Pacific Baza, Northern Rosella, Red-collared Rainbow Lorikeets and other photos of birds around Batchelor

After the heolter skelter the boys and I have been doing over the past week, today was one of those days where we just relaxed around the campground at Batchelor. Swims in the pool, mini-golf, washing and walking around bird watching was the order of the day.

The main excitement came in the late afternoon when a Pacific Baza decided the clump of trees around our campervan was a good place to hunt. We were treated to some tremendous views near the van, then the boys went chasing it around the campground for the next half an hour.

The first inkling was a large bird moved from one tree to another out of the corner of my eye. I knew it was large, so not most of the species we had been seeing. I ran around to the other side of the trees, hoping for a Collared Sparrowhawk or similar. When I saw the little crest on the head I called to the boys to grab their cameras and said there was a Picfic Baza. No, this isn't a typo, my son Banjo called the Pacific Baza a Picfic Baza in 2010 when we were travelling around WA. The boys didn't need much bidding. We were quite surprised how large it was, how large the wingspan, how small its moves from tree to tree or even within a tree were the majority of the time. It allowed great views.

Pacific Baza

While the boys chased the Pacific Baza, some Northern Rosellas flew into the top of a nearby tree

Northern Rosellas

The day started early as my youngest son spent two hours waiting for and eventually getting some wonderful, almost professional quality video of some Red-collared Rainbow Lorikeets. Check out his blog to see some of the video on his blog (see the blog post here.) I took a few snaps as well.

Olive-backed Oriole

Northern Rosella

We pulled into the Information Bay and Ranger Station just as you enter the Kakadu National Park boundary coming from Pine Creek. After having a look around and the obligatory parade to the toilets, we noticed some birds feeding on the orange flowering trees. At first I thought we were watching Hooded Parrots, but then realised the "hood" was due mainly to the shadows and what we were in fact watching was some Northern Rosellas. I requested someone return to the car and grab the camera while I kept an eye on the birds. Thankfully they hung around and I managed some shots.

They really got their heads right into the flowers.

I wondered if their coloured bums had anything to do with the type of flowers they ate, like the red of the Mistletoebird.