Strangely under-emphasised in most NT publicity, advertorials – and even in genuinely independent media coverage – but true:
Central Australia’s birdlife is abundant and oft-spectacular.
Pictured above is a Spinifex pigeon, Geophaps plumifera, just outside of Ormiston Gorge.
Spinifex pigeons are unique among many other desert birds in that they are sedentary arid spinifex habitat specialists…diet is almost entirely made up of the seeds of drought-resistant grasses and herbs, with spinifex perhaps surprisingly not an important food source overall.
The quotation is from this species’ well-informed Wikipedia entry.
Photo is copyright Doug Spencer, taken at 12.27 pm on 17 June 2023 in West MacDonnell/ Tjoritja National Park.