The weather is warming up, birds are nesting and maybe rains are coming

In the past few days I have noticed the reptiles have started to re-appear after the colder winter months. The Bearded Dragon (above and below) is one of the more obvious species as they have been appearing on the top of posts, tops of trees and on the roads.

Another species I have seen a few times now is the Centralian Blue-tongue. This can be very colourful even though the one below isn't showing all the colours and it was taken late in the afternoon.

The birds seem to be actively building nests which makes me wonder if we are perhaps not getting rain in the Centre soon. Some, like the Black-shouldered Kite have made sure they are ready by hatching chicks early. You can just see the heads in the third photo of the chicks in the nest.

The smaller birds are the ones who are most actively building nests. The Thornbills below were actively foraging for nesting material, and there are lots of nests in trees and shrubs around Alice Springs and even more out of town.

Yellow-rumped Thornbill

Inland Thornbill

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

A Divine Wedge-tailed Eagle, a Sparrowhawk that almost came in the car and other bird photos from Papunya NT

In the heat of the Australian Outback, with the sun behind, I looked up and saw this vision. I think you could forgive me thinking this was some sort of Divine Angel of Goddess coming to spirit me away. For some reason, the more I look at this photo, the more religious-symbolic it appears.

The bird in the photo above, a Wedge-tailed Eagle, was one of a pair that decided to scare the congregated ducks on the ponds of the water treatment ponds of Papunya, a remote community about 250 kms WNW of Alice Springs. I thought the ducks had become a little bit neurotic but then looked behind me and saw the WTEs. One of them came closer than the other, and I haven't witnessed them swooping ducks before even though I have heard lots of people say this happens. Up close, they really are amazing birds, and even "tucked" they still look huge. The pair dipped on the ducks, and headed off to hunt further afield. The following is a series of photos as it turned and swooped, with the final photo showing a very lucky Grey Teal in the background as the WTE was checking me out, not its normal food..

My second Bird of Prey experience comes with no photos, but a story. I was watching the Zebra Finches fly from behind the car, over the fence and down to the water in the Ponds. They would then fly back in numbers and head for the trees behind the car once more. On the third occasion of this event, as they were returning, I spotted what I thought was a pigeon to start with, but then soon realised it was a bird of prey. It was coming fast, and swooped down low over the ponds, rose sharply to avoid the fence, still chasing the Zebra Finches and then chose a finch to target. The Zebra Finch sped over the fence, flew close to the ground between the fence and the car and then flew safely into some thickly branched part of the tree behind the car. The Sparrowhawk had almost caught the finch as it went over the fence, then followed the finch down low and came directly over the front door of the car towards the tree behind. I could have almost reached out and grabbed it as it flew past it was that close. Not that I would have been anywhere near quick enough. It failed in its attempt to catch the finch and after realising too late it couldn't go into the branches, it seemed to flutter about above me then flew off to a nearby tree to lick its wounds, still hungry. I'm not sure who got the biggest shock, but I certainly had a much more enjoyable experience. For once the camera wasn't at the ready, but it was special to watch the events unfold for a change.

The rest are photos of birds and some of the countryside around the Papunya area:

Australian Ringneck

Pied Butcherbird

Varied Sittella

Zebra Finch

The beautiful colours of the road and the hills

A day that started and ended with a Hobby and a Butcherbird with some others in between

This morning I was up early, just before the sun broke above the surrounding hills. An Australian Hobby had caused the White-plumed Honeyeaters to send out the alarm call so I went outside to investigate. It had decided sitting on the power lines not far away was as good a place as any to greet the morning, much to the chagrin of the smaller birds around. Interestingly, one of the birds not so afraid was the Pied Butcherbird. It sat about 20 metres away and stayed there for quite some time, long enough for the sunlight to hit the hills in the background. Eventually the Hobby flew off, and the Butcherbird continued foraging and feeding on the insects in the grass below its perch for about an hour in total.

Australian Hobby

Pied Butcherbird

I spent the majority of the day in and around my mobile office and was amazed at the variety of birds that frequented this small patch. A Collared Sparrowhawk flew past at one point, Magpie Larks, Willie Wagtails, Yellow-throated Miners, Crested Pigeons and a lone Peaceful Dove that sat with the pigeons on the power lines. I was delighted to get another visit from the Red-browed Pardalote and managed a few more photos. I noticed the crown puffed up as it was making its noise.

Red-browed Pardalote

I played around in photoshop just for fun with the photo below, taking out the majority of the colour except for the bird. I actually like the adjusted one of the two.

After the work day had finished I needed to enjoy some quiet spaces and headed out to an old favourite spot. I had in my mind to take some photos of the dust settling over the road with some spectacularly coloured hills in the background. Although it didn't quite come out the way I had imagined, it was still close enough to add to this post.

Dust settles as the sunset lights up the hills

On the way to my "quiet space", I came across a pair of Major Mitchell Cockatoos by the side of the road. They didn't fly off as I was expecting and managed to get some nice close-ups.

Major Mitchell Cockatoo

Once I had arrived at my quiet place, there were only a few birds around, one of which was a Rufous Whistler chasing amoth. The original photo (the first of the two below) was "washed out" due to the sun position, but as with the Pardalote photo above, I had a bit of a play with colour and light and like the altered image better this time as well.

Rufous Whistler catching a moth

As I drove back, feeling refreshed from the hum of the day, I came across an unusual sight. The light was fading and I knew the photos wouldn't be very good, but I've added a photo showing my two original birds from the morning, although not the same two. Sitting perched on a bare tree were an Australian Hobby and a young Pied Butcherbird. The day had come full circle.

Australian Hobby and Pied Butcherbird