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
