Nyirripi and back trip 2

I returned this week to Nyirripi. It was hot. And the birds were feeling the heat, being very quiet throughout the days but active in the mornings. No storms this week, but I did see a few interesting sights on the way back to Alice Springs.

The Zebra Finches are out and about as usual and hang around any sort of permanent water source. There was a leaking water pipe outside my accommodation and hundreds would use the pool below the pipe as a drinking trough. They were joined by honeyeaters and a shrike-thrush. Another place the Zebra Finches congregated is at a roadside stop about 125 kms from Alice Springs up the Tanami Road. The photos below are from here:

Zebra Finches

"What, what's happening, am I missing out?"

"Outta here!"

frogleaping

"Jo's got chocolate - let's get it!"

Camel

(this camel was lazing under a tree by the side of the road and got up as I approached, think it thought I was a dentist!)

Diamond Doves

Collared Sparrowhawks on and near their nest

 

 

Sacred Kingfisher

Dragonflies

and a small group of Budgerigars

Enjoy your Bird-watching!

Crimson Chat, Major Mitchell Cockatoos and others

Saw some Crimson Chats today on the Tanami Road:

Crimson Chat

Major Mitchell Cockatoos

Camel drinking from mum

Sand Goanna

Oh, and I saw some more Budgies today, love these "Budgie Trees"!

Enjoy your Bird-watching!

Red-capped Robin and a Camel, that... well ....

Further to my recent post of Birds along the Tanami (see post here ), at the corner of the Stuart Highway and the Tanami Road, a very friendly Red-capped Robin allowed me to sit and take photos for about 5 minutes as it flitted amongst the undergrowth catching insects:

Red-capped Robin

During my travels I came across a few small groups of Camels, and a lone camel with a bit of an issue:

Enjoy your Bird-watching (and beware the Camels!)

Docker River and Yulara

Went to Docker River for work and saw very little this time apart from a few BoP on the way down there. Black Kite, Whistling Kite, Wedge-tailed Eagle, Spotted Harrier, Nankeen Kestrel, Brown Falcon and Black-shouldered Kites:

The countryside is quite stunning, and the desert oaks are both plentiful and picturesque, especially in the twilight light:

After making it past Uluru and Kata Tjuta after sunset, I proceeded down the Docker River road after dark. Along the way I saw 5 owls, but had no chance of a photo, and virtually no chance of identification as they were extremely wary of car noises/headlights and were flying off the road before the car was close to them. For a lot of the time I was down to between 40 and 60 kms/h as the threat of kangaroos, cattle and camels was present.
The drive back was even less eventful than the drive down. Yes I was a little disappointed not to get the chance to see more birds, but it was for work so just to get out into the countryside should be enough to be thankful for. The road was actually very good, I think it had been recently graded:

Looking west back towards Docker River

Looking east towards Kata Tjuta

The camel threat was even more obvious during the day, and I came across this one about an hour from Docker River:

Back onto the bitumen and starting to be late in the afternoon, about 45 minutes past Yulara, heading back to Erldunda and Alice Springs, I came across a pair of Major Mitchell Cockatoos, that kindly flew across from the left hand side to the right hand side of the road, so I could take a few shots out the driver's window:

After this delightful encounter, the rest of the trip was basically spent being wary of camels, and then after dark, kangaroos.