McLeod River

Flora is not my thing but the combination of the water and different species of flowering trees attracts lots of birds. Most, like the Fairy Gerygone, stayed in the foliage and I only saw them flitting about, identifying them by call. Red-winged Parrots and Rainbow Lorikeet also stayed high up but there was no missing a group of Blue-winged Kookaburra with their incredible cackling. 

The water was very shallow, even after a recent good douse of rain. It was muddy and stirred up which, to my surprise, attracted a lone Royal Spoonbill. A Little Heron (formerly named Striated) was also working the water but as both were shy birds, they took off as soon as we got close.  

Other notable mentions here were the cuckoo. We didn't see any but heard the Pacific Koel, Pheasant Coucal, Little Bronze, Sahul Brush  and Channel-billed Cuckoo.

The highlight of this visit was seeing a pair of Brown Goshawk. After seeing the larger female sitting up high and preening, she flew to the steep bank on the other side of the creek and sunbaked. I've never seen a raptor do this. The arrival of the male was announced by him calling. He then presented her with food and she returned to the nest. We watched this process for some time.

The presence of lots of skinks and small lizards made easy picking for the goshawk and we were lucky enough to see one out in the open. This is a Closed-litter Rainbow Skink. It is so named because it sitcks closely to the leaf litter. We shooed this one back into the detritus before it became goshawk food.