Brolgas, the dancers of the waterways

Brolgas, Australia's native Crane. Tall, sleek, graceful. And they dance!

I saw two groups of Brolgas in the past couple of days, a group of 4 at Newcastle Creek, north of Elliott in the Northern Territory, and a pair on the road to Lajamanu. The ones at Newcastle Creek were a bit further away from where I was, which may explain why they were willing to stay where they were when I appeared. Their legs are so skinny they hardly seem strong enough to hold up such a big bird, and when they land it almost seems as though they have to lean backwards to stop from toppling over. Their honking voices don't quite seem to fit such an elegant bird. Regardless of all the strange and rather unique characteristics, I love seeing them and trying to capture the graceful moments with the camera.

Brolgas

A dance at Newcastle Creek

Wandering away on the Lajamanu Road

Brolgas and other bird photos from Lake Woods and the road to Darwin

After the excitement of the last couple of days at Edith Falls with the Gouldian Finches (if you missed that post click the link here ) and then the Brahminy Kite at the Darwin Wharf precinct, and the Radjah Shelduck at Cullen Bay (if you missed this post click the link here ), I can reflect a little on Lake Woods and other birds we saw on the Stuart Highway on the way to Darwin.

The most exciting really was Moses' finding of the Australian Owlet-Nightjar during the day. He was the only one to see it and managed some great videos. Here is the link to one we have uploaded to his blog, if you would like to watch, click the link here.

Aside from this, there were a number of other birds at Lake Woods. One of which was the group of Brolgas that flew overhead. We could hear them before they arrived, and they flew fairly close, both in the late afternoon on the day we arrived and then early morning on the day we left Lake Woods. Here are a few photos from the late afternoon:

Brolgas

 

Australian Pelican

Caspian Tern

Rainbow Bee-eater

Yellow-tinted Honeyeater

 Apostlebirds at Dunmurra

Rainbow Bee-eater at Adelaide River

 

Herons, Egrets, and Brolgas

Kakadu produces a plethora of Herons, Egrets and Brolgas. The Herons included a new one for me, thankfully I have some amazing family who are able to spot birds while I am taking photos of crocodiles! My partner Annie spotted this Striated Heron:

it then flew down to catch some mudskippers trying to get to the boat ramp on the South Alligator River

Nankeen Night Herons are far noisier then I had known before. At night they cause quite a cacophany in the campground, almost as loud as the Whistling Ducks and the Blue-winged Kookaburras, not to mention the Channel-billed Cuckoos. This Nankeen Night Heron was at Mamukala Wetlands, just near the bird hide:

The Pied Herons were at Kakadu, but in huge numbers at Crocodylus Park in Darwin. I've never seen flocks like this before:

In keeping with the multiple birds from above, Cattle Egrets filled the dead trees during our Yellow Waters cruise:

Yes, it was cloudy and much more like the  build-up than the dry season, but beautiful on the boat. This is a photo of another boat, the same as ours on the same evening:

Of all of these, the birds that really "performed", were the Brolgas. My Mum had come to spend some time with her grand-children (yes, I'm under no illusion she was there to spend time with me!) and she had two requests for the trip, wildlife requests that is. The first was to see a dingo in the wild, tick, managed to see one for her on the drive back to Darwin from Kakadu, and second, a little bit trickier to organise, was to not only see Brolgas, but see them dancing. We managed the first part of that, Mum saw Brolgas, but they had stopped dancing by the time I had taken her back to them. These photos are when I first drove past and saw them less than 20 metres from the edge of the Arnhem Highway, the road into Kakadu from Darwin:

Happy Birding!

Lake Nash late afternoon - White-necked Heron, Brolgas and others

Spent a lovely late afternoon sitting by the water and had some beautiful fly-bys from a number of birds. By far the most graceful was this White-necked Heron:

And a pair of Brolgas were on the far side of the lake:

and later flew past while I was sitting near the crossing

There were a few other birds around:

Little Corella feeding near the road next to the crossing

Whistling Kite flying in the late afternoon sun over the lake

White-plumed Honeyeater who continually dunked themselves in the water having a bath

White-necked Heron getting a late afternoon snack

One of the highlights was listening to the pair of Brolgas "honking" just before sunset, and then doing a fly-by, honking after they had past me.

Happy Birding!

Newcastle Waters, a birding secret? Brolgas, Mannikans, Eagles and Kites, Egrets, Ibis'

Newcastle Waters is about 25 kms north of Elliott. At the moment there is lots of water around, which translates to lots of birds.

It is not often you can get all three Ibis in the same photo, but I managed that today. The Glossy Ibis is in the foreground:

and there was a nice pair of Glossy Ibis showing the difference between the male (on the right) and the female:

There were also Brolgas, very exciting as I wasn't expecting them to be anywhere near here:

and quite a few Pictorella Mannikans, a bird I hadn't seen previously. They were a fair way off to start with and then a big group flew away but fortunately one came for a drink near to where I was sitting:

Some of the other birds included below have their mouths open and although there was a lot of chatter, I think it was mainly because they were hot:

Black Kite

Black-shouldered Kite

Masked Lapwing

Peaceful Dove

Rainbow Bee-eater

another one with a dragonfly

Whistling Kite with tongue out

White-breasted Woodswallows

The 3 Amigos?

White-winged Triller