Some recent photos

Apologies for the lack of recent posts. Sometimes life gets in the way. A few lovely events in my personal life, and a few changes in my working life have reduced the bird-watching and photography recently.

But I have managed to get out into the central australian landscapes a few times and run into a few birds along the way. Here is a small sample:

Painted Finches at Ellery Creek, west of Alice Springs

Major Mitchell Cockatoo, Namatjira Drive, west of Alice Springs

Rainbow Bee-eater near home in Alice Springs

And a Peregrine Falcon

Peregrine Falcon at Nyirripi

At Nyirripi, there is a resident Peregrine Falcon. Most days it can be seen perched in the communications tower on the south west edge of the Community. From there is starts its run of about 1 km to the Water Treatment Ponds. One morning this week I watched it return to its perch on the tower, I had just seen it fly at the Ponds without success and watched it fly in a wide arc back to the tower. About 10 minutes elapsed, all the while I kept checking to see if it was there. A medium sized group of about 20 Crested Pigeons fluttered down to a patch of ground in between the two ponds. Even though they are noisy birds in flight, I doubt even the Peregrine could hear them from the tower, but, it could obviously see the movement.

Normally at this stage of proceedings I would pick up the camera, hoping to take photos of the Peregrine zooming in and having take-away breakfast. I resisted the urge to pick up the camera and watched. Sure enough, the Peregrine came off its all-seeing perch and started to fly towards the Ponds. Within seconds, it had flown low over the canopy and swooped on one of the hapless pigeons sipping away on the equivalent of a morning coffee. The Peregrine had shocked the pigeon into an incapacitated state on the first swoop, then slowed dramatically and fluttered up, then back down to clutch the pigeon in its talons. All in a few seconds from a kilometre away. Absolutely amazing eyesight and velocity control. The scary thing for all the other birds is that it wasn't even going flat out, despite making a noise a bit like a fighter jet.

On another occasion this week I was again at the Ponds, when I heard the "jet" go past me only a few metres above, just enough to clear the fence, and swoop on a hapless Diamond Dove. The dove had no chance. I saw this action repeated again from a different position on yet another occasion (yes I spent a wee bit of time there) and took photos of the falcon flying to a nearby perch and consuming the poor dove. It is nature, and there are so many doves out there, but the "safety in numbers" didn't quite hold true for that particular dove. I also saw the Peregrine take Zebra Finches, although I wonder how much of a meal one of those could be, maybe that is like a snack, with main meals still required.

In order of speed on a dive, based on the sound, the Peregrine Falcon beats all other falcons, ie the fighter jet. Not far behind would be the Grey Falcon, then the Black Falcon, then the Australian Hobby and finally the Brown Falcon. The Nankeen Kestrel is probably the slowest, but still an efficient hunter. When a Brown Falcon wants to, it can move quite quickly, but the first 4 definitely make a distinctive sound when they are heading full bore towards their target.

Peregrine Falcon

Nyirripi - land of Banded Whitefaces, Falcons, Hawks and Buzzards, and weather phenomenons

Finally back to visiting remote Communities. Nyirripi was the destination and my love of this area hasn't waned after another spectacular birding display.

With the dryness of the surrounding area, the Poo Ponds was the place packed with action. 1000+ Zebra Finches make enough noise and movement to excite any bird of prey. Throw in a few Sandpipers and a small flock of Crested Pigeons, and mayhem is bound to follow. It did.

Even after looking at old photos, current photos, and the ones I took, I still can't work out if the bird of prey below is a Collared Sparrowhawk (had the elongated middle toe and a shortened call compared to the Goshawks I've been watching recently) or a Brown Goshawk - rounded tail and beetle brow. Regardless, it was pretty brutal with the unfortunate Sharp-tailed Sandpiper:

The Black Falcon and Peregrine Falcon preferred the Zebra Finches, but I also watched as the Peregrine took out a Crested Pigeon

This Black-breasted Buzzard landed across and up the road from me before being mobbed by Yellow-throated Miners then to my delight flew back towards me

 By far the highlight was a close-up experience with a Banded Whiteface, which was followed later in the day at a different location with another 6, although not quite as close

The first morning moon was spectacular just before it set. I turned around to be confronted by an equally stunning sunrise

The Tanami Road is possibly going to have bitumen from Alice Springs all the way to Halls Creek. That would be awesome but I suspect only an act of God may make this happen for the price they are quoting ($680 million)

And finally, couldn't not have the Zebra Finches in a post about Nyirripi, and I've included yet another example of the strange discolouration quite a few of them have

Birding around Kintore - story and photos

This eek I was out at Kintore, about 520 kms west of Alice Springs. Aside from the excitement of the Princess Parrot encounter the birding opportunities can be both unusual and close-up.

One of the places I visit when I am working out at Kintore is their Poo Ponds. Hardly a surprise. I have had some amazing experiences, especially with raptors, and this occasion was no different. On one day, I enjoyed watching a Spotted Harrier gliding over the distant grasses, a Black-breasted Buzzard comedown to drink from the ponds and then fly very close, and a Peregrine Falcon perched on the perimeter fence, then later in a nearby tree. All the while, hundreds of Zebra Finches lined the perimeter fence, awaiting their turn to flit down for a drink, Crimson Chats and White-winged Fairy-wrens jumping around the bushes and grasses just beyond the fence, and a pair of unusual visitors arrived for a few minutes - Painted Finches. Tree Martins by the score, and a few White-backed Swallows, not to mention the Grey Teals and a lone Australian Wood Duck accompanying the grebes on the ponds. The occasional Budgerigar small flock, and Cockatiels in pairs flew in as well. Singing Honeyeaters, and a Rufous Whistler pair didn't stray much from the bushes, and a few Diamond Doves but interestingly, no Crested Pigeons while I was there. They normally number into the 20s and more at these types of locations. Maybe next week. One variety which was there in huge numbers were Willie Wagtails. There were groups of 5, 8, 12, and I counted 15 in one group. They were everywhere. I had one or two in particular who were very inquisitive, landing on the open car door, the roof etc. while I was almost within touching distance.

Generally I park the car and stand with the sun behind me, so my location varies depending on the time of day. The pond gates are locked so I am forced to bird-watch from outside the fence, which is normally the best place in any case as I can move around the perimeter if I need to if I spot something on the other side of the ponds. It is rare for me to be at one of these remote Poo Ponds and have my bird-watching interrupted by another person. It really is almost perfect conditions, although every now and then the bugs or smell force an early end to the session.

Here are some photos from the latest foray to the Kintore Poo Ponds:

Black-breasted Buzzard

Crimson Chat

Painted Finch

Peregrine Falcon

White-winged Fairy-wren

The "Stare-downs" - Bird Photos head on

Sometimes I wonder who is watching who between me and the birds. There have been very few times when I wonder if some of those talons may, just possibly, dig into my flesh at some times. I normally get a tingle down the spine from being able to take a really good close up photo. There have been a couple of times, not many, when I get a different sort of tingle - that slight feeling of nervousness. Here are a couple of recent photos head on, none of which really gave me that worrying feeling, although the Black-breasted Buzzard certainly checked me out nice and close after the photo below.

Peregrine Falcon

Black-breasted Buzzard

Zebra Finch

Crested Bellbird

Peregrine fun, Buzzard flyby, Budgies and Cockatiels - great start to the day at Nyirripi

As I was driving towards the local ponds at Nyirripi, I was so busy watching the flock of budgies ahead I nearly joined the front of the work car with the front of one of the local bulls. Fortunately, the bull stayed on the side of the road.

The largish flock of Budgies was circling the ponds, growing and shrinking, about 200 in total, so not huge. The Cockatiels came not long after and they were about 30 in number. The Black-breasted Buzzard glided across the outskirts of the ponds, scattering everything in panic. Soon things settled down and the Cockatiels landed in a large leafless tree behind me. Eventually they started to squawk and headed for their usual circling, calling to one another. Sometimes I do wonder if most of them are saying "can't we just land and drink!"

After circling for quite a few minutes, they all scattered, budgies, cockatiels, crested pigeons, diamond doves and zebra finches. As I had seen the Peregrine two weeks ago with similar panic, I figured it was around. It swooped in low then up high and back down again, landing on the other side of the ponds. It took off, seemingly without any food, and headed back to its perch beyond my eyesight. All in all, a lovely start to the day. Here are some of the photos.

Peregrine Falcon

Budgerigars and Cockatiels