Wildlife

Nocturnal mammals such as the native rodents, dunnarts and planigales are rarely seen as they are very small and active during the night.

The mammals of the Flinders Ranges have adapted to climatic extremes. Recurrent droughts followed by wet years typify Australia's climate. Populations crash during prolonged drought and rebuild following wet years.

Some of the many birds that can be seen in include brilliantly coloured Australian Ringneck Parrots, Pink and Grey galahs, Rainbow Bee-eater, Elegant Parrots and Red-capped Robin.

In Lake Eyre National Park, one interesting life form is the Lake Eyre Dragon, a lizard that lives on the margins of salt lakes. The explosion of birdlife which follows the flooding of Lake Eyre fills the air with the sound and a great range of visiting waterbirds, including Pelicans, Black Cormorants, Silver Gulls, Avocets, Banded Stilts, Whiskered Terns and Gull-billed Terns.

Innamincka Regional Reserve and Coongie Lakes's watercourses and springs provide homes for skinks, geckoes, legless lizards and frogs, including the Streambank Froglet, a Flinders Ranges endemic. There's also lizards, goannas and snakes. Now extremely rare, the large Carpet Python rests in tree hollows or on rock ledges, moving on the ground to hunt at night. Bats are rarely seen, but watch out for them at night near lights where moths gather, and keep your ears open too for Innamincka's fascinating Barking Owls.