Birding Central Australia #3

Grey Falcon Falco hypoleucos, regurgitating a pellet.

Grey falcon pairs cap a top week

Red Centre Bird Week has exceeded all expectations this year. The undisputed star of the show has been the rare and elusive Grey Falcon. The bird in this picture is in fine health and is in the process of regurgitating a pellet of bones, teeth, fur, and other indigestible remnants of its diet.

Two different pairs of these cracking birds have been sighted this week. With fewer than 1000 breeding pairs in the wild, having two of these pairs so close to Alice Springs has been icing on the cake for participants in the Twitchathon over the weekend.

It wasn’t just the Grey Falcons though - with seven teams competing to identify the most species over 24 hours, and a variety of other activities through the week, some really special birds have been seen.

Red Centre Bird Week Sightings:    

-          Visiting Victorian birder, Elizabeth Shaw, got some up-close views of a Buff-banded Rail, well outside its traditional range at the waterhole at Olive Pink

-          Mark Carter helped his team to a win in the “Best Bird” category, and eventual joint 1st place overall, with a Golden-headed Cisticola at the Sewage Ponds

-          Earlier in the week there was a flock of 12 Ground Cuckoo-shrikes reported near Hamburger Creek on the Tanami Rd

-          An immature Channel-billed Cuckoo was on Larapinta Drive 40kms west of Hermannsburg

-          Excellent numbers of Black Honeyeater in a number of spots along the road to Santa Theresa

-          A pair of Peregrine Falcons have taken up residence near the Glen Helen Resort

-          And finally, another surprise with Banded Whiteface turning up at Hamilton Downs

Birding Central Australia #2

Eastern Barn Owl Tyto javanica

Owl makes a meal of road rodent

This week’s magical bird encounter occurred on a late evening drive home from Glen Helen. The plentiful supplies of grass seeds around The Centre have brought with them a healthy population of local rodents. Namatjira Drive was overrun with scurrying mice as I drove along on Tuesday night. On three occasions I had to pull up to let an owl finish its meal on the road before I could pass. This Eastern Barn Owl flew into a roadside tree and decided to stay for a while to enjoy the spotlight. Keep your eyes peeled for more night birds as the warm nights approach and rodent numbers increase.

Sightings this week: 

- 10 Australian Pelicans in formation flying over Ryan Well to the north of town

- Spotted Harrier continue to be seen in good numbers, particularly in open areas north of town

- Australian Pratincole at the sewage ponds in Alice Springs

- Small flocks of Scarlet-chested Parrots seen just prior to road closure, 80kms past Kata Tjuta on the road to Docker River

- a pair of the very rare Grey Falcon seen close to the north west of town

- another rarity, Grey Honeyeater reported from a number of different sites in the vicinity of Hamilton Downs, owing no doubt, to the continuing eremophila blooms in this area

- 8 Oriental Plovers, the first for the year, at the Coober Pedy sewage ponds

Best of luck to all the teams heading out to the Desert Park for the start of the Twitchathon at 6pm today. I’ll see you all at the start line.

Until next week, keep your eyes to the skies!