Major Mitchell or Pink Cockatoos in the Backyard

I have had a few regular visitors this week to the back yard. Major Mitchell or Pink Cockatoos. They are quite gregarious and have seemingly become used to me sitting out on the back verandah while they are there. this has presented me with a few really enjoyable photo sessions. Hope you enjoy.

Major Mitchell Cockatoo

Australian Ringneck - a display of colour

The Australian Ringneck, or Port Lincoln Parrot as I have called it in the past, has a rich variety of colour, especiallyin flight. I captured the following in the backyard recently:

Australian Ringneck

Recent Bird Photos from around Alice Springs

Australian Ringneck

Black-shouldered Kite

Hardhead

Hooded Robin

Long-billed Corella

Plumed Whistling Ducks

Red-tailed Black Cockatoo

Splendid Fairy-wren

Whistling Kite

White-winged Triller

Yellow-billed Spoonbills

Zebra Finch

Red Centre Bird Festival Twitchathon precursor

This week in Alice Springs, the Red Centre Bird Festival is happening. This coming weekend sees two big events, the Twitchathon and the Night Parrot Talk by John Young with new discoveries so should be awesome.

I have been checking out the local spots in preparation for the Twitchathon. Some amazing sights around at the moment. Here is a sample from the last few days:

Red-capped Robin and Splendid Fairy-wren

Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike 

Black-shouldered Kite

Mistletoebird

Black-faced Woodswallow

Budgerigar flock

Brown Falcon with snake

Red-browed Pardalote

White-browed Babbler

Spinifexbird photos and sound recording of calls

The Spinifexbird is one of those birds I don't see very often, but do hear quite a lot. In some of the bird books it states that the birds like to sit on top of grasses and trees and drop down to the undergrowth when they sense danger (in my case, me). On a recent occasion, I could hear two birds, but couldn't work out where each one was other than a general direction which were quite a distance from one another. I walked slowly along a track, trying to get a better fix on the nearest one. Eventually I spotted it, only because it fluttered out from a branch and then back to the same branch, sitting low on the tree just above the ground cover. So much for sitting on the top of the tree! It was still a fair distance away, so I crept forward again, trying not to spook the bird. Luckily for me it came closer and sat on top of some spinifex grass. It then flew very close but settled on the ground beneath another tree in among more spinifex. By now I was hearing the calls clearly and could almost tell where the second bird was. Still no photos though. Finally I gave up on the first one as it stayed hidden under the grasses and was moving around judging by the calls. It then flew up to my right and I eventually managed a few photos. Although they aren't the best photos due to the distance from me, they are still better than ones I had previously taken, and it was lovely to hear the calls so close, despite the prickly indentations on my leg from the spinifex.

Spinifexbird

Here is the sound file

or here

https://soundcloud.com/richard-waring/spinifexbird0011