Fitzroy River Lodge

Visited: late dry season

Recommendation: I'm not sure I would really visit Fitzroy Crossing unless it was for wildlife. The caravan park is certainly an easy place to see birds, particularly when it is quiet.

Fitzroy River Lodge is at the small settlement of Fitzroy Crossing. It's just over the main bridge and it is a very large caravan park with accompanying lodge. The site is obviously home to some considerable number of government workers, but otherwise it was very quiet when I visited. 

You know you're in for a treat when you drive into a caravan park and there are Brolga wandering around as you try to find your site! This family was the first thing that I saw and photographed here and extremely pleased I was about it. There were two adults with a juvenile and although they looked quite curious, they didn't like me getting close at all. It didn't take long before they disappeared. 

The main birding I did was actually sitting in the van watching the birds coming and going to the puddles that sprinklers had made or to the taps, leaking taps that are actually set up for the caravanners but no matter. So there were lots of honey eaters there, most common was the rufous throated that was gathering in quite decent numbers, I saw them all the time coming and going from the water sources but less common was the white-gaped honey eater, it was really nice to see them out in the open and actually stationary enough to get photographs of them. Along with them were the little friar birds, plenty of great bower birds and the paperbark flycatcher was a really nice one to get, it was a bit more reluctant to go to the taps but could be seen whizzing around making its gorgeous buzz call. 

Brolga (Grus rubicunda) 

The main birding I did was actually sitting in the van watching the birds coming and going to the puddles that the sprinklers had made or to the leaking taps dotted around the park. There were lots of honeyeaters here. The most common was the Rufous-throated and I saw them coming and going all afternoon. Less frequent was the White-gaped Honeyeater and it was really nice to see them out in the open. They are not often stationary enough to get photographs. Along with them were the Little Friarbirds, plenty of Great Bowerbirds and the Paperbark Flycatcher was a really nice one to get. It was a bit more reluctant to go to the taps but could be seen whizzing around making its gorgeous buzz call. 

The Grey-crowned Babblers were here, gathering in numbers around the taps and squabbling as they do. There were good views of the Red-collared Lorikeets and both birds were great to watch as they fought alongside each other at their taps. 

Grey-crowned Babbler (Pomatostomus temporalis) 

Red-collared Lorikeet (Trichoglossus rubritorquis) 

Other nice sightings were the Zebra Finches that came to the puddles a few times and an occasional dragon even joined them. This was easy wildlife watching and I really enjoyed being at the lodge. I might have been forced to look harder or further afield if there were more campers there.