Letter-wing Kite |
After passing Montecollina Bore and the Swale country which surrounds it, we next headed to a site given to us as a place to find Letter-winged Kites. We pulled into the area and proceeded to walk the treeline that the Letter-wings use for nesting. The area has around twenty or so Coolabah's and we were nearing the last group thinking we were going to dip on our main target species for the trip having found none in the first fifteen or so trees we had checked. As we neared the last of the trees three Letter-wings flew up and started circling and calling around us, ghost like with their almost see through white plumage they flew higher and higher till we could barely see them. During this flight they often flapped there wings in a strange almost Butterfly like manner, an amazing sight to see! Luckily for us no sooner had they ascended to a great height then they descended back down and settled down back into the trees.
Mike and I were rapt! a bird we thought we only had a small chance of seeing in our lives, right there in front of us settling back down onto their nests and acting as if we weren't even there!
Personally, I was thrilled as this species is number five in the top ten birds I want to see in the wild in my lifetime!
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Pair of LWKites found between Montecollina Bore and Strezlecki Crossing |
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Red-backed Kingfisher at the Letter-winged Kite site |
Didn't take long to forget about that and get back to enjoying just being in the outback! as we headed for the Strezlecki Crossing we had travelled a little further down the road when Mike slammed the brakes on, off to the right about 200m there was another Letter-wing! great spotting by the driver! a little worrisome as the passenger though!! This sighting was even more enjoyable than the first as we found this sight ourselves and that always is a more satisfing feeling than being directed to a site which can be a little like shooting fish in a barrel!
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The Letter-winged Kite that eagle-eye Mike spotted whilst driving, heading towards Strezlecki Crossing. |
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Dusk on the Strezlecki Crossing |
That night we took the spotlight out and went for a look at the Crossing, where we came across many Nankeen Night-herons mostly in juvenile plumage. We also came across a few Kultarr hopping about the dunes which was great to see as neither of us had seen these before!
In the morning we looked around the Crossing a bit more, where there were masses of Great and Little Black Cormorants plus lots of other waterbirds. Also in the general area there were many parrots such as Blue Bonnets, Budgies and Cockatiels.
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Blue Bonnets at Strezlecki Crossing |
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Blue Bonnet at Strezlecki Crossing |
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Dawn on Frome Creek at Mt Lyndhurst Station a Little Corella enjoys the sunrise! |
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Sacred Kingfishers where nesting right next to our camp on Frome Creek, Mt Lyndhurst Station |
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Sacred Kingfishers where nesting right next to our camp on Frome Creek, Mt Lyndhurst Station |
At Stokes Hill we had a lot more luck with Short-tailed Grasswrens, we had only left the car for about 2-5 minutes when across a small gully some movement caught my eye, there two ST Grasswrens where happily bouncing around as grasswrens do going about their business. Too Easy!!
After we left the Flinders the only other bird of note was a Black Falcon perched in a tree along a creekline south of Hawker.
All up a great trip and i'm already chaffing at the bit to get back up there again!
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Short-tailed Grasswren found at Stokes Hill Lookout only five minutes after leaving the car! |
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Bonding Pair |