In May this year I was lucky enough to visit Far North Queensland. While there, I took an early morning boat trip on the Daintree River (map). The tour, run by Ian “Sauce” Worcester, was called the Daintree River Wild Watch. Highly recommended!

The river is gorgeous in the early morning chill:

We saw a number of kingfishers on the banks of the river. This one is a Sacred Kingfisher:

Another Sacred Kingfisher:

A Spectacled Monarch hid in the undergrowth of the mangrove forest. Our boat followed it quietly until it came into easy view:

As the sun came up, a Rainbow Bee-eater landed on a high-up tree branch and fluffed out its feathers to take advantage of the warmth:

Here’s another view of the Rainbow Bee-eater:

The river banks were at times covered in mangrove forests or fig trees. High above our heads, flowers bloomed:

Waterbirds included these colourful Radjah Shelducks, sometimes called Burdekin ducks:

Another non-descript-looking duck caused some excitement, as our tour guide thought it might be a whistling duck but I can’t identify it. If anyone can say what it is, let me know:

We saw a Darter roosting close to a Little Pied Cormorant. In this photo, the cormorant is behind the darter looking towards the right. The darter is in front, with its back to us, looking towards the left:

Three Little Pied Cormorants kept us company on the water. You can see the dense forest that covered much of the river bank:

An egret kept pace for a while too: