Wetland New Year

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Once I got used to looking underneath the Lotus leaves I started seeing more and more bird activity. Sort of graduating from Jacana to Crake viewing. Some birds use water surface while many use the plants to gain access to food near the surface or just predate on the smaller inhabitants.
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White-browed Crake Polioimnas cinereus
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White-browed Crake Polioimnas cinereus
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White-browed Crake Polioimnas cinereus
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White-browed Crake Polioimnas cinereus
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Comb-crested Jacana Irediparra gallinacean
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Whistling Kite Milvus sphenurus
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Crimson Finch Neochmia phaeton male
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Broad-billed Flycatcher Myiagra ruficollis

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Pheasant Coucal Centropus phasianinus
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Open Grasslands

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Closer to home and after a whopping 450 mm of rain, the grasslands are refreshed and starting to produce seeds and flowering plants. These in turn bring around the butterflies and seed eaters.
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Spermacoce calliantha
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Heliotropium indicum
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Clearwing Swallowtail Cressida cressida mating
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Clearwing Swallowtail Cressida cressida
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Common Bronzewing Phaps chalcoptera male

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Chestnut-breasted Mannikin Lonchura castaneothorax
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Crimson Finch Neochmia phaeton
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Revisiting Kakadu

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I’m not sure if revisiting ensures you get things you missed the first time because often your mindset is the same. I am sure that as an area becomes more familiar you can sometimes concentrate on seeing things you missed the first time.
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Jewel Bug Choerocoris paganus
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Azure Kingfisher Alcedo azurea
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Little Kingfisher Alecedo pusilla
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Blue-faced Honeyeater Entomyzon cyanotis
feeding in
Xanthostemon paradoxus
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Blue-winged Kookaburra Dacelo leachii
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Chestnut-quilled Rock-Pigeon Petrophassa rufipennis
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Comb-crested Jacana Irediparra gallinacean
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Commelina ensifolia
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Crocodylus porosus
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Darter Anhinga melanogaster male
rubbing its oil gland
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Great-billed Heron Ardea sumatrana
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Grey Whistler Pachycephala simplex race simplex
eating an unidentified tree frog
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Grey Whistler Pachycephala simplex race simplex
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Ground Orchid Dipodium stenochilum
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Intermediate Egret Ardea intermedia
in breeding condition
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Lemon-bellied Flycatcher Microeca flavigaster
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Lily Crinum angustifolium
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Little Corella Cacatua pastinator
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Livistona inermis
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Melaleuca magnifica
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Mistletoebird Dicaeum hirundinaceum
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Nanguluwur Art Site
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Native Ginger Curcuma australasica
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Pale Triangle Graphium eurypylus
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Robber Fly Family Asilidae
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Spangled Drongo Dicrurus bracteatus
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Two-lined Dragon Diporiphora bilineata
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White-bellied Sea Eagle Haliaeetus leucogaster
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Kakadu

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Kakadu was hot, very hot! People we saw were eating in
their cars rather than eat in the shade. The humidity was
high, no cooling from sweating. Not many tourists around.
The billabongs and river systems are full of very big
lizards so no cooling swims. However, the scenery was
breathtaking and the waterways cruises the way to go. There
were plenty of sticky black flies but no mozzies.
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Ubirr Escarpment
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Ubirr Flood Plain
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Ubirr Rock Art
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Ubirr Rock Art
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Yellow Waters Bilibong
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Azure Kingfisher Alcedo azurea
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Azure Kingfisher Alcedo azurea
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Black-necked Stork Ephippiorhynchus asiaticus
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Brolga Grus rubicundus
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Brolga Grus rubicundus
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Crocodylus porosus
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Canis lupus dingo
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Green Pygmy-Goose Nettapus pulchellus
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Little Kingfisher Alcedo pusilla
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Northern Dwarf Tree Frog Litoria bicolour
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Plumed Whistling-Duck Dendrocygna arcuata
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Rock Fern Drynaria quercifolia

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