Tour Highlights
- Gouldian Finch
- Little Kingfisher
- Rainbow Pitta
- Star Finch
- Purple-crowned Fairy-wren
- Private cruises
- Category
Start
Darwin
End
Darwin
- Birdwatching focus
- moderate
- Wildlife focus
- moderate
- Photography focus
- high
- Culture focus
- low
- Walks rating
- easy
- Number of boat cruises
- Public0Private2
- Sleeping options
- ensuite
Tour notes & Add-ons
Extend Your Birding Holidays with Our Connecting Tours & Convenient Packages:
**In 2026, our 8 Day Tropical Outback Bird Photography Tour links to Northern Territory Bird Tours around Darwin and Fogg Dam, allowing you to explore Darwin’s best best birding and photography sites more thoroughly with our expert guides.
Each tour can also be booked individually.
Add on: Darwin & Fogg Dam Birdwatching Day Tours – 3 & 4 July 2026
Tour Summary
Embark on our 8 Day ‘Tropical Outback’ Bird Photography Tour to photograph an incredible range of colourful and unique northern Australian birds and wildlife in stunning natural landscapes with professional bird photography guide Luke Paterson. Photographic cruises allow us to get up close our subjects and visiting a wide range of tropical habitats increases our encounters with key bird photography targets such as Little and Azure Kingfisher, Gouldian Finch, Purple-crowned Fairywren, Bush Stone-Curlew, Buff-sided Robin, Tawny Frogmouth, Rainbow Pitta, Rufous Owl, Hooded Parrot, Chestnut-quilled Rock Pigeon, wild Budgerigar and scenes during wetland frenzies. Explore the inland tropical savannahs and escarpment country too
Regions Visited
- Darwin
- Mary River
- Kakadu
- Katherine
- Pine Creek
- Timber Creek
Tour Route
Tour Gallery
Tour Inclusions & Exclusions
• 8 full days service from multi award-winning tour operator and specialist guide Luke Paterson, owner of NT Bird Specialists (25 years experience in northern Australia)
• 8 full days private spacious and air-conditioned commercial tourist vehicle with driver and purpose-built 4WD trailer
• 7 nights accommodation (4 star ensuite boutique rooms/cabins or best-available) *Some room styles vary in remote areas.
• All meals/drinks as stated in itinerary (please notify us of allergies at time of booking)
• Cool water, tea and coffee
• 2 Private Photography cruises
• Full use of days (and some nights) for photoshoots
• Hotel pick up and drop off
• Field guides to share
• National Park permits and entry fees
• Emergency communications, first-aid kit
• Assurance of touring with an award-winning Australian Accredited Tourism Business and Licensed Commercial Tour Operator
• Genuine ecotourism, low impact tours that support the environment and local communities
• Excellence in guiding skill, photographic tuition skill and local natural history knowledge
• Excellent interpretation and customer service
• Exclusive itineraries built by local specialists
• Birds! Birds! Birds! Birds!
And more…
Read our 5 star reviews
• Flights and excess baggage to/from Darwin, Northern Territory
• Visas
• Airport transfers
• Comprehensive travel insurance (recommended)
• Alcoholic & evening beverages
• Pre and post tour meals & accommodation *Optional Extra* Pre & post tour rooms with breakfast & airport transfers in Darwin
• Laundry, personal shopping, phone calls, gratuities and other items not stated in the itinerary are excluded
Take a Look at Other Photography Tours
Our Tour Options
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Borneo Birding & Wildlife Tour: Hornbills, Trogons & Orangutans
Borneo is a naturalist’s dream & a breathtaking destination for NT Bird Specialists’ guests to experience incredible accessible birding & mammal viewing in style.
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6 Day Red Centre Alice Springs Birding and Wildlife Tour
Seek and photograph Pink Cockatoo, Grey Honeyeater, Dusky Grassrwen, Budgerigar, Thorny Devil, Perentie and more on this perfect tour extension for our Darwin, Kakadu and Top End Birdwatching Tours.
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11 Day Kimberley Birdwatching Tour & Remote Wilderness Expedition
Join the most immersive Kimberley birding and wildlife tour available! Black Grasswren, Kimberley Honeyeater, Partridge Pigeon, Monjon, Wandjina Rock Art, Mitchell Falls, Stunning landscapes and more.
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15 Day Sri Lankan Birdwatching & Wildlife Tour
Join NT Bird Specialists on a 15 day Wildlife Adventure through the biodiverse and culturally rich lands of Sri Lanka in Feb-March 2026. ‘Immerse yourself in World Heritage wilderness and ancient cultural sites while searching for unique and endemic birds and wildlife off the beaten track. Sri Lanka – the Wonder of Asia, the Pearl of the Indian Ocean.’
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8 Day Tropical Outback Bird Photography Tour
Embark on our 8 Day ‘Tropical Outback’ Bird Photography Tour to photograph an incredible range of colourful and unique northern Australian birds and wildlife in beautiful landscapes.
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Kakadu Bird Week Tours 2025
Get a fantastic taste of Kakadu’s birding highlights when NT Bird Specialists guides you to the best sites during Kakadu Bird Week 2025.
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1 Day Darwin Birdwatching Tour ‘Sticky Beak’
Darwin’s urban landscapes retain an array of habitats for birds and wildlife to flourish in.
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9 Day Australian Outback Birdwatching Tour, Darwin (NT) to Mount Isa (QLD)
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11 Day Ultimate Top End Birding Adventure Tour
NT Bird Specialists’ ‘Ultimate Top End Birding Adventure’ tour discovers some of the most remote and impressive landscapes and targeted bird and wildlife species in one fowl swoop!
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8 Day North Australian Finch Frenzy Tour
Join NT Bird Specialists on a Grass ’Finch Frenzy’ of the best birding sites for Gouldian Finch, Star Finch, Pictorella Mannikin and up to 200 bird species spanning the Top End, Northern Territory. Start & finish in Darwin.
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Wild Kakadu Nature Photography Expedition
Join our exclusive photographic expedition through the heart of Crocodile Dundee country. Special offers available.
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Photographic Workshop: Top End Birds & Wildlife Immersion
Join our breath-taking bird & wildlife photography workshop with Luke Paterson & Jay Collier in Kakadu’s World Heritage sites. Limited availability. 2 Expert Tour leaders. Special offers available.
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5 Day Top End-Kakadu Birding, Wildlife & Nature Tour
Our 5 day ‘Top End Birding & Wildlife Experience’ provides fantastic chances to view many Top End specialty birds and wildlife, including Banded-fruit Dove (endemic), Rainbow Pitta, Hooded Parrot (endemic), Gouldian Finch and many waterbirds.
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4 Day East Kimberley Bird Photography Tour
Join our tantalising bird photography adventure in the East Kimberley. Photograph finches, local speciality birds and reptiles in gorgeous boab-clad landscapes with million star astro views.
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1 Day Kakadu Birdwatching Tours
Our 1 day Kakadu bird watching tours start and finish in the heart of the World Heritage Kakadu National Park.
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1 Day Wild Kakadu Wildlife & Rock Art Tour
Only have a day or two to spare? Join our 1 Day Wild Kakadu Wildlife & Rock Art tour for a glimpse of the World Heritage wildlife and rock art at home amongst the mighty South Alligator floodplains and Ubirr rock art sites adjacent to the East Alligator River.
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