Purple-crowned Fairy-wrens around Kalkarindji and Daguragu

I have been sitting near the edges of the Victoria River around Kalkarindji and Daguragu, two remote communities about 450 kms south west of Katherine in the Northern Territory. It is quite a famous area due to Vincent Lingiari's-led walkoff in 1967 from Wave Hill Station to fight for equal work equal pay.

The Purple-crowned Fairy-wrens around at the moment are not really in their breeding colours. For a little while these birds were a bit of a bogey bird for me, I had trouble finding them, until I managed to listen to the calls on my Pizzey and Knight app on my iPad before I went looking for them at the Victoria River Roadhouse, and from that moment I seem to find them quite easily. In a place like Kalkarindji and/or Daguragu, it is easy to sit quietly without anyone walking past for quite a few hours, and the birds get used to you being there and end up just going about their business.

The female in the first photo or two is one who I have a special attachment to, as she warned me about a nearby snake. It wasn't until I walked near the snake that I realised what she had been doing. I did think it was odd she had been sending out the alarm calls when she was not far from me, and as far as I could tell, no-one else had walked nearby, nor were there any birds of prey, or any threats I could see. But she knew better, and that was just after she had popped up out of the shadows to present me with this delightful photo:

As I said, this was before the snake encounter. She and her group of young males continually hopped around, coming within 3-4 metres.

Move to a different place and day, and again I managed to sit quietly and this time the birds came even closer. They were after maggots, and despite some initial concerns, soon let me sit there, take photos (and almost gag on the stench) while they got their food. Some birds have a great sense of smell, I have a feeling these birds can cover their nostrils because that smell was terrible, but they didn't seem to mind. Again, a female and a number of young or non-purple-coloured, males:

So, just to be clear, the females have the maroon colouring around their eyes, and the males have the black colouring around their eyes. The males also get the beautiful purple crown when they are in breeding season.  You can just see the beginnings of the purple in the third photo of the last group of 5, so he is starting and hopefully when I return in a month or so, the birds are still here, and I can show you the stunning males in all their glory.

enjoy.

Brown Goshawk

Normally a bird of prey will stay away from me if I am camped by a water source. Rarely will they come and have a drink. This female Brown Goshawk was unusual because it flew around the small waterhole, saw me, perched across the other side, flew down then flew off, but returned not long after. And she gave me some lovely photos. How do I know it was a female? Because the male is a lot smaller and he came by about an hour later, but he did do the normal bird of prey behaviour and flew in then flew off.

Brown Goshawk

Gouldian Finches

There are many colourful birds in the world, and one of the most colourful is the Gouldian Finch. 

The Gouldian finch (Erythrura gouldiae), also known as the Lady Gouldian finch, Gould's finch or the rainbow finch, is a colourful oasserine bird endemic to Australia (Wikipedia).

I love finding them. Who wouldn't. I am yet to see and Orange-headed male or female in the wild, but have come across many Black-head and quite a few Red-headed adults, both male and female.

Their calls are quite different to the other birds they hang out with, so once you know the call, finding them is quite easy. As with most birds, sitting quietly and unobtrusively like under the shade of a tree, will give them confidence you aren't a threat and they can become quite confiding. Below are a few of the many photos I have taken this year in the wild of the Gouldian Finches. I hope you enjoy.

Gouldian Finch

Some recent photos

Apologies for the lack of recent posts. Sometimes life gets in the way. A few lovely events in my personal life, and a few changes in my working life have reduced the bird-watching and photography recently.

But I have managed to get out into the central australian landscapes a few times and run into a few birds along the way. Here is a small sample:

Painted Finches at Ellery Creek, west of Alice Springs

Major Mitchell Cockatoo, Namatjira Drive, west of Alice Springs

Rainbow Bee-eater near home in Alice Springs

And a Peregrine Falcon

Wedge-tailed Eagles along the Tanami Road

I had been wondering where the Wedge-tailed Eagles were hanging out, as I hadn't seen one for quite a while heading out via Glen Helen towards Papunya. So, one week recently I decided to head up the Tanami Road, not to llok for Wedgies specifically, more for a change of scenery.

The first pair I came across were quite close to the road, one on a roadkill about 5 metres from the road and the other off the road a bit more, probably 15 metres from the road. I then noticed a third one soaring above. Generally it is the crows that make me aware of the possibility a Wedgie could be around as they are the birds that spread from the roadside first. On this occasion, there weren't any crows around, but the one by the roadside was moving on the carcass. I slowed, then stopped. The sun was still rising behind me. The golden hour. Time to try to get out of the car without disturbing the birds. Door open. Foot outside the car. Open the door wider. Camera in hand. Stand up to exit the car completely. Still the birds hadn't moved. Closed the door gently. Still there. Looking wary. Camera starts to come up ..... and there goes the close one. I looked across towards the second one on the ground, still there. I moved around behind the car and managed to get a few photos.

Wedge-tailed Eagle

I then continued driving, and saw another lone Wedgies sitting in a tree, again, the sun was still rising behind me. More photos.

I did see 5 more birds that morning, 9 in total, another couple and another threesome. All of the birds were within 15 kilometres, between the first sighting and the last. I thought this was interesting as generally I would see them further apart, but probably this was where the food was, so this is where they were. I didn't see any more roadkill after the initial threesome location, but it was lovely to see these majestic birds once more in the wild.

White-browed Treecreeper with chick

I went birding with Mark Carter of Mark Carter Birding and Wildlife (best guide and bird-watcher in Alice Springs) as he wanted to try to find some White-browed Treecreepers as he suspected they had chicks. He didn't disappoint.

It took a little while to locate them, firstly by call, and then by sight.

we noticed first one, then three Treecreepers flitting from Ironwood to Ironwood, one fairly consistently calling/begging. We stayed on the roadside of the brabed-wire fenceline, and the birds slowly came closer. We took quite a few shots of the birds at distance, and then,they came a lot closer to where we had thought/hoped they would come. We were ready with the cameras and managed to get some decent photos.

These birds are common further south in South Australia, but can be tricky to find in the NT so it was wonderful to see they are breeding locally.

A huge thank you to Mark for allowing me to see and capture these birds.

White-browed Treecreeper