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2026/07/14: Pine Creek, NT
Had a leisurely breakfast outside this morning, listening to the many birds in the campground. Stopped quickly in Kathleen for the cell signal and continued to Pine Creek, where we immediately found Hooded Parrot and then had lunch. We scoped out the Kohinoor Adit and figured out how we would try for Ghost False-Vampire tomorrow night, and where we would camp afterwards. The habitat there is supposed to be Tetrodonta Woodland Savanna but it looked just like the habitat along Central Arnhem Road, which we thought was closer to Open Eucalypt Savanna. Camped in Tumbling Waters to join a bird walk tomorrow targeting Gouldian Finch, following up on a tip from a birder we met in Serpentine Gorge.
2026/07/15: Top End, NT
We met a local birder, Ian, about 7:45 at a site where each day he adds water to a small puddle he maintains. This has consistently attracted Gouldian Finch for the last year and a half. We quickly saw males of both morphs (black-faced and red-faced), as well as females and immatures! Many other species came to drink as well, including Northern Rosella and Double-barred Finch. We also had a marvelous scope view of a handsome, calling Golden-headed Cisticola. We then returned to Tumbling Waters to bird in the restored Monsoon Vineforest, adding two lifers, Arafura Fantail and Large-billed Gerygone.
Returned south to Pine Creek to resume itinerary. Set up on the road outside the Kohinoor Adit and had dinner while waiting for sunset. A few smaller bats exited during the hour after sunset (mostly Australian Long-fingered Bats, based on recordings). But starting 1:10 after sunset and continuing for 45 minutes, hundreds of Ghost Bats flew out! These showed clearly in our thermal imager, mounted on a tripod so we could both watch the whole show. Also got a number of good recordings, some showing four harmonics, the first overtone usually strongest. An outstanding experience!
2026/07/16: Pine Creek, NT
Spent the day in camp catching up on a number of fronts, making use of free wifi provided by Telstra at a pay phone on the property.
2026/07/17: Edith River and Umbrawarra Gorge, NT
Arrived early at the water hole off Edith Falls Road, the best known location for Gouldian Finch. There were none today but we upgraded views of Crimson Finch. Continued to Edith Falls but it was too crowded to stop. Eileen did a good job spotting a Freshwater Crocodile on a log on the river. We finally found convincing Tetrodonta Woodland Savanna along Edith Falls Road. Worked on getting better photos of Hooded Parrot in Pine Creek with some success.
A flooded spot along the road to Umbrawarra Gorge nearly turned us back but a 4WD arrived, drove across so we could see the depth, and waited while we crossed. Took a lovely walk into the gorge as it started to cool down. Got a handsome lifer, Silver-backed Butcherbird, while eating dinner! Recorded bats, adding Northern Cave Bat to our list of species detected acoustically, which now numbers 20.
2026/07/18: Litchfield NP
Took another nice walk in the morning. Finished analyzing last night’s bat recordings, ate lunch, and drove for 3 hours to reach Litchfield NP. The magnetic termite mounds were striking in appearance and fascinating! [These termites make tall, almost planar structures that are oriented north-south (via detection of the earth’s magnetic field) so one side is always shaded and cool.]
Walked to the lookout over Tolmer Falls, which is a tall, slender cascade, ending in a plunge pool with a large cave that harbors rare bats. We stayed for about 75 minutes after sunset to try to record Orange Diamond-faced Bat, which would represent an entirely new family for us. Their calls are so high-pitched (around 116 kHz) that I maximized the gain and used the higher sampling rate of the detector (384 vs 256 kHz), which is never required in the U. S. We got a few recordings, and it was a great surprise to me to see that 116 kHz was actually the first overtone, not the fundamental. Also recorded Forest Pipistrelle, another lifer.
An unpleasant surprise awaited us at camp: our reserved site was taken. We pulled up on our phone the PDF with our reservation and discovered we were a day late! Somehow in the rearrangement of the schedule to look for Gouldian Finch, we spent an extra night we didn’t have in Pine Creek. This is serious because we had barely enough time in the Darwin area as was, and now we have one day fewer.
2026/07/19: Howard Springs, NT
We set an early alarm and reached Howard Springs Nature Park around 9:15, giving us some time to bird before the heat of the day became oppressive. Our two main targets in this Monsoon Vineforest habitat were Rainbow Pitta and Rose-crowned Fruit-Dove; we heard the former several times and probably heard the latter as well, but had no sightings. The rest of the day was spent on some of the more mundane aspects of a road trip.
2026/07/20: East Point and Darwin Botanic Gardens, NT
The Mangrove Boardwalk was very nice but despite the early hour, was rather crowded, and we did not do especially well there. We got a late start on the Monsoon Forest Trail, but got excellent scope views of a Rainbow Pitta on a log! Our last stop was the Botanic Gardens, where we spent a couple hours looking for Rufous Owl, which we could not find. But we were compensated by superb views of Rose-crowned Fruit-Dove, a truly exquisite bird! We also saw Collared Sparrowhawks mating, calling, and consuming a meal. The fruit-dove and the pitta were two of our most wanted species in Australia, so the day was quite a success.
2026/07/21: Buffalo Creek, N of Darwin, NT
Visited Lee Point and hiked to the shorebird blind right at high tide, which was a complete waste of time other than getting close views of Beach Thick-Knee. The few hundred shorebirds in the area were all on the sand spit at Buffalo Creek, but by the time we got there they were far away and a long trudge through wet sand, sinking in at every step, only got us distant views with heat haze. Very disappointing!
We waited three hours for the approach of low tide, which was about an hour before sunset, to look for Chestnut Rail, a very hard bird to see except from a shallow-draft (but croc-safe) boat. We stayed for 1:45, checking constantly with binoculars and scope, finally giving up when it was getting too dark to walk back through the mangroves. Eileen started back as I packed up the last of the gear, and I did one last scan with binos before shouldering the scope, and there it was!! Quite long range on sand exposed by the low tide, but a good view in the scope, mostly a silhouette but with a trace of color. Eileen hustled back to complete one of the best sightings of the trip.
2026/07/22: Fogg Dam and Knuckey Lagoon, NT
Had a lovely morning driving over Fogg Dam twice and photographing extensively. With no remaining targets in Monsoon Vineforest, we skipped the trails to have more time in the aquatic habitats. Paperbark Flycatcher was a catch-up bird for Eileen, and Pied Heron was new for the trip. Found a nest of Crimson Finch with an adult feeding young, which Eileen especially loved seeing. Had fine views of Freshwater Crocodile and enjoyed the huge numbers of calling Magpie Geese and Plumed Whistling Ducks. After protracted errands, visited Knuckey Lagoon, which had hundreds of Green Pygmy-Geese, a favorite species of mine.
2026/07/23: Kakadu NP, NT
Today was transit and recovery. I added only a single record to our database, Brown Goshawk, at the lovely Mamukala Wetlands, where a panoramic view is dominated by a hot-pink-flowered Nelumbo. In camp somewhat after 4 p.m. deciding to simply stay put in preparation for a long day tomorrow.
2026/07/24: Kakadu NP, NT
Hiked to the Gunwarrdehwarrde Lookout at Nourlangie Rock, which was lovely, but no Black Wallaroos were evident. Quickly headed off before the day got too hot, for the Bardedjilidji Trail, which wound among the scenic sandstone formations. Here we had a thrilling experience with Chestnut-quilled Rock-Pigeon, following two birds for 45 minutes, as they foraged in sand (leaving tracks) and on rocks, called, and flew short distances — this is the way to see a life bird! Took an afternoon break and then did a long bat-recording session from the hopefully crocodile-proof dock at Yellow Waters. Hoped for Large-footed Myotis, and some of the high-frequency, high-slope calls may have pertained to this sp., but 4 spp. of possible Nyctophilus [species of Long-eared Bats] made ID uncertain. Had at least 6 spp.
2026/07/25: Kakadu NP, NT
Had a fine dawn Yellow Waters Cruise which was great for photography, and provided stunning views of Black-necked Stork and Royal Spoonbill. Saw about 36 spp on the cruise. Hiked to the lookout at Ubirr, which was impressive, and we saw Chestnut-quilled Rock-Pigeon again, the only Kakadu target with which we connected (though none were easy).
2026/07/26: Transit West
Left early to look for Buff-sided Robin on the way out of Kakadu. Eileen spotted one but could not see it well, and despite a lengthy effort, we could not relocate it in the dense creekside Pandanus thicket. Passed by Pine Creek for the last time, did errands in Katherine, and headed west on Rte. 1. Fed Pied Butcherbirds and Great Bowerbirds at lunch. Arrived at Victoria Roadhouse in the late afternoon and camped and had dinner there. Much cooler than in Kakadu, where we did little between noon and 6 p.m.
Looking back, we did fairly well on target birds in the Top End, finding 14 of 20, with all the misses being challenging, and only a few birds being easy. We needed a lot more time and energy to make much progress on mammals, but Ghost Bat and Orange Diamond-faced Bat were very satisfying finds.
2026/07/27: To Western Australia
We were on the Rte. 1 bridge over the Victoria River well before sunrise, seeing fine alpenglow on the cliffs, as we searched without success for Purple-crowned Fairywren. An Accipiter [type of hawk] caught one of the many Fairy Martins nesting under the bridge. The highlight was seeing an Agile Wallaby that Eileen noticed was carrying a joey in her pouch! We birded a little around Timber Creek, but a professional birding tour was a step ahead of us and was not finding anything that would be new for us. Yellow-tinted Honeyeater was our last new trip bird before crossing into WA, where they confiscated our cole slaw and the one house plant I bought Eileen, so she would have something green in the camper.
We’ve now been in Australia for 12 weeks. The bird list is at 338 spp; Eileen has 77 lifers and I have 70. The mammal list is 60 spp; Eileen has 47 lifers and I have 48.
You must be exausted I am.