Water Watcher

Birds, South-East Asia 2018 1 Minute

The forest has Fire, but it also cradles this:

Wangi Falls

Water roars off Litchfield’s sandstone plateaus, but like everything here, it is seasonal. May is still early in the Dry season and the land is ridding itself of the liquid acquired in the Wet.

Or call it Yegge, if you prefer; the Aboriginals traditionally recognise six seasons in Australia’s Top End.

Traditional seasons

The high rivers support saltwater crocodiles – and other, more delicate living things. None are more beautiful than the rainbow bee-eater, which swoops over the pool hunting insects.

Rainbow bee eater

Rainbow bee eater2a

Wherever there is water, there are birds. And they just keep getting stranger.

Masked lapwing

Masked lapwing Darwin Jun 2018

And more entertaining.

Rufous fantail

Oz Fantail

And more impossible in hue.

Forest kingfisher

Forest kingfishers1

Published by Adele Brand

Wildlife researcher and writer. I let the animals tell their own stories.

Published

8 thoughts on “Water Watcher”

  2. Adele, very nice! Nowithstanding the Salties, that pond looks very inviting! Such interesting birds. I would like to go there, just for the birds, but it offers so much more!

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    1. I saw a black wallaroo (like a small kangaroo) swimming up a creek in defiance of the croc warnings! Sadly, a fair number of people do ignore the ‘Crocwise’ signs, sometimes with grim results. Nevertheless, it was certainly a very pretty scene to look at.

      I was astonished by the sheer number and variety of wild things in the Litchfield area, and it was quite startling to think that it’s only a tiny bit of that vast continent. I would like to go back and explore the south as well!

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    1. LOL! Yes, indeed. Here in England, we are in a spell of Gurrung, which is most unusual for us.

      I guess the wattles on that lapwing serve some purpose, but I’m not clear on what it is.

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