Landscapes, Snakes, Foxes Waterbirds and Honeyeaters

Central Australia offers such a wide variety of natural experiences. Recent rains have transformed the landscape into a lush, colourful, and sometimes dramatic experience. A short drive from Alice Springs can be rewarded by photos such as the one below from Rainbow Valley, 80 kms south of Alice Springs:

A little bit further away, about 460 kms north west of Alice Springs is Nyirripi Community. The nearby hill is known as Karku, or "Little Uluru". The recent rains have created small pools in the clay pans. Karku dominated the landscape, but the rains have created a lovely foreground:

Driving to Nyirripi can be via Yuendumu or Newhaven Conservation Reserve. Occasionally being in the car offers close-up encounters with reptiles. My most recent trip was one such occasion with this beautiful Stimpsons Python slowly meandering across the road through the Reserve:

Another wildlife experience was not so nice. Red Foxes are slowly making their way north through the NT, killing lots of native wildlife along the way. I don't like seeing dead animals of any sort really, but this sighting confirmed the foxes really are a threat to the native wildlife here in Central Australia. I saw this deceased fox on the Tanami Road:

The rains have dispersed the normally concentrated birds of Nyirripi away from the Sewage Ponds and across the lands. Strange little clay pan temporary pools of water are now home to a few birds. This scenario is being played out hundreds of times across Central Australia. I came across a pair of Grey Teals and a family of 4 Black-fronted Dotterels in two separate pools:

The Honeyeaters have started to breed and ready themselves for the onslaught of flowering that is destined to occur over the coming weeks and months. Virtually everywhere I stop the car now once away from the main living areas of Central Australia, the piping of both Pied and Black Honeyeaters can be heard. I do wonder why the Black Honeyeater is not called "Little Pied Honeyeater" or "Lesser Pied Honeyeater" in the same way other birds are named "Little .." or "Lesser .." of birds of similar species and appearance. As you will see from the photo, the Black Honeyeater is not totally black, but very much a "Pied" plumed bird.

Pied Honeyeater

Black Honeyeater

Birds and scenery around and near Nyirripi, Central Australia

I drove out to Nyirripi via Yuendumu yesterday for work, stopping a few times along the way to check out the wildlife and scenery. In the late afternoon I drove to the west boundary of the Newhaven Wildlife Sanctuary and this morning I checked out the local poo ponds. It is starting to dry out well and truly out this way, north west of Alice Springs, and generally speaking it is the seed eaters that are in numbers, very few flower-peckers/honeyeaters due to the lack of flowers around. The budgerigars are definitely starting to flock, a group of about 200 last night and 300 this morning would suggest there are a lot of them around out this way. Lots of Crimson Chats and Woodswallows, mainly Masked and Black-faced, and Zebra Finches who seem to be ever-present. A few nice surprises this morning included a pair of Australian Bustards near the ponds, as well as a smallish flock of about 20 Cockatiels, and one accommodating Black-breasted Buzzard patrolling the sky. Yesterday afternoon included some Varied Sittellas, a species I have seen out this way before but confused me with their calls for quite some time until I could get an ID photo looking into the sun.

Hopefully there will be more nice experiences to come bird-wise. The scenery out here always inspires with Karku, the local "Little Uluru" as some in the community call it. And then there was the sunset last night taken on the Newhaven Sanctuary western border, not to mention the lovely patterns on the side of the road made by the wind in the red sand.

Black-breasted Buzzard

Budgerigar flock

Pair of australian Bustards

Zebra Finches

Crimson Chat

Grey-headed Honeyeater

Karku behind a lovely covered sandhill

Sunset from Newhaven Sanctuary

Bird and scenery photos from Nyirripi and surrounds

The recent rains have created a few interesting conditions in the area west of Alice Springs. Nyirripi Community is roughly 450 kms to the west north west of Alice, and is only a small community with a population of around 250-300 people. There are 2 ways to come when travelling by road. The first is via the Tanami Rd to Yuendumu and then take 160 kms of dirt, or alternatively, take the Tanami Rd to the Mt Wedge turnoff and take 200 kms of dirt through Newhaven Station. After driving both ways, the Newhaven Rd is much less corrugated, but also less traffic which is great if you are bird-watching while driving, not so great if the car breaks down. Having said that, I didn't see a lot of birds along the track through Newhaven Station. Perhaps it was because it was the middle of the day and the lakes were a lot emptier last week. Since the rains, the lakes and waterholes should now all be pretty full. The rains have also made driving a little trickier, especially travelling from Alice Springs early last week. They are drying out now so conditions don't stay the same for long out here.

The raptors haven't been abundant, but there have been a number of different species. The Grey Falcon still eludes me, but it will happen one day. Driving along the Tanami Road and coming into Nyirripi, as well as around the Community and surrounds, I've seen Australian Hobby, Black Kite, Black-breasted Buzzard, Brown Falcon, Collared Sparrowhawk, Nankeen Kestrel, Wedge-tailed Eagle and Whistling Kite. Here are a few photos of the raptors:

Black-breasted Buzzard

Brown Falcon

Collared Sparrowhawk

Wedge-tailed Eagle

It hasn't just been the raptors though. There is a large variety of honeyeaters, bush birds, woodswallows, chats, and a couple of ever-present birds, namely the Willie Wagtails and Zebra Finches. Some of the more unusual sights or noises have been a group of 10 Black-faced Cuckoo-shrikes, including a number of juveniles, a Channel-billed Cuckoo calling early yesterday morning just before sunrise, and only smallish groups of budgerigars. I was expecting the budgies to be flocking up by now but the largest group I have seen was only around 100. 

Here are a few photos of some of those mentioned above:

 Masked Woodswallow

Black-faced Woodswallow

Pied Honeyeater

Singing Honeyeater

Crimson Chat

Willie Wagtail

 

Red-backed Kingfisher 

Zebra Finch

and then there is the scenery, dominated by Karku, the local "Uluru"

some of the tall grasses and large skies

the work car beside a claypan

a map of Alice Springs to Nyirripi