Sunday, November 18, 2012

Birds of Yellow Water Billabong

Other than the awesome crocodiles, we also saw lots of cool birds on our Yellow Water Cruise. Kakadu National Park is home to 1/3 of Australia's bird species, which means there are over 280 species. I've put pictures of some of them here and tried to label them according to what my Kakadu Birds iPhone app tells me. I might be wrong on some of them, so if there are any bird experts who'd like to correct me, feel free!

Green Pygmy-Geese (a type of duck)

White-Bellied Sea Eagle

Magpie Geese
There are over three million of these in Kakadu. The one on the right was going crazy in the water.

Brolga (probably my favorite)-this big guy's partner was hiding behind a bush. We saw her too.

Comb-Crested Jacana (also called a Lily Walker, Lotus Bird, or Jesus Bird)

Baby version of the bird above (so tiny).


Glossy Ibis and Purple Swamphens

Rufous Night-Heron

Little Pied Cormorant

Forest Kingfisher (so small-you have no idea)

Great Billed Heron

Azure Kingfisher (another super small one)

Great Egret

Another sea eagle with an annoying bird that kept pestering it.

Black-Necked Stork (Jabiru)

Another Great Egret (or maybe an Intermediate Egret)

Australian Darter

Another Sea Eagle eating a fish.

The birds of Kakadu National Park are beautiful (as are the sunsets!).

8 comments:

  1. you have a bird app on your phone? things just got naturalist nerdy up in here.

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  2. Let's see if I can bring things back to normal. Do they eat any of these birds?

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    1. Actually, yes. The Aboriginal people eat the magpie geese!

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  3. I am so jealous of all your bird photos. I know you said that you weren't crazy about birds normally, but birds were one of the things that fascinated us when we first moved here. This post has moved a trip to Kakadu right to the top of our sightseeing list. Thanks for sharing!

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    1. I hope you get there...the whole area really was the true Australian experience, and we are so glad we made the trip!

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