Broome Roadtrip 13 _ Gluepot

Gluepot, 50km north of Waikerie towards the Victorian border from Adelaide, is one of Australia's birding Meccas. A fair degree of self sufficiency is required whilst camping there (bring everything!) which means the experience is carefully planned and much appreciated, even more so when you see a heap of birds. There are several bird hides with water points, usually within a few metres of a carpark so the job is relatively easy. If you don't need the birds to come to you there are plenty of walking tracks of various lengths getting you in to some of the specialist environments. Scarlet-chested Parrot, Black-eared Miner, Red-lored Whistler and Chestnut Quail-thrush are key species.

Bird images are in alphabetic order by "surname".

Bronzewing, Common Phaps chalcoptera

Emu Dromaius novaehollandiae

Honeyeater, Spiny-cheeked Acanthagenys rufogularis

Honeyeater, White-faced Plectorhyncha lanceolata

Honeyeater, White-eared Nesoptilotis leucotis

Honeyeater, Yellow-plumed Ptilotula ornata

Pardalote, Striped Pardalotus striatus

Parrot, Mulga Psephotus varius

Ringneck, Australian (Mallee) Barnardius zonarius barnardi

Thornbill, Chestnut-rumped Acanthiza uropygialis

Treecreeper, Brown Climacteris picumnus

Weebill Smicrornis brevirostris

Woodswallow, Masked Artamus personatus

Magic. f4.5 and be there.!

Going South -- 04

Next stop was Alice Springs and a day out with Mark Carter [Birding and Wildlife] chasing Letter-winged Kites but it rained and all the dirt roads went to mush so I spent a restful day in Alice doing the mundane but essential household chores such as cleaning the car, have a shower, do the laundry and a bit of local birdwatching with coffee -- Olive Pink Botanic Gardens has a very nice cafe.

Western Bowerbird Ptilonorynchus guttatus working hard on his bower.

The bower did need some work.

Emu Dromaius novaehollandiae a rival to above!

There were sightings of Grey Honeyeaters nesting near the Desert Park so I did an early morning walk there. Did I see one?

Unknown honeyeater. What do you think?

Chestnut-rumped Thornbill Acanthiza uropygialis

Mistletoebird Dicaeum hirundinaceum

Western Gerygone Gerygone fusca

As I had a bit of time up my sleeve, I headed south with rain for 600km to Coober Pedy and stopped beyond Glendambo [a 900+km day] for the night on my way to visit Chuckles. I got out of the car at a WikiCamp and there were a small family of Varied Sitella Daphoenositta chrysoptera pileata, "Black-capped Sitella", foraging about on the trees and stumps. They fly into the tops of trees in groups and move downwards towards the ground. I don't know how they handle the brain blood pressure being upside down a lot of the time. This leads to classic sitella images of face down, the beak out.

Magic. f8 and be there!