Brown Quails come out for a feed

Brown Quails are one of those birds that can either give you a fleeting glimpse, or do as these ones did and come and put on a show.

I first noticed them scurrying about in the shadows of the speargrass at the edge of the campground. About 30 minutes later they came back to about the same spot, but I was ready with the camera this time.

There were at least four of them, possibly seven in the original group, but only four returned for the second showing. I was hoping they would come out and stand up in the sun, so I was pretty happy with some of the shots, and they were quite close to my camp, a fortunate bit of positioning.

Hope you enjoy the photos.

Brown Quail

Brown Quail and Galahs in the late afternoon light

Saw a couple of Brown Quails by the side of the road near Alpurrurulam late in the afternoon. One ran away but the other hung around long enough for a few photos.

And these Galahs were on a drinking trough near the windmill on the road to Austral Downs Station:

Happy Birding!

Native Gap Birds and Flowers

On Friday I stopped in at a way-side stop about 15 kms north of the Aileron turnoff on the Stuart Highway. I decided to sit with the camera on the table and pour a coffee and sit and listen and watch. I wasn't expecting too much to appear, but was delighted to see 2 Brown Quails walking along the fenceline on the opposite side of the wayside stop area:

I wandered off further into the scrub and came across these two delightful Splendid Fairy-wrens:

Closer to Alice Springs is Native Gap. It isn't obvious there are table and chair facilities, or a Conservation Park from the road, and with all the recent rain it is a little overgrown, but a lovely quiet area to get away from the Highway. There weren't any birds of unusual note, but there were Grey-crowned Babblers, Willie Wagtails, Grey-headed and White-plumed Honeyeaters, as well as a Nankeen Kestrel.
The rain has brought out the wildflowers, below are some photos of these:

Variety of Small Birds

Brown Quail in flight

Grey Shrike-thrush

Red-capped Robin

 Singing Honeyeater

Striated Pardalote with insect

Weebill

Wedge-tailed Eagle, White-plumed Honeyeater, Brown Quails, Variegated Fairy-wrens and Australian Raven

There seems to be a pair of Wedge-tailed Eagles who have been frequenting the saltbush areas on the eastern side of the Todd River. Today was the fourth day in a row I have seen them. The variety of bird life seems to have diminished recently, not sure if the two are connected.

Here are some shots from today starting with the Wedge-tailed Eagle:

Next is an Australian Raven, resplendent in the sun showing off those beautiful colours they possess:

The Brown quails are still very quick but maybe they are getting used to me as I seem to be able to get decent photos each outing recently. Here is one from today:

The white-plumed Honeyeaters were not as numerous as they have been, but one was very friendly and sat on a branch not far above my head:

The Variegated Fairy-wrens have been proving much more difficult to photograph compared to some of the other wrens. In the saltbush they are very noisy, but don't seem to want to perch on the tops of the bushes. Although I was close for both these photos, you will see there are some annoying grasses and branches/leaves which stopped the full shots of these in all their splendour. Ladies first:

Female Variegated Fairy-wren:

Male Variegated Fairy-wren:

Other varieties included Grey Shrike-thrush juvenile, Zebra Finches, a lone Magpie, Rainbow Bee-eater, Torresian Crows, and another bird of prey I couldn't get a good enough shot with, but was almost certainly a Brown Falcon, Galahs, Crested Pigeons, Magpie Larks, and Weebills. Conspicuous by their absence were the Willy Wagtails, until now one of the few birds I have seen each day during my lunchtime sojourns into the scrub.

Brown Quail