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Wildlife

seen on the 2003 Campaign

Eric Christian's journal

2003 Campaign
Vehicles Seen on 2003 Campaign



Flying foxes asleep in the trees Flying foxes (large fruit bats) asleep in the trees at the Sydney Botanical Gardens.


A flying fox on the wing A flying fox overhead



sulphur-crested cockatoo This is a sulphur-crested cockatoo, feeding on the grass in the Sydney Botanical Gardens.



Rainbow lorikeet A rainbow lorikeet, a small but extremely colorful parrot. This picture was taken in the Sydney Botanical Gardens.



Jewelled gecko The lodge at Glen Helen had lots of these jewelled geckos that come out at night and feed off the bugs attracted to the lights.



A desert treefrog This is a desert treefrog (that's its proper name). He actually lives in the tank behind the toilet out here at the hangar.



A white-rumped miner (bird) This is a picture of a white-rumped miner, a bird that is fairly common around Alice. This was one of two adults who were feeding a very persistent and noisy adolescent at the Alice Springs Telegraph Station.



A crested pigeon This bird is a crested pigeon. These birds are related to the U.S. mourning doves, but look a lot sillier with the sharp crest on the top of their heads.



A ghost moth This is a photo of a sparrow-sized moth called a "ghost moth". This is the moth whose larvae are known as witchetty grubs, a local delicacy.



A young red kangaroo This red kangaroo at the Alice Springs Telegraph Station was obviously quite young, although I didn't see a mother kangaroo around. He was unsure of me, but moving slowly, I was able to get close and get a good picture. Then I backed away and left him alone.


Red kangaroo There were a number of red kangaroo that we saw on the road to Trephina Gorge. This is the first one that we saw, and he decided to take off just as I was focusing my camera on him. I did get a good picture of him jumping, though.


Red kangaroo This red kangaroo was one of a pair that were resting in the shade just off the road to Trephina Gorge.


Red kangaroo photo from Bob Hull Bob Hull took this great picture of a red kangaroo at the old Telegraph Station here in Alice Springs.



Two-lined dragon (lizard) This small lizard (a two-lined dragon) is about the most common type of lizard around Alice.



A galah (parrot) The Telegraph Station had lots of galahs and this one let me get quite close to it (less than 2 meters away).


Galah (Parrot) A galah is a type of parrot very similar to a cockatoo. Exotic to us in the states, but all over the place here.


A flock of galah Here is a flock of galah on the ground near my motel. These birds are very common in many parts of Australia and because the congregate in large, loud, and messy flocks, they are considered by some to be quite a nuisance. They like communally waking each other up with loud squawks right at the first sign of light in the morning



Black-footed wallaby The black-footed wallaby is endangered, but can easily be found at Simpson's Gap near Alice Springs. They were nervous at first, but when I sat quietly for a few minutes (it helped that I was the only person around), they became quite curious. The closest one came to me was about 9 feet, but when I moved to bring up my camera, he hopped off. These pictures were taken at about 25 - 40 feet with a zoom.


Black-footed wallaby This is a different wallaby.



Group of black-footed wallabies I saw 10 - 12 wallabies total (it was a little hard to make an accurate count), almost all of them in groups (probably family groups) of 2 - 4 wallabies.



Bearded lizard A fairly large (~20 inch) bearded lizard was in the Simpson's Gap Visitor Center, munching away at the line of ants that were running across the cement.


Bearded lizard The lizard was quite calm about me getting close to it, but the flash of my camera finally made it skitter off into the bushes. I got one more picture of it with a more natural background.



A black kite (bird) soaring This black kite sailed right over my head at the Telegraph Station and I got a pretty good picture of it.


A large group of black kites (birds) settling in a tree for the night As evening progressed, it seems that most of the black kites in the area come to the Alice Spring Telegraph Station to roost for the night. This is one of several trees that was crowded with these hawks.


Black kite A black kite (also called a fork-tailed kite) is a type of hawk very common around here.



Flora


Spinifex Grass Spinifex grass is one of the most common and most important plants in the Australian Outback. Many of the animals either use Spinifex as food or as a home, or both. However, when the hollow cylindrical leaves dry out, they are quite formidable. They can puncture car tires pretty easily, making cross country travel quite interesting at times.



An Australian Cactus Although the Outback is a desert, there are not many plants that we would call cactuses (except introduced cactuses in people's yards). This small plant I found at Ellery Creek Big Hole was the closest I found.



Large ghost gum (tree) The plaque says that this is the largest ghost gum in the Eastern MacDonnell Mountains. It's a little ways off the road to Trephina Gorge.

This file was last modified February 23, 2003