Hi all.
Have just returned from a successful trip to see Princess Parrots near King’s Canyon NT. 5 of us (Allan Benson, Rob Benson, Alan Morris, Margaret Reidy) booked through the Central Land Council. We met our host from the CLC and three aborigines representing the traditional owner and were led to a location off the Mereenie Loop road where the birds are breeding. Initially it didn’t look good as we were driving directly into a very sinister looking storm front. It had started to rain solidly before we arrived at the site and we had no choice but to get out and search for the parrots. We were soaked to the skin, cold and a bit despondent before our aboriginal representatives gave a yell and we saw two birds in flight. These were rather poor views and we thought that that might be it as the birds disappeared and there was no other activity. But eventually we saw some more and after an hour or so the weather eased up and we were eventually able to see the birds sitting in full sunshine sitting on dead branches, giving some good photographic opportunities.
At this stage we were all ecstatic with the views we were getting. We saw all up about 20 birds.
We had travelled via Alice Springs where we hired a Nissan Patrol and travelled south down the Stuart Highway and took the Ernest Giles dirt road as a shortcut. We paid for this with a blow out. As it rained on Thursday and Friday nights at Kings Canyon, we elected to return to Alice via the bitumen which was a longer way around, but we did see a pair of Bustards on the way.
A word of warning, the Central Land Council is taking legal action against some people that have trespassed on their land.
Happy birding!
