Maggie Creek

Visited: dry season

Recommendation: This is a permanent waterhole and rest area. The combination of easy wildlife watching and a free place to stay the night makes this a great spot. 

Maggie Creek is another one of those wonderful little rest areas that are just absolute fantastic for wildlife spotting. It's on the road in between Kununurra and Wyndham, and it's just a small pull-in but it leads down into an area that is along part of a creek. It is a permanent waterhole, I understand, and it was just stuffed full of wildlife. I visited late in the dry season so it was stinking hot but that meant the birds were definitely attracted to the area because of the water. I spent quite a bit of time wandering along the creek, and I found the western end to be a great place in the late afternoon and early morning to sit and watch the birds coming in to drink. 

Across the area were Great Bowerbirds shrieking and wailing. I was fairly certain I got close to a nest, but I didn't want to interfere with the birds, so I let them be. Whistling kites were also calling all day, and occasionally they would sit up for me, 

Undoubtedly the stars of the show were the little bush birds at the end of the creek. There was a series of stones and rocks where they could bounce around, and the small shrubs and trees on the banks, gave them enough cover. They would gather in some numbers, feel safe, and jump down to have a drink before taking off again. I sat on the bank until I got rather sunburnt, just watching them. I actually found the late afternoon on this occasion to be better than early morning. I guess everybody was as hot and thirsty as I was.

There was a good variety of honeyeaters and my favourites were the Rufous-throated and the stunning Bar-breasted. I hadn't seen the latter too much in my travels, so it was really good to get such clear views of it. Also visiting were several Banded Honeyeaters including some juveniles. 

The finches that I saw were mainly Masked and there were adults and juveniles here in good numbers. There were fewer Star and Long-tailed Finches, and even fewer Chestnut-breasted Munia. 

But again, one I was looking for the most was the Gouldian Finch. There was only a few of them came down, so I tried to get off as many shots as I could, as fast as I could. This was one of the few places that I've seen Gouldian finches, so I was thrilled to see them. It really does pay to stop at these rest areas, particularly if you know there's water in them.