Spinifexbird, Brown Falcon, Eurasian Coot, Hooded Robin, Little Crow, Mistletoebird, Spotted Harrier photos

An enjoyable drive out to Papunya. Started the day early and found some Spinifexbird with a friend, then on to a variety of birds along the way. Hope you enjoy the photos.

Sometimes you get no peace in the natural world even if you outnumber the protagonist(s) 50 to 1

The Grey Teals at Papunya number over 50 at the moment. For the past week or so I have watched them take off, circle wildly and loudly then settle back onto the water. They were joined by Pink-eared Ducks (were 5 the other day, now seemingly back to 4) and Pacific Black Ducks (3 which have now either taken off to their next stop, or been taken off by something else). Mostly, I thought my human intervention via the car was the reason for their flightiness. Late this afternoon it was a Black-breasted Buzzard, human, Little Crow, and they even seemed disturbed by the Whiskered Tern at times. I wished I was closer to the action but the area is enclosed by a cyclone fence, so some of the images, especially the Buzzard were unfortunately not as crisp as I would have liked.

Black-breasted Buzzard

Grey Teals off to the skies then returning to their water haven

Little Crow

Pink-eared Ducks

Whiskered Tern

(I know why it is here now, but why would it come here in the first place? Maybe a regular stopover)

Willie Wagtail with one of those lovely Central Australian backdrops

Moses and the Land For Wildlife Photo Competition, Olive Pink, and the Australian Ringneck

Recently my son Moses won a photo competition from Land for Wildlife. The prize he won was a Canon Powershot GX1 camera. (Huge Thank You to both Land For Wildlife Alice Springs Branch and Canon Australia for making a young boy's dream come true, and provide his parents with a smile that lights up his face whenever we mention his new camera.) He loves his new camera. Today, the local newspaper, the Centralian Advocate, came to Olive Pink Botanical Gardens to interview Moses for a story that will be published sometime in the next 10 days (for non-Alice Springs readers, our local newspaper comes out on Tuesdays and Fridays). We arrived at olive Pink a little earlier than the newspaper people. We parked near a large shade structure to the left of the driveway, and sat at the table and chairs under the shade. An Australian Ringneck Parrot was in one of the nearby shrubs and Moses was a little excited as he had previously dipped on a good photo of one of these on our last visit. Again, he was disappointed as the bird climbed through to the back of the shrub and flew off. As he was returning to the table, he exclaimed, "Dad, there is another one down here in the grasses." Sure enough, there was another Ringneck, much closer, and the angle for photos much better. Moses is a very patient bird-watcher, and his patience was well and truly rewarded on this occasion, as the Ringneck came within reaching distance to him - inside the shelter!

Here is one of Moses' photos:

Australian Ringneck Parrot

(by Moses Waring)

But to fully appreciate just what was going on I need to add a few photos of my own. Here is Moses getting his photos

The following photos are also mine 

This Little Crow joined the activities after the interview had finished and the newspaper people had left. First perched on a chair under the shelter, then onto MY CAR!

And we saw this Willie Wagtail while wandering around the gardens at Olive Pink.

Loved the expressive eye-brows!