Alice Springs 2

The next day cleared up to a very pleasant day of birding in the quirkily named Olive Pink Botanic Gardens. Actually named after a Ms Olive Pink who started it rather than some landscape designer gone crazy with their color scheme. The striking Sturt's Desert Pea (Swainsona formosa) in the first photo and the various Eremophila flowers in the second photo are characteristic of the desert vegetation of Australia. Sturt's Desert Pea is also the floral emblem of South Australia state.

Saw 6 species of honeyeaters in one flowering Red Mallee (Eucalyptus eucentrica or socialis). The flowers are creamy yellow but the bark is reddish. There was also a pair of exquisite Red-capped Robins flitting around (click on the last photo to enlarge). Tantalising, but no cigar, was a glimpse of a possible Grey Honeyeater. A very elusive bird of the dry parts of inland Australia. Didn't get a good enough look to clinch the identification. Perhaps for another time.

Deserts are not empty places at all. They just don't get much rain.