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 and Greater & 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 ........................................