Alice Springs Desert Park

We spent some time during our stay in Alice Springs visiting the Alice Springs Desert Park on Larapinta Drive. The Desert Park is about 10 minute drive from centre of town and there is plenty of room in the large car park for cars and buses. If you are feeling energetic then Larapinta bike track also leads directly to the entrance of this Park.

We arrived in time for the 10am Nature Theatre Presentation which is a Free Flying Bird Show. This is a great presentation showing off some of the birds found in the area. A Tawny Frogmouth Owl was perched in the rafters of the seating shelter and had to be pointed out before some visitors could see it camouflaged near the roof.  First was a Black Kite and a whistling kite who demonstrated catching food in the air and easily picking it up from the ground. They take every opportunity to find food and we often see them on the outback highways eating road kill.

I know everyone has seen a Magpie but are you aware that there are several sub species throughout Australia - the birds found in central Australia are smaller than those on the east coast. They are known around the world for a large range of notes within their singing range – quite beautiful.

As you can see from the photos we got some great shots of the beautiful Barn Owl. Their wings are formed in such a way that the prey will not hear them coming - no audible sound from flapping their wings.

The Wedge Tail Eagle displayed was only about 12 months old and weighed about three and a half kilos. They find it very difficult to get off the ground and will try to set off  from the top of a cliff in the direction of the wind - to get lift from an updraft.  We have been told to be aware of eagles on the highway as they take a very long time to become airborne and can be hit by cars or trucks. They are very quick when they dive to pick food off the ground.

After enjoying the flying bird show we set off to explore the rest of the The Alice Springs Desert Park which has a variety of displays featuring Central Australian animals, birds and plants:

• Nocturnal House a darkened display to enable visitors to view animals that only appear at night. Some of these are endangered species.
• Kangaroo enclosure
• Emu Dingo Territory
• A talk is conducted each day on survival in the desert explaining how the Aboriginal people lived in this part of Australia – finding water supplies and how plants were/are used for food and medicine
• desert rivers discovery zone
• various bird aviaries scattered through the park featuring birds found around this area and set up with natural habitats  

There is so much to see and we really enjoyed walking through the aviaries and identifying some of the birds from the poster displays at each entrance. At the end of your visit make sure you check out the great gift shop featuring Aboriginal art and jewellery made from local products like gum nuts.