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Visited: late dry season
Recommendation: Situated in the heart of Kakadu National Park, Cooinda Lodge is the perfect base to explore central and southern Kakadu including numerous falls, rock formations, swimming holes and all the wildlife that may be found in these diverse environments. Kakadu is famous for being home to many animals and Cooinda is at the heart of the park. It is a great place to start your exploration.
Red-tailed Black Cockatoo (Calyptorhynchus banksii
Cooinda Lodge is in the heart of the Kakadu National Park and it's a great place to start off to explore in the area. I'm very close to Yellow Waters. In fact, the same thing runs through the back of the resort. The resort consists of hotel accommodation as well as a fairly large caravan park, which I suspect gets extremely busy in the cooler months here in Kakadu. Half of the caravan park was closed off, which was quite good for me because it was the back half that was closest to the Yellow Water boat ramp and it was surrounded by thick bush. So I was quite hopeful that if I wandered that area, I might pick up a few things. But as soon as I arrived, the first thing that I found or heard were the red-tailed black cockatoos who were sitting out at the front of the property feasting on almond nuts, I think, anyway. So that was a really nice start. I never get tired of seeing any species of black cockatoo. They're always so interesting and engaging. In a way that the white cockatoos, the sulphur-crested, the corellas just are not. Something very charismatic about these birds.
As I started to walk around the park, moving away from the campus and into the quieter areas of the park, I could hear honeyeaters. I had seen a few of the endemic species before, but it was with great delight that I found the Rufous-banded and the Bar-breasted in the gum trees not far from my van. The Bar-breasted in particular has incredible patterns and I think is one of my favourite honeyeaters of all. I also saw Blue-faced Honeyeater and there were lots of Dusky Myzomela around the place. Singing away as well, making quite a noise in the bush were trillers, orioles, drongo and Shining Flycatchers. And all the time, the incessant drone of the Sahul Brush Cuckoo was underlying all of those beautiful noises.
Rufous-banded Honeyeater (Conopophila albogularis)
Bar-breasted Honeyeater (Ramsayornis fasciatus)
Late afternoon, I walked down to the boat ramp onto the creek and it was with some trepidation. I didn't want to get too close because I could see floating down the river was a Freshwater Crocodile. You can tell he's a freshie because he's got a long, thin snout. Whenever I talk to Australians about crocodiles, they're quite dismissive of the freshies. You know, they only give you a nip. They don't kill you like the estuarine crocodiles do. Regardless, I decided to steer clear.
Freshwater Crocodile (Crocodylus johnstoni)
Badge Huntsman Spider (Neosparassus diana)
I did go out after dark (staying well clear of the boat ramp) and I could hear a Barking Owl, which are often found near water. It never came anywhere near, but it was quite nice to just listen to it in the distance. The Bush Stone Curlew were wandering around the caravan park in the dark, howling as they normally do. But it's always nice to see them.
There were lots of spiders around, as you might expect. And my favourite was this Badge Huntsman Spider, which looked like your average huntsman, but kind of almost glowed with this yellow golden look.
There were also lots of Cane Toads in the park, which was very disappointing. I was longing for the day where I'd get far enough west to say goodbye to these odious creatures. But I did also find this rather sweet, Ornate Burrowing Frog.
Cane Toads (Bufo marinus)
Ornate Burrowing Frog (Platyplectrum ornatum)
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