Santa Teresa Road

As I drove along the road I saw small birds with a flash on their tails flying along and across the roads. It took me sometime to figure out they were Crimson Chats and Southern Whiteface. It took even longer for me to get close enough to photograph them and then I only got a good shot of the chat.

The male bird is a vivid red on the crown, breast, and rump with a black mask around the eye. The throat is white and the back and wings are brownish-grey. They have a startling yellow eye.

The female bird, on the other hand, has a pale brown crown and rump, lighter brown mask and back with a pale yellow or white throat. The eye is also bright yellow.

As I sat in the van having a cup of tea I could hear a call I didn't know which is always exciting. It was a sort of double electronic buzz and I raced out to find the owner. Turned out to be a Red-capped Robin. I found several females and while the male is more attractive, I thought these girls were super cute.

Female Red-capped Robin (Petroica goodenovii)

The birds that made the most noise were the varied Sittella. I have seen grey morphs before but these black and white birds were stunning. They were very shy and I only managed to get shots of them when they flew in to a tree close to me rather than me approaching them.

I love seeing these little birds. They are always active, working the area in groups and chattering away. There are at least 5 subspecies, spread across the country and each has a different plumage. 

Varied Sittella (Daphoenositta chrysoptera)

It really was the morning for small bush birds as I heard thornbills and fairywrens calling close by. I saw the White-winged Fairywren but wasn't able to photograph them. Not too shabby to settle for this Splendid Fairywren.

Interestingly, the blue color is not permanent. Male Splendid Fairywrens go through a moult after the breeding season, and their plumage becomes a dull brown. This drab coloration helps them camouflage themselves better during the non-breeding season when they are not focused on attracting mates or competing with other males. 

Splendid Fairywren (Malurus spendens)

The other bird flitting about was the Inland Thornbill. They may look like rather dull, grey birds but I think if you can get close to them and look really carefully they are beautiful and interesting.

They are widespread across inland Australia, but their exact location can vary depending on the specific habitat type. Throughout a large portion of mainland Australia, they are found in arid woodlands and scrubs. While they can be found in various dry woodland settings, they seem to favour areas with dry eucalypt, mallee and acacia scrublands.

Inland Thornbill (Acanthiza apicalis)

I returned to Santa Teresa Road a few days later with the lovely Tanya who had escorted me to the Treatment Plant earlier in my stay here at Alice Springs. She had and idea where we might find Banded Whiteface and so we set off to look for a semi-circular track off the main road. We were both unsure we would spot it but we did and immediately on pulling in, we saw small birds on the ground. 1, 2, 3 were Zebra Finch but there as well was a single Banded Whiteface. It looked marked different to the Southern Whiteface but I am still unsure as to exactly why. Not to worry, it was another lifer and a very attractive bird. 

Banded Whiteface (Aphelocephala nigricincta)

Further down the road we stopped at the famous Tyre in the Pole area and wandered in amongst the grasses. We heard a quiet but distinctive double beep and immediately started searching for the Spinifexbird. We played the song on my phone and it popped straight up, posing beautifully for us. As we got close it moved off and we tried once more with the app and got it again, legs splayed between grasses. Not prone to torturing birds with recorded songs, we let it go about its business.

Spinifexbird (Poodytes carteri)