Notes to readers of this Blog


NOTES TO READERS OF THIS BLOG

Thank you for dropping by to check out my blog. You will see a lot of other Blogs about birds I follow down the left hand side. I strongly encourage you to check some of these out as well, they are entertaining and I love to see birds from all over the world, I hope you do too.
Cheers,
Richard

Monday 14 November 2011

Black-tailed Native Hens and others at ASWTP

I've been to the Alice Springs Water Treatment Plant a couple of times recently and the sheer numbers of birds has increased over the past few weeks. The Black-tailed Native Hens are everywhere and groups of 50 -70 in a couple of places suggest they have bred well recently. Here is a small group:
Apart from one of my least favourite birds because of their dive-bombing, the Masked Lapwings, the Black-winged Stilt must also have young around as I was harassed by a pair of birds. Their constant calling and those needle-like bills could be nasty weapons, but they are still an elegant bird:
I had just finished scurrying away from the Stilts and sat quietly hoping some fairy wrens would hop out and have a look at me, but something else caught my eye, a dragonfly:
I'm not too crash hot on insect identifications, but it seemed to be the right colour for the Poo Ponds.

I wandered back towards the car park, avoiding the Stilts and Lapwings, and came across a Pacific Black Duck who had had trouble getting away from the edge on my way in. I suspect it has something wrong with its legs or wings or it is just very young, but it provided a dilemma - do I help it or not? It seemed to be surviving so I left it alone after I took a couple of snaps:
The part behind the bird is the overflow into the next pond, and although I was a bit concerned for its welfare, it managed to get away from the suction ok.

Also saw a noisy Rufous Songlark and a friendly Willy Wagtail and.




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