Nyirripi - land of Banded Whitefaces, Falcons, Hawks and Buzzards, and weather phenomenons

Finally back to visiting remote Communities. Nyirripi was the destination and my love of this area hasn't waned after another spectacular birding display.

With the dryness of the surrounding area, the Poo Ponds was the place packed with action. 1000+ Zebra Finches make enough noise and movement to excite any bird of prey. Throw in a few Sandpipers and a small flock of Crested Pigeons, and mayhem is bound to follow. It did.

Even after looking at old photos, current photos, and the ones I took, I still can't work out if the bird of prey below is a Collared Sparrowhawk (had the elongated middle toe and a shortened call compared to the Goshawks I've been watching recently) or a Brown Goshawk - rounded tail and beetle brow. Regardless, it was pretty brutal with the unfortunate Sharp-tailed Sandpiper:

The Black Falcon and Peregrine Falcon preferred the Zebra Finches, but I also watched as the Peregrine took out a Crested Pigeon

This Black-breasted Buzzard landed across and up the road from me before being mobbed by Yellow-throated Miners then to my delight flew back towards me

 By far the highlight was a close-up experience with a Banded Whiteface, which was followed later in the day at a different location with another 6, although not quite as close

The first morning moon was spectacular just before it set. I turned around to be confronted by an equally stunning sunrise

The Tanami Road is possibly going to have bitumen from Alice Springs all the way to Halls Creek. That would be awesome but I suspect only an act of God may make this happen for the price they are quoting ($680 million)

And finally, couldn't not have the Zebra Finches in a post about Nyirripi, and I've included yet another example of the strange discolouration quite a few of them have