Crimson Chats, Crested Pigeon, Zebra Finch and a Bee on a Poached Egg Daisy flower

Recently I sat by a puddle on an outback road. I noticed a Bourke's Parrot that flew off as I walked up to the puddle. I figured it was probably a good place to sit for a while. Alas, the Bourke's Parrot never returned for a drink, although I could hear them calling and feeding nearby.

I did manage to take some nice photos of some Crimson Chats though. They reappeared a number of times, and I eventually put the camera down and just watched them drink and bathe. I haven't seen this behaviour before, so it was interesting just to observe. Many more of these birds flew over me, and didn't stop, but enough did to make the stop worthwhile.

Of course the Zebra Finches were almost ever-present (disappearing briefly when an alarm call rang out from a nearby Singing Honeyeater). And a few Crested Pigeons strolled down the well-covered banks to have a drink as well. Other birds I could see but didn't come for a drink included White-fronted Honeyeaters, Black-faced and Masked Woodswallows, Australasian Pipits, Horsfield's Bronze Cuckoo and a couple of Pallid Cuckoos filling the air with their calls.

All in all, a nice little bird-watching and photography session.

Crimson Chats

Young female

Adult Female

Crested Pigeon

Zebra Finch

One of the other delights of the area were the wildflowers. Below is a single Poached Egg Daisy flower with a bee

Photos of Birds around the Alice Springs area

I saw these two Major Mitchell Cockatoos on a water trough. The first photo is at the start of a fluff-up and shake after a drink.

Crested Pigeon at the Water Trough

Galah at the water trough

and some from the Sewage Ponds in Alice Springs

Australian Reed Warbler

Black Kite

Black Swan

Grey Teal

Hardhead

Pink-eared Duck

Red-necked Avocet

Docker River Zebra Finches, Cockatiels, Crested Pigeons, Nankeen Kestrels and others

My last week staying in Docker River this week and the birds continue to flock to waterholes, water treatment plant and the roadside. I had just made some adjustments to my camera settings when a female Zebra Finch checked me out by the road. I think she was so close I could possibly have taken one of the shots with a polaroid camera and still had similar results.

Zebra Finch

and either a young or dirty male

The Cockatiels were back around the community and at the waterhole nearby. Gregarious and colourful, what is there not to like about Cockatiels? I can't think of anything.

Cockatiels

I really liked these two shots of Crested Pigeons with the first one in focus, and then the middle one in focus. If they weren't so common around Australia they would surely be much sought after for photographic subjects with that eye, the crest, and the beautiful colours in their wings.

Crested Pigeons

I took a couple of work colleagues out to the waterhole late this afternoon and on the way back asked them to stop as I had seen something unusual. Figured with them there then I might have a chance of surviving a snake bite so headed off into the scrub to get close to a family of Nankeen Kestrels. I had seen one of the adults fly off but there was still another adult looking after 3 young kestrels.

Nankeen Kestrels

also saw some Budgerigars at the waterhole

and Little Corellas

and there were some Sharp-tailed Sandpipers at the water treatment ponds

and these last two shots of the Whiskered Tern aren't great shots of the bird, but I really liked the shadows

Birds of Kintore

I'm still amazed at the types of birds that turn up in even the most remote of locations. Kintore is over 500 kms west north west of Alice Springs, and yet there are still a large number of bird species to be found in and around the Community.

This Black-faced Woodswallow was obviously keen to get something from the local store when it opened, alerting others it was first in line by perching on the sign just outside the Store:

Black-faced Woodswallow

and it was right to do so as there were a few other species hanging around in the early morning:

Diamond Doves

Crested Pigeon

A lot of the remote communities have their own sewerage ponds and Kintore is one such Community. I asked for the location and was given quite good instructions - "there is a little left hand turn just after the Tip. If you are going too fast, you may miss it." A couple of things about the instructions - the Tip seems not to have a beginning or end, and anyone going too fast down that road would have a severely injured spine due to the corrugations. However, the instructions were good enough for me to make my way out to the ponds and see a bit of the local wildlife. 

The first birds to make themselves obvious by their presence were the Zebra Finches. Hundreds of them around the fenceline guarding the ponds. They would fly up and sit on the barbed wire, then scoot off when the car approached. After sitting patiently for a little while, they seemed to lose their shyness and perched quite close to the car, and from the tray in the back I managed a couple of good shots.

Zebra Finches

 

As I drove around the perimeter, I manged to scare off the ducks from whichever pond was nearest, they seemed to be flying to the pond that was next in line and as I drove up to the net pond, off they would fly again. There is a decent distance between the fence and the ponds but they seemed to think I was too close. I could see three different varieties - Pink-eared Ducks, Grey Teals and Hardheads. Surprisingly there were no Pacific Black Ducks which normally hang out with these species. There were also a number of Black-fronted Dotterels running around the edges, and I saw a Whistling Kite, Black Kite, and what I am currently thinking is a Black Falcon, although it was too far away to get a decent identifying shot, so possibly a Brown Falcon dark morph instead. Hopefully by the time my work at Kintore finishes I will be able to say one way or the other. There were a number of Brown Falcons on the road out here on Monday, but this one did look a little different. 

It was also interesting to watch how the ducks behaved as they flew off. The Teals and Pink-eared Ducks flew low and to the next pond quite quickly, whereas the Hardheads gathered in a group and flew around the complex a number of times before settling with the other ducks. They gave me the best photo opoortunities as they flew around, catching the late afternoon sun from different angle. Here are a few shots.

Hardheads in flight