Peregrine Falcon and Whistling Kite at Poo Ponds

A quick trip to the Poo Ponds today and I should have known it would be dominated by birds of prey as when I was driving in the road to the gate, a whistling kite was feeding on a previously killed pigeon.

To my7 delight, the Peregrine Falcon, which has been seen recently by a few people at the Ponds, was sitting on the telegraph pole on the road. It sat there for a while eyeing me off suspiciously. I was already inside the gate so I was hoping it wouldn't be too worried about me. I was wrong as it flew off and even though there was a strong wind, its speed was still breathtaking:

By far the most common raptor was the Whistling Kite. Even though I had seen a Black Kite at the gate near the Peregrine, it was the Whistling Kites that were in most numbers, offering some wonderful photo opportunities:

Fires on the hills - photos from night of Tuesday 27th Sept.

Below are the photos, and even though somewhat beautiful, the thoughts are also about the loss of habitat for the local animals and birds, not to mention the concerns of residents near the fires.

We await reports on the nesting Wedge-tailed Eagles and their chick and the fate of the dusky grasswrens, rufous-crowned emu wrens as well as the wallabies and all other species that have made these hills their homes. Also, although relieved there has been no loss of buildings or human life at the Alice Springs Desert Park, the cost of the fires may not be known for some time until counts are done on resident species.

Anyway, here are the pics from tonight both on the southern and northern side of Heavitree Gap:

A wonderfully accommodating Orange Chat

Sometimes you hope things happen when bird watching/photography and they rarely do. This Orange Chat did exactly what I had hoped for, and the photos followed:

Woodland Trail, Simpsons Gap

I returned to the Woodlands Trail at Simpsons Gap where I had been with my son a little while ago, to see how the land was recovering after the recent fires, and which, if any, birds had either survived or moved in since my last visit.
I was pleased to hear and see the fairy-wrens in the initial 300 metres of the walk. Upon coming to the riverbed crossing, I could hear Rainbow Bee-eaters, and saw what I thought was probably one of them going into a tree hollow about half way up the tree. Not a bee-eater as it turned out, but a Red-backed Kingfisher, and it turned out that a pair of them had a nest I think with young inside although I didn't ever see the young:

The nest is the dark hole in the centre of the photo.

I waited for a little while a bit closer but they are pretty good at patience as a hunter so I figured I could be there all day and they still wouldn't have come back to the nest if they were just building and not feeding.

Next was a wonderful experience with a Nankeen Kestrel. It was sitting high in one of the large river gums beyond the riverbed:

We were both watching each other, but this bird knew something I didn't. As I started walking along the path after I took this photo, a large grasshopper sprung from the bush next to me towards the large redgum. I saw movement out of the corner of my eye, and the Nankeen swooped down to within 5 metres of me, grabbed the hopper and flew off. Did I get a photo? No! I thought afterwards how beautiful the photo could have been, but was so awestruck by the grace and skill of the Kestrel the thought of photography only entered my head after the event.

I continued on and eventually came across a few Rainbow Bee-eaters who seemed fairly happy for me to be within 20 metres:

Further along the hillside, I could hear what I thought were Black-faced Cuckoo-shrikes and sure enough I came across three, 2 of which were immatures, and one of these obligingly flew up into a tree nearby:

Back into some more mulga woodland as I rounded the side of the hill and stumbled upon a Grey Shrike-thrush:

a Red-capped Robin:

and an Inland Thornbill:

The scrub around Simpsons Gap looked both desolately burnt and healthy and green at the same time as the new shoots are starting to appear on both the trees and the ground. Hopefully with a little rain it will be back to its thriving self again in no time. In the meantime, this is what it looks like now from the hillside on the trail looking towards Simpsons Gap:

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Black Falcon or Batman? and others

I ran into Chris Watson at the Poo Ponds, which was lucky for me because in the first minute or so he pointed out a Black Falcon, soaring overhead, or was it the Batman signal? I'll let you be the judge:

Apart from that, it is quickly becoming apparent my identification of Waders needs a lot of work, I wonder if others have the same issues.

Grebes are a little bit easier to identify, we only have 4 species to Australian waters/land, and usually only 3 main ones, and at Alice only 2 the majority of the time.
The Hoary-headed Grebe is a strange looking character with its head feathers dry, but this one had just taken a dip:

And the Australasian Grebe is normally fairly placid and an observer can normally get quite close without spooking them. Maybe it was my bright orange shirt because this was what they did when I approached:

Now I've consulted the bird books and worked out the Banded Lapwing is a fair bit smaller than the Masked Lapwings, I have been able to spot it a bit better and I managed to get a better photo of it this time:

But there is always room for improvement to get even better photos, next time.

Fairy Martins at Alice Springs Waste Stabilisation Ponds

Normally the Fairy Martins are only on the wing when I see them, but these guys decided to sit next to me at the "Hide":

Spinifex Pigeon

Had a visit out to John Hayes Rockhole and Trephina Gorge recently and spent most of my time around the Rockhole walk. I wasn't sure what I was likely to see, but I was kind of hoping to see some Painted Finches, maybe some Grasswrens and possibly some Spinifex Pigeons. I dipped on the Painted finches, not even sure if they have been seen out that way, but did see some Zebra Finches, so they always make me smile. Coming back down the Gorge to the Rockholes, along the "Gorge floor" as the sign told me, I thought I was hearing Fairy-wrens, but silly me, the Dusky Grasswrens did finally appear 50 metres away from me and stayed high along the rocks. One bird group conspicuous by their absence were the birds of prey. I didn't see a singly BoP along the road in or at the Rockhole. It wasn't until the final and largest remaining rockpool with water that I chanced upon 4 Spinifex Pigeons. Two flew one way and two the other way. So which do you watch? Well, if you are like me you try to watch all 4 and end up wondering "where did they go?!" Luckily one eventually stuck their head out from a ledge above me and I managed a half-decent photo, something I have struggled to achieve with these birds in the past:

Superb Fairy-wren

This beautiful little fella was at Inverloch today. I waited for him on one side of the path, he flew across to the other side after hopping around just out of sight, and then gave me a wonderful display along the wire:

Eastern Rosella

Superb Parrot

Canberra Birds 6 - Australian Reed Warbler and New Holland Honeyeater

I thought I'd put these two noisy characters together. The reed warbler was especially pleasing as I could hear the bird singing away and thought there was no chance of a photo. A black-faced cuckoo-shrike was perched in a tree nearby as I approached and I was sure when it flew off the warbler would be spooked. But, this time, things went my way and as I waited near a clearing in the reeds, it popped out right into the spot I was hoping it would:

The New Holland Honeyeaters can be difficult to photograph, not sure why, they tend to be a bit blurry in my experience, but every now and then after 30 or so shots (don't you love digital cameras!) I score a decent one. These birds are quite vocal, and I've often heard them send out a warning call to others:

Canberra Birds 5 - White-faced Heron

I saw a flock of around 10 White-faced Herons soar around and then settle on a nearby tree-top before heading down to the swamp to feed. They were both majestic and then quite comical, before returning to their elegant best whilst fishing: