Alysse's Travel and Birding Adventures: Crimson Chat

Sunday, 27 October 2019

Kinchina CP October 2019 - Crimson Chats and more...

For the last few weeks I had been seeing people post photos of Crimson Chats at Kinchina CP. I'd never been there myself, but the chats and some of the other species being seen there were enticing enough to lure me out there. It turns out it's not far from another of my favourite spots, Browns Road Monarto. The Crimson Chats, normally found in more arid areas, were not hard to find with the directions previously given to me. It seemed like they were everywhere! We saw at least 12, and a female was displaying behaviour that would suggest she had a nest nearby and was leading us away from it.

Crimson Chat (male), Kinchina CP, SA

Crimson Chat (female), Kinchina CP, SA

I was also pleased to see a Mistletoebird hanging around.

Mistletobird (female), Kinchina CP, SA

There were also good numbers of White-winged Trillers hanging around, along with Hooded Robin, Masked Woodswallow, White-browed Woodswallow, Elegant Parrot, Red-rumped Parrot, White-browed Babbler, Brown-headed Honeyeater and Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater.

White-winged Triller, Kinchina CP, SA

Hooded Robin, Kinchina CP, SA

White-browed Woodswallow, Kinchina CP, SA

A Southern Scrub-robin, pointed out by some other birders, was a special sighting, as I had only seen this species once previously. We got good views of it, including watching it find and devour a meal.

Southern Scrub-robin, Kinchina CP, SA

Another specialty to turn up at Kinchina CP was this Red-backed Kingfisher. Also not common to this area, however we had seen one individual at Monarto in a previous year. The same birders from earlier called us over to see the Kingfisher, and on our way out of the park they had stopped to observe a Shining Bronze-cuckoo - a lifer for me! A fantastic spot, made better by some lovely people that were happy to share their knowledge :-)

Red-backed Kingfisher, Kinchina CP, SA

After leaving Kinchina CP we called into visit a friend at his property in Callington, who told me he had fariywrens in his garden. They turned out to be Superb Fairywrens and were quite friendly, and I found he also had some Yellow-rumped Thornbills.

Superb Fairywrens, Callington, SA

Yellow-rumped Thornbill, Callington SA

It was a really nice day, 23 species were recorded at Kinchina CP (recorded on eBird and below)
1. Shining Bronze-cuckoo
2. Straw-necked Ibis (flying over)
3. Black Kite (flying over)
4. Red-backed Kingfisher
5. Rainbow Bee-eater (flying around, never perched)
6. Brown Falcon (flying over, hunting)
7. Galah
8. Elegant Parrot
9. Australian Ringneck (Mallee)
10. Red-rumped Parrot
11. Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater
12. Singing Honeyeater
13. Crimson Chat
14. Brown-headed Honeyeater
15. White-browed Babbler
16. White-winged Triller
17. Gray Shrikethrush
18. Masked Woodswallow
19. White-browed Woodswallow
20. Little Raven
21. Hooded Robin
22. Southern Scrub-robin
23. Mistletoebird

Tuesday, 5 July 2016

Northern Adventure Day 3 – Coober Pedy to Mt Ebenezer

Got an early start for our longest day of driving. It was raining in the morning, and we didn’t make any stops along the way for birding purposes. We crossed the border into the Northern Territory at 12:20, then stopped briefly at Kulgera for lunch. My first birding experience for the NT was stalking a yellow-throated miner around the Kulgera Pub carpark while waiting for lunch.

Northern Territory! Crossing the border

Interesting sign at Kulgera, Northern Territory

Yellow-throated Miner, Kulgera

We continued on, stopping at Erldunda for fuel, then took the turn off towards Uluru. Around half an hour later we arrived at our accommodation for the night – Mt Ebenezer Roadhouse on the Lasseter Highway. Right next to the roadhouse is a lot of vegetation between the road and a fence at the edge of someone’s property, and I could hear a lot of birds in there, so I went for a wander!

I saw a pair of white-winged fairy-wrens (no decent photos), several pairs of crimson chats (got better photos than yesterday!), a couple of pied honeyeaters (lifer!), a few rufous songlarks (lifer) and a pair of white-breasted woodswallows. Later when we were heading from our room back to the bar for dinner, I heard a familiar sound from the tree above. Then I saw them – tiny flashes of green and yellow – wild budgies! (lifer in the wild) Didn’t have my camera out, but I will look for them in the morning.