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.
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| Northern Territory! Crossing the border |
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| Interesting sign at Kulgera, Northern Territory |
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| 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.
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| Crimson Chat (female), Mt Ebenezer, Northern Territory |
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| Crimson Chat (male), Mt Ebenezer, Northern Territory |
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| Crimson Chat, Mt Ebenezer, Northern Territory |
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| Crimson Chat, Mt Ebenezer, Northern Territory |
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| Pied Honeyeater, Mt Ebenezer, Northern Territory |
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| Rufous Songlark, Mt Ebenezer, Northern Territory |
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| White-breasted Woodswallow, Mt Ebenezer, Northern Territory |
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| White-breasted Woodswallow, Mt Ebenezer, Northern Territory |
