Top End Joy

I have an odd relationship with the Northern Territory town of Katherine. Bird-wise, it has been very good to me. Katherine gave me one of my favourite chapters in my book, “More Australian Birding Tales”. It is Chapter 11, An Unexpected Journey- Bogey No More (Blog about it here). It tells the tale of me driving my Troopi seven-thousand kilometres roundtrip from Lara to Katherine to finally see Yellow-rumped Mannikins. And there are some pretty amusing parts in that story. This past weekend I went to Katherine again, but I flew into Darwin where Robert Shore and Ian Freestone picked me up at the airport.

Ian took a photo of 'happy me' in the Top End and I was too!

And then surprise... just two days before my flight, Dan Ashdown found Red-rumped Swallows in Katherine (a rarity in Oz and a first for Katherine). My dear friend Marc Gardner lives in that town with his wife Vicky. So of course he went over and saw them as well. He graciously invited us to stay at his home for the weekend and he would be able to go birding with us. What was going to be a two bird trip had a real possibility of turning into a three bird trip!

   

My 1st visit to a Virgin Lounge. Free food and drink, relaxing atmosphere (I am now 'Silver' status)

My flight from Melbourne was delayed and did not arrive until 6pm Friday. Straight from the airport we went in the fading light and rain, to a spot where I had hoped I could get my Arafura Shrikethrush. It is the wet season and rain was an issue all weekend. At times it really bucketed down. After about fifteen minutes, we headed on south to Katherine (a bit over a 3 hour drive).

Saturday morning Marc took us over to a spot he knows for the Northern Shrike-tit. After a short bit of looking and listening he found a pair! Tick number one of the trip. Joy!

There were quite a few holes out there and unfortunately, Ian found one and fell (no harm done). So I was being very careful. Then the seemingly ‘solid’ ground literally gave-out beneath my right foot and I dropped-in up to my knee. It could have been bad, but I was fine. My left knee is my ‘bad’ knee. However, I could not have gotten out by myself without crawling in the wet. Marc and Ian literally lifted me straight up out of the hole. I am glad I have lost weight.

   

Up to my knee, but no harm done

Then we went back down to Katherine to see about the Red-rumped Swallows. And they were there! We had great views and took some photos. We returned to the racetrack area a few times and I got more photos. I even took a few shots of my old bogie, Yellow-rumped Mannikins, there where I got my Lifers in April of 2018. Here are some pics.

    

And a Yellow-rumped Mannikin within a few metres where I got my Lifer in 2018

Also while at the racecourse Red-rumped spot, a Swinhoe’s Snipe flew over us. Robert got a few recording shots and his second target of the trip was done and dusted. We went down to Pine Creek a few times for Ian to see and photograph his Lifer Hooded Parrots and that is also where the ‘dependable’ Swinhoe’s had been being seen. However, it was not dependable for us. The Hooded Parrots were pretty cooperative and we must have seen more than thirty over the weekend.

   

I still needed my Arafura Shrikethrush. They are reliably seen around Darwin, but not in the Katherine area which is about 320 kilometres south. We checked a few places where Marc had seen them on occasion, but without success. At one spot we had a pair of Rufous Owls and one of them perched out beautifully for us.

On Sunday, after another check for the snipe in Pine Creek, we headed east toward Kakadu, NP. It is a legendary national park that I wrote about in the first book “An Australian Birding Year”. We crossed the Mary River, pulled over and stopped. Marc thought the bridge might be a good spot for the Arafura Shrikethrush. Well, it was. He heard and then spotted it from the bridge. With that bird I had all of my targets for the trip. Thank you Marc! All three of these birds were all ‘you.’ 

Marc and me, thank you my friend! And I will be back (that is a warning, haha)

The next day Robert, Ian and I headed off early to get some birding in before I needed to be dropped off at the airport. I prefer to be two hours early for flights. My anxiety issues are mentioned in both books. They are something I have to overcome every time I do these trips. But I do overcome them and get to where I want to go.

We checked Pine Creek (no Snipe again, but more rain). Then we drove into Kakadu in hopes of more Lifers for Ian. He is a newer birder and on this Top End trip, he added a total of 23 birds to his list!

We went to Nourlangie Rock hoping for a few more new birds for Ian. He gave it a go, but it bucketed down and he did not have any luck. I first went there in August of 2012. That was on my first visit to Kakadu. In 2016, Lynn and I got Chestnut-quilled Rock Pigeon up that same track.

He did get very lucky with Zitting Cisticola later in the day. We were checking one of the places that Marc had recommended looking for them. The wind was howling and it was raining off and on, but we saw, and heard one. Ian and I also got soaked while Robert was turning the car around. Also on our loop through Kakadu we saw wild Donkeys and the very cool Frill-necked Lizard.

I was at the airport in plenty of time for my six o’clock flight (thank you Robert and Ian, their flight was later). And wonderfully, I had the rare experience of having a whole row to myself on the plane. I was able to lay down across the three seats. Those who fly, know how special that is. On the way up, my flight had been packed and I had a young man with a phenomenal mullet in the middle seat beside me. He had a ‘full-blown Kentucky waterfall’ mullet (I did not take his photo, but I kind of wish I had).

My knees as I am laying down across 3 seats on the 4+ hour flight to Melbourne 

So I ended up adding three birds to my list putting me up to 775. I had some delicious Lifer cobbler and ice cream at Marc and Vicky’s, but I will have some other sorts of Lifer Pie here at home soon. Maybe a smash burger again. We will see. 

Last but not least, here is a "Freshie" a Freshwater Crocodile in Katherine

Sending love as I do ❤️

Indian Ocean Trip Part Three: Christmas Island Week

Me and the Booby sculpture at Margaret Knoll Lookout

As I wrote in “More Australian Birding Tales” I love Christmas Island and I truly do. This visit (my third) was a bit lower key than I would have preferred. The island was experiencing a heavy drought and the birding was quiet. It is still a place that touches my soul. “It is the vibe, not the number” to quote Richard Baxter. I consider Richard the king of Christmas and Cocos birding. Because well... he is. 

David Adam, Richard Baxter and Glen Pacey excellent birders all and my friends.

If I had another life, I would live on a tropical island. Possibly on Christmas Island even though as far as Indian Ocean islands go, I prefer Cocos. Christmas has more facilities and an older person needs facilities. While I was there, I visited the lovely hospital regarding the recurrence of my pilonidal sinus infection and I was on antibiotics. Eventually it healed. End of that part of the story.      

On a side note, I met and quite liked the doctor there. His name was Frank Reed and for over 30 years he has been the doctor on Lord Howe Island. He was only on Christmas filling-in so to speak. It turns out that he is good mates with Ian Hutton who literally wrote the book on birding Lord Howe, “Birds of Lord Howe Island: Past and Present”. Frank told me that when I do go to Lord Howe I should get in touch with Ian and mention his name. I will certainly do that and I will eventually get to Lord Howe.

The week had many high points which mostly revolved around just being there and seeing stuff. We hiked the dales area, ending at the ocean and that was stunning. 

  

We had one ‘mega’ rarity but alas, it was I bird I had twitched in South Australia a few years back, Citrine Wagtail. A good bird indeed, but not a new one for me.

Citrine Wagtail on the sports oval behind the school a tick for Robert Shore!

We visited the Margaret Knoll Lookout. It is so incredibly beautiful there. The lookout is amazing and I had fun posing with the sculpture of a booby. Here come some touristy photos.

Of course we were birding and saw birds. Here are a few of my favourite pics from the week. These are not all of the cool birds that we saw, but I like some of these photos. I do still enjoy taking some pics of birds, but I remain a birder and a writer first. I take pictures, but do not consider myself a photographer, especially nowadays. There are some magnificent photographers out there taking state-of-the-art photos of birds. I am proud to know quite a few of them.

This Brown Goshawk (CI subspecies) landed in the car door a metre from me

Christmas Imperial Pigeon and rubber ducky

Christmas White-eye

Red-footed Booby

Christmas Island Boobook

The critically endangered Christmas Flying Fox is the island's only remaining native mammal.

Java Sparrow

Red Junglefowl

Common Emerald Dove 

We always eat dinner at least once at Lucky Ho's 

Christmas decorations on Christmas Island in the roundabout.

On the next to last day, I had a lovely encounter with a slightly injured young Red-footed Booby. Some of the group that had gone on the second snorkelling trip had found the bird. Something was wrong with one of its wings. We took it to the Park Service where it would be cared for. It was a bit after hours and a very nice young lady came and took the bird.

"Do not leave birds in toilets" is a good general rule.

The day we flew out the airport was chockers with all the people leaving the island for the holidays. I ran into Dr Frank Reed there as well as being given a Merry Christmas Island hat by the sweet girl from the Visitors Centre. I had met her on one of my several visits there. I bought a few grandchild Christmas presents and a cap for myself. I have been wearing that cap regularly since I’ve been back in Lara. Here I am wearing it at the Post Office.

Red Crabs just because they are so cool

At the Christmas Island Airport

Bye bye Christmas Island until next time

So I have included a bunch of photos to accompany my words. In the coming days, I will write in depth about birding in general as well as writing about the passing of my friend, Mike Carter. He was a dear friend. That will be the next blog post. I will share my thoughts about the birding community’s deep loss and some thoughts about my birding in general. 

Sending love as I do ❤️