Next morning we drove out of Kakadu as the sun came up with little opportunity for birding, flew back to Cairns from Darwin, and drove up to Daintree about 2 hours north for a two night stay at the justifiably famous birder-friendly hotel
Red Mill House, which is within walking distance of the jetty for the equally justifiably famous
Daintree Boatman Nature Tours. The only memeorable birds on the way were a
Black-shouldered Kite, a
Jabiru on the edge of a sugarcane field and two
Bush Thick-knees on the village green as we drove through Daintree just as night fell. I could also hear them calling in the night after we went to bed
There were no more birds that evening, but food is the most important shred experience when we travel and we did
Julaymba Restaurant at the Daintree Ecolodge made our all-time top three meals (the others being fresh-caught bass in the Start Bay Inn at Slapton Ley in Devon) and an amazing Japanese izakaya (inn) in Otaru, Hokkaido who name I've long forgotten. The chef makes extraordinary use of organic/biodynamic local produce and bush tucker including wild herbs and spices, emu, kangaroo, wild-caught barramundi, and the green ants I sampled in Kakadu to add a citrus zest the desert.
Next morning I walked down to the jetty where I was pleased to pick up my lifer
Black Butcherbird in a fog-shrouded tree and a nicely confiding male
Olive-backed Sunbird, in a hibiscus bush. 80-odd
Rainbow Lorikeets were congregated noisily in the centre of the village and
Rainbow Bee-eaters made forays from a large tree above the junction with Stewart Creek Road. This road is famous as a birding site and in the hour or so remaining I picked up my first
Macleay's Honeyeater - a largish and streaky honeyeater feeding in the mid-storey of a flowering tree and my first
Spectacled Monarchs, who pushed in beautifully from the forest above the road. An
Australian Darter was on the creek and two
Blue-winged Kookaburras hunted from wires and fence-posts. Other Honeyeaters here included
Dusky, Yellow-spotted and the smaller
Graceful Honeyeater, while other additions included a pair of copulating
Wonga Pigeons and a flyover group of five hefty
Topknot Pigeons. Other bits and pieces included a couple of
Spangled Drongos, four
Tree Martins hunting over the meadows hard up against the ridge, ten each of
Australasian Swiftlet and White-breasted Woodswallow, a couple of
Yellow Oriole, the usual smattering of
Australian Figbird (although the pic below was one from Darwin) and in the trees by the river, a small group of the range-restricted
Large-billed Gerygone.
This was not a bad haul before breakfast. And breakfast at Red Mill House most definitely should not to be missed! A meal with local ingredients and with passion added to the warmest of hospitality and a room that easily passed muster with my ever demanding wife. adding to the enjoyment were a couple of
Radjah Shelducks searching for grain scattered on the lawn and trying to resist the furious defence of the
Orange-footed Scrubfowls who clearly considered the lawn their own turf.
In the afternoon we headed across the Daintree river deep into the forest, which was attractive principally for offering an opportunity to see the best bird of the region - Cassowary. We didn't get a sniff on the way to or around the Daintree Discovery Centre. We had some compensation in the form of a group of ten
Double-eyed Fig Parrots that came into the top of the tree growing up against the treetop tower and showed superbly as they fed on small red berries. The only other birds were a couple of
Graceful Honeyeaters on the forest floor and a helpfully curious
Leaden Flycatcher.
Cheers
Mike
