My ultimate goal for today was to see the Yellow-billed Kingfisher, a specialty of the Cape York Peninsula. So, I started the morning by birding my way along the road towards the little settlement of Portland Roads, stopping along all the creeks and dry creek beds to see if I could find the kingfisher or any other birds. While I did manage to hear the bird once, I wasn't able to locate it the canopy. As a concession, I did pick up a lot of new birds, some common to Queensland in general that I had missed during my quick trip up the coast and others that were specialties to the area.
After a pleasant lunch back at the campsite, I was joined by two other birders for a walk around the campsite and creek just behind it. Things were pretty quiet but we did manage to spot a Green-backed Honeyeater, another area specialty, on our way back up to my camp. I decided to have a relaxing afternoon since I had not slept well the night before and then head off to try and find the kingfisher once again.
By late afternoon, I was once again at Chili Creek, sitting, watching, and waiting for what I hoped would be a Yellow-billed Kingfisher. After about an hour, I heard the bird calling just upstream and within a few minutes I had gotten good looks at the small bird way up in the canopy. While I didn't get any photos, I didn't really care as I was just happy to see a kingfisher, one of my favorite birds, but also another area specialty.
My plan was to see the kingfisher just before dark when they normally start calling and then spend the drive home spotlighting for owls and other nocturnal birds. Since Isaw the bird about an hour before dark I decided to drive the rest of the way to Portland Roads to see sunset and see if anything was out over the ocean. It turned out to be a lovely evening, though a bit windy, to sit at the old wharf and seawatch. I managed to pick up a couple new birds and enjoy a peaceful evening before driving back to my campsite with zero results spotlighting.
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