138.) You know them by the glow of their eyes!

A White-winged Chough yakking it up with its clan buddies in the Gluepot Reserve. They travel in small groups and given their 'largish' size, they rather dominated the bird bath at the hide when they came chattering through. Nancy does not approve of my referring to their "demonic eyes' but boy, their eyes really do glow with a preternatural brightness!

137). Red-back

We first saw these Red-backed Kingfishers in the West McDonald Mountains (the range running W from Alice Springs). Interestingly they are frequently far from water - it was incongruous to see them high in trees in such dry areas. This nice closeup is from the aviary at Desert Park.

136.) Parrots in the Mulga

We still cannot get over seeing PARROTS just flying about. We have gone to see specific species and dipped but it is always a joy to see any species out in the wild - just being parrots. These male and female Mulga parrots were visiting the water in front on a hide in Gluepot reserve in SA, which is, oddly enough, a large tract of Mulga habitat!

135.) Desert Park

One of the remarkable Painted Finches from the desert country. We saw six of these spectacular finches in the center of the Kata Tjuta domes (with hundreds of Zebra Finches). Sadly I did not have a long lens with me - this photo was taken at the Desert Park Aviary in Alice Springs (note the banding)

134.) The Red Center

The iconic Uluru (Ayers Rock) at sunset. Just me and 200 of my closest friends snapping away. We chose not to climb it in deference to the owners wishes - after all, when its the only thing of interest to see for 50 km, what is the point of standing on top and looking at your feet?

133.) Another from the Center

The Dusky Grasswren is one of the iconic birds people travel to the Alice Springs area to see. Formerly common they are now much harder to find due to the usual suspects (invasive Buffel grass, feral animals). We did see one in the West McDonald range who played catch-me-if-you-can among some rocks too far away formy lens. This fella was at an aviary in Alice - the pair was happily taking live food to their nest in the enclosure.

132). Gluepot

At Gluepot reserve SA, we saw and heard Striated Partalotes all over. This one was taking an afternoon drink in front of a bird hide in the reserve.

More photos and some stories to come as soon as classes settle down....

131) Colors in the desert

A dramatic Splendid Fairy Wren at Gluepot Reserve in SA - these guys would streak by like litle balls of lightning but catching them sitting still was a challenge!