Crimson Chats, Crested Pigeon, Zebra Finch and a Bee on a Poached Egg Daisy flower

Recently I sat by a puddle on an outback road. I noticed a Bourke's Parrot that flew off as I walked up to the puddle. I figured it was probably a good place to sit for a while. Alas, the Bourke's Parrot never returned for a drink, although I could hear them calling and feeding nearby.

I did manage to take some nice photos of some Crimson Chats though. They reappeared a number of times, and I eventually put the camera down and just watched them drink and bathe. I haven't seen this behaviour before, so it was interesting just to observe. Many more of these birds flew over me, and didn't stop, but enough did to make the stop worthwhile.

Of course the Zebra Finches were almost ever-present (disappearing briefly when an alarm call rang out from a nearby Singing Honeyeater). And a few Crested Pigeons strolled down the well-covered banks to have a drink as well. Other birds I could see but didn't come for a drink included White-fronted Honeyeaters, Black-faced and Masked Woodswallows, Australasian Pipits, Horsfield's Bronze Cuckoo and a couple of Pallid Cuckoos filling the air with their calls.

All in all, a nice little bird-watching and photography session.

Crimson Chats

Young female

Adult Female

Crested Pigeon

Zebra Finch

One of the other delights of the area were the wildflowers. Below is a single Poached Egg Daisy flower with a bee

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

Get your bum on a plane to the Central Australia - soon!

To regular readers of this blog, my apologies. Sometimes the world beyond blogging gets in the way.
I have been travelling to Atitjere, Harts Range, for work. It is only 210 kms from Alice Springs, and, with recent rains, opportunities for taking photos should have been excellent. Time slips away occasionally doing that other thing (work), so my chances have been limited thus far this year.

However, there have been a few occasions where the burst of the shutter has prevailed.
Some recent highlights have been Banded Lapwing on the Plenty Highway, a Wedge-tailed Eagle family of 3 on the Stuart Highway near the Plenty Highway turnoff, some Bourke's Parrots during the day about 50 kms north of Alice Springs next to the Stuart Highway, Budgerigars, Cockatiels and Major Mitchell Cockatoos at waterholes both north and south of Alice Springs, and, there are quite a few families of Brown Falcons around at the moment, young, lovely chocolate brown ones included. The Honeyeaters are back again, not your run of the mill ones either. Pied, Black, White-fronted, Grey-fronted, Grey-headed are all noisily occupying the trees just beyond the town boundaries.

If you don't live in Alice Springs then you should be watching the weather events in the Centre. There was a lot of rain over the Christmas-New Year period, as well as follow up rains since then, the last good downpour on Thursday night. These rain periods translates to flowering grasses and soon, flowering trees (some have started already). With flowering events, and ground water readily available, the birds in the area are flocking, nesting, feeding, and hunting. Rather than go to your usual Easter hide-away, book a ticket and head to the Centre. You won't be disappointed.

Here are a few photos from the past couple of weeks.

Budgerigars

Cockatiels

Crimson Chats

Diamond Dove

Major Mitchell (or Pink) Cockatoos

Zebra Finch

White-fronted Honeyeater

Brown Falcon

The rain has been and the birds have followed - back in familiar territory

After a long time neck-craning, it is nice to be back in the smaller trees and familiar territory of the Northern Territory. It was interesting to go from the straw-coloured grasses of the last part of SA to the lush green in the NT from the border all the way up to Alice springs. Alas the Poo Ponds are closed, so the unusual waders like a Ruff will probably be missed, but the budgies are back, Crimson Chats everywhere, and another lifer for the year, Red-chested Buttonquail. They are slippery little buggers, but identifiable by their "Oooom" call. They almost wait until you step on them, then fly off and quickly run along the ground away from where they land. As yet, no photos, but hopefully in the coming days/weeks.

Some birds are much more photogenic and co-operative.

Here are a few since I arrived back in Alice.

Painted Finches

Crimson Chats

Brown Falcon

Pied Honeyeaters

White-winged Triller

Spinifexbird

Grey-crowned Babbler

Australian Ringneck

A Wedgie on the stare, Chats, Brown Falcon and a gorgeous Central-netted Dragon

There is a young Wedge-tailed Eagle hanging around Papunya at the moment. It gave me a couple of parallel flybys then swung out and headed straight for me. With the reduction of distance due to the camera lens, even though it was still a fair distance away, I did find myself moving backwards. This was one of a few birds around today, but tomorrow may be quieter as a large dust and wind storm has blown through late today. Hopefully the weather will be a bit cooler as the temperature gauge in the car for outside read 50 degrees Celsius before the storm hit. The car was in the sun and out of the wind, but that is still just a bit warmer than I would prefer, and I'm sure the wildlife would agree.

Wedge-tailed Eagle

Brown Falcon

Crimson Chat

Orange Chat

Rufous Whistler

Central-netted Dragon