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Tuesday, 14 February 2012

Elliott, NT, Birds of Prey feeding and resting during the day

The longer I spend in Elliott, the more I am enjoying the wildlife. Alas the road to Lake Woods is closed at the moment due to the rain recently, however, there are other benefits including some magnificent birds of prey.
On the road from Alice Springs I see lots of Brown Falcons, Whistling Kites, Black Kites, a few Wedge-tailed Eagles and a few Nankeen Kestrels and Goshawks.

The Black Kites can come quite close at times, and unless you are looking out for them, rather than watching the trees for smaller birds, the first sign one is above you is the huge shadow it is casting on the ground in front of you. Here are some photos of when the camera was pointing in the right direction:



The Whistling Kites can be much easier to know they are in the air as their piercing whistle quite often gives them away when they are still a fair distance from you. This one was not one of those! I was driving past a culvert and it flew up from the culvert into a nearby tree. I didn't notice it had anything in its talons as it was a bit of a shock to me even though I was only just moving as I had seen some Glossy Ibis about 30 metres from the car. After I'd recovered my composure a little, I concentrated on the Whistling Kite and saw that it was having a feed of fish:


after a good feed, you also need a drink!


I am happy to be corrected on the next bird, but going by available resources, I think this is a juvenile Brown Goshawk. It was playing in the trees near one of the memorials around Elliott (if you ever drive through, it is worth checking out all of the World War II memorials) and then decided when I drove in it had had enough and just rested in a mid-tree branch:

I also saw a smallish flock of Red-tailed Black Cockatoos flying from Lake Woods area over the side of the campground:


Hopefully more from Elliott region soon ....

3 comments:

  1. Certainly sounds and looks like a great place, nice set of pics.

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  2. Aaaaggghhhrrr!!!
    I am jealous of your Black Cockies!! LOL! :)
    What a great series!
    I have the Red Kite today on my blog, and waiting for the Black Kite to migrate back to the south of France!
    You are lucky to see those different species around your place!
    Well done!
    Cheers and happy birding for our enchantment!

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  3. Wonderful collection of birds and I reckon you right with the goshawk. It looks pretty young.

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