April 26, 2005
Today was the mid-point of our trip, and in the morning, we had to make a decision: should we keep going upriver and see new things? Or would we be better off turning back now, and then maybe going a ways past the Liba Liba base in the other direction? The area on the other side of the base was more developed – farmland, rather than wilderness, so we might see different birds . . . but definitely less chance of Emus, which were still at the top of my “to see” list. My companions left the choice up to me, and I decided that we should continue east for the rest of the day in favor of more wilderness. (Spoiler alert: this turned out to be a very good decision).
My first bird today was, one again, an Australian Pelican swimming near the boat. On my morning walk, I was happy to see, among others, a Laughing Kookburra, Whistling Kite, Splendid Fairy-wren, and Crested Pigeon.
Once we got back on the river, I saw my first Black-faced Woodswallow, along with many familiar favorites like Little Pied Cormorant, Australian White Ibis, and Little Corella. A few Sulphur-crested Cockatoo flew past or foraged in trees, as well as Red-rumped Parrot. We also saw two species of Butcherbird: Gray and Pied.
We stopped around lunchtime at Higgins Cutting, which turned out to be a nice place to wander around. A couple of gorgeous Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater were seen up in a tree, and I caught a look at a female fairy-wren with a distinctive dark face mask: Purple-backed Fairy-wren. One of the benefits of getting off of the boat for a few minutes was the opportunity to see some herpetofauna (which aren’t likely to be seen from the boat). In this case, a gorgeous little Eastern Water Skink.
Mid-afternoon, we had reached the genuine half-way point of the journey, and would need to turn around in order to get back to the base by the time our boat was due back. We stopped on the south side of the river, and I noticed that there was a decent-sized lake separated from the river by just a thin strip of land: Scottie’s Billabong. (BILLABONG! Like the song I learned as a child, haha). We ended up spending the night at this location, and I’ll describe everything we saw there in a separate entry.
Species List
Australian Pelican (Pelecanus conspicillatus), Whistling Kite (Haliastur sphenurus), Southern Australian Swamphen (Porphyrio melanotus melanotus), Maned Duck (Chenonetta jubata), Splendid Fairywren (Malurus splendens), Noisy Miner (Manorina melanocephala), Crested Pigeon (Ocyphaps lophotes), Laughing Kookaburra (Dacelo novaeguineae novaeguineae), Yellow Rosella (Platycercus elegans flaveolus), Fairy Martin (Petrochelidon ariel), Australian White Ibis (Threskiornis molucca), Pacific Black Duck (Anas superciliosa superciliosa), Sulphur-crested Cockatoo (Cacatua galerita galerita), White-plumed Honeyeater (Ptilotula penicillata), Little Corella (Cacatua sanguinea gymnopis), Tree Martin (Petrochelidon nigricans), Australian Shelduck (Tadorna tadornoides), Black-faced Cuckooshrike (Coracina novaehollandiae melanops), Red-rumped Parrot (Psephotus haematonotus haematonotus), Dusky Woodswallow (Artamus cyanopterus cyanopterus), Australasian Coot (Fulica atra australis), Dusky Moorhen (Gallinula tenebrosa tenebrosa), Australasian Darter (Anhinga novaehollandiae novaehollandiae), Magpie-lark (Grallina cyanoleuca cyanoleuca), Eastern White-backed Magpie (Gymnorhina tibicen tyrannica), Eastern Galah (Eolophus roseicapilla albiceps), Brown Treecreeper (Climacteris picumnus), Black-shouldered Lapwing (Vanellus miles novaehollandiae), Willie-wagtail (Rhipidura leucophrys), White-faced Heron (Egretta novaehollandiae novaehollandiae), Gray Butcherbird (Cracticus torquatus leucopterus), Little Pied Cormorant (Microcarbo melanoleucos melanoleucos), Australasian Swamphen (Porphyrio melanotus melanotus), Gray Shrikethrush (Colluricincla harmonica harmonica), Black-faced Woodswallow (Artamus cinereus), Eastern Water Skink (Eulamprus quoyii), Purple-backed Fairywren (Malurus assimilis), Australian Raven (Corvus coronoides coronoides), Superb Fairywren (Malurus cyaneus), Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater (Acanthagenys rufogularis), Striated Pardalote (Pardalotus striatus), Eastern Great Egret (Ardea alba modesta), Red and Blue Damsel (Xanthagrion erythroneurum), Pied Butcherbird (Cracticus nigrogularis nigrogularis)
Let me know what you think!