Birds of Willowra and surrounds

Willowra is approximately 200 kms north of Alice Springs on the Stuart Highway, and then 130 kms west on the road to Willowra. Aningie Station is about 42 kms from the Stuart Highway along the dirt, and the rocky hills and mulga lined roadside makes for a fairly picturesque drive. After Aningie Station, the sides of the road are much flatter, with a lot of burnt out spots with new growth emerging amongst the anthills.

The treat of Willowra, apart from the mating of donkeys to both send you to sleep and wake you in the morning, was a pair of Brown Goshawks, one quite young and only recently fledged, that were occupying the trees near the accommodation I had for the week:

Brown Goshawks:

Apart from the Goshawks, I was also treated to the sound of 250+ Galahs late in the afternoon, and also saw large numbers along the road to and from Willowra. Below is a photo of a tree full of Galahs:

Another of the pink and white variety of bird is the Major Mitchell Cockatoos. There was probably 7-10 of these throughout the week. These photos are of a few coming in to land in the early morning:

Some of the other more photographed birds from the surrounds of Willowra are below:

Black-breasted Buzzard

Brown Falcon

Crimson Chat

Inland Thornbill

Nankeen Kestrel

Red-capped Robin

Australasian Pipit

Juvenile Rufous Whistler

Splendid Fairy-wren

Happy Birding!

Black-shouldered Kites.

Work took me to Willowra yesterday, about 220 kms north on the Stuart Highway from Alice Springs, and then 130 kms along dirt heading north-west. The first 50 kms is well-vegetated and a few hills, which flattens out to scrubby plains after Aningie Station.

On my return to Alice Springs just near the Station, a pair of Black-shouldered Kites were sitting beautifully exposed on some dead branches in the late afternoon sun. Unfortunately my slowing and stopping of the car in the dust scared them off. Although disappointed, I decided to grab the camera and hope they returned to the same branch. Forlorn hope really, it hasn't happened in the past and no real reason beyond sheer fantasy it would happen on this occasion. I finally spotted one of them in another tree about 70 metres from the road.  I couldn't see the second one so took a few shots of the perched one when I saw something out of the corner of my eye. The second one was returning towards me. I stood still, camera at the ready. I've only recently realised the easily identifiable difference in the face of a Black-shouldered Kite compared to a Letter-wing Kite. The Letter-wing "eyebrow" doesn't extend beyond the eye, whereas the Black-shouldered Kite black "eyebrow" extends beyond the eye sort of onto the cheek. As I looked through the camera, it was still too far off to tell, and I couldn't see the underwing. I was hoping to get a decent shot of both the face and the underwing for easy i.d. After a series of shots, the flying BSK finally swung around quite close to me. The shot was exactly what I was after and I saw an added bonus. Can you spot it?

Apparently this one had not only flown off because of me, but also decided to take the opportunity to go hunting. I then headed back to the nearby tree where the other one was sitting. Below is a series of photos of the flight path and landing:

The lower of the two then called to the other and I think this is the first time I have heard their call. Not the melodic tune of a Whistling Kite that's for sure, quite a harsh sound to my ears. I left them alone after the landing and calling to devour their afternoon snack, and continued on home to Alice Springs.

Happy Birding!