Glen Helen to Haasts Bluff Road - Banded Lapwing juvenile and others

The stretch of road between Glen Helen and Haasts luff to the west of Alice Springs has often been a good bird-watching spot for me. I normally see Bourke's Parrots during the day, as well as normally finding Australian Ringnecks and Mulga Parrots. This trip was no different.
An additional find has been Banded Lapwings along a particular area about 1 km in length, and this trip there was a small family group, one of which was a juvenile, slowly sauntering across the road. I don't normally drive very fast through this part anyway, and I was going quite slow, and the juvenile walked up the side of the road and unlije the adults didn't fly off. I wound down the window and took the chance to get some photos much closer than is usually the case. Normally the adults are under a tree off the road a bit, so it was nice to get shots u close.
There were also a lot of other young birds in the same area of different species. The Centre has had a true Spring with lots of rains and lots of new birds.

Banded Lapwing juvenile

Chestnut-rumped Thornbill juvenile

Cockatiel

Red-capped Robin juvenile

Rufous Whistler

Southern Whiteface

Bird Photos from Central Australia - a few more photos from my most recent favourite puddle spot

Mulga Parrot female

Mulga Parrot male

Splendid Fairy-wren

Australian Ringneck

Budgerigars

Get on the Budgie Train to Alice Springs and see a world of beautifully coloured Parrots

The Budgerigars are flocking in Central Australia!
Larger and larger groups are being spotted in the areas surrounding Alice Springs. But the budgies are not the only parrots that are full of colour against the red of the outback.
Cockatiels, Mulga Parrots, Red-tailed Black Cockatoos and Australian Ringnecks like the one in the photo below are also taking advantage of the disappearing puddles while they last.

Australian Ringneck

The puddle I was sitting at was being visited by small flocks of Budgerigars. There were quite a few young ones, being policed and shepherded by the adults. Lots of squawking, chatting, and nervous scouting flights around the puddle before settling in the dead tree. If they had their back to me, sometimes I could hear them clearly but really had to scan to find them on the branch. This camouflage obviously assists them from being spotted by birds above.

Budgerigar

And a puddle wouldn't be the same without the presence of a lot of Zebra Finches. After sitting quietly for about ten minutes I had some very close encounters with a number of finches, normally the females, coming to check me out and then land only a few metres from me. Eventually I spotted a few juveniles in the small flock which explained a bit more about this rather aggressive behaviour by the adults.

Zebra Finch

The rain has been and the birds have followed - back in familiar territory

After a long time neck-craning, it is nice to be back in the smaller trees and familiar territory of the Northern Territory. It was interesting to go from the straw-coloured grasses of the last part of SA to the lush green in the NT from the border all the way up to Alice springs. Alas the Poo Ponds are closed, so the unusual waders like a Ruff will probably be missed, but the budgies are back, Crimson Chats everywhere, and another lifer for the year, Red-chested Buttonquail. They are slippery little buggers, but identifiable by their "Oooom" call. They almost wait until you step on them, then fly off and quickly run along the ground away from where they land. As yet, no photos, but hopefully in the coming days/weeks.

Some birds are much more photogenic and co-operative.

Here are a few since I arrived back in Alice.

Painted Finches

Crimson Chats

Brown Falcon

Pied Honeyeaters

White-winged Triller

Spinifexbird

Grey-crowned Babbler

Australian Ringneck

Backyard Bird list reaches 48

In the last couple of days, I've had two new honeyeaters to add to the backyard bird list - the Grey-headed Honeyeater and the Singing Honeyeater. It has been bedlum when the sprinkler gets turned on. Despite having two bird baths and a pond, the sprinkler seems to send the birds a bit strange, and sitting in the lemon tree getting a "shower" seems to be the preferred method of cooling down. As the weather warms further, and without any rain, I would thinkthe backyard list will increase even more before the end of the year.

Here are a few recent shots from the backyard:

Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater

Brown Honeyeater

Grey-headed Honeyeater

Singing Honeyeater

Australian Ringneck

 

Up close with the birds in the backyard

They may be fairly common, but some of the birds that come to my backyard have lots of character. Here are some photos I've taken recently.

Magpie-lark

Crested Pigeon

Galah

Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike

Australian Ringneck

White-plumed Honeyeater