Dear all
I have just returned from a trip to Central Australia, including, on 10 July, a full day of guided birding in Alice Springs with Mark Carter. The day started at 7.30am and ended around 7.00pm, and was really excellent.
Mark went to a lot of trouble to plan a day which suited me, and to target the birds I hoped to see. Ultimately we were very successful, and I picked up 9 ‘lifers’, and also had great views of birds I had seen only fleetingly in the past.
I have travelled to this area previously, and had seen many of the ‘easy to see’ birds of the Centre. However Mark, with his local knowledge and great birding skills, found birds which I would not have found.
We had great views of male and female Dusky Grasswren, Rufous-crowned Emu Wren (3 males together), Orange Chat, White-backed Swallows and Spinifexbird on Santa Theresa Road. There were Inland, Yellow-rumped and Slaty-backed Thornbills at Simpson’s Gap together with great view of a pair of Redthroat and a beautiful Grey Fantail showing off its while tail. We had Spotted Crakes galore at the Sewerage Ponds as well as White-backed Swallows circling with a metre of us at waist height. Then off to Kunoth Bore on the Tanami Road for raptors, including a Spotted Harrier and a group of 8 Bourke’s Parrots at sunset.
We looked for Grey Honeyeater without success. Mark is concerned that, despite the boom conditions of the last 18 months or so, these birds have not increased, and may have declined due to competition from a big population of Brown Honeyeaters.
My list for the day follows:
Red-capped Plover Black-fronted Dotterel Black-winged Stilt Red-necked Avocet Black-tailed Native-hen Eurasian Coot Australian Spotted Crake Australasian Grebe Hoary-headed Grebe Black Duck Grey Teal Wood Duck Hardhead Black Swan Masked Lapwing Black-shouldered Kite Spotted Harrier Black Kite Whistling Kite Collared Sparrowhawk Wedge-tailed Eagle Nankeen Kestrel Brown Falcon Australian Hobby Peregrine Falcon Diamond Dove Spotted Turtle- Dove Common Bronzewing Crested Pigeon Galah Australian Ringneck Mulga Parrot Bourke’s Parrot Red-backed Kingfisher White-backed Swallow Fairy Martin Tree Martin Rufous-crowned Emu-wren Splendid Fairy-Wren White-winged Fairy-Wren Variegated Fairy-Wren Dusky Grasswren Redthroat Inland Thornbill Slaty-backed Thornbill Yellow-rumped Thornbill Southern Whiteface Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater Singing Honeyeater Grey-headed Honeyeater White-plumed Honeyeater Yellow-throated Miner Brown Honeyeater Orange Chat Crimson Chat Rufous Whistler Grey-Shrike Thrush Crested Bellbird Black-faced Woodswallow Pied Butcherbird Grey Butcherbird Australian Magpie Torresian Crow Little Crow Magpie Lark Willy Wagtail Grey Fantail Red-capped Robin Hooded Robin Australian Reed-Warbler Little Grassbird Spinifexbird Brown Songlark Australasian Pipit Mistletoebird Zebra Finch
A very good day’s birding!
kind regards
Penny Evans
Surry Hills
NSW
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