Shelduck, Grebe and Pygmy-Goose – Radjah Shelduck, Australasian Grebe and Green Pygmy-Goose

Home , Elsey National Park, Freshwater crocodile, Nitmiluk National Park, Rufous owl

Contents

About this book ...... 7

How to use this book ...... 9

Maps of the Top End ...... 10

Geography and geology of the Top End ...... 12

Weather and seasons of the Top End ...... 14

Habitats of the Top End ...... 16 Beaches and mudflats ...... 16 Mangroves ...... 16 Rivers and billabongs ...... 17 Freshwater wetlands and floodplains ...... 17 Monsoon forest ...... 18 Sandstone escarpments ...... 18 Savanna woodlands ...... 19

How to watch wildlife ...... 20 Equipment ...... 20 When to watch wildlife ...... 20 Finding wildlife ...... 21 Watching nocturnal species ...... 21

Where to find wildlife ...... 22 Fogg Dam Conservation Reserve ...... 22 Gregory National Park ...... 22 Kakadu National Park ...... 23 Howard Springs Nature Park ...... 23 Mataranka and Elsey National Park ...... 23 Nitmiluk National Park and Katherine Gorge ...... 23

BIRDS OF WETLANDS AND BEACHES

Magpie Goose – Magpie Goose ...... 26 Whistling-ducks – Wandering & Plumed Whistling-ducks ...... 28 Shelduck, grebe and pygmy-goose – Radjah Shelduck, Australasian Grebe and Green Pygmy-goose ...... 30 Ducks – Hardhead, Pacific Black Duck and Grey Teal ...... 32 Stork – Black-necked Stork ...... 34 Cormorants – Australian Pied, Little Pied, Little Black & Great Cormorants ...... 36 Darter and pelican – Australasian Darter and Australian Pelican ...... 38 White egrets – Plumed, Cattle, Great & Little Egrets ...... 40 Dark herons – Great-billed, White-faced & Pied Herons and Pacific Reef-heron ...... 42 Small herons – Rufous Night-heron, Striated Heron and Black Bittern ...... 44 Ibises and spoonbill – Australian, Straw-necked & Glossy Ibises and Royal Spoonbill ...... 46 Rails and crake – Chestnut & Buff-banded Rails and White-browed Crake ...... 48 Swamphen and coot – Purple Swamphen and Common Coot ...... 50 Crane and stone-curlew – Brolga and Beach Stone-curlew ...... 52 Stilt and oystercatchers – Pied & Sooty Oystercatchers and Black-winged Stilt ...... 54 Lapwing and jacana – Masked Lapwing and Comb-crested Jacana ...... 56 Small plovers and turnstone – Black-fronted and Red-kneed Dotterels, Red-capped Plover and Ruddy Turnstone ...... 58 Coastal plovers – Grey & Pacific Golden Plovers andGreater & Lesser Sandplovers ...... 60 ‘Grassy plains’ waders – Australian and Oriental Pratincoles, Oriental Plover and Little Curlew ...... 62 Large sandpipers – Far Eastern Curlew, Whimbrel and Bar-tailed Godwit ...... 64 Medium-sized sandpipers – Common Greenshank, Great & Red Knots and Grey-tailed Tattler ...... 66 ‘Coastal' small sandpipers – Sanderling, Red-necked Stint and Curlew & Terek Sandpipers ...... 68 Other small sandpipers – Marsh, Common & Sharp-tailed Sandpipers ...... 70 Gull + Large terns: 1 – Silver Gull and Caspian Tern ...... 72 Large terns: 2 – Greater Crested, Lesser Crested & Gull-billed Terns ...... 74 Small terns – Whiskered, White-winged & Little Terns ...... 76 Kingfishers – Azure and Little Kingfishers...... 78

RAPTORS

Osprey + Kites: 1 – Osprey and Brahminy Kite ...... 82 Sea-eagle and baza – White-bellied Sea-eagle and Pacific Baza ...... 84 Eagle and buzzard – Wedge-tailed Eagle and Black-breasted Buzzard ...... 86 Kites: 2 – Black & Whistling Kites ...... 88 Goshawks – Brown, Grey & Red Goshawks ...... 90 Falcons – Brown & Peregrine Falcons, Australian Hobby and Nankeen Kestrel ...... 92

BIRDS OF THE FOREST

Scrubfowl – Orange-footed Scrubfowl ...... 96 Dove and imperial-pigeon – Brown-capped Emerald Dove and Torresian Imperial-pigeon ...... 98 Fruit-doves – Black-banded & Rose-crowned Fruit-doves ...... 100 Cuckoos – Brush Cuckoo and Little Bronze-cuckoo ...... 102 Owl and nightjar – Rufous Owl and Large-tailed Nightjar ...... 104 Pitta – Rainbow Pitta ...... 106 Kingfisher, white-eye and honeyeater – Collared Kingfisher, Australian Yellow White-eye and Red-headed Honeyeater ...... 108 Gerygones and triller – Green-backed, Large-billed & Mangrove Gerygones and Varied Triller ...... 110 Shrike-thrush and whistlers – Mangrove Golden & Grey Whistlers and Little Shrike-thrush .... 112 Orioles and fantails – Australasian Figbird, Green Oriole and Northern & Arafura Fantails ...... 114 Butcherbird, drongo and flycatchers – Spangled Drongo, Black Butcherbird and Broad-billed & Shining Flycatchers ...... 116 Robins – Buff-sided & Mangrove Robins ...... 118

4 BIRDS OF OPEN AREAS

Bustard – Australian Bustard ...... 122 Stone-curlew – Bush Stone-curlew ...... 124 Coucal and quail – Pheasant Coucal and Brown Quail ...... 126 Cuckoos – Australian Koel and Channel-billed Cuckoo ...... 128 Pigeons: 1 – Common Bronzewing, Crested Pigeon and Spinifex Pigeon ...... 130 Pigeons: 2 – Chestnut-quilled Rock-pigeon and Partridge Pigeon ...... 132 Doves – Peaceful, Bar-shouldered & Diamond Doves ...... 134 Owls – Barking Owl and Southern Boobook ...... 136 Barn-owl and frogmouth – Eastern Barn-owl and Tawny Frogmouth ...... 138 Owlet-nightjar and nightjar – Australian Owlet-nightjar and Spotted Nightjar ...... 140 Kingfishers – Blue-winged Kookaburra and Forest & Sacred Kingfishers ...... 142 Bee-eater and Dollarbird – Rainbow Bee-eater and Dollarbird ...... 144 Black-cockatoo and Cockatiel – Red-tailed Black-cockatoo and Cockatiel ...... 146 Cockatoos – Galah, Little Corella and Sulphur-crested Cockatoo ...... 148 Lorikeets – Red-collared & Varied Lorikeets ...... 150 Parrots: 1 – Northern Rosella and Red-winged Parrot ...... 152 Parrots: 2 – Hooded Parrot ...... 154 Bowerbird – Great Bowerbird ...... 156 Fairywrens – Purple-crowned, Red-backed & Variegated Fairywrens ...... 158 Grasswren – White-throated Grasswren ...... 160 Small honeyeaters – Banded, Brown & Dusky Honeyeaters ...... 162 Medium-sized honeyeaters: 1 – Rufous-banded, Rufous-throated, White-gaped & Yellow-tinted Honeyeaters ...... 164 Medium-sized honeyeaters: 2 – Black-chinned, White-throated Honeyeater, Bar-breasted & White-lined Honeyeaters ...... 166 Large honeyeaters – Blue-faced Honeyeater and Helmeted, Silver-crowned & Little Friarbirds ..... 168 Miner, pardalote and Weebill – Yellow-throated Miner, Striated Pardalote and Weebill ...... 170 Babbler and woodswallows – Grey-crowned Babbler and Black-faced, Little & White-breasted Woodswallows ...... 172 Cuckooshrikes, triller and gerygone – Black-faced & White-bellied Cuckooshrikes, White-winged Triller and White-throated Gerygone ..... 174 Sitella, shrike-tit and treecreeper – Varied Sitella, Crested Shrike-tit and Black-tailed Treecreeper ...... 176 Whistler and shrike-thrushes – Rufous Whistler and Grey & Sandstone Shrike-thrushes ...... 178 Butcherbirds, magpie and oriole – Pied & Grey Butcherbirds, Australasian Magpie and Olive-backed Oriole ...... 180 Willie-wagtail and Magpie-lark – Willie-wagtail and Magpie-lark ...... 182 Flycatchers and robin – Leaden, Paperbark & Lemon-bellied Flycatchers and Jacky Winter ...... 184 Crow, Apostlebird, bushlark and cisticola – Torresian Crow, Apostlebird, Australasian Bushlark and Golden-headed Cisticola ...... 186 Martins and Mistletoebird – Tree & Fairy Martins and Mistletoebird ...... 188 Finches: 1 – Crimson, Double-barred & Star Finches ...... 190 Finches: 2 – Gouldian, Long-tailed & Masked Finches ...... 192 Mannikins – Chestnut-breasted, Pictorella & Yellow-rumped Mannikins ...... 194 5 MAMMALS

Echidna – Short-beaked Echidna ...... 198 Quoll and phascogale – Northern Quoll and Northern Brush-tailed Phascogale ...... 200 Bandicoot + Possums: 1 – Northern Brown Bandicoot and Common Brushtail Possum ...... 202 Possums: 2 + Sugar Glider – Rock Ringtail Possum and Sugar Glider ...... 204 Wallabies – Agile & Northern Nailtail Wallabies ...... 206 Wallaroos: 1 – Antilopine & Common Wallaroos ...... 208 Wallaroos: 2 + Rock-wallabies – Black Wallaroo and Wilkin's & Short-eared Rock-wallabies ...... 210 Flying-foxes – Black & Little Red Flying-foxes ...... 212 Microbats – Ghost, Yellow-bellied Sheath-tailed & Orange Leaf-nosed Bats ...... 214 Rodents – Black-footed Tree-rat and Water & Common Rock Rats ...... 216 Dingo and Water Buffalo – Dingo and Water Buffalo ...... 218

REPTILES AND AMPHIBIANS

Crocodiles: 1 – Estuarine Crocodile ...... 222 Crocodiles: 2 + Turtles: 1 – Freshwater Crocodile and Northern Long-necked & Northern Yellow-faced Turtles ...... 224 Turtles: 2 + Geckos: 1 – Northern Snapping & Pig-nosed Turtles and Asian House Gecko ...... 226 Geckos: 2 – Bynoe's & Banded Prickly Geckos and Northern & Northern Spotted Dtellas ...... 228 Geckos: 3 – Northern Knob-tailed, Northern Spiny-tailed Gecko & Marbled Velvet Geckos ...... 230 Geckos: 4 + Snake-lizard – Giant Cave Gecko and Burton's Snake-lizard ...... 232 Skinks – Top End Fire-tailed & Eastern Striped Skinks and Red-sided & Slender Rainbow-skinks ...... 234 Lizards: 1 – Common Blue-tongue and Gilbert's Dragon ...... 236 Lizards: 2 – Frilled Lizard and Sand Goanna ...... 238 Lizards: 3 + Snakes: 1 – Merten's Water Monitor and Children's Python ...... 240 Snakes: 2 – Olive & Water Pythons ...... 242 Snakes: 3 – Black-headed & Oenpelli Pythons ...... 244 Snakes: 4 – Carpet Python and Brown Tree Snake ...... 246 Snakes: 5 – Green Tree Snake and Taipan ...... 248 Snakes: 6 – Mulga Snake, Northern Brown Snake and Northern Death Adder ...... 250 Snakes: 7 – Keelback and Arafura File Snake ...... 252 Frogs: 1 – Green Tree, Red Tree & Roth's Tree Frogs ...... 254 Frogs: 2 – Giant Frog, Northern Dwarf Tree Frog and Rocket Frog ...... 256 Frogs: 3 – Masked, Rockhole, Copland's Rock & Dahl's Aquatic Frogs ...... 258 Frogs: 4 – Marbled & Ornate Burrowing Frogs and Northern Spadefoot Toad ...... 260 Frogs: 5 – Pale & Peter's Frogs and Cane Toad ...... 262