Corroboree

Visited: dry season

Recommendation: Situated on the Arnhem Highway, halfway between Darwin and Kakadu NP, with The Adelaide River to the west and Mary River to the east, Corroboree has great access to lots of wildlife hotspots.

Cooroboree is quite a convenient place to stop and the caravan park seemed like a good place to spend a couple of nights. It's a very pleasant park, backing onto some thick forest. Agile Wallaby populate the verge of this bush and during the late afternoon and into the night, they come further and further into the caravan park. They're quite adorable marsupials.

But the first thing that I did when I arrived at the caravan park was to find a shady spot as it was pretty hot. Next job is to go for a pee and as I stepped into the ablution block, I saw a butcherbird whacking away at a wasp it had killed. Trying to tenderise it, I guess. And I realised to my delight that it was the last butcherbird that I need to see out of the whole family - a Silver-backed Butcherbird. So, I had a quick pee, dashed back to the van, and got my camera. It was still sitting up, trying to mash up this insect. Later I saw the entire family, a couple of adults with youngsters. They were obviously residents of the park so I got to see them several times. I haven't seen too many Silver-backed Butcherbirds since so it was really cool to get photographs of them there and then.

Silver-backed Butcherbird (Cracticus argenteus)

Around the area are various beauty spots, fishing areas, wildlife, hotspots and camping places. I only had time to explore a couple of them but it would definitely be a wish of mine to come back and spend more time here. There are some lovely walks, like the one along the Mary River. On a short walk, the area produced 26 different species of bird including multiple Red-collared Lorikeet, a Rainbow Pitta and several species of honeyeater. There were endemics too, including the Green-backed Gerygone and Arafura Fantail.

Best of all were the butterflies, in absolute abundance. As you can see from this photograph, they were just everywhere. And although they might be called Common Crow Butterflies, they were still very, very beautiful.

Common Crow Butterfly (Euploea core)

Also along the lagoon. Was a group of Red-tailed Black Cockatoos. I never pass up a chance to photograph them, they always look just like this one. Very attractive. Alongside them were the Little Friarbird. These robust birds are members of the honeyeater family. They consume nectar, have a slightly curved beak that helps them access nectar from flowers and although less pronounced than in some other honeyeaters, they have a brush-tipped tongue that aids in gathering nectar. They are not good family members though as they are aggressive and chase other, smaller honeyeaters away.

Red-tailed Black Cockatoo (Calyptorhynchus banksii)

Little Friarbird (Philemon citreogularis)

Also close to the caravan park is the Leaning Tree Lagoon. It is an unusual park where, even in a 2 wheel drive, you can drive around the outside of the water. I'd probably only advise that in the dry season though! As it was late in the season, the water had receeded to a small area in the centre. It gave me an opportunity to identify birds that were in the in the wet patch but not really any opportunity for photography I just got far shots of the Black-necked Stork and the Pacific Heron but there were lots of herons, cormorants, ibis, egrets, ducks, doves, and some circling kites here so it was be well worth having another look at.

Black-necked Stork (Ephippiorhynchus asiaticus)

Pacific Heron (Ardea pacifica)

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