Bird-watching with Elizabeth Gould at Bowra Conservation Sanctuary

Abstract: Habitats are often defined by dominant features, be they related to geomorphology, climatic conditions, striking land formations or ubiquitous plant species. In Australia's semi-arid regions, mulga is a helpful concept for thinking about the nuances of this beguilingly stabile country, which seems to best connote the desiccated landscape. The word has an ancient lineage, traced to the central west, an Aboriginal term for a small flat shield, a weapon traditionally fashioned from mulga timbers. To many, 'mulga' means desert, wilderness, a place one can disappear, going 'up the mulga'. Mulga is also the common name of many of the animals that inhabit the region. There are mulga snakes, for instance, huge brown scaly ropes that snooze inside piles of greying lumber; and the mulga parrot, Psephotus varius, or many coloured parrot.