A variety of Bird Photos from the last couple of days - Mataranka and surrounds

I have been lucky enough to see and hear some beautiful birds over the past couple of days. Most of the photos are from around Mataranka, NT, others are a bit south and a bit north. Photography has been a bit of a challenge due to either the rain or the humidity fogging the lens (some conditions I am not normally faced with). Hope you enjoy.

Pheasant Coucal

Long-tailed Finch

Plumed Whistling Ducks in flight

Red-backed Fairy-wren

Black Kite

Weebill

Blue-winged kookaburra

Dollarbird

Hornet V Spider - Hornet wins

A slick hairdo for the Red-tailed Black Cockatoo

An even more impressive crest for the Sulphur-crested Cockatoo

White-bellied Sea-Eagle juvenile (just north of Mataranka, I'm not sure how often these are this far south in the NT)

White-gaped Honeyeater - weaving materials collection

White-throated Honeyeater

Bird Photos from Cowra NSW

Took a day trip up to a relatives place near Cargo in NSW from Wee Jasper and stopped of in Cowra to do a bit of shopping ... well, the family did while I kept the dogs happy by taking them on a walk in a park by the river.

These are the bird photos from that park:

Long-billed Corella

Common Starling

Dollarbird

Eastern Rosella

Little Corellas

 Noisy Friarbird 

Sulphur-crested Cockatoo

Dollarbird, Jabiru and Double-barred Finches

Under orders, I've been scanning the Stuart Highway north of Alice Springs for sightings and potential locations. Late this afternoon, I drove up to Newcastle Waters, then on to Newcastle Creek, past a station with a huge waterhole and finally ended at Dunmarra, before returning home.

The excitement of the afternoon probably came closer to Dunmurra than anywhere else. Dollarbird! My first ever. Sitting calmly in a tree beside the road. Alas it wouldn't turn around for me to see its colourful tummy, but I was pretty excited to find it at all:

The next surprise came while I was photographing chooks (aka Double-barred Finches. I had made it to Dunmurra and there was a little pool of water at the end of the car park, in a paddock. While standing there, camera to the eye, I "felt" that something large had taken off just from somewhere in the paddock. I turned to see this magnificent, almost dinosaur like-bird flying off into the cloud-backed distance. Alas, these were the best photos I could get, but really like the silhouette effect:

I did feel a little bit sad that I hadn't managed quicker and better photos, but I was glad I spent time watching the Double-barred Finches, taking photos which are shown below:

For more photos from this blog of Jabiru and/or Double-barred Finches, click the links below: