Alice Springs to Elliott, flashfloods, perenties, red dog, and a few birds

Left Alice Springs early this morning and made it to Ti Tree, about 200 kms north of Alice without too many issues, although I saw red dog by the side of the road (a blue heeler, collarless in the middle of no where!)
But the clouds were looking ominous so I put my swag inside the cabin rather than in the ute tray. Between Ti Tree and Barrow Creek I drove through 30 + minutes of torrential rain, and had a few floodway crossings where the indicators were showing up to 50 cms, but was pretty confident as there were other cars and the highway is bitumen. Next surprise was a huge perentie (goanna) on the other side of the road. I guessed the body to be about 4 feet and the tail equally as long. Obviously not fussed about cars, just meandering along the road.
The clouds finally stopped letting loose their moisture and apart from a few short bursts the rest of the trip to Elliott was spent watching an amazing lightening show in the distance.
The last place before Elliott is Renner Springs. The speed limit doesn't change from 130 km/h, but generally I slow down here anyway, just in case someone is pulling out of the petrol station. Lucky I did. 4 geese were wandering across the road. They are residents at the petrol station/campground. They tried very hard to become grilled Mitsubishi Triton Geese, but I just managed to avoid them and noticed one honking at me! as I went past, as if I was the one in the wrong part of the world!
Finally arrived at Elliott only to find the people who had arranged my accommodation for the night had left work and I had no way to contact them, so back to the caravan park for at least one night. I've brought a thermometer this time and as I write this it is 28.4 degrees celcius, with cloud cover so probably 30-40 percent humidity, a bit sweaty!

Anyway, the birding was diminished today due to the rain and the time constraints but still managed a few shots:

Major Mitchell Cockatoos by the side of the highway:

Crested Pigeon:

Brown Falcon transferring prey from feet to beak:

and silhouetted in front of one of the huge storm clouds:

more cloud shots:

For more Major Mitchell Cockatoo photos from this blog, see this link.

For more Brown Falcon photos from this blog, see this link.

For more Crested Pigeon photos from this blog, see this link.

Varied Sitella and Red-tailed Black Cockatoos at Emily Gap

I'm working in a community not far from Emily Gap and decided to have lunch there rather than the community. Of course the camera was with me, and I was very happy to see a wide range of birds, including the two mentioned in the post title.
I saw the Varied Sitella near the Alice Springs Desert Park last year, but this was my one and only viewing, so it was almost as exciting as seeing a bird for the first time when I realised what they were. They are busy birds, picking at the bark of particular trees, and with a helpful toilet block as cover there wasn't anyone in there), I was able to get quite close the first sighting and then within 10 or so metres the second time. There was a group of 6 or 7 and at least one of them was a young one, the second last photo is the young one:

While I was watching the Sitellas, a very loud ruckus was coming from the far end of the track into Emily Gap. It didn't take long for my confusion to turn into a smile as the Red-tailed Black Cockatoos were in quite a large group, probably at least 20 possibly as many as 40 as they continually moved around the tree tops. I concentrated mainly on a pair who were sitting together but you can see how many there were in some of the group shots:

Like Bees to Honey(-eater)

Saw this strange occurrence nearby to Alice Springs. I had seen the bees doing similar things in the wet sand on a separate occasion but hadn't noticed any birds going near them.
The White-plumed Honeyeaters numbered 6 or 7 in total, but one in particular seemed to be enjoying whatever the bees were in the sand/gravel. The hornet was an added bonus, in the last photo below the hornet is actually sitting on the honeyeater.

Australian Bustard and others at Tennant Creek Poo Ponds

One of the trickiest parts of finding birds at the poo ponds in Tennant Creek is to actually find the ponds themselves. After asking a local (I know, a bloke asking for directions, another first!) I finally located them and pulled up and to be honest felt a little disappointed. I could only see one pond and just a few species of ducks, common in Alice Springs. I thought I'd get out and have a wander around and set off down the road along the front of the ponds when I disturbed an Australian Bustard in the roadside scrub:

I'm fairly sure I had disturbed one of these on the way home from Lake Woods the other day but was too busy trying to grab the camera to worry about getting a good ID (does anyone else do this or is it just me?).

I continued walking along the fenceline and almost stepped on a pair of Zebra Finches drinking from a dripping watering system join. They promptly flew up and sat on or in the fence. After being disturbed, I thought the second one below looks like he's yawning!:

I continued a bit further but didn't find anything unusual, or disturb anything else so returned to the car and then drove down the right hand side fence. More birds on a wire, this time some Fairy Martins and a single Tree Martin:

I was hoping to a see an Oriental Pratincole but dipped, however I did see an Australian Pratincole on the shoreline of one of the ponds, as well as an assortment of ducks including pink-eared and plumed whistling varieties, sandpipers, grebes, stilts and avocets.

Running short of time and not convinced I was allowed where I was, I cut short my stay and was driving to the corner of the two fences when a Brown Falcon caught my eye sitting on a telegraph pole:

I'm sure I'll be back there again soon, and will spend a little less time trying to find it, and more time looking for the Or Prat!

Apostlebird

Saw these birds in one of the local parks in Elliott.

Lake Woods

There is a Road Closed sign on the turnoff to Lake Woods so I decided to do the right thing and ask the local police what the story was. The local sergeant was very nice and encouraged me to take it easy on the road but head out there and if anyone asked, "tell 'em the Sarge said it was ok!"
The track was a lot better than I thought it would be from his remarks. Although it isn't marked in any way, it is still pretty easy to follow the track correctly out to the lake. Or what I thought was the lake.
After stopping the car, and realising I was the only one there, I took in the serenity. For about 3 minutes and then heard a car, which not only came to the side of the lake, but parked right next to me. A friendly fella jumped out, beer in his hand, sat down at the table I was sitting at, and proceeded to chat away for about 15 minutes. Although not overly happy that my dream afternoon of solitude with the birds had just been shattered, he was a nice guy and gave me a lot of information about the local area and birdlife. For a start, where I was sitting isn't in fact Lake Woods, that is further to the east south east from where I was. And he informed me it is the largest lake in the Territory, a fact I didn't know. And he also told me there were lots of Brolgas there. I didn't immediately get up and drive out to the actual lake as much as that appealed to me, and mainly because he pointed out some Magpie Geese way over the water in the shade. How he saw them I'll never know, although he did let on that they were one of his favourite tucker.
And the birdlife and action where we were was more than satisfying. There must be thousands of fish in the lake as lots of different types of birds were feeding on the fish, or in the shallows on food in the mud.
As I sat and watched, I saw Gull-billed Terns, Whistling Kites, Black Kites, Australiasian Darter and Great Egrets all plough into the water with beak or talons to snare a feed of fish. Brolgas, the Magpie Geese and Royal Spoonbills were staying at a distance all feeding in the shallows across the water, occasionally making there way into the open for me to see but not get great photos. At various points there would have been 40-50 birds of prey, only Whistling and Black Kites, circling above the water at various heights. The hardest thing about catching a fish was keeping it off the other Kites nearby. My companion at the table eventually took his mob home and another car that had arrived also left so I was there by myself, with this amazing bird spectacular in front of me, and above me. Various ducks and a pair of Great-crested Grebes swum around the lake, although mostly on the other side to where I was located. Nankeen Night Herons started out as just one, then another, and then there were 5 all pretty much in the one spot, occasionally barking at one another to get out of one's space. Cattle Egret were again on the far side but in beautiful orange plumage. The smaller birds on my side included another Pictorella Mannikan, Zebra Finches, Weebills, Willie Wagtails, Rainbow Bee-eaters and slightly larger Apostlebirds. For those photographers amongst you, you can imagine how many photos I took, so I've had to cut down the number shown as you would be here for hours! Even so, there are still a lot to look through. Enjoy.

Apostlebird

Black Kite

Black Kite catching fish

Australasian Darter catching fish

Diamond Dove

Great-crested Grebe

Gull-billed Tern catching fish

Whistling Kite catching fish

Zebra Finch in the late afternoon light