We woke early, driving down to a site near Nitmiluk National Park. Our primary target here was the Gouldian finch, an endangered and highly sought-after species pursed by most birders in this area. Luke took us to an area of dry woodland, and after some watching and waiting we walked our way into the middle of a massive feeding flock. Long-tailed finches, white-winged trillers and masked finches fed on the ground, while hooded parrots and cockatiels made their way through the trees. Black-faced woodswallows perched in the treetops watching over the rest of the flock to ensure safety from predators, although they did not seem to be worried about a distant pair of brown falcons perched on a wire. We scanned many finches to try and pick out a Gouldian, but were ultimately unsuccessful. At one point an immature Gouldian was spotted, but after few got decent looks at it we were left unable to tick it in good conscience.
MASKED FINCH
BLACK-FACED WOODSWALLOW
Walking further down to a dried-up creekbed provided looks at the much yellower northern race of weebill and a very fearless white-throated honeyeater. Eventually we came across another feeding flock containing much the same species, along with a few red-winged parrots, a Jacky winter, a striated pardalote, a pied butcherbird and a silver-crowned friarbird . . . but no Gouldian finch.
WHITE-THROATED HONEYEATER
Somewhat fed up with searching for the Gouldian finch, we stopped over in Nitmiluk National Park at a campground near Edith Falls. Here a wide variety of birds were present. Tall eucalypts around the campground held rufous-throated honeyeater, banded honeyeater, white-throated gerygone, rufous-banded honeyeater, rufous whistler, yellow-tinted honeyeater and dusky myzomela. A few fruiting trees held red-winged parrots and great bowerbirds. In a corner of the campground we came across the trip's first and only Northern rosella, along with Northern fantail and double-barred finch.
NORTHERN ROSELLA
GREAT BOWERBIRD
NORTHERN FANTAIL
As we drove out of Nitmiluk, we made one final stop at a waterhole Luke thought could potentially be a spot for Gouldians. In the now-sweltering weather, a heat haze made photography of the few birds seen at first extremely difficult. Initially all seemed quiet save for a small flock of long-tailed finches. Then gradually we noticed some distant little woodswallows, a species that often acts as a sentinel for large feeding flocks. Upon closer inspection, a small group of peaceful doves held a few diamond doves too. And then, after hearing its distant calls for a few minutes, we watched as an immature Gouldian finch flew swiftly into a tree beside us, called, and bolted. This technically counted as a tick, but since the immature lacked the vibrant colouration of an adult Gouldian, we were all left somewhat unsatisfied.
GOULDIAN FINCH
LITTLE WOODSWALLOW
We then began the long drive back to Darwin, most of which I slept through. A little eagle and good views of crimson and double-barred finches while eating lunch at Adelaide River were the main sightings of note.
DOUBLE-BARRED FINCH
CRIMSON FINCH
Upon arrival in Darwin, we hired a car and returned back to our hotel, the Mantra Pandanus. We had checked into the hotel on our first night before the tour, and had simply paid for the extra night while we were away in Pine Creek to ensure that we could use the rooms for the rest of the trip as well. The hotel proved suitably comfortable, with luxurious rooms and a decent location near several birding sites.We rested a bit, then visited the Botanical Gardens for the opening ceremony of the Australasian Ornithology Conference. With the directions of many other birders we were able to find the gardens' famous rufous owls. The rainforest section of the gardens also held olive-backed orioles, pied imperial pigeons, Australian figbirds, white-gaped honeyeaters, blue-winged kookaburras, rainbow bee-eaters and orange-footed scrubfowls.
OLIVE-BACKED ORIOLE
RUFOUS OWL
ORANGE-FOOTED SCRUBFOWL
Having eaten at a food stall and participated in the opening ceremony, we watched the white-breasted woodswallows circling above us on their way to their roosts and then decided to call it a night.
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