flying off. I concentrated on the lower bird. This one was slightly paler. Eventually it too came out for a fleeting moment into the sun and then followed the first one's path around the rock and out of view. That was the last I saw of either. After checking the bird guides once they had both flown, I could see the first bird was the male, and the second a female. A lovely little lifer experience at the top of Waterfall Creek at Gunlom.
I was sitting in the same area I had seen the Chestnut-quilled Rock Pigeon. The boys had wandered a little way up the creek to look for frogs and small fish. I was watching some Little Woodswallows huddle together on a branch in a dead tree across the creek, and Brown Honeyeaters flit amongst the creek-side shrubs. Suddenly a medium-sized brownish bird flew into the small fig tree opposite me and crept under the overhang of the large rock. I readied the camera, not really expecting to get decent photos. The bird was quiet. I could just make out its outline in the shadows. It then hopped across the ground and out into the sun. A Sandstone Shrike-thrush for sure. The camera clicked away. I looked upstream towards the boys but they were now out of earshot and I didn't want to disturb their play, or the bird. The bird then hopped around the rock and I thought that would be my rather fleeting experience. To my delight, it then hopped out onto the top of the rock, in full sun. Again the camera clicked away. Out of the corner of my eye I could see a second bird. This one had just come out from the base of the fig, still in the shadows. I wasn't sure which way to point the camera, then the bird on top of the rock made my choice simpler by flying off. I concentrated on the lower bird. This one was slightly paler. Eventually it too came out for a fleeting moment into the sun and then followed the first one's path around the rock and out of view. That was the last I saw of either. After checking the bird guides once they had both flown, I could see the first bird was the male, and the second a female. A lovely little lifer experience at the top of Waterfall Creek at Gunlom.
Sandstone Shrike-thrush
