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

Friday 9 November 2012

Nyirripi and back - birds, reptiles and storms

This week I was working at Nyirripi, a small community 150 kms westish from Yuendumu. The birding wasn't spectacular, but the storms and sunrises were, not to mention the reptiles along the roads to and from.
The water treatment plant was a little disappointing (and overflowing) but I was prepared for this as there was a lot of rain around and plenty of places for the birds to get a drink.
This Grey-headed Honeyeater was very busy around the accommodation area:

Grey-headed Honeyeater



Here are a small selection of other birds seen both at Nyirripi and on the way back to Alice Springs:

The Crimson Chat Family Tree (near airstrip)
- female lower branch, male in the middle, young one on top

Fairy Martins (on fence near airstrip)

Mulga Parrot


Zebra Finch

With the rains that had been and were coming, the reptiles were out on the roads in numbers I haven't seen for a while. At one point I counted 20 sand goannas in a 5 km stretch. They generally stand on their front legs, back legs lowered, and from a distance look like another stick on the road. Then they drop their heads as the car approaches, and scurry off, their scurrying speed depended on the speed of the car.

Sand Goanna



This poor sand goanna was near the ponds at Nyirripi



Centralian Blue-tongue

This snake was in the middle of the road, probably hit by a car (not mine)

By far the most exciting part of the trip out to Nyirripi was the weather. The storms, the sunrises, the rainbows, and the clouds. Here is a selection of photos:

Sunrise


Double Rainbow

Storm Clouds

 




and I loved this signpost!

Enjoy your Bird-watching!

2 comments:

  1. Some nice birds but really like the Mulga Parrot. The reptiles are beautiful too. Sad that they have to deal with cars.

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  2. Hi!
    Great bird serie as allways and a absolutely stunning sunrise.
    have a nice week
    /Ingemar

    ReplyDelete