Daintree Wildlife

Chris Dahlberg's Daintree River tours>>

11 Nov 09. Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfishers have arrived. Several were heard this morning leaving no doubt that they have arrived on their migratory journey from New Guinea. Great-billed Heron, Black bittern, Papuan Frogmouths and Double-eyed Fig-Parrots were the most popular during our dawn trip.

8 Nov 09. Black Bitterns. The whole point of producing this Daintree wildlife bulletin is to let visitors know what is going on with regards to wildlife. It is no longer crocodile viewing time as we come into summer. It is good birdwatching time and in particular dawn trips in the fresh water areas produce reliable Black Bittern sightings even if the weather is poor. We now have Black Bitterns in several parts of the river and they are now vocal.
3 Nov 09. Great-billed Heron, Black Bitterns, Papuan Frogmouth, Eastern Water Dragon, Shining Flycatchers, Azure Kingfishers and best of all before the trip a flock of Fork-tailed Swifts.
30 Oct 09. As October comes to a close the stage is set for an exciting November. The Black Bitterns and White-throated Needletails have arrived, Buff-breasted Paradise-Kingfishers are due, Pale-vented Bush-hens will become vocal and we will start at 6:00am from 1 November.
29 Oct 09. White-throated Needletail. First return this morning along with some good birds; Little (Gould's) Bronze-Cuckoo, Papuan Frogmouths, Azure Kingfishers, Shinning Flycatchers, Double-eyed Fig-Parrots. Just after the cruise a Black Bittern flew past the jetty.
26 Oct 09. Black Bittern. On schedule, a Black Bittern this morning. These shy and secretive birds come to the east coast of Australia to breed in summer. Mostly they are in the north and the fresh water parts of the Daintree River is a good place to see them from November until April at dawn.
25 Oct 09. Kingfisher morning. Visiting birdwatchers have target species for Daintree. One of these is our smallest kingfisher, called Little Kingfisher. This morning we got it well plus Azure and Forest Kingfishers. Capping it off this morning was our second largest; the Blue-winged Kookaburra.
22 Oct 09. Although battling light rain for most of this morning's trip there were some interesting happenings. In the murky conditions some Purple Swamphens were spied. All of a sudden an alarm call rang out and as we looked a Brown Goshawk tried to snatch one of them. The hawk disappeared into a tree to await another opportunity. A little while later we saw something swimming across the river. It was a feral pig. They are rarely seen in daylight. On further we had superb looks at a Papuan Frogmouth, Nankeen Night Heron and best of all, a perched Little Kingfisher.
21 Oct 09. Saltwater Crocodile, Papuan Frogmouths, Azure Kingfishers, White-bellied Sea-Eagles, Shining Flycatchers, proved the most popular this morning.
19 Oct 09. Wedge-tailed Eagle. Australia's biggest bird of prey is normally found in the drier country to the west of the Great Dividing Range. Now that the dry country has become even drier birds come over to the east of the range. This morning we had a "Wedgie" over the Daintree which also happened last year. It is likely to stay around here until the onset of the wet season.