Crimson Chats become a "town bird" at Alice Springs

Recently there has been an influx of birds towards Alice Springs, possibly due to the drying surrounds, or maybe they are looking for warmth as the overnight temperatures drop. One of the more unusual visitors has been the Crimson Chats. Normally these birds aren't too far away from town, but generally they do keep to the outskirts. Alice Springs residents have been reporting them all over the place, about the only area so far without a report is the Todd Mall, right in the middle of Alice Springs. They are very pretty birds, the males being much more dominated by the "crimson"that presumably gives them part of their name, but the females can look quite stunning as well. Here are a couple from one of my favourite birding spots around Alice Springs, the Poo Ponds:

Crimson Chat

Australian Spotted Crake

Black-tailed Native-hen

Little Grassbird

White-winged Fairy-wren

Recent Photos from the Alice Springs Poo Ponds

Australian Spotted Crake

Hoary-headed Grebe

Red-necked Avocets

Spotted Harrier

Tree Martin

Fledglings, juveniles and small bird photos

There seem to be a lot of young birds around at the moment in Central Australia. On my way to and from Santa Teresa today, I stopped for a couple of birds which turned out to be Australasian Pipits. As I was sitting in the car, windows down, I could hear some high pitched squeaks, and noticed a few small birds on the roadside. They didn't seem to mind the car, and came quite close. At first I thought the small birds were grey-headed honeyeaters, then I thought they could be yellow-tinted honeyeaters, although that would be a long way from their range. Turns out, they were grey-fronted honeyeater, not birds I see a lot in Central Australia.

Grey-fronted Honeyeater

Over the past couple of days I have also seen a lot of small birds, or juveile birds on the way to Santa Teresa and around Alice Springs.

Young Crimson Chat with grub

Young Fairy Martin giving me the eye as it flew off

Australian or Clamorous Reed Warbler - should just be called Chatterbox!

Little Grassbird

A pair of Australian Spotted Crakes

I'm fairly sure this is a young Masked Woodswallow, please correct me if I am wrong

A moulting or juvenile Hooded Robin

Inland Thornbill

Photos of Waterside birds of Phillip Island

Had a good day that started at Fishers Wetlands near Churchill Island. There were a lot of birds on the wetlands themselves, as well as a few in the nearby woodlands and the inlet rocks/water's edge.

The behaviour of some of the birds was unusual, with the first photo one of these:

Great Egret

Eurasian Coot were there in numbers and here is a large group all huddled up to the shoreline:

Then there was the duelling Spoonbills, not the best shot but I don't normally see them together:

Royal Spoonbill

Yellow-billed Spoonbill

A fly-by by a Pied Cormorant

and a family of Pied Oystercatchers on the rocks near the Churchill Island bridge

Australian Spotted Crake was one of the species I had hoped to see and thanks to Pete (see his blog here ), I had the good information on where to look and be successful

and finally, what would a blog about Waterside birds of Phillip Island be without the iconic Cape Barren Goose!

Australian Spotted Crake - video

Australian Spotted Crake

During a visit to the Alice Springs Water Treatment Plant (aka Poo Ponds) this morning, I managed to see an Australian Spotted Crake. Actually saw 2 and heard at least another couple, but photos of just the one: