Tuesday, 14 July 2015

NT Road Trip 2015: Part 31: Kunoth Bore

Newhaven and Kunoth Bore

On the way out of Newhaven I stopped for a cuppa on a junction and was entertained by the zitting and seep seeping of Thornbills. I was able to get these images of an Inland Thornbill [distinguished from two other locals, the Brown TB and Chestnut-rumped TB, by the dark striations on the chest] and Western Gerygone [life tick]!!

Western Gerygone Gerygone fusca

Inland Thornbill Acanthiza apicalis


I stopped at Kunoth Bore for the night on the way into Alice Springs. It regularly has Bourke's Parrot come to the dam at dusk and dawn. I sat on the dam bank from before dawn but dipped on the Bourke's. I sat under a scraggy bush with resident Spiny-cheeked Honeyeaters and Yellow-throated Miners and watched Common Bronzewings, Willie Wagtails, Zebra Finches, Cockatiels and Australian Ringnecks come tentatively in to drink from the dam edge. At one point a Hobby went overhead and then, a few minutes later, a Collared Sparrowhawk made three fast passes down my edge of the dam but failed to get anywhere near one of the residents which scattered in a burst of feathers and wing beats. The bird did a final circuit and alighted on a metal rail only 20 metres or so away from me. As I was sitting in a chair I couldn't move much without making a big kerfuffle but got the image below, obscured by bushes, but you can make out the bird quite well.

Collared Sparrowhawk Accipiter cirrhocephalus


I also saw my first Black Falcon [no image] and plenty of other birds too.

Grey-crowned Babbler
Pomatostomus temporals rubeculus

Australian Ringneck
Barnadius zonarius zonarius

Magpie-lark Grallina cyanoleuca
versus
Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater Acanthagenys rufogularis 

Magic. ISO 3200 and be there.

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