Comb-crested Jacana, Brown Falcon, Jabiru with juvenile,Rainbow Bee-eater, Wandering Whistling Ducks - bird photos from Corroboree Billabong

Corroboree Billabong is north of the Arnhem Highway. The boys and I went there for a cruise and weren't disappointed.

The guide was quite knowledgeable and pointed out the Comb-crested Jacana family and who was who. Unusually, the female bird is the more colourful one in the pair. Being in a boat allows close-up photos, check out those toes!

Comb-crested Jacana

Female

Male

Juvenile

We also had a close encounter with a Brown Falcon which we thought initially was a Black Falcon

Brown Falcon

The cruise gave us wonderful opportunities, but it was only an hour long. This Jabiru with its young one was on the way back to the boat ramp and unfortunately we didn't have time to stop so this shot was the only one I managed from the speeding boat

Jabiru with young Jabiru

The Rainbow Bee-eater seems to be another favourite of the cruise staff on a number of cruises. As much as I love them, and think their colours are spectacular, they probably weren't the species I was hoping we would sit and watch for about 5 minutes, but it did put on a display and eventually caught an insect so we could all gush "oohhhh.... aaahhhh... must be a bee it has caught!"

Rainbow Bee-eater

The Wandering Whistling Ducks are a bird species I don't get to see very often, and have often been confused between the Wandering and the Plumed Whistling Ducks. Our guide informed us that the Wandering have the black legs, probably doesn't help if they are sitting either on land or on the water. Either way, they are both "beautifully plumed!"

Wandering Whistling Ducks

Plumed Whistling Duck for comparison - these shots taken at Yellow Waters cruise

Great-crested Grebe, Jabiru, Little Corellas and Whistling Kite

The cold of Alice Springs finally became too much so the family has headed north. We stopped in at an old favourite of mine, Newcastle Waters, and even though the birds are diminishing in both number and variety, there were still a couple of nice photo opportunities.

The Great-crested Grebe was swimming in the water near the road:

Although not quite as close, but always a pleasure to see were quite a number of Jabirus. I love the contrast of their green shiny head, red legs, knobbly knees with the locations they tend to prefer:

These Little Corellas were seen earlier in the morning at Bonney Creek which is where we were kind of forced to stay as the Devil's Marbles camping area was wall to wall caravans and campers. Bonney Creek Rest Stop is about 20 kms further north up the Stuart Highway, and one I have stopped at during the day a number of times previously. There are normally Black Kites and Zebra Finches as well as fairy-wrens in this location, but first thing in the morning were these beautiful Little Corellas, all sitting peacefully on the windmill at the stop. They looked content in the morning light, but once they all moved on, the cacophony was worse than children who had been in the car for three days, and the parents reading this will understand what I mean by that!:

We stayed the next night at Mataranka, and although there wasn't a lot of bird photography opportunity, I slipped away early in the morning with my youngest son and managed a beautiful series of shots of this Whistling Kite as it landed on an exposed branch and then fluffed itself in the morning light:

The next few days will be spent watching my eldest son play cricket in Darwin but hopefully there will be a few chances to get to some of the more popular birding spots around Darwin.

Happy Birding!

Lajamanu to Newcastle Waters - Jabiru, Nankeen Kestrels and Night Herons, large snakes and others

The drive from Lajamanu to Newcastle Waters is along dirt for 110 or so kms, followed by a 170 km stretch of mostly single lane bitumen, then 190 kms of dirt and finally 100 or so kms of highway. I was concentrating mainly on the road, so only slowed for the obvious birds on the side of the road. Two different Nankeen Kestrels perched in trees to start with:

Next was a large snake crossing the road. I did manage to get out of the car to take the photos, but was none too keen to get much closer than where I was. I'm glad I slowed to make sure I didn't run over such a majestic creature:

Snakes aren't really high on my id list so I'm happy to hear thoughts on what this might be. Length is between 2 and 3 metres.

I came across a pair of Red-tailed Black Cockatoos next. I had seen a flock of about 50 earlier, but these two were much more accommodating photo-wise. I wondered if the male (on the left) was saying to the female "How's my rump looking?:

I had finished with the dirt for the day, and headed onto the Highway and onto Newcastle Waters. The water level had dropped since the last time I was there, but the birdlife was still firing. The most obvious change was the amount of Nankeen Night Herons. I can't recall seeing so many, and they were flying overhead, sitting on logs and in trees everywhere I looked. Here are a sample of photos:

Another bird I hadn't seen much of in this location was the Jabiru, or Black-necked Stork. I wasn't surprised to see them here, bit I did feel as though I was in Jurassic Park with a Pterodactyl heading towards me sometimes, especially in the late afternoon light:

My final species for this post is the Whistling Kite. After being overwhelmed by the amount of Black Kites previously, the Whistling Kites were more numerous this time near the road. This would also be the case at Lake Woods, which will be my next post, but for now, here are some photos of the Whistling Kites at Newcastle Waters. The first three are of an adult "training" a younger one I think, or maybe just two WK's playing:

There were lots of other species in abundance at Newcastle Waters too. Herons, Egrets, Cormorants and ducks. If anyone is passing through the Stuart Highway between Elliott and Dunmurra, I would strongly recommend a 3 km detour to check out the wonders of this peaceful and bird-abundant spot.

Happy Birding!