Hi all,
Just got back from 18 days in the outback as far as the Simpson Desert which we
crossed in 4 days from East to West. Amazing trip and birds and I was able to
see quite a few Lifers. I will send a trip list later but for now thought you
would be interested to know we had a sighting of at least one Grey Falcon which
is confirmed with photos, although they are not great quality. I will try and
post them with a few others I took which may possibly be Grey Falcons but I
know I should not be greedy and be happy with just one, and my first sighting
ever of a Grey Falcon!
We left Innamincka for Coongie Lakes and saw 4 Black-breasted buzzards flying
above the track. After Coongie Lakes, we had to go back to Innamincka before
heading up to Birdsville on the Walkers Crossing Track.
We saw 2 Black Falcons perched in the same dead tree while on the Walkers
Crossing Track, 6 Kms north of Innamincka on the way to Birdsville. They were
only about 15 metres from us on the track and did fly off soon after we stopped.
The Grey Falcon was seen perched on a telegraph post as we crossed Outalpa
Creek (dry) which is 67Kms East of Yunta in SA on route to Broken Hill. This
was at 4:45pm and the lighting was good. We quickly turned around and the bird
flew across to a low shrubby tree where I could take a few quick photos before
it flew off. Lucky for us the shrubby trees were there and I was able to
confirm id. The yellow legs and cere were prominent and these show up in the
photos. Of course there were many many Browns seen on the trip but there were a
few times I thought I could have seen a Grey and we were certainly in the right
territory for them a lot of the time. Usually they were too far away or flew
off quickly to confirm id or the sun was too bright to make out distinguishing
features. It was not uncommon to see a Falcons on every 2-3 dune tops while
crossing the desert. I highly recommend a trip there if you haven't been
before. You do feel like you are the only ones on the planet.
Regards,
Carla Jackett
Kangaroo Valley NSW
==============================www.birding-aus.org
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