|
Australian bird habitats:
|
 |
Description of habitat |
In the centre of the Australian continent several sandy and/or salty deserts are found. Amongst them there are the Great Sandy Desert, the Simpson Desert, the Great Victoria Desert and the Nullarbor. When dry, Lake Eyre is also a salt desert. Very few bird species can make a living in the harsh conditions they face in these deserts. It is probably not a chance coincidence that most of the bird species found in deserts are raptors and that those raptors take lizards and/or carrion.
There is a separate page describing stony desert called "gibber".
NB - Advice for those who plan to visit the red centre of the Australian continent: Trips into the Australian deserts, especially during summer, are potentially dangerous and should be appropriately prepared. Advice from locals on the proper procedures should be sought (and adhered to!).
 |
Bird species found in this type of habitat or plant |
This is not necessarily a complete list. We display here some examples of bird species found by us in this kind of habitat or plant. Hover your cursor on thumbnails to see names of species; click on thumbnail to go to the page describing the species.
|
 |
Photos |
Example of a stony desert: Sturt Stony Desert, in the border region
of SA, QLD and NSW (photo courtesy of M. Mearns)
View from an airplane above the Gammon Ranges towards the west;
in the background one can discern the saltpan of (the at the time
dry) Lake Eyre; in a dry summer, with temperatures around 50 C,
extremely low humidity and sunlight reflecting off the salt,
this pan below sea level is very harsh country (similar to Death Valley in the US)
