Tardy wet season rains have closed favourite swimming areas and it’s been as hot as hades for months.
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It’s understandable if you are finding it hard to summon up the enthusiasm for an adventure. Even though conditions are difficult there’s still a stack of things to do out there!
Living in the NT brings a number of advantages.
One of these is that no matter where you live you are fairly close to the world around you and an incredible variety of birdlife is thriving in the different habitats of our gardens, paddocks, waterways, grasslands and stone country.
I can’t mow the lawn at the moment.
A pair of Crimson Finches have taken up residence somewhere nearby and really love the shaggy carpet that is my unmanaged and seeding wet season grass.
The local Double-barred Finch family have grown in numbers after a successful breeding season and muck about in overgrown shrubbery. A somewhat scruffy garden seems a small price to pay to be able to watch their antics over a morning cuppa on the verandah.
If you are out and about early, find a small puddle to sit near, you might spot some of the shyer birds as they come down for their first drink of the day.
There’s been reports of Gouldian Finches in the bushland behind Katherine East and I often see male Red-backed Fairy-wrens in the long grass nearer town.
These tiny blokes really stand out, they are coal black with wee red saddles. Their slightly fatter, beige-coloured wives are much better camouflaged.
The Plumed Whistling-ducks are back in the Lindsay Street drain, Pied Imperial Pigeons are arguing over the Carpentaria Palm berries in the neighbour’s garden and pink and grey Galahs decorate the power lines along Grevillea Road. Wherever you look there are birds to be seen.
The shining, red-eyed Spangled Drongo, the maniacal laughter and fierce eyes of the Blue-Winged Kookaburra and the weird and wonderful pink legs of the Straw-necked Ibis. All are rather gorgeous and spending a sweaty hour or two seeking them out is well worth your while. The Museum and Art Gallery of the NT and Museums Victoria got together and have produced the Northern Territory Field Guide app, it’s free and really easy to use. Download it and go birdwatching today.