Glen Helen to Haasts Bluff Road - Banded Lapwing juvenile and others

The stretch of road between Glen Helen and Haasts luff to the west of Alice Springs has often been a good bird-watching spot for me. I normally see Bourke's Parrots during the day, as well as normally finding Australian Ringnecks and Mulga Parrots. This trip was no different.
An additional find has been Banded Lapwings along a particular area about 1 km in length, and this trip there was a small family group, one of which was a juvenile, slowly sauntering across the road. I don't normally drive very fast through this part anyway, and I was going quite slow, and the juvenile walked up the side of the road and unlije the adults didn't fly off. I wound down the window and took the chance to get some photos much closer than is usually the case. Normally the adults are under a tree off the road a bit, so it was nice to get shots u close.
There were also a lot of other young birds in the same area of different species. The Centre has had a true Spring with lots of rains and lots of new birds.

Banded Lapwing juvenile

Chestnut-rumped Thornbill juvenile

Cockatiel

Red-capped Robin juvenile

Rufous Whistler

Southern Whiteface

Little Birds South of Alice Springs

I managed to have the opportunity to head south of Alice Springs recently. I drove a "road" (really just a fairly upmarket track) for about 7 kms and was stunned by the amount and variety of birdlife available for viewing and photographing.

Pied and Black Honeyeaters as well as Crimson Chats seem to be everywhere around Central Australia at the moment, as well as the Woodswallows. I was also hoping to see a few other species though, and was delighted to find Cinnamon Quail-thrushes in numbers, as well as Southern Whiteface, both Red-capped and Hooded Robins, Chestnut-rumped Thornbills, and a highlight was catching up with Bourke's Parrots.

If you are thinking about heading to the Centre, any time in the next few months will be a wonderful time as the explosion of bird numbers is set to continue.

Cinnamon Quail-thrush

Southern Whiteface

Bourke's Parrot

Crimson Chats

Hooded Robin

Red-capped Robin

Terrick Terrick National Park

Driving into Terrick Terrick is a complete contrast to the surrounding area. From farming plains to trees, scrub and rocky outcrops. It is little wonder the birds choose to come and mingle with one another. Gone are the Little and Long-billed Corellas, the Sulphur-crested Cockatoos, replaced by Robins and Treecreepers and Thornbills. Not for the first time I found myself in bird-wonderland by myself. Everyone else must still be enjoying family and friends during the holidays, rather than visiting National Parks. I did actually see a couple of other cars, but generally had the place to myself.

Arriving at a new location is always both exciting and frustrating. Tuning your ears to the new sounds of the bush, remembering old calls once easily identified, straining to hear the "odd call out", eyes darting from treetops to ground cover. Terrick Terrick has all of the above. On the drive in towards the picnic area, I stopped upon hearing a burst of bird call activity. Red-rumped Parrots and Yellow-rumped Thornbills everywhere, just in a small pocket of woodland. I continued up the track and sat in the car in the carpark, listening, waiting to decide if here was ok. Sounds started coming from everywhere. Mainly Brown Treecreepers, but also Rufous Whistlers, Red-capped and Hooded Robins, Yellow Thornbills, Restless Flycatchers and Southern Whiteface.

Walking through Terrick Terrick is so much easier than lots of bird-watching spots I have been to. Under the tall trees is mostly open with a few fallen logs and small grass patches. The birds can be quite friendly, or sometimes extremely annoying as they chirp away high in the canopy without ever coming down. The picnic area was a good place to start, but eventually I drove through the middle of the Park until I exited on the far north western edge.

It was a fun few hours spent, and the completed list numbered 24, maybe not as many as I had hoped but there were some nice species in that lot. Some of them made taking photos pretty easy, others a little harder. ere are some of the better photos:

Sacred Kingfisher

Hooded Robin

Jacky Winter

Restless Flycatcher

Rufous Whistler

Southern Whiteface

Yellow Thornbill

Photos of Little Birds around Alice Springs

Sometimes the little birds are the easiest to hear, but the hardest to find. Here is a selection of recent shots not far from Alice Springs:

Inland Thornbill

Rufous Whistler

Southern Whiteface

Weebill

Yellow-rumped Thornbill

Red-capped Robin

White-winged Fairy-wren

Crimson Chat

Red-browed Pardalote, Southern Whiteface, Fairy and Tree Martins

Red-browed Pardalotes are around Central Australia most of the time, but recently I have been hearing and seeing a lot more than usual. Generally, these cute little birds are elusively in the tree-tops, and I have struggled to get good photos showing their unique characteristics. Recently, this changed. I could hear two birds piping away to one another and eventually located them in a nearby shrub. Camera in hand I warily approached the bush, but unlike previous experiences, the birds didn't fly off, maybe they were too interested in one another to worry about me. Alas they were behind the spindly leaves of the tree for a really good shot, but even so, being this close demanded the photos to be taken. One of them was more in the open than the other so I concentrated on that one. I clicked off a few photos and then realised the shots would be about the same so unless the bird moved, I was to hold my fire. Eventually it did, and to my delight, it flew onto a nearby wire fence. It wasn't too far away from where I was but I didn't want to get too close, and instead hoped the lens would reach far enough. The bird did fly off and I was delighted with some of the photos taken of the bird inside the diamond shapes of the fence.

Red-browed Pardalote

 

The Southern Whiteface is another bird I seem to encounter a lot once I leave the main town area of Alice Springs. They can be quite noisy and their twittering to one another can be frustrating as being so small they can be very close but still unseen. This one was far more obliging.

Southern Whiteface

The Fairy Martins and Tree Martins can be hard to distinguish when they are flying, but much easier once they are perched. Zooming around collecting insects above water and then sitting on nearby fences to preen themselves, seems to be their main daily activities. Here are some who have become tired of the insect catching :-)

Fairy Martin

Tree Martin

Birds around Haasts Bluff NT

I've been at Haasts Bluff for a couple of weeks now and thought I'd share some of the bird photos I've taken.

Major Mitchell Cockatoo

Brown Falcon

Budgerigars

Red-tailed Black Cockatoo

Zebra Finch

Australian Hobby

Magpie Lark giving the Australian Hobby a hurry up

Brown Honeyeater about to take a dip with Willie Wagtail watching

 Crested Bellbird after a bath

Juvenile Crested Bellbird

Rufous Songlark

Southern Whiteface

The following is from Wikipedia about Haasts Bluff:

Haasts Bluff, also known as Ikuntji, is an Indigenous Australian community in Central Australia, a region of the Northern Territory. The community is located in the MacDonnell Shire local government area, 227 kilometres west of Alice Springs. Wikipedia

Map showing Alice Springs (A) to Haasts Bluff (B)

and some shots of the scenery around Haasts Bluff

Cattle pens at dusk

 Hills at dusk

Creek bed