Egrets, Night Herons and a Coucal - photos of Top End Birds

Intermediate Egret

The above photo is an Intermediate Egret with its breeding plumage, fluffing itself at Yellow Waters, Kakadu. The next four photos are all of the Egrets, the Great Egret, Intermediate Egret, Little Egret and Cattle Egret.

Great Egret

Intermediate Egret

Little Egret

Cattle Egret

The last of the Egrets is the Eastern Reef Egret. White then Grey Morph.

The following 2 photos are an adult and then a juvenile Nankeen Night Heron:

Nankeen Night Heron Adult

Juvenile Nankeen Night Heron

and finally a couple of Pheasant Coucals

Whistling Kite, Black Kite, Intermediate Egret, Australasian Darter, Little Black Cormorant in flight

Drove from Alice Springs to Haasts Bluff and had to stop as there were three birds of prey swooping the road, 2 Whistling Kites, and a Black Kite. I'll try to pair the two different kites together in roughly the same pose to assist others with identifying them from one another.

Whistling Kite

 Black Kite

Comparison of Black Kites (on left below) and Whistling Kites (on right below)

 Depending on the angle, it can be difficult to tell these two kites apart. The photo joining above shows how this angle may be a harder guess than the angle below, where the forked tail of the Black Kite is definitively different to the rounded tail of the Whistling Kite

Some other birds I saw on the trip to Haasts Bluff were at Two Mile near Glen Helen. It has the beautiful red cliffs of Glen Helen as the backdrop:

Intermediate Egret: (orange bill is rationale for Intermediate over Great Egret)

 Australasian Darter

Little Black Cormorant in flight