A great trip to Alice Springs with good mate Petter Zahl Marki which was successful in finding our main target birds and a few herp ticks were also welcome.  Maximum temps were between 36 and 43° Celsius which for myself is quite tolerable. Due to the lower humidity than I am used to even in the heat of the day it wasn’t uncomfortable.

Thanks to Petter’s research of sites and his eagle eyes we both managed several lifers despite the fact that our guide Mark Carter pulled out last minute due to health issues and leading us to believe we would dip on our remaining species. It did cost us access to the Alice Springs poo ponds and as it was last minute, we didn’t try the other contact I had and no other option was offered by Mark. This was rather annoying as Petter had traveled from Norway so it was likely a once in a lifetime trip for him and although I traveled from Brisbane, due to the cost of getting there, hire car and accommodation I possibly won’t get back for some time. On the positive side we saved ourselves $670  on a days guiding fees.

We both traveled Brisbane to Alice Springs on Qantas which flew via Sydney both directions. I traveled on the 28th of October and Petter on the 29th. This was to allow me time to visit with family so I didn’t get much birding in on the 28th. Accommodation was at Stuart Caravan & Cabin Tourist Park while in Alice. A cabin with ensuite was $90/night at the time of our stay. In Erldunda we stayed at Erldunda Roadhouse. A twin motel room here was $149/night. At both places other options are available, please look at the websites for all options.

I hired a Nissan Xtrail from Central Car Rentals who were recommended by Mark. This vehicle was $170/day with unlimited kilometers.  Many other options are available with 100km, 300km and unlimited km/day. When booking this vehicle I asked about driving along Santa Teresa Road which is good dirt road for the most part out to the tyre-in-the-pole birding site. They told me this was no problem. All other big rental companies will not allow anything other than a full 4wd off the bitumen and these are comparatively much more expensive. The only no-no was driving after dark outside the town, which is common with all rental vehicles as far as I am aware, and if something happens (animal strike is the main concern) you will not be covered by insurance so even a small amount of damage can end up emptying your pockets. Please be honest with where you intend to go as being locals they can tell you whether the vehicle you want to hire is okay to take on the roads you want to travel. Apart from Santa Teresa Road, all birds were accessed from sealed roads to sites. We covered between 1800 and 2000km (A little over 500km was doing the side trip from Erldunda to Uluru). Fuel in Alice at the time was $1.38/ltr and at Erldunda was $1.81/ltr.

Wed 28th Oct.

Arrived in Alice close to the scheduled time of 1130hrs and jumped in a cab to pick up the hire car(fare was $46). On the way into town not much observed other than Black Kites, Crested Pigeon, Galahs, Yellow-throated Miners and Little Crows. After picking up car, checking into accommodation and calling cousin to arrange for a visit,  I spent a couple of hours wandering around the car park and access road of the Alice Springs Desert Park . In the heat of the afternoon there wasn’t too much too be seen and in retrospect I would have kicked back at the cafe in Olive Pink Botanic Gardens. Despite this I got my first lifer in Grey-headed Honeyeater which has somehow been a bogey bird for me despite several visits to the Cunnamulla and Hungerford districts over several years. Other birds here included Australian (Port Lincoln) Ringneck, Splendid Fairywren, Singing and White-plumed Honeyeaters, Western Gerygone and several Mistletoebirds.

Thurs 29th Oct

I didn’t need to collect Petter until 1130 so after checking out of the cabin I headed the short way up the road to Desert Park again. This time I had some more time to kill so I paid my $25 to go in and walk around the grounds. Inside the fence there are a few aviaries which give people unfamiliar with the local birds a chance to look and listen to species occurring in the surrounding countryside. They also have a great nocturnal/reptile house with many species on display. Species added this morning included Horsfield’s Bronze-Cuckoo, Variegated Fairy-wren, Brown Honeyeater, Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater, Crested Bellbird, Rufous Whistler, White-browed Babbler, Grey-crowned Babbler, and Zebra Finch.

With some time still to fill I birded a short way down Santa Teresa Road where there were clouds of Masked Woodswallow, some Black-faced Woodswallow, Black-shouldered (Australian) Kite, Mulga Parrot, Southern Whiteface and Hooded Robin.

In the garden area outside the airport, alarm calls of White-plumed Honeyeaters gave away the presence of a Collared Sparrowhawk. Petters flight arrived on time and with luggage collected we headed off to Erldunda after quickly relocating the Mulga Parrots which were a lifer for Petter. A quick stop for a great lunch at Stuart Wells roadhouse and then on to check into our accommodation.

After checking in we headed back the way we came for twenty kilometres to the well known Banded Whiteface site. A very short time after hopping out the car a Quail-thrush was heard and then subsequently materialized giving us good views of a male Cinnamon Quail-thrush. The female put in a show also. White-winged Fairywren, Australian Pipit and another pair of quail-thrush were about all that was observed here. Turning south towards Erldunda we tried a couple of likely looking spots for Banded Whiteface but only scored Southern Whiteface. Across the highway in a shrubbier area were a few honeyeaters (Singing and Spiny-cheeked), White-browed Babblers and another lifer in the form of several Chiming Wedgebill.

 

After dark we decided to look for herps a few kilometres along the Lasseter Hwy. We only managed Northern Spiny-tailed Geckos, Tree Dtella (which may be the newly split or described Eastern Tree Dtella based on range) and a Pseudonaja that I believe was Western Brown Snake but a roadtrain came along before we got a good enough look at it. Petter also found a Binoe’s Prickly Gecko at the accommodation.

Grey-headed Honeyeater Alice Springs Desert Park	Cinnamon Quail-thrush 21km north of Erldunda
Centralian Earless Dragon 21km north of Erldunda

 

Fri 30th Oct

This morning saw us back early at the Banded Whiteface site. Things were very quiet as we walked and listened north to start with for about 800m. We heard Quail-thrush again, saw a small flock of Red-tailed Black-cockatoo, a Wedge-tailed Eagle, Australian Pipit, Variegated and White-winged Fairywren. After crossing the highway and walking back down the east side when we got to the car we crossed back to the west side and continued to walk another 800m south. Apart from a couple of Red Kangaroos and the ever present Singing Honeyeaters not a lot else was heard. Halfway back to the car while walking along the fenceline on the eastern side we heard a Banded Whiteface call on the west side of the highway. We had no luck finding this bird but heard another call back on the east side. After some scanning Petter got onto a single Banded Whiteface calling from the top of a Mulga bush. The bird sang for a short time and flew down out of sight. Back to Erldunda for some breakfast and we decided to run out to Uluru.

On the drive out Petter got a couple more lifers in Pink Cockatoos and White-backed Swallows. On arriving at the sunset viewing carpark we had barely hopped out the car when I heard a Grasswren calling and Petter noticed a Striated Grasswren (this is split by some as Sandhill Grasswren) hurriedly moving over the ground. This bird subsequently decided to come over and climb a dead shrub and sing his little heart out to us before moving off but foraging in and out of view for several minutes. Being the middle of the day not much else was seen. We added Sand Monitor to the trip list and the drive back to Erldunda saw plenty of Central Netted Dragons and Central Bearded Dragons on the highway but no Thorny Devils that I was hoping for.

After an evening meal at the pub we took another look a few kilometres up the Lasseter highway and got loads of Fat-tailed Geckos, a Beaked Gecko, Smooth Knob-tailed Gecko, more Northern Spiny-tailed Gecko, Western Hooded Scaly-foot and a Mulga Snake ending another great day.

Red Kangaroo near Erldunda	Pink Cockatoo, Lasseter Highway
Striated Grasswren, Uluru Sunset viewing area	Striated Grasswren, Uluru Sunset viewing area
Part of Uluru	Sand Goanna, Uluru
Fat-tailed Gecko, Lasseter Highway Erldunda	Beaked Gecko, Lasseter Highway Erldunda
Smooth Knob-tailed Gecko, Lasseter Highway Erldunda	Mulga Snake, Lasseter Highway Erldunda

31st Oct

Today started at a random site about 12.5km south of Erldunda mostly looking for herps. It took a while for things to start coming out and this was mostly Central Military Dragons which were very common in the area as well as Barred Wedgesnout Ctenotus. The usual Yellow-throated Miners and Singing Honeyeaters were here as well as White-winged Fairywren, Fairy Martin, a single White-backed Swallow did a fly past and across from where we parked the car was a small flock of Banded Whiteface. We headed back to Erldunda to grab some breakfast and check out then travelled back to Alice.

While getting lunch in Alice we learned our guide had cancelled for tomorrow so we had to hatch a plan to find our targets that we had planned to get with Mark the following day. A little bit of stress crept in as we hadn’t planned for this outcome but shouldn’t have worried as everything played the game over the next two days. We started by going to Olive Pink Botanic Garden where we got Western Bowerbird before we got through the gate. There is a bower just inside the gate. We had a walk around but didn’t add anything new for the trip although I would recommend spending some time around the water near the cafe or any flowering as you don’t know what might show up.

Next stop was Mount Gillen via Flynns Grave. Due to a chest cold that was causing me a few problems (such as breathing without coughing up a lung) and my general lack of fitness, by the time I reached the saddle I needed a break. I decided to sit on a rock in the gully and was listening to and watching various things such as White-winged Triller and Horsfield’s Bronze-cuckoo for about ten minutes before noticing a Dusky Grasswren bounding down the rocks of the gully. This was closely followed by a second and when they got directly across the gully from me one bird decided to serenade (or chastise) me before the pair decided to continue on down the gully. A third bird was heard singing on the way back down and was subsequently observed for a couple of minutes. Heading back to the accommodation we felt it was a good start but would we see the rest.

Barred Wedgesnout Ctenotus, Stuart Hwy south of Erldunda	Male Central Military Dragon, Stuart Hwy south of Erldunda
Female Central Military Dragon, Stuart Hwy south of Erldunda.	Dusky Grasswren, Mount Gillen Alice Springs

1st Nov

Off early today to Kunoth Bore for our main Target, Grey Honeyeater. We were worried we might miss this one but shouldn’t have because we had a showy bird within ten minutes. We were watching Slaty-backed Thornbills when Petter commented he had a bird in a clump of Mistletoe that was a likely candidate. Within seconds a Grey Honeyeater came out and moved around in more open habitat, sang a few times, and spent brief periods sitting in the sun. After our good luck we changed plans from birding along the Hamilton Downs Youth Camp Rd and decided to go to the famed Tyre-in-the-pole site on Santa Teresa (Deepwell) Road. I managed to drive too far along the road but we were rewarded with another pair of Cinnamon Quail-thrush, Crested Bellbird and Crimson Chats. Black-flanked Rock-wallaby were also a nice edition to the trip list. Despite checking out some prime looking habitat for Rufous-crowned Emu-wren and Spinifexbird we came up blank.

Heading back to town for lunch and to have a better look at the maps we returned to the correct site in the afternoon. Despite walking for a couple of hours around the ridge nothing apart from Singing Honeyeaters and a Nankeen Kestrel were seen.

2nd Nov

This morning saw us back out in the tyre-in-the-pole site looking for our targets. Within metres of the leaving the car Petter got onto his first of three Spinifexbirds, a pair of Dusky Grasswren were also observed before we got onto a pair of Rufous-crowned Emu-wren. We spent a little bit of time watching this pair and then decided to head to Ormiston Gorge to try for Painted Firetail. On the way back along Santa Teresa Road there were several species that seemed attracted to the water sitting on the road through an area of roadworks. Cockatiel were a new species for Petter and when we were about half way through the roadworks Petter leapt out the car to track down a White-browed Treecreeper he had seen flying between trees.

Arriving at Ormiston Gorge after a quick stop for thornbills and gerygones about 12.5km before the turnoff into the gorge, we had a quick breakfast at the kiosk and then headed through to the gorge. Four Brown Quail were interesting given the seemingly tiny patch of suitable habitat that I would normally expect them in. We decided to sit at the back end of the waterhole and see what came into drink. Birds moving about included Rainbow Bee-eater, Grey-headed and Black-chinned (Golden-backed) Honeyeaters, Little Woodswallows and Zebra Finch. Eventually I heard and then Petter spotted some Painted Finch up on the top of the gorge. They called and moved about for several minutes. Closer views would have been nice but good views over several minutes sufficed. Before leaving we found several of the resident Spinifex Pigeon in shade around the kiosk and car park. Long-nosed Dragons were also very common. A bit more birding filled in the afternoon at a couple of spots but no new birds for the trip were recorded.

Rufous-crowned Emu-wren, Tyre-in-the-pole site along Santa Teresa (Deepwell) Road	Zebra Finch, Ormiston Gorge
Spinifex Pigeon, Ormiston Gorge	Long-nosed Dragon, Ormiston Gorge

3rd Nov

We spent this morning birding around the car park of Desert Park and Olive Pink Botanic Garden before taking the car back around 10am. Nothing added for the trip but it was nice to see some more Diamond Doves, Grey-headed Honeyeaters and White-browed Babblers at Desert Park. We also got another look at Black-flanked Rock-wallaby while at Olive Pink.

Thanks again to Petter for his research of the sites and great birding skills.

For Petter’s informative report for this trip see his account