Brown Quail

Brown Quail, Coturnix ypsilophora.

It’s been an exciting week of birding in The Centre. The bird surveys have almost wrapped up out at Newhaven and the Field Nats have been out on the weekend enjoying the wet conditions. The final plans have been locked into place for Red Centre Bird Week out at the Alice Springs Desert Park, and you can expect some official dates for that event soon.

            The bird in the frame this week is the Brown Quail. Usually not too common around The Centre, this bird lurks around in grassy areas and in wet years it can become much more abundant and spread out across the arid zone. This round-looking bird was snapped on the road into Simpson’s Gap.

Sightings this week: 

-          A Black-chinned Honeyeater of the gorgeous laetior race was identified by local birdo Uwe Path out at Emily Gap on the weekend

-           Southern Boobooks are very active at the moment with several birds calling around northside and allowing great views from Dixon Road

-          Crimson Chats are still being seen in reasonable flocks along Colonel Rose Drive

Now is a great time to start conducting bird surveys around your home or property. Land for Wildlife is starting a database of regular monthly bird surveys on private land around Central Australia. We’d love as many contributors to this project as possible. Whether you are in town or out on a bush block you can join Land for Wildlife in its mission to preserve wildlife corridors through town and monitor the state of our birds. To find out more visit the website at http://www.lowecol.com.au/lfw/lfw.htm or email lfw@lowecol.com.au and we’ll pop round and get you started.

Happy Birding!