Check my birding map for specific location.
The Alice Springs treatment plant is unique. It is recognised as one of the best birding areas in Australia and it is most unusual in that you can access it. With some safety formalities and a volunteer guide, you can walk around the ponds at your leisure. Contrary to the impressions of non-bird watcher civilians, it doesn't smell, it is very beautiful and very interesting. My guide Tanya was so knowledgeable and helpful - it made all the difference. The night before had been very cold and it was lovely to walk around the ponds chatting about birds and photography with the rising sun on our backs. It was a huge bonus and surprise to get 4 lifers here. I didn't get too many photos but sometimes the experience is what is important.
The first birds we saw and heard were the Little Crow. Distinguishing between the Little and Torresian Crow is proving to be a challenge for me and even though we saw the littles, I could not explain why it was so. Anyway, here it is.
As we hit the ponds we started to see waders. Most common was the Black-fronted Dotterel and they took flight as soon as we got close. Then Tanya spotted a Wood Sandpiper which was great and it let us get close enough to photograph it. I rattled off dozens of photographs and laughed when I processed them. The bird was so still that every photo was exactly the same. Some birds are just more active than others I guess.
As we moved to the first corner which was overgrown, we could hear the Little Grassbird and fairywrens. During the morning we saw all 3 local species of fairywren, the Splendid, Purple-backed and White-winged. The females are all plainer than the more shy males.
The highlight of the visit was seeing the shy Australian Spotted Crake. Amazingly, it not only came out into the open but the sun was actually in the right place. We ended up seeing 2 birds out in the open in different places which was just magic for my first sighting.
https://ebird.org/australia/checklist/S117363572
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