The North West of South Australia*F.

The Outback.

Australia, Day Twelve.

 

Another fine morning out bush.

Today, even though Ian had seen our target at this campsite we decided to moving a short way south looking for another camping spot in what looked to be better habitat, before light we again had a Southern Boobook (Ninox boobook) calling.

Budgies (Melopsittacus undulatus).

Grey-fronted Honeyeater (Ptilotula plumula).

Grey-fronted Honeyeater (Ptilotula plumula).

Before we left the campsite and went for a walk we picked up Horsfield's Bronze-Cuckoo (Chrysococcyx basalis), Pied Butcherbird (Cracticus nigrogularis), Grey-fronted (Ptilotula plumula), Spiny-cheeked (Acanthagenys rufogularis), White-fronted (Purnella albifrons) and Singing Honeyeater (Gavicalis virescens), Crested Bellbird (Oreoica gutturalis), Zebra Finch (Taeniopygia guttata), Spotted Harrier (Circus assimilis) and another Dingo (Canis dingo).

Mulga Ant (Polyrhachis macropa) nest.

Central Military Dragon (Ctenophorus isolepis isolepis) Male.

Goana track in the Sand Dunes.

Termite mound.

Deb, Graham and I then went for a walk (whilst Ian finished the packing), during which we saw Purple-backed Fairywren (Malurus assimilis), Black-faced (Artamus cinereus) and Masked Woodswallow (Artamus personatus), Pied Honeyeater (Certhionyx variegatus), Black-faced Cuckooshrike (Coracina novaehollandiae), Willie-wagtail (Rhipidura leucophrys), Yellow-throated Miner (Manorina flavigula), Australian Ringneck (Barnardius zonarius), Budgies (Melopsittacus undulatus), Nankeen Kestrel (Falco cenchroides), Tawny Frogmouth (Podargus strigoides), Australian Magpie (Gymnorhina tibicen), Red-backed Kingfisher (Todiramphus pyrrhopygius) and a nice looking ♂ Central Military Dragon (Ctenophorus isolepis isolepis).

Returning to the camping spot.

Deb and I watching an interesting pair of Parrots.

View from the camping spot.

Grevillea pterosperma.

Graham and Deb off on a walk.

As we made our way a few Sand Dunes to the south, which was hard going with lots of machete work we added Southern Whiteface (Aphelocephala leucopsis) and Inland Thornbill (Acanthiza apicalis) to the day list, as we came up over a large sand dune Ian said "this looks like a good spot for the night" so we pulled in.

Princess Parrot (Polytelis alexandrae) my first shot of this stunning ♂.

Princess Parrot (Polytelis alexandrae) the stunning but shorter tailed ♀.

Princess Parrot (Polytelis alexandrae) the ♂, just look at the length of that tail.

Princess Parrots (Polytelis alexandrae).

As we did, we got a big shock when 2 stunning Princess Parrots (Polytelis alexandrae) flew out of the tree above us, instantly Ian recognised them and said sit tight, get Deb and Graham on the radio and tell them to shift their arses, at first Deb thought we were kidding but when I used the "F" word on the radio she knew it was serious as I very rarely swear, so poor Graham got a bit of a hat slapping to get him shifting a little quicker.

Photographing the Princess Parrots (Polytelis alexandrae).

I think you can tell how happy we are, a real privilege to be able to watch theses stunning Nomads.

They arrived after what seemed an age, we all got out and worked our way around to the side of the tree where we could get a view, it was just amazing as we had a pair of one of the most difficult to see species in SA right in front of us. 

The interesting Galah's (Eolophus roseicapilla ssp roseicapilla) the western form.

After watching these birds for quite a while we left them and went to set up camp, as we did this we saw a very interesting pair of Galah's (Eolophus roseicapilla ssp roseicapilla) which Graham said looked like a form of the species which is normally found further to the west, but we soon confirmed they were exactly what Graham had suspected.

Ian getting the Coffee on the go.

Very Happy Campers.

Losing the Sun.

Other species seen around the new camping spot included Australian Hobby (Falco longipennis), Wedge-tailed Eagle (Aquila audax), Brown Falcon (Falco berigora), Little Crow (Corvus bennetti) and after dark another calling Southern Boobook.