Birding Kakadu

by Anne
(British Columbia, Canada)

A week in Kakadu in November was a great success for us, despite minimal planning and flexibility (my husband was there for work but I was free to roam and explore).

Much website information was somewhat misleading for this time of year (such as: "expect crowds of tourists in the park", "November is the beginning of the wet") - in fact the weather was still very dry except for one downpour and thunderstorm lasting about an hour one evening.

There were minimal tourists, in a whole morning spent at Mamukala wetlands I saw only 2 other people, and on the Nourlangie Rock Barrk walk I was the only person. Billabongs and floodplain were mainly dry, except for the wonderful Yellow Waters. The weather was hot (35°C) and very humid, and the high humidity made hiking difficult.

My main interests were birds, wildlife and the Aboriginal art sites, and I only had a regular 2wd vehicle so had to stick to the bitumen. Wildlife was relatively difficult to find compared with other locations in Australia, except at the wetlands (I am pretty experienced at finding wildlife). However, we saw dozens of bird species.

The early morning Yellow Waters cruise was terrific with good commentary by the guide and excellent views of active estuarine crocodiles, kingfishers (including Little Kingfisher), White-bellied Sea Eagles, terns, egrets, Glossy Ibis, Black-necked Stork (Jabiru), Australian Pelican, etc. The boardwalk was good for flycatchers and wetland birds too.

Elsewhere in the park we saw Black Wallaroo, Agile Wallabies and Dingos, mainly at dusk or early in the morning. I arrived at the art sites by 8.00am opening time each visit and that helped with them being quiet (although the first groups arrive then).

This is very late for birding though, and I missed some of the rarer species I would have liked to see. By repeat visits to the sites I was able to appreciate the art and the natural ecology better.

Flies were a bit of a nuisance when birding (get in your eyes while looking through binoculars) but there were no mosquitoes to speak of. Reptiles were conspicuous by their absence apart from the Yellow Waters crocs.

The escarpment scenery and rock art was fantastic and the more time I spent in the dry, apparently empty scrub savannah areas, the more they yielded up their subtle secrets.
Cheers, Anne
British Columbia
Canada