Mulga Parrots, Major Mitchell Cockatoos, Budgerigars and Galahs from near Tilmouth Well photos

I have been lucky enough to have a couple of close encounters with Mulga Parrots. Generally they are fairly quiet birds, not like the noisy Port Lincoln Parrots or Lorikeets. I have seen them feeding on the grass seeds on the ground and occasionally I hear them "chinking" away in trees before I see them. Of the two, the male is by far the more colourful, but the female is a stunning bird close-up also.

During the week, I was returning back to Tilmouth Well one day from Laramba and decided to take a smaller track back to the bitumen. A female was sitting on the track, quietly feeding. I stopped the car, wondering whether I should open the door or not. The windows were down, and I could hear another bird nearby, very nearby, and was guessing it was the male. Eventually I decided I had to get out. I tried to be as quiet as I could so as not to disturb the birds. For once, it worked, maybe it was the lateness of the afternoon, or maybe they were used to humans nearby, but luckily for me both birds continued on as if I wasn't there. The female did have a little flutter from the track I was on onto an adjoining, far-less used track. I crept through the long grass to try to get the sun more behind me. I could still see the female, but wondered where the male had gone. I could hear rustling in the grasses in front of me and was hoping it was the bird, not something else. Finally, after holding my breath for what seemed an eternity, the male popped out and was feeding on the left hand side of the track while the female was on the right hand side. Here are some of the photos:

Mulga Parrot (male)

Mulga Parrot (female)

Eventually some more rustling in the grasses made me move quickly from my position which unfortunately disturbed the birds, but they soon returned to feeding on the ground where they had been. On another occasion, a Mulga Parrot flew up from the ground to perch on an exposed branch first thing in the morning. It was wonderful to experience that first sound, the first call of the morning chorus of birds out in the middle of an otherwise deserted place.

Tilmouth Well has a few caged birds, two of which are Major Mitchell Cockatoos. They can be very noisy and I wondered if the wild birds weren't being attracted by the caged bird's calls. Below are a few shots from around tilmouth Well and locations nearby (none of the caged ones, it was sad to see them in there):

Some people call the Major Mitchell Cockatoos "Pinkies" and you can see why.

Budgerigars and Galahs are in large numbers around most of Central Australia at the moment. Here are a few photos from the past week:

Budgerigars

Galahs

Happy Birding!