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

A few bird photos from Crocodylus Park and Batchelor

We've now left Darwin and arrived in Batchelor. Big day today, Parap markets, pack up van, drive to Crocodylus Park, then the Palmerston waterslide, shopping and then drive to Batchelor, set up van, exhausted just writing it all down! Saw some wonderful bird action at Crocodylus Park (denoted by "CP" below), and then later this afternoon at Batchelor (denoted by "B" below). Hope you enjoy.

Little Corella (first one is my favourite shot of the day, "Chicken Man!") (CP)

 Blue-winged Kookaburra (B)

Emu (this is in captivity at Crocodylus Park but I love Emus) (CP)

Forest Kingfisher (CP)

Galah (B)

Grey Butcherbird (B)

 

 Orange-footed Scrub-fowl (CP)

Ostrich female (this is in captivity at Crocodylus Park) (CP)

Ostrich male (this is in captivity at Crocodylus Park) (CP)

Pied Heron (CP)

 Pied Heron juvenile (CP)

 Torresion Imperial-pigeon (CP)

Silver-crowned Friarbird (B)

Spangled Drongo (B)

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!