Exploring Kakadu And Beyond

Luke had an ambitious day planned for us, so we headed straight for our next stop – well, of course there were things to explore along the way, so again we had to pull of the road, to check them out! Among them the Frilled Lizard which Luke somehow spotted out of the corner of his eye while driving. Then there was the Black Falcon, and of course we had to have our picture taken at the big Cathedral Termite mount. Eventually we reached Pine Creek, and here we pulled off to have something to eat, but, of course, the birdlife lured us away from the table more than once! We finally spotted the Diamond Doves, they had been on John's "want-to-see" list – and various other birds including several types of finches, as we enjoyed our lunch.

We stopped by a couple of other good birding areas in the vicinity, and we even caught a good glimpse of some Crimson Finches and not least the magnificently colored Gouldian Finch – fantastic with his bright purple, green, yellow and cobalt blue coloring! So much color on such a small bird - amazing!
We passed through spots where the forest had been burned and saw the Red-tailed Black Cockatoos in great flocks – they like this type of area, and they blend in so well.
In the beginning of the dry season areas are burned off in a check pattern, to avoid too hot fires in the late dry season where lightning storms strike and set numerous fires – this way the fires don't get too hot, so it acts as fire prevention.

Then we continued the last stretch down to Edith Falls in Katherine NP, where we went for a walk along the creek. It was a lovely walk, and we enjoyed the beautiful afternoon and more beautiful birds.
Sadly, all good things must come to an end, and we headed back up towards Darwin, as the sun was getting low. A few more stops along the way, and soon we reached the Adelaide River, where we made a quick stop so we could see the famed buffalo from the Crocodile Dundee movie. It was dark long before we reached Darwin, and we dropped off Sally and John, who were off to their next adventure the following morning! As Luke dropped me off in front of my apartment, it was past 8 o'clock and pitch dark. It had been a fantastic 3 days where we had seen over 110 bird species and covered about 1200 KM! Now that's a successful birding adventure!

As I let myself in to the apartment, I just slipped the backpack off my back, dropped my clothes in a pile on the floor, grabbed a glass of wine, and stepped into the nice, hot shower! Needless to say I was exhausted and needed to recuperate, not to mention sleep in!

Sunrise at Yellow Waters

I am already half awake when Luke calls – I get up, dress, grab coffee, pack the rest of my stuff and clean out my cabin, and soon we are on our way to our early morning cruise on Yellow Waters.
There is a faint light on the eastern sky as we reach our destination – the boat ramp at Yellow Waters. We are the first ones there, and we walk along the boardwalk to take in the early morning beauty!
It is a magical place – as we board the boat we are seated up front, and have full view of the sky as it slowly lights up in soft yellow, orange and lavender – big flocks of birds fly by in formation as we quietly glide along as the birds wake up and fill the air with their calls.
We spot crocodiles floating in the water as old logs, almost invisible. The water is completely smooth and reflects the sky and the trees like a mirror in the soft morning light – and as the sun slowly moves up over the horizon the birds become more active, and the crocodiles starts moving up on the shores, as the sun starts to warm up the air.
The many beautiful water lilies starts opening up as the sun kisses them, and the Comb-crested Jacanas (Lotusbirds) are busy catching insects as the seemingly walk on water, gracefully moving from one Lily leaf to another on their big feet. We see several adults with their little chicks tucked up under their wings, looking so funny with only their enormous feet sticking out!
Up high in a tree we see a big Black-necked Stork nest with the pair doing their greeting dance – they have chicks and every time one of them return to the nest they will greet each other with a little dance!
This is probably one of the most beautiful places I have ever visited, and the birdlife and wildlife is just spectacular! The time flew by way too fast, and our 2-hour cruise came to an end, so we got off and we walked back over to the car, to head for the next stop of the day.

Kakadu Explorations Continued

Fortified by the hearty late breakfast our explorations continued along dusty tracks to search for various types of finches, Diamond Doves, Hooded Parrots and other birds we were hoping to add to our already impressive list! Along the way we came across another dingo – and like the previous one we had seen earlier this one was also skinny, compared to the ones I had seen at Uluru. Early afternoon we stopped for lunch at a little picnic area, and we had barely gotten out of the car, before Luke heard the finches! So, of course, lunch was put on the backburner, as we searched around to get a glimpse of them. They were all around, and we got good looks at a whole family of Masked and Long-tailed finches, before we settled down for our by now very late lunch.
There were several other stops Luke had planned for the day, but as we sat over lunch to take stock of our time, we all decided that we should skip a couple of those, so we could be back at our campsite while we still had daylight to check out the birdlife there. – So we headed back that way – of course with lots of stops for birds flying by, or sitting along the Kakadu Highway. Sadly, as we passed the site of the morning accident there were still several police cars there, with officers busy measuring and investigating, and when we asked one of the them how the driver was doing his "Not Good" said it all. Very sad and tragic.

As we reached the dirt road leading into the Murdudjurl area, we stopped to admire the wild horses and the wetland teeming with life. We were glad we had made the decision to get back to experience this.
We actually managed to be back in camp early enough to enjoy the sunset, and after a long day it was nice to get a shower before dinner, and enjoy sitting in the warm evening watching the moon and the stars getting brighter as the sky darkened and night fell.
Luke had prepared a barbeque feast with steaks, sausages and kangaroo meat, accompanied by several salads! After dinner we did the bird list of the day, and compared how many new species we had seen – quite impressive!
- We saw 32 new species in just that one day – and the day before we had seen 61 different species of birds! Most of which I would never have spotted without an expert birder like Luke to search them out! He is quite amazing – he knows where to find the birds, and he can recognize their calls, and then actually find them, or sometimes even call them closer, so we can see them with our binoculars or the scope! This is my first "real" bird watching trip, (other than my one day with my birding guide Wang Kong in Danum Valley) but certainly not my last – I'm hooked!
We heard the barking owl calling again, and Luke suggested a night walk before bedtime – John and I were game – Sally opted for bed. – So the three of us set out with our flashlights along the trail, and Luke shines over the waters of the billabong. We see several crocodile eyes shining red in the spotlight. As we walk along, Luke shines his light into the water, and apparently sees a File Snake – how he saw it, I don't know, but both John and I are a bit concerned as Luke reaches into the water – we are thinking about the crocodiles we know are there – even if the ones we saw were on the other side – but all of a sudden Luke pulls up the snake, and we get to touch it's rough skin thus the name. It is a water snake, and not poisonous – the aboriginals eat them – we put it back in the Billabong, and head back to camp – tomorrow is another early day and we have to pack up, as this is the last night!