Daintree Wildlife

Chris Dahlberg's Daintree River tours>>

14 Jan 10. Great- billed Heron. Fine conditions at last and a good run around the river. Best birds were; Great-billed Heron, Black Bittern and Pied Monarch.

11 Jan 10. Great-billed Heron. Lots of overnight rain produced the first flood of the Wet Season. Highlights of this morning's trip were: Great-billed Heron, 25+ Channel-billed Cuckoos, Comb-crested Jacana, Blue-winged Kookaburra, Azure Kingfishers, Yellow Oriole and Wompoo Fruit-Dove.

6 Jan 10. Great-billed Heron and great start to 2010. Several Black Bitterns showed themselves well enough for photographs along with Azure Kingfishers, Brown-backed and Graceful Honeyeaters.
We are now in the low season and do not run every day. If you would like to go out on this trip please contact me direct:
phone 40987997 or e-mail chrisld@austarnet.com.au

24 Dec 09. Yes the 19th was our last trip of the year. We will start again on 5 Jan 2010.
Denise and I wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

19 Dec 09. Last trip for the year? Best birds this morning were; Pale-vented Bush-hen and Black Bitterns complemented with lots of Azure Kingfishers and Shining Flycatchers all of them being "good boat birds". We would like to thank all our passengers for their support throughout the year and wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year.

12 Dec 09. Summer. Deep into summer now and we are not scheduling trips every day. There are reports of Barn Swallows at Newell Beach and Red-rumped Swallows at Somerset Drive. Somerset Drive runs off the Daintree Road just north of the Newell Beach turn off.

8 Dec 09. Blooming Lilly Pillys. The fresh water areas of the Daintree River are a hive of activity with the blooming of Lilly Pilly trees. Thousands of Rainbow Lorikeets have come in to feed on them. This did not escape the notice of a Peregrine Falcon, near the village, which created even more activity amongst them.

2 Dec 09. Black Bitterns. Following on from our November's 95% success rate we are seeing and photographing Black Bitterns. Hot days ahead will make for poor wildlife sightings through the summer unless you go out early. Our trip goes out at 6:00am and we are back by 8:00am before it gets too hot.

30 Nov 09. Oriental Cuckoos. With some degree of predictability Oriental Cuckoos have arrived in Daintree. This is the last of the migrants to arrive in Australia for the summer and they are not always seen. So far there have been three sightings from the boat in the last two days.

28 Nov 09. Great-billed Herons, Black Bitterns, Pale-vented Bush-hen, Papuan Frogmouths were the best birds this morning. There was also a savage inter-action between a Black Butcherbird and a Papuan Frogmouth in Barratt Creek. The consensus was that the Black Butcherbird was defending it's nest and was trying to drive the frogmouth off?