Trip Report: Victoria River District
Trip report: Victoria River District Micha Jackson and Amanda Lilleyman 31st July – 4th August 2020 The Victoria River District is one of the most lovely and most accessible birding spots in the Top End, situated about 500km south of Darwin on the Victoria Highway, which eventually ends up in northeastern WA. We scheduled our trip to arrive at the Katherine Poo Ponds on Friday afternoon, hoping for views of the first-ever Citrine Wagtail in the Northern Territory. There we met up with Katherine local birder- extraordinaire Marc Gardner, who had found the bird the previous weekend. We were also met by a group of local Darwin birders, Katherine locals, some visiting birdwatchers from interstate and some very keen twitchers that drove up from Alice Springs. So, there we were, scopes and bins lined up against the fence of the poo ponds scanning for a wagtail. But as goes with twitching, we did not find the wagtail. We dipped. Instead we were treated to an assortment of waterbirds using the sewage works, and also some interesting bush birds just behind us, including a Grey Fantail (a dry season migrant in low numbers in the Top End), Arafura Fantail, Shining Flycatcher, Leaden Flycatcher, Paperbark Flycatcher, Willie Wagtail and awesome views of a Collared Sparrowhawk (ebird list: https://ebird.org/checklist/S71972922). We counted all birds at the site until it was dark and then decided on dinner at the Golf Club before retiring to our camp at Shady Lane on Gorge Road. The next morning, we were up early to meet Marc and others to search for Crested Shrike-tit on the Central Arnhem Highway, and we had great success with one stunning individual (northern subspecies lifer for Amanda).
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