Just back to Darwin after five days in and around Alice Springs: the hot, empty center of Australia. The first two days I spent birding - a fraught enterprise. As soon as I would decide to get out of the 100+ F heat, I would see another new species and chase it down. Down into the Henbury metiorite craters. Through Simpson's Gap and Redbank Gorge. Up to the very edge of Alice's sewage ponds.
The dessert was hot and dry. Oven analogies are too common but remain apt; my soggy pita bread, out of the bag, crisped as if in a toaster as it waited for liquid peanut butter and jam. There were feral camels, flocks of budgerigars, and apocalyptic numbers of flies, each seeking moisture from ears, tear-ducts and lips. The flies make for an odd, funereal scene in town, with tourists walking around shrouded in black gauze hoods.
I headed down on Thursday via Cairns, an odd route necessitated by flight changes. The map at left shows the way; please click to enlarge. All in all, a great trip.
Above: Eucalyptus - the most common type of tree around Alice.
Below: Magpie Larks feeding young (Telegraph Station, Alice). Almost half of the new species that I saw had juveniles nearby. The recent rains seem to have set off a great frenzy of successful breeding.
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