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.

Crimson Chat (female), Mt Ebenezer, Northern Territory
Crimson Chat (male), Mt Ebenezer, Northern Territory
Crimson Chat, Mt Ebenezer, Northern Territory
Crimson Chat, Mt Ebenezer, Northern Territory
Pied Honeyeater, Mt Ebenezer, Northern Territory
Rufous Songlark, Mt Ebenezer, Northern Territory
White-breasted Woodswallow, Mt Ebenezer, Northern Territory
White-breasted Woodswallow, Mt Ebenezer, Northern Territory

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