Go North -- 11 -- Daintree

Eventually the birding adventure had to finish but there was a last hurrah for Ethan and me. We did an early morning birding cruise on the Daintree River with Sauce Worcester. Highly recommended. It was fantastic. His knowledge of birds is terrific as is his knowledge of all things local be it floral or faunal.

We saw ....

Great-billed Heron Ardea sumatrana

This bird is a known resident to Sauce. We pulled up near a creek junction,
Sauce played the call once and he appeared out of the bush letting us know
in no uncertain terms that THIS was HIS territory. An impressive bird.

Striated Heron Butorides striatus

Little Bronze-cuckoo Chalcites minutillus

Azure Kingfisher Ceyx azurea

Mistletoebird Dicaeum hirundinaceum

Rainbow Bee-eaters Merops ornatus

Shining Flycatcher, female Myiagra alecto

Mr S Flycatcher

On our way back to Mossman we observed a whole heap of sticks atop an electricity pole.

Heap of sticks

The Resident, an Eastern Osprey Pandion cristatus

The final bird of the trip to Cape York
Chestnut-breasted Mannikin Lonhcura castaneothorax

So, the number of birds for the 21-day trip was 190.

Magic. f8 and be there!

Go North 03 -- Seisia

Leaving one car at Weipa, all five of us loaded into the 76-series and made our way north to the tip of Cape York. We stopped the first night at Bramwell Resort [cattle station]. Best bird was a Palm Cockatoo. The image below was taken in the relative dullness of early morning and against a cloudy sky. I exposed the image +1-stop and applied a lot of exposure compensation [+3.5] in Photoshop.

Palm Cockatoo Probisciger atriums

The second night was spent at the "caravan park" at the Jardine River ferry which we used first thing the next morning on our way to Bamaga and its neighbours of Injinoo, Umagico and Seisia. We stopped at the Seisia Caravan Park, right on the beach, for several nights. Ethan and I visited Injinoo and its creek on the first night.

Masked Lapwing Vanillas miles miles the race in northern Australia

Azure Kingfisher Alcedo azurea ruficollaris northern Australian race

Common Sandpiper Tringa hypoleucos

Eastern Reef Egret Ardea sacra white morph

Striated Heron Butorides striatus
"Going ..."

"Going ..."

We were gone before we found out if the Striated Heron actually managed to get the fish down!