Birding the highways - Alice Springs to Lajamanu

Back on the road for work once more. Leaving an almost freezing Alice Springs (I think it was 4 degrees when I woke up yesterday morning), it was a nice thought to be heading back into warmer weather.

Day 1 was fairly uneventful, stopped in quickly just north of Tennant Creek to check out a newly discovered site then at Newcastle Waters and finally stopped for the night at Dunmarra.

Early start this morning, and stopped for a coffee about 60 kms down the Buchanan Highway where I met a grader driver working for Buchanan Downs. He said since the new dams had been put in there were now lots more finches, including Gouldians. Great to hear.

I had a couple of great birding stops. The Illawarra Creek almost at the western end of the Buchanan Highway as you approach Top Springs once again proved fruitful for finches - 6 types in total - Gouldians, Double-barred, Masked, Long-tailed, Zebra and Crimson Finches were all there. The second place was Camfield River on the Buntine Highway. I had found Purple-crowned Fairy-wrens there before and was delighted to find them again, although the photo opportunities weren't great.

And finally, some Australian Bustards strolling across the road just before I turned off the bitumen onto the Lajamanu Road. A tiring but enjoyable drive.

Gouldian Finch

Double-barred Finch

Long-tailed Finch

Masked Finch

Zebra Finch

Purple-crowned Fairy-wren

Australian Bustard

Buntine and Victoria Highway Bird Photos

A quick trip from Lajamanu on the weekend. Another lovely time enjoying the birdlife on the Buntine Highway and parts of the Victoria Highway in the Northern Territory.

Australian Bustard

Black-breasted Buzzard Juvenile

Brown Quail crossing the Buntine Highway

Crimson Finch

Little Pied Cormorant

Northern Fantail

Pacific Baza

Pictorella Mannikan

Torresian Crow

Varied Lorikeet

A pair of White-bellied Sea-eagles

Birds and scenery around and near Nyirripi, Central Australia

I drove out to Nyirripi via Yuendumu yesterday for work, stopping a few times along the way to check out the wildlife and scenery. In the late afternoon I drove to the west boundary of the Newhaven Wildlife Sanctuary and this morning I checked out the local poo ponds. It is starting to dry out well and truly out this way, north west of Alice Springs, and generally speaking it is the seed eaters that are in numbers, very few flower-peckers/honeyeaters due to the lack of flowers around. The budgerigars are definitely starting to flock, a group of about 200 last night and 300 this morning would suggest there are a lot of them around out this way. Lots of Crimson Chats and Woodswallows, mainly Masked and Black-faced, and Zebra Finches who seem to be ever-present. A few nice surprises this morning included a pair of Australian Bustards near the ponds, as well as a smallish flock of about 20 Cockatiels, and one accommodating Black-breasted Buzzard patrolling the sky. Yesterday afternoon included some Varied Sittellas, a species I have seen out this way before but confused me with their calls for quite some time until I could get an ID photo looking into the sun.

Hopefully there will be more nice experiences to come bird-wise. The scenery out here always inspires with Karku, the local "Little Uluru" as some in the community call it. And then there was the sunset last night taken on the Newhaven Sanctuary western border, not to mention the lovely patterns on the side of the road made by the wind in the red sand.

Black-breasted Buzzard

Budgerigar flock

Pair of australian Bustards

Zebra Finches

Crimson Chat

Grey-headed Honeyeater

Karku behind a lovely covered sandhill

Sunset from Newhaven Sanctuary

The Blood Moon (Lunar Eclipse) and the Australian Bustard near Nyirripi, NT

An article caught my eye while scrolling through the news on-line. There was to be a Lunar Eclipse this evening, just on Moon Rise! I thought I would head out into the scrub and find a pool of water to try to get not only the eclipse, but some reflections as well. Alas, the moon had lost most of its lustre by the time it was high enough to reflect in the water. Never mind. The sight was pretty amazing as it "grew" out of a bush on the horizon.

So, there I was snapping away at the moon, concentrating steadily on where it was going, how it was changing, when something caught my eye at the bottom left of the view-finder of the camera. I took one more shot then checked the playback. Yep, it was there alright, an Australian Bustard or Bush Turkey. It hung around for a good 20 minutes in total, and I kept thinking to myself, "you are so lucky I am only shooting with a camera mate, cause there are lots that live around here that shoot with something different".

Then, as a bird-watcher, I was in a bit of a dilemma - take shots of the moon or the bustard? In the end I settled for quick bursts of both, the moon started to change and the highlights blew out, and the exact opposite with the bustard as the light faded it was harder and harder for the camera to focus.

Anyway, a lovely visitor to share the lunar eclipse with. I was hoping it would fly across the moon so I could get a silhouette but it stayed too low and the shots are barely discernable. Some other time.

See if you can spot the Bustard in the first photo:

An Australian Bustard chick photos

If you said this title verbally, it would sound a bit strange, but it is to do with birds and the Australian Bustard is one name, Bush Turkey is another.

Today while I was training someone, a person who was taking this bird back to Alice Springs came in to the office to collect it and take it in the car. I was unaware that they had left it in the next office. I asked if I could take some photos which are below, and after being told that would be ok, raced back to my accommodation to grab the camera.

Apparently its parent had been killed by someone in a nearby community and the chick had been discovered afterwards. Killing these birds for food is a normal way of life for the locals where I am, they are considered a bit of a delicacy, but they also have years where it is decided there will be no killing to ensure the sustainability of the species in these parts. (I often take photos of these birds and say aloud to them "lucky it was me in the car").

So, I managed a few very quick photos in one of the plant drums out the front of the office. Strangely, when I mentioned the Australian Hobby that normally hung around the person taking the chick back to Alice Springs was very quick to put the chickback in its travelling container :-)

Pheasant Coucal with frog, Australian Koel, Australian Bustard photos

On the way back to Alice Springs from Mataranka yesterday, I saw another 3 Pheasant Coucals. I think that made 10 for the Saturday and Sunday. Considering I'd only ever seen 1 bird on a few occasions previously, to see so many in quick succession was wonderful for me. The one in the photos below was just near the Todd Memorial on the Stuart Highway just south of Dunmurra. First photo is the bird with a frog, and the other 3 photos are to show the beautiful tail and wings. Alas it was overcast and rain/showers for most of the trip until below the Devils Marbles, but the rain cleared in certain spots for a few minutes and this was one.

Pheasant Coucal

Before I got to the Pheasant Coucal spot, I had stopped in at Stuart's Tree at Daly Waters for a break/coffee. As I drove back onto the road, I had my windows down. Again the drizzle had stopped. Before I got to the creek bridge, I heard the distinctive call of the Australian Koel. I had heard this on the podcast of Steve Abbott's "BirdBrain" series and was in no doubt it was the same call. After searching for a little while, I spotted one of the two birds calling high up in a dead tree.

Australian Koel

Continuing down the Stuart Highway, the clouds were beginning to get higher and the drizzle less frequent. Just before the Newcastle Creek bridge, I saw two Australian Bustards, or Bush Turkeys, about to cross the road in front of me. An adult and a juvenile, the juvenile was the more tentative, but as I had stopped for them, there was no problem crossing the road. I took some photos from inside the car, and quickly checked the camera to make sure I had the dials set correctly, then looked up, and they were gone. A chance encounter that was very brief. A bit further down the road I past another single adult that was in the ditch beside the road but I was almost level with it before it had put its head up. I have included a shot I took at the Alice Springs Desert Park recently that shows the throat shape of the Bustard I had just driven past.

Australian Bustard

 

Captive Bird from Alice Springs Desert Park