Longreach Waterhole near Elliott, waterbirds and birds of prey

This area is one of the jewels of the Territory. Following a dirt track for 11 kms off the Stuart Highway just north of Elliott, the scrub opens out onto a vast expanse of water, teeming with fish and birds.

Camping overnight is worth the wait for the morning. Whistling Kites call before the sun rises, the herons, egrets and ibis croak in the still morning air, and cormorants and pelicans frequent this haven in their thousands. Honeyeaters, pardalotes, crows, Apostlebirds ... the list goes on of birds around the shoreline.

Elliott is half way between Alice Springs and Darwin, and Longreach Waterhole is the perfect place for a stop-over. You may end up staying longer than you thought.

Here are a few photos from my recent stay.

Pied Heron

Nankeen Night Heron

White-necked or Pacific Heron

Australian White Ibis

Glossy Ibis

Straw-necked Ibis

Australian Pelican

Australasian Darter

Intermediate Egret

Little Black Cormorants

Black Kite

Brown Falcon

Whistling Kite

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

Herons, Egrets, and Brolgas

Kakadu produces a plethora of Herons, Egrets and Brolgas. The Herons included a new one for me, thankfully I have some amazing family who are able to spot birds while I am taking photos of crocodiles! My partner Annie spotted this Striated Heron:

it then flew down to catch some mudskippers trying to get to the boat ramp on the South Alligator River

Nankeen Night Herons are far noisier then I had known before. At night they cause quite a cacophany in the campground, almost as loud as the Whistling Ducks and the Blue-winged Kookaburras, not to mention the Channel-billed Cuckoos. This Nankeen Night Heron was at Mamukala Wetlands, just near the bird hide:

The Pied Herons were at Kakadu, but in huge numbers at Crocodylus Park in Darwin. I've never seen flocks like this before:

In keeping with the multiple birds from above, Cattle Egrets filled the dead trees during our Yellow Waters cruise:

Yes, it was cloudy and much more like the  build-up than the dry season, but beautiful on the boat. This is a photo of another boat, the same as ours on the same evening:

Of all of these, the birds that really "performed", were the Brolgas. My Mum had come to spend some time with her grand-children (yes, I'm under no illusion she was there to spend time with me!) and she had two requests for the trip, wildlife requests that is. The first was to see a dingo in the wild, tick, managed to see one for her on the drive back to Darwin from Kakadu, and second, a little bit trickier to organise, was to not only see Brolgas, but see them dancing. We managed the first part of that, Mum saw Brolgas, but they had stopped dancing by the time I had taken her back to them. These photos are when I first drove past and saw them less than 20 metres from the edge of the Arnhem Highway, the road into Kakadu from Darwin:

Happy Birding!

Lajamanu to Newcastle Waters - Jabiru, Nankeen Kestrels and Night Herons, large snakes and others

The drive from Lajamanu to Newcastle Waters is along dirt for 110 or so kms, followed by a 170 km stretch of mostly single lane bitumen, then 190 kms of dirt and finally 100 or so kms of highway. I was concentrating mainly on the road, so only slowed for the obvious birds on the side of the road. Two different Nankeen Kestrels perched in trees to start with:

Next was a large snake crossing the road. I did manage to get out of the car to take the photos, but was none too keen to get much closer than where I was. I'm glad I slowed to make sure I didn't run over such a majestic creature:

Snakes aren't really high on my id list so I'm happy to hear thoughts on what this might be. Length is between 2 and 3 metres.

I came across a pair of Red-tailed Black Cockatoos next. I had seen a flock of about 50 earlier, but these two were much more accommodating photo-wise. I wondered if the male (on the left) was saying to the female "How's my rump looking?:

I had finished with the dirt for the day, and headed onto the Highway and onto Newcastle Waters. The water level had dropped since the last time I was there, but the birdlife was still firing. The most obvious change was the amount of Nankeen Night Herons. I can't recall seeing so many, and they were flying overhead, sitting on logs and in trees everywhere I looked. Here are a sample of photos:

Another bird I hadn't seen much of in this location was the Jabiru, or Black-necked Stork. I wasn't surprised to see them here, bit I did feel as though I was in Jurassic Park with a Pterodactyl heading towards me sometimes, especially in the late afternoon light:

My final species for this post is the Whistling Kite. After being overwhelmed by the amount of Black Kites previously, the Whistling Kites were more numerous this time near the road. This would also be the case at Lake Woods, which will be my next post, but for now, here are some photos of the Whistling Kites at Newcastle Waters. The first three are of an adult "training" a younger one I think, or maybe just two WK's playing:

There were lots of other species in abundance at Newcastle Waters too. Herons, Egrets, Cormorants and ducks. If anyone is passing through the Stuart Highway between Elliott and Dunmurra, I would strongly recommend a 3 km detour to check out the wonders of this peaceful and bird-abundant spot.

Happy Birding!