In search of Bourke's

Bourke's in the early morning light

I made a field trip recently with the main aim of viewing, studying and photographing Psephotus and Neopsephotus grass parrots. One species of Psephotus, the Red-rumped Parrot can be seen if I travel around one to two hours from home. However for this trip I was aiming to see the Bourke's Parrot and the Mulga Parrot. 

With the camouflage it was easy to walk past these pretty birds

As such this trip took me 10 hours west of where I live on the east coast of Australia into Western Queensland. I headed to a number of properties where I knew the Bourke's had been seen. The recent rains the area had received were much needed as the area had been in drought. Worryingly though the weather wasn't going to make for good photography and looked set to stay.

Habitat of Bourke's, Mulga, Mallee and Blue Bonnet Parrots

The weather though soon cleared and I set about searching for a range of species on a number of properties. I was also aiming to make observations of other bird species particularly Parrots and Cockatoo's. I quickly found Mulga Parrots but the photos were not particularly great. 

Mallee Ringnecks were observed at the nest

Soon though I located a single Bourke's Parrot which I photographed in flight. It turned out that the next lot would be much harder to find and eventually I got my eyes in and observed a number of small flocks of Bourke's including at the nest during my visit. What accompanies this post is just a few photos of the birds seen. I will be doing a more detailed write up on the Bourke's Parrot in due course. It will also have more photos of Bourke's.

Flocks of Major Mitchell's Cockatoo's were also observed

Happy Birdkeeping,
Jade
www.jadewelchbirds.com

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