Totems and twitchers: Spotting Australia’s wildest birds
On these Indigenous-led tours, Aboriginal guides will add another layer to the experience of spotting elusive species by sharing stories of their cultural significance; many birds feature in Creation stories, assist hunters, and even intentionally spread fires to smoke out their prey.
Kakadu National Park, Northern Territory
Home to over a third of Australia’s bird species, Kakadu National Park is ‘bird heaven’ for twitchers, according to Venture North Safaris’ guide Stephen Abala.
‘In the UK, they might spot eight or nine species in the one spot on a good day, and then I take them to Anbangbang Billabong and there's 120 species. It just blows their minds,’ says the Torres Strait Islander and Iwaidja guide.
‘Yellow Waters, Corroboree Billabong, they're all good at different times of the year, but there's some other places like Mamukala Bird hide where, at certain times of year, there might be in vicinity of a 100,000 geese and ducks and pelicans and jabiru.’
Stephen says because Indigenous guides know the Country so well, they are usually able to spot a bird that a guest is particularly keen to see.
‘Our culture tells us to be observant of everything, because everything gives you a signal and the more time you spend bush, the more observant you become.’
And it’s those observations and stories that ensure an unforgettable experience for Venture North's guests - even those who hadn’t previously had an interest in birds.
Goshawks team up with hunters to help them find prey. Feasting on the eyes of the killed animal is their reward.
‘If you are hunting, a goshawk will fly up to you and make eye contact and then fly to the nearest target,’ Stephen says.
‘It's like a symbiotic relationship because most hunters aren't interested in the eyes, but it's a good source of protein for the goshawk.
‘Then there's a Black kite and a Whistling kite. They will fly into a fire situation with a long strand of grass to ignite it, and then fly away with it to spread fire across the flood plain, because the fire makes all the lizards and rats and mice and snakes and everything come out. So, by spreading the fire, they just increase their bounty.’
Mossman Gorge, Far North Queensland
Roy Gibson, cultural advisor at the Mossman Gorge Centre, says twitchers armed with binoculars are a common sight in the Daintree and, whilst many birds are hard to spot in the towering rainforest canopy, sightings of willy wagtails, kookaburras, honeyeaters and scrub turkeys are common.
Many visitors are keen to spot Australia’s largest flightless bird, the cassowary, which is an untouchable totem for many Kuku Yalanji women.
Roy credits his own totem, the white-tailed kingfisher, for saving his life one unforgettable morning:
‘I was sitting down thinking about witchetty grub. Suddenly a big rotten tree fell down about 10 metres away. I was thinking that’s the right tree for witchetty grubs. I walked into the forest to get an axe – and a white-tailed kingfisher flew right in my face. He looked down on the ground at the tree then back at me. I walked a few steps and he flew in my face again, telling me go back, go back. I took one more step and he was so close, he slapped me in the face. I stood still. I looked down a metre away – and saw the biggest red belly black snake I’d ever seen on the ground. ‘
The kingfisher chased the snake away and saved my life.’
Arnhem Land, Northern Territory
For a truly remote experience, Davidson’s Arnhemland Safaris offers birdwatchers access to a private wilderness where more than 200 species thrive. From the rainbow-hued Gouldian finch to the stately great-billed heron, this area is brimming with species that will tick many twitcher’s boxes.
