Daly Waters

Visited: dry season

Recommendation: If you are travelling between Darwin and Tennant Creek, this place is a must do. Regardless of the abundant bird life, the settlement is so lively and interesting making it one of the best outback stops in the Northern Territory.

Daly Waters is a small settlement in the Northern Territory, Australia, renowned for its unique charm and laid-back atmosphere. The Daly Waters Pub is a legendary landmark, known for its quirky décor and friendly locals. It was originally established as a cattle station, and its rural heritage is still evident in its surroundings and the local lifestyle. The remote and peaceful area, offers visitors a base for exploring the surrounding wilderness, with fabulous opportunities for viewing wildlife.

The first thing you see and hear as you enter Daly Waters are the Red-collared Lorikeet. As noisy, gregarious and fabulous as their Rainbow cousins, these birds are stunning. Daly Waters has been the only place in the Northern Territory that I have seen them in such numbers and been able to get close to them. They were in the trees, at water faucets and playing on the ground. It really was a special birding moment.

Red-collared Lorikeet (Trichoglossus rubritorquis) 

Once you get past the marvel that is the Red-collared Lorikeet, there is so much more to see here at Daly Waters. The pub is a great place to start. It's got a caravan on the back and I can thoroughly recommend their happy hour, which was just a wonderful introduction to Daly Waters. 

The caravan park itself is also home to the Silver-crowned Friarbird, the Little Friarbird, the Grey-crowned Babbler, and Apostlebirds. You can imagine that all of those birds, along with the lorikeet, make a lot of noise. Once you're in that caravan park, you can just pull up a chair and sit there and just watch and listen to the bird life. It is absolutely abundant and with such a fantastic variety. I've only glimpsed the Silver-crowned Friarbird before now but here they were right in front of me, and I was able to photograph them at leisure. It was a fantastic place to start. 

Just down the street from the pub, there's a little park with some bird baths. Numerous honeyeaters were coming down to and from to feed in the park and drink. Across the road, there were some puddles next to some cabins. I spent a happy time moving between the 2 areas watching what was coming down. In particular, there were many, many Yellow-tinted and Rufous-throated Honeyeaters. 

From there you can walk around the outskirts of the settlement and I found that to be hugely productive, finding other finches like the Masked., I also found orioles, trillers, and there were much the shyer parrots like the Red-winged. The Cockatiel and the Red-tailed Black Cockatoo would all be circling just a bit outside of the town on the periphery, so it's well worth walking the external roads early in the morning in particular.

There were also some unsealed roads out the back of Daly Waters and they were quieter for traffic and surrounded by low level bush. By walking quietly in this area, I was able to even more birds. Common Bronzewing skulked around the edges and numerous Grey Shrikethrush sang from the trees. All in all, I spotted over 30 species of birds in this tiny area.