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Visited: dry season
Recommendation: This most unusual botanic garden gives a wonderful taste of the outback. An incredible range of animals can be found here and if you visit once, be prepared to return!
The Botanic Gardens in Alice Springs is a most unusual place. Every other such garden I have been to is a lush, green place full of exotic plants and trees. In the Red Centre, it is very different. In my first visit I struggled to tell the difference between one dry, brown bush and the next. There is a walk you can follow around the back of the garden and a rocky hillside is the home of Black-footed Rock Wallabies. There are also more brown, dry bushes.
I was extremely excited, however, to immediately find the Western Bowerbird displaying at its bower. I have seen several species of bowerbird in Australia but this guy won the handsome competition hands down. What a stunning bird and when it displayed the lilac crest, it was amazing.
Western Bowerbird (chlamydera guttata)
On my second visit to the garden I realised there was a bird-attracting garden which I set out to find. Consisting of several flowering bushes, I could immediately hear the squeaky call of the Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater. There were several of them feeding inside the bushes and I had to wait awhile before they peeked out.
They are colourful and interesting bird with a combination of features that make identification easy. The contrasting facial pattern with the spiny bristles, the orange-brown throat, and the long tail are all key characteristics to look for. From a distance, the bright pink on the bill is the give away. This interesting honeyeater is found in the drier inland regions of Australia.
Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater (acanthagenys rufogularis)
White-plumed Honeyeater (ptilotula penicillata)
The other honeyeater buzzing around was the White-plumed Honeyeater. They are a common bird here and while exciting for me to see, the locals view them with some contempt for their noise.
The White-plumed Honeyeater's success in Australia can be attributed to a combination of factors that allow it to thrive in its environment. Firstly, they are very adaptable. Unlike some other honeyeaters that are highly specialized feeders, the White-plumed has a more flexible diet. They primarily consume nectar from a variety of flowering plants, but they will also readily switch to insects and other food sources when nectar is scarce. This adaptability ensures they can find sustenance throughout the year, even during droughts or seasonal changes when flowering is less abundant.
The White-plumed Honeyeater also has a slightly down-curved bill that's well-suited for accessing nectar from a wide range of flower shapes and sizes. This allows them to exploit a broader range of nectar sources compared to honeyeaters with straighter beaks.
While they prefer open woodlands and forests, White-plumed Honeyeaters can also be found in remnant bushland, parks, and even gardens in urban areas. This flexibility in habitat use allows them to occupy a wider range of ecological niches and expand their populations.
On the ground I found a group of Grey-crowned Babbler. I love these birds with their squabbling and chattering. They were investigating the leaf litter and I followed them to a nest where they were feeding young. For a dry semi-dead appearing landscape, it was certainly shaping up to be a haven for birdlife!
Babbler birds, are known for their seemingly endless chattering. They are highly social creatures, and their chattering serves as a vital form of communication within their flocks.
Grey-crowned Babbler (pomatostomus temporalis)
The high pitched pinging of the Port Lincoln Ringneck caught my attention close to the visitor centre and I found a group of them tearing off small figs from a tree. Unfortunately, I don't think they were ripe and the birds left them scattered on the ground. This bird was just double checking.
All in all I really liked this unusual park. The more time I spent there, the more I found out about desert wildlife and that looks can be deceiving.
Port Lincoln Ringneck Parrot (barnaridus zonarius)
Black-footed rock-wallaby (central Australian) (Petrogale lateralis centralis)
Even though the Botanic Gardens are only in a small area, there are rare rock wallabies here, the black-footed. If you stay on the ground level of the Botanic Gardens, then you might get a glimpse of them in the surrounding rocky hill or hills. But there is a walk that you can do, which takes you to a very nice lookout onto Alice Springs itself and up there, you're much more likely to get the rock wallabies. And I was very fortunate to see a female with a joey still in her pouch.
Common Wallaroo (Osphranter robustus)
Budgerigar (Melopsittacus undulatus)
There are also Wallaroo here, which have to be my favourite marsupial. They kind of look like a cross between a dog and a seal. You have to look for these animals as they spend most of the day resting quietly in the shade. Getting here early is always advised. For those that get hot, there is a small pond behind the visitor centre and sometimes, you can find Budgerigars there.
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