27th & 28th April - Darwin
On 27th We took the 04:30 shuttle from the airport hotel in Perth to the airport and were soon checked-in for the 06:30, 3½ hour, flight from Perth to Darwin. The Northern Territory is 1½ hours ahead of Western Australia, so we arrived around 11:30 local time. After picking up our hire car, and the usual detour whilst finding our way around the road system north of Darwin, we soon arrived at the Lee Point Tropical Resort.
On 28th early morning we did a couple of hours birding at Buffalo Creek, just east of Lee Point. Here there is a bird hide situated to look out over the beach – this is probably useful when the tide is in, but when the tide is out (as it was each time we came here) the shore birds are a long way away and were best seen by stealthy approach across the sands. More importantly the hide had a small cleared area on its landward side and provided shade, so we were able to watch the forest birds in relative comfort.
After returning to the “Tropical Resort” (glorified motel) for lunch, we went to the Darwin Botanical Gardens – in search of Barking and Rufous Owls. Alison found a Barking Owl looking down at her when she looked up from the shade of a tree. It then flew a little way and was soon relocated as it started calling constantly. The Rufous Owl could not be found, however. Next we went to the East Point reserve, where we walked the short Mangrove Board Walk in search of Mangrove species – with some success. Finally we returned to Lee Point for sunset. |