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!