UK-based photographer Paul Williams (pictured) used Google Earth to locate shrinking waterholes in the desert south of Alice Springs, where he hoped to capture Central Australia’s famous flocks of budgies.
Budgerigars (Melopsittacus undulatus) coat a tree near a waterhole in the desert south of Alice Springs.
“The sky above me was filled with the flutters of thousands of budgies, as many as 80,000, a green tornado circling around the waterhole,” says Paul.
Opportunistic birds of prey soon arrived on the scene.
No, they are not green leaves.
The budgies “erupted into mesmerising murmurations of green, creating giant morphing shapes like those formed by starlings in the UK,” said Paul.
“Small clouds of birds grew into bigger ones. It wasn’t long before the sky above me was filled with the flutters of thousands of budgies.”
Home Topics Wildlife GALLERY: Stunning flocks of budgies in outback Australia
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