Red-backed Kingfisher in the morning sun

One of my most enjoyable stopping places between Haasts Bluff and Papunya is the Frederick Blakely Memorial. I have had a few enjoyable birding experiences there, including a close-up "viewing" by a Black-breasted Buzzard, watching a pair of Red-capped Robins hopping about the road chirping away to one another, and last week I enjoyed a rare close-up experience with a Red-backed Kingfisher.

As I pulled off the road into the small memorial area, the kingfisher took off (as per usual) from a tree very close to the memorial itself. I watched as it flew not far away (not normal) and perched on an exposed branch on a nearby tree. I inched the car forward, winding down the window as I progressed, trying to reach over to the camera at the same time. It was still there. I stopped the car, turned off the engine and slowly brought the camera to my eye. It is normally at about this point in time I realise I have settings on the camera for a completely different shot, ie on the TV setting, with the lens set for a long distant shot and lots of the focal points selected. I was pleased to realise the camera was on the right settings for the shot in front of me. I clicked away. The resultant photos below are a few of the ones I chose.

Red-backed Kingfisher

When Purple-crowned Fairy-wrens want to jump into your lens!

I've always found Purple-crowned Fairy-wrens to be secretive little birds, who like to play hide and seek in the pandanas and make life for a bird-watcher totally frustrating.

That was until this weekend.

I pulled the car up along the roadside near where I had seen the birds 4 years ago and again earlier in the week. To make sure I had the call figured, while I was grabbing the chair, camera water etc. I played the call twice on my iPad. It was in the car. I walked the 15 or so metres to the riverbank and heard a quiet little "zzzittt" "zzzittt" and looked up to one of the nearby pandanas and there was a female Purple-crowned Fairy-wren. I hadn't even put the chair down! I watched, listened and was a little dismayed to hear and see nothing else. I set up the chair and commenced what I hoped to be a short wait for the wren family to re-appear.

45 minutes later, I heard not one or two, but three birds heading along the water side of the pandanas. Now I don't use playback to call birds in, and even though I understand why some people do, I prefer not to confuse the birds. However, I did wonder whether my short playback in the car may have sent Mrs Wren off to get the family and introduce themselves to these "others".

I sat quietly, waiting for them to get closer, I was particularly keen to get photos of the male. It was nearly an hour after the first sighting that I took the photos below. As the blogpost title suggests, I really felt as though they wanted to jump down the lens at me. Absolutely astonishing considering my previous efforts.

After having such a close and noisy encounter (they really did call quite a lot, I'm not sure the "alarm call" in Pizzey and Knight app is totally accurate as they were really just calling to each other, and not really alarmed as they kept hanging around, almost like Superb Fairy-wrens do in Victoria.), I then found the PCFWs almost everywhere I went at Victoria River Roadhouse, not quite as close, but easily recognisable by the call, and occasionally coming out for a photo, albeit more distant.

Hope you enjoy the photos.

Purple-crowned Fairy-wren

Budgerigars - If you think, you'll miss it!

The Budgerigars around Alice Springs are flocking in numbers, into the thousands although I haven't seen them, but others have. They are flighty, quick, noisy and the most beautifully coloured green, none of your caged variety in the wild! Put them against the red dirt, and the straw grass - magic!

If you can, come and see these amazing birds.

Here is a sample to whet your appetite.

Budgerigars

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

Spotted Harrier - photos

I should have known the day was going to be dominated by birds of prey on the way home yesterday as the local Australian Hobby gave me a fly-by that was almost too close as I was putting some things into the car to bring home from out bush. I eventually got going and hadn't driven more than 10 kms when this Spotted Harrier finally allowed some photos I feel happy about.

Spotted Harrier

 

Birds of Wee Jasper - end of 2013

Wee Jasper is a small community about 50 kms from Yass and about 70 kms from Canberra. We are lucky enough to be able to go there each year and have a lovely family holiday which is spent doing the simple things - swimming in a fresh water river (Goodradigbee), yabbying, walking, fishing and generally getting away from the digital world (no mobile phone coverage at the cabin or TV). Each year I am reminded of holidays when I was a lot younger, where a patch of grass could be a cricket pitch, badminton court or this year, tennis court. I hope our kids always have fond memories and view these holidays as special, and remember Wee Jasper as it is today.

Of course, the other main activity apart from sitting around reading books, is the bird watching. Each year we seem to be fortunate to see the fledging of some Willie Wagtails, white-throated Treecreepers scare you by landing in a nearby tree and piping loudly, various parrots and cockatoos screech across the sky, and there are always one or two exciting finds for the year.

For some reason, the younger generation of males decided it would be good to join in the bird count in 2014. this meant January 1st was full of bird-watching and counting. There is a line in "The Big Year" movie where some English gent states that "only Americans could turn bird-watching into a sport". I think the Waring-Farthing-Shanleys may want to disagree as none of us are Americans but the competitiveness is certainly alive.

And so to the photos and the different stories of our 10 days at Wee Jasper.

Sitting on the banks of the Goodradigbee, with pine trees and poplars overhanging the water (as well as lying in the water after the floods in the last year), I was surprised by this male Leaden Flycatcher, who had been busy in some nearby trees and then propped on a branch of a small shrub about 5 metres in front of me. The colours are spectacular as they have that sheen like a corvid that changes depending on how the light is catching it. A lovely little bird and experience.

Leaden Flycatcher

The Galahs weren't as prevalent as they can be, but I enjoyed this flyby

Morning light on the Goodradigbee River

The Superb Fairy-wrens have always been a presence at the Cabin, and this year there were a number of "family" shots taken, here are a couple

Unusually, the White-faced herons seemed to enjoy roosting on top of one of the dead trees on the other side of the river. This year there were groups of up to 7 on some of the dams in the Wee Jasper Valley

This was one of the parents of the Willie Wagtails we saw fledge. Their nest was on a brach on a tree overhanging the river

The Yellow-rumped Thornbills are very chirpy and have some great characteristics including this one pointing which way it was for me to return to the Cabin.

An early morning walk up one of the hills was enjoyed and delivered some nice bird-watching opportunities, mainly in one of the gullies.

Crimson Rosella

I was watching this Eastern Yellow Robin flit around the lower branches of trees for a little while, and then he popped up obligingly onto this dead branch nearby.

Wee Jasper had been the only place I had managed to get photos of Gang Gang cockatoos before our recent trip to The Grampians (see that post here), and once again we were fortunate to see (and hear) the Gang Gangs at Wee Jasper.

Satin Bowerbird in a gully

We had a little bit of car trouble (slipping clutch) which had to be fixed in Canberra. We were lucky to get someone to be able to do this between Christmas and New Year. On the return trip after the car had been fixed, Pete and I saw this beautiful Spotted Harrier sitting on a fence post. Alas by the time I had stopped the car and grabbed the camera it had flown off into the nearby paddock, but still managed a few shots.

On the same drive from Canberra, we came across a small flock of White-browed Woodswallows.

With encounters like those above, the birding was promising an exciting start to the New Year, but that is for another post.

Hope you have enjoyed these photos, and I encourage anyone who is near Wee Jasper who enjoys birding etc to spend a little bit of time in this lovely part of Australia.