Driving back from Yulara yesterday I stopped off at the Mt Connor Lookout on the Lasseter Highway. I didn't intend to initially but as I drove past a tree about 500 metres before the Lookout, it burst into life as over 100 budgies flew off. The tree turned from green back to brown and the air was suddenly specks of green. I had remembered seeing parts of Lake Amadeus away from the road had water in it so I decided to stop and head over the sand dune and take a look. I had numerous flybys by groups of budgies:
and was a little disappointed to see the lack of water in the lake as it had looked like it would have much more water from my earlier sighting, but still, this was the first time I had seen any water in the lake:
Mt Connor itself was showing for the first time I had seen it in 4 attempts (down to Yulara and back twice) as the first two of these sightings the mountain was covered by a thick cloud of smoke back in November, and my trip down earlier in the week it had been covered by a low misty rain cloud, but this tie it was clear:
The stop itself isn't normally much chop for bird-watching, crested pigeons, yellow-throated miners and white-plumed honeyeaters the mainstays, so I continued on, keen to get a photo of the incessantly calling chiming wedgebill I had heard earlier in the week on the Erldunda side of Mt Ebenezer roadhouse. I stopped there again, and could hear it again, but couldn't see it at all and thus no photo. The Brown Songlark was there again though, and I realised that I hadn't heard a Rufous Songlark since I had left the Stuart Highway on the Monday. I have noticed this before. Although their range does overlap, I can't recall actually seeing the two of them in the one location. I continued on my drive back home and as I drove past a puddle recalled that I had seen a Rufous Songlark having a bath out at Ilparpa Road last week.Below are some of the photos:
WOW!
ReplyDeleteI am happy to have discovered your blog!
Since my eldest sun is married to an Aussie girl and has 2 kids, living in the Blue Mountains, I had the opportunity to come there twice and was thrilled to see cockatoos and parakeets fly around!
So you are from Alice Springs? Amazing! It is so far from the coastal areas!
But you must have a wonderful and special world of fauna and flora around you!
This is certainly a place we will come too, once we've managed to settle in NSW!
As you can see in the pages below my banner, we lived also in South Africa for 16 years, breeding parrots and Cockatoos were definitively my favourites!
So clever!
Well, I'll certainly be back to look more deeply into your very interesting pics!
Cheers, Richard!
Hi Noushka, I'm glad you have enjoyed the blog - that is why it is there, for others to enjoy. If you like parrots then Australia is full of them. And there are a few places in NSW that are excellent for bird watching. I suggest you start taking note of the bird lists being entered by people in NSW at www.eremaea.com A great resource for anyone interested in bird watching and not just in Australia although it seems Australians are the ones who use it most. And yes I do live in Alice Springs and yes, the bird watching here is very special. Cheers.
ReplyDeleteOh Jeez!
ReplyDeleteI wrote sun for son!!
Typical!
Thanks for your answer!
I will definitively look into the "eremaea.com" link.
I have looked deeper into your latest posts, WOW! I am impressed!
If only we could sell pour property fast, we could get on with our settling in Australia!
I can't wait!
In the meantime you are welcome to visit my blog when you have the time....
Since I bought recently decent Nikon equipment I am much more into birding now and bigger animals such as wild boars and dears!!
Cheers for now!