We woke up at 4:00 to drive to the Daintree. Getting the wrong road once or twice, we eventually made it to the Daintree at around 6:00. We headed down to the public jetty to go on a morning birdwatching cruise with Mr. Ian 'Sauce' Worcester. At first, we didn't see many birds- just a few masked lapwings. Then, everything went wild as my lifer, a black bittern flew over the river. I tried to photograph it, but couldn't get it. A nankeen night heron was also present on the side of the river. In a tree I saw a male shining flycatcher calling. Then we headed back, observing a whistling kite in flight, to observe birds on the other side of the river. While heading back, we stopped to photograph a juvenile great-billed heron, one of the top birds on the Daintree River and another lifer for me. This, Australia's largest heron, has a massive bill and is a shy, elusive bird that can be found in mangroves, mudflats and lowland rivers in tropical Australia.
A male shining flycatcher
Down the other side of the river were more birds. Egrets, ibises, spoonbills and a black-necked stork or jabiru fed on the side of the river. A beautiful azure kingfisher perched on a mangrove branch, while a male darter and a brahminy kite perched on a bare tree.
Then we headed to Red Mill House, a birder-friendly bed and breakfast where we were staying. Andrew and Trish Forsyth, the owners of Red Mill House, gave us a great breakfast. We looked around the garden, saw an orange-footed scrubfowl and headed off birding. First, we went to Stephens Creek Road to try and find the beautiful buff-breasted paradise kingfisher. We didn't spot the kingfisher, but my lifer wompoo fruit dove made up for the loss.
The call is just not described nicely enough in the field guides. Since I am afraid I have overloaded this post with photos, I think I'll have to publish this day in two parts.
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