3-8 August 2010. Still on the trail of Gouldian Finches, we went to look around Edith Falls 40 kms north of Katherine. Although thousands of these birds once existed it is estimated that today only 2,500 are left in the wild. In the Edith Falls area the yearly count fluctuates between 250 - 350 birds. We went to a spot along the road recommended by another bird watcher and thought we had found our elusive bird when we saw these little finches with bright yellow beaks sitting in trees. On closer inspection they were not Gouldians but Masked Finches......
Here in the car park at Edith Falls is a 1919 classic vintage car driven by a husband and wife travelling from Perth to Brisbane. (Compare the size to the people standing along side.)
Edith Falls consists of 4 levels. Here is the bottom falls which form a lake and then runs into a river. Quite a lot of foreign visitors were here and some were swimming.........
On our walk we crossed the river.........
Rainbow Lorikeets screached in the Silky Grevillea along the river bank.............
From the top of the escarpment we can see the second and third falls.....
The second falls............
We stopped here to cool our feet in the water.......
As we continued on and climbed higher, we looked back on the second waterfall.........
On these hills we found wildflowers with very tiny flowers...... like these yellow peas....
And this tiny wattle. The sphere of small green balls opens up one by one to form the wattle flower.....
At the end of our walk we spied this bird high up in a tree. Because of its bright red breast we thought it might be our Gouldian but on closer inspection we realised it wasn't a finch. It's a Mistletoe Bird.
CHINAMAN'S CREEK. A few kilometres out of town at this waterhole we saw finches and Bea-Eaters but no Gouldians.............
Everywhere we saw beautiful new wildflowers, like this white grevillea
The red seed pods of Kimberley Bauhinia....
Rosella flower pods............. these open up to form a white flower
Sticky Kurrajong or Kimberley Rose...........
DONKEY CAMP WEIR. A few kilometres up river from the caravan park is the weir for Katherine's water. We walked across the weir wall looking for Great-Billed Heron.........
Looking back across the weir wall.....
A pair of Rajah Shelducks.....
A butterfly with a fabulous spotted body!!
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