We were lucky to see Azure kingfishers on every boast trip we went on (4), even in the pouring rain. This isn't my favourite but I think it show's off how gorgeous these small birds are. The beauty of these boat trips down the Daintree River is that many of the birds, particularly the Kingfishers and have no fear of the boats which are small and quiet.
They let you get very close. This image isn't cropped and is almost too close. With their striking azure blue feathers and buff breast, you can see why they are sort after by birdwatchers.
They are 16-19 cm and smaller than our Sacred Kingfishers.
They love to hang around the edges of rivers, darting from branch to branch catching insects and other invertebrates,crustaceans and rarely fish.
Tags: Ceyx azureus Azure Kingfisher kingfisher Birds Australian Bird Daintree River 'boat cruise Australia Far North Queensland bird river Daintree River Wild Watch
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We do have sacred Kingfishers In Victoria but not as common as in the Daintree. They were almost on all power lines and not as friendly as this guy.
This Kingfisher was so calm that I think I could have swam over and given him a pat! Just sat there, almost showing off!
They are bigger birds than the Azure kingfisher growing up to 23 cm long.
First Nations of the Northwest Coast believe that the Kingfisher is the promise of abundance, of new warmth, prosperity and love that is about to unfold within your life.
The Kingfisher has long been recognized for his speed and agility as well as his keen hunting skills.
Tags: Sacred Kingfisher Kingfisher Todiramphus sanctus Daintree River Far North Queensland Queensland Australian Bird bird Daintree River Boat Cruise Daintree River Wild Watch
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Not the best of my images but I only manged a couple of shots of this tiny, elusive little Kingfisher. I wanted to put all three up consecutively so you could compare them.
This is the smallest of our Kingfishers at around 11-13 cm. Not easy birds to see unless you are traveling around rivers and mangroves in the top end of Australia where they perch on overhanging branches and dive for fish and crustaceans.
They have the gorgeous glossy blue feathers.
One issue with photographing along dense rainforest is the lack of light. Most of my images had extremely high ISOs, well over 20,000. I thought some might be beyond rescuing, such as this one but most managed to come up quite well with noise reduction software. A saviour for situations like this!
Tags: Kingfisher Little Kingfisher Ceyx pusilla Blue Daintree River Australian Bird Far North Queensland Daintree River Cruise Nikon D500 Nikon 200-500 rainforest Daintree River WIld Watch
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One of the highlights of our trip was seeing the Southern Cassowary in the wild. There are probably less than 1400 of these birds left in Australia though estimates vary. There are around 500 at Cape Tribulation where we saw this one. I know many people search for them without luck and its not easy to find them in such dense Rainforest.
We were driving down a road to the Jindalba Board walk and as we rounded the bend, it walked out in front of us. I had my camera on my lap so took some images before it slowly disappeared. It just strolled in front of the car, not worried about us at all. I must admit I was shaking, probably with the thrill of the find, I was surprised any of the images turned out!
These large birds can be fierce and have been known to attack people, as usual out of fear when people try to get too close to them or their chicks. They have the reputation of being the most deadly bird in the world. The innermost claw on each foot is elongated and very sharp. The birds will strike out with these in territorial disputes and defensive or offensive behaviour with other animals, including humans.
The cassowary has a distinctive helmet – known as a casque. No-one has really know what it is for bur recently researches at La Trobe University in Melbourne have discovered that it is most likely acts like a radiator or “thermal window” to help the large, flightless birds keep cool in hot weather.
Tags: Southern Cassowary bird Flighless Bird Cape Tribulation Cassowary rainforest Casuarius casuarius Queensland Far North Queensland Daintree Rainforest Daintree Nikon D750 Nikon 24-120
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Egrets fly off from Daintree River area in the early morning by the hundreds. Come evening, they fly down river, to roost. Will post an image of this later.
Tags: FNQ Newell Beach birds rainforest mist mountains Egret bird Australian Bird texture Art texture
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