Kakadu: yellow river sunset tour and Cahill crossing croc watching

I think the thing i liked most about Kakadu this time was the animals. Specially around the yellow river “cooinda” area.

We did the sunset river cruise and whilst everyone else was  checking out the crocs , i was looking more at the birds and landscape.

Below is a 

White belied sea eagle 

These birds breed and hunt near water, with fish making up to 50% of its diet. The bird is revered by indigenous people and is the subject of many dream time stories. They are monogamous and will remain with their mate until death.

The bird below is a 

Nanken night heron

These birds are predominately nocturnal, and are happy to live in a variety of environments. We seen at least six of these birds, some juvenile. The juveniles are much different in appearance with a more streaky looking coat. 

The bird below is probably the most famous /popular bird in Kakadu. So popular that there is a township named after it 

The bird is a 

Black Necked stork, better known as a Jabiru.

The Jabiru as they are known in Australia , have a beautiful blue /black neck. They stand really quite tall 159cms, whilst this one above doesn’t look tall, this is because it is actually resting on it’s elbows or in the correct terminology it is resting on its hocks. The Jabiru is usually found closest to wetlands. They are predominately solitary birds and are usually seen alone, as a couple or a family, but never in a large group as they are very territorial.

The bird below is a 

 Egret

The egrets are common across the world ,but are very common in Australia.  These birds are most commonly found near flowing water , however will remain near any shallow water source.  They generally gather in large groups overnight for safety. Interestingly they normally have yellow beaks and skin on their faces, however when they are ready to breed their beaks become sooty black and their facial skin green, they also grow what is referred to as nuptial plumes ,long hairlike feathers upon their backs.

Another common site in Kakadu is 

Water Buffalo’s

The water buffalo’s are not native to Australia , they were introduced around 1825 as a food source for local settlers in the Coburg peninsula, however the settlers abandoned that area and the buffalo’s soon proliferated moving throughout Queensland and the Northern Territory. In the 80s ad 90s a huge culling occurred  particularly  in the kakadu area. This was due in part to the huge amount of damage the buffalo’s do to local flora and environment and the impact on native animal breeding grounds. They continue to do culling in Kakadu via helicopter mainly, but only in the non tourist areas due to the risks associated with shooting wild animals around humans. There were several calves in the herd that we seen.

The stillness of the water provided me with lots of opportunity to photograph the beautiful environment , with the water mirroring above the surface. 

The tour was really lovely and the sunset amazing. I would highly recommend this tour to anyone.

Cahill’s Crossing

Is located on the the western bank  of the east alligator river, it is the main road into eastern Arnhem Land. However it is also very popular for another reason.

Crocodile watching. During high tide the water increases substantially over this crossing , pushing mullet above the weir. The crocs have learned this and now gather here in large numbers every high tide.

The crocs lie in the water mouths open catching the fish.  Although the image is a little unclear this is just one of the many crocs we seen enjoying their midday snack.

The crocs are not the only creatures that have worked out that the mullet numbers are increased. This whistling Kite managed to snag one as well.

Although it’s not easy to see ,as this point there where ten croc’s on the right side of the weir , three on the left.

Whilst we watched , waiting for the high tide, four crossed across the weir from left to right. With the local traffic dodging the crocs.

At the end they all returned to their normal territories, there were a few incidence of conflict ,but nothing to serious as they were all there for the same purpose.

It was really interesting to see, what was even more scary was watching the humans fishing, whilst the crocs were gathered, waiting. Because obviously the humans know that the mullet are running too.

we did wait for quite a while to see this , mainly to get a good position too see the crocs in action ,  but also because it is incredibly popular with a lot of tourists gathering to watch.

Until the next blog 

Travel Safe 

The Touring Knights