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Lajamanu is about 600km southwest of Katherine
at the northern edge of the Tanami Desert. Last Sunday a Crested Grebe turned up
on the wetlands formed by recent rains. Probably the last bird we expected to
see when we came to live near the Tanami Desert. My wife is a nurse at the
Health Centre and I am a full time bird photographer. Checking the new bird
distribution atlas on line we found that there had been no wet season
submissions for the Lajamanu square and just 56 species recorded for the dry so
I thought it would be worth mentioning a few species I have seen.
We have had substantial rain and Hooker Creek
was flowing strongly and overflowing into surrounding countryside.Wetland birds
appeared like magic. There have been Plumed Whistling-duck, Black Duck,
Pink-eared Duck, Hardhead and Grey Teal along with a good number of Coots.
Hoary-headed Grebes are swimming through the grasslands and feeding on insects
clinging to the tops of the grass. Australasian Grebes were swimming down
the middle of the Tananmi Road. One Black-tailed Nativehen appeared
for a day. There have been Great Egrets Intermediate Egrets, White-faced Heron,
White-necked Heron, Black-necked Stork along with Little Pied and Little Black
Cormorants. Also Masked Lapwing, Black-fronted Dotterel, Straw-necked Ibis,
Royal Spoonbill, and Black-winged Stilts. I've seen 4 migratory waders;
Greenshank, Little Curlew, Wood Sandpipers and Sharp-tailed Sandpipers and one
tern a Whiskered.
More later
Don Hadden
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