Northern Territory

Yellow-throated Miner lunching at Glen Helen Gorge
Some of the best places to see birds around Alice Springs in a dry year are in the watered areas of tourist attractions such as the Olive Pink Botanic Gardens, Telegraph Station and The Alice Springs Desert Park, there were plenty of birds around the town too.
We stayed in accommodation on Strehlow Street, one of the first birds we saw when we arrived was a large family of Grey-crowned Babblers living across the road. From here we went for a walk along the Todd River toward the Olive Pink Botanic Gardens, on the way we saw Red-browed and Striated Pardalote and Port Lincoln Parrots amongst others. There were plenty of birds at Olive Pink especially in the area near to the Visitor Centre and the waterhole. We found the Western Bowerbird with bower in the Blakeman Garden and another Bowerbird was keeping watch over the tables in the cafe. There were many other bush birds and honeyeaters around the garden, including Red-capped Robin, Splendid Fairywren, Inland Thornbill, Grey-headed and Brown Honeyeater, Zebra Finch, and Weebill.
We visited the Telegraph Station at the end of our trip where we finally caught up with a Slaty-backed Thornbill on the Bradshaw Walk. Interesting birds seen along the Riverside Walk and in the picnic grounds were Crested Bellbird, Red-capped Robin, Inland Thornbill, Grey-crowned Babbler, Red-browed and Striated Pardalote, Western Bowerbird and Weebill. There were also lots of the more common birds in the picnic area such as Galah, Pied Butcherbirds, Australian Ringnecks and Crested Pigeon. This place was well worth the visit on our last morning.
Ormiston Gorge
We only had a short amount of time to visit some of the places in the West MacDonnell's. We chose to spend the night at Redbank Gorge, the camp ground here is set in a lovely Mulga woodland which I think is one of the nicest camps in the West MacDonnell's, around the campground in the evening we saw Mulga Parrot, Collared Sparrowhawk, Crested Bellbird, Red-capped and Hooded Robins, Australian Ringnecks and Weebill. The next morning we took the walk to Redbank Gorge and managed to see a Dusky Grasswren in the rocky spinifex along the way, on this walk we also saw Variegated Fairywren, Inland Thornbill, Red-Browed Pardalote and Grey-headed Honeyeater (one of the most common honeyeaters in Central Australia).
Other sightings worth mentioning in the area were Spinifex Pigeon, Peaceful Dove and Western Bowerbird at Ormiston Gorge (we didn't have much time to spend here), Diamond Dove, Peaceful Dove, Zebra Finch and Mistletoe Bird at Glen Helen Gorge.
Dolomite Walk, Ellery Creek Bighole

The beehive formations
Watarrka National Park (Kings Canyon) was an incredible place to visit, the views nearly distracted us from the birds (but not quite). We decided to take the Kings Canyon Rim Walk, there were many other tourists completing the walk with us but this didn't detract from its amazing beauty. As with most places we visited in Central Australia the birds were few and far between, however we did see some interesting birds around the base of the rim walk, including Brown Goshawk, Hooded Robin, Variegated fairywren (fully plumaged male), and Spinifex Pigeon.
We we hoped to see Little Woodswallow around the cliffs as we walked around the rim, we dipped on these but were rewarded with a distant sighting of Painted Finch. Unfortunately they were on the other side of the rim and fluttering not far from the feet of some other climbers. I was surprised that they were so busy looking at the views that they completely missed these little jewels at their feet.
Painted Finch site (and the people who missed them)
During our stay we enjoyed regular views of some birds in the well watered camp ground of the resort including Collared Sparrowhawk, Port Lincoln Parrot, Zebra Finch, Pied Butcherbird, Grey-shrike Thrush Yellow-throated Miner, Spiny Cheeked Honeyeater and Little Corella.
We saw Inland Thornbill and Western Bowerbird at Kathleen Springs.
Spinifex Pigeons

Recommendation: Go for the views and forget about the birds.

Desert Oaks
2008 was a very dry year for Central Australia unfortunately we chose this year for our visit. We traveled north up the Tanami Track for a couple of hundred kilometers until we came to an access road. We took this road and drove for another 140km until we arrived at Newhaven Station. On the access road we saw our first Black-breasted Buzzard.
We chose to visit Newhaven as one of our Central Australian destinations as and we thought that being approximately 250,000 hectares in size we would be able to get well away from the normal tourist hordes, so we were very happy to be informed by the property managers that we were the only visitors currently on the property.
We chose to set up camp in the west camp ground and thought that it was luxurious with its toilet and shower, shady trees and isolation. Although not many birds visited the campground we were present one afternoon as hundreds of zebra finches came into drink from a water tray that was set up for them, we also saw Red-capped robins and Rufous Whistlers around the camp.
Danae and Josef the property managers have developed some excellent interpretation notes and tours that can be taken around the property to help with understanding and appreciating the different ecosystems at Newhaven and maximizing chances of seeing the birds. You can access the notes here http://www.awc.org.au/AWC-Sanctuaries/Newhaven-Sanctuary/Newhaven-Visito...
We took a number of these tours, the birding highlights of these are listed below.
Lake Bennet
The Lakes Tour: Rufous-crowned Emu-wren (near the airstrip), Crested Bellbird, Mulga Parrot, Hooded Robin, Banded Whiteface
Hillside Drive Tour: Many birds were seen around the flowering corkwood near Freshwater Bore including Crimson Chat, Major Mitchell's Cockatoo, Grey-headed Honeyeater, Singing Honeyeater, Brown Honeyeaters.
Dunes Tour: Nankeen Kestrel, Brown Falcon, White-winged Fairywren and Hooded Robin.
Newhaven was a beautiful place to visit but I would love to visit again after rain.
View from the Home Range