Winter Herping Down Under

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GeckPhotographer
Posts: 15
Joined: May 27th, 2011, 5:32 pm

Winter Herping Down Under

Post by GeckPhotographer »

So here in perpetually 'warm' Australia, it's winter. I hate winter. It's cold (5-15 C), wet, bleak and worst of all, all of the reptiles around me become inactive.

Fortunately over the past couple weeks I managed to escape some of our coastal winter. These are some finds from the Simpson Desert of far western Qld where the sun is still shining and the lizards active.

Disclaimer: It is is illegal to handle native wildlife without a permit. This thread shows one native mammal being held. This individual is being held not by me, but by someone holding the appropriate permits for scientific reasons.

I don't know how many of you have driven from Sydney to the Simpson Desert before, but let me tell you it's not a short drive. And at this time of the year it's not a particularly interesting one either. The only reptile found on the trip up was this Common Dwarf Skink.

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Menetia greyii by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

After arriving in the Desert and setting up camp things began to improve. Day time temperatures were in the mid 30Cs with nights being a pleasant 10-15C. This led to plenty of day time reptile activity with Central Military Dragons being the most common reptiles around.

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Ctenophorus isolepis by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr
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Ctenophorus isolepis by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr
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Ctenophorus isolepis by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

Another common reptile around the dunes was the Leopard Ctenotus, an attractive but fairly fast larger skink which are quite attractive.
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Ctenotus pantherinus by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr
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Ctenotus pantherinus by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr
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Ctenotus pantherinus by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

Poking around didn't take too long to turn up one of these sand-swimming skinks, which were common in many habitats we looked at.
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Lerista labialis by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr
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Lerista labialis by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

After the first day I was pretty happy with the reptiles we had managed to see, and keen to head out for dusk to check whether I might be equally lucky with geckos. While the night was warm enough to walk around without a jumper, there was no gecko activity. In fact the first 3 nights passed without a single gecko of any kind.

The next day followed the trend of little interesting finds. The other group managed to see a Moloch which I missed out on as well as some interesting skinks. My group turned up a scorpion.

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Lychas Scorpion by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

Fortunately after that un-eventful night the next day began to produce some more reptiles again.

Narrow-lined Ctenotus were seen in only small numbers, unfortunate seeing as how attractive they were.

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Ctenotus dux by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

Ctenophorus nuchalis started emerging in the heat of the day to sit outside of their burrows, the temps weren't feeling much like winter at all.
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Ctenophorus nuchalis by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr
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Ctenophorus nuchalis by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

The next day was less productive, but still yielded one reptile I had been very keen to see for a while now, the Canegrass Dragon.

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Diporiphora winnekei by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr
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Diporiphora winnekei by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr
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Diporiphora winnekei by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr
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Diporiphora winnekei by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

Finally after 3 nights of nothing I broke the streak and managed to find a single gecko on the dunes at night.
I had seen Northern Spiny-tails before, but always find them quite attractive.

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Strophurus ciliaris by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

While the next few days were uninteresting for reptiles the next 2 nights started producing geckos.

Beaked Geckos were easily the most common species running around the lower dunes. They are usually pretty hard to photograph, but I feel I finally got one pic to be happy with.

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Rhynchoedura eyrensis by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

Bynoe's Geckos were also around if one inspected areas with plenty of fallen wood or junk. They were a nice shade of red compared to other parts of their range.

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Heteronotia binoei by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

Ironically the gecko I encountered least commonly was the Variegated Dtella, usually the most common species in most places. They were still around and the first I found I optimistically thought might have been a Gehyra purpurascens, but no luck.

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Gehyra variegata by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

The best gecko over these few nights was the Sand-plain Gecko, the only new gecko for me on the trip, and one I've wanted to see for a fairly long time which has always avoided me.

First came a little bub.
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Lucasium stenodactylum by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

Then and adult.
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Lucasium stenodactylum by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr
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Lucasium stenodactylum by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

The next day was the best of the trip, first off a Mulgara was caught in a pit trap by some of the researchers and we got to see it. This was my favourite animal of the whole trip.
For those truly reptile-centrics my excitement at this may seem 'odd'. Mulgara (this being the Brush-tailed, one of 2 species) are carnivorous marsupials of the Dasyurid family. Within the family only Quolls and Tassie Devils are larger, both of which have quite different morphology to the main radiation of Dasyurids which are generally a lot smaller. So the Mulgara is effectively the largest Dasyurid predator within the radiation of conservative morphology!
^ The above was mumbo jumbo? They are super freaking cute little wrecking balls that will take on anything!!!

Being held by one of the researchers.
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Dasycercus blythi_017 by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

It didn't sit still when released.
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Dasycercus blythi_044 by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

Not long after this Mulgara I went to sit under a shady tree and drink some water. After a couple minutes I realized this little guy was staring at me.
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Moloch horridus by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr
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Moloch horridus by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr
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Moloch horridus by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr
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Moloch horridus by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr
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Moloch horridus by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

After this day the trip began to wind up a fair bit. One day was spent driving into the Northern Territory and we managed to find a Gibber Earless Dragon.
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Tympanocryptis intima by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr
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Tympanocryptis intima by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

But after this most of the animals that turned up I had already photographed earlier on the trip, and it wasn't long before it came to an end and we headed home.

That's the end of the reptiles but here's some scenery.

View from my tent.
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Spinifex Plain by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

A Gidgee Swail from on top of the dune.
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Gidgee Swail by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

One of many sand dunes.
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Sand Dune by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

From the top of a dune.
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Dune Top by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

A swail with hard rocky ground and Gidgee
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Stony Gidgee Stand by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

Spinifex Plain in the swail.
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Spinifex Plain by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

A swail with mixed Gidgee and Spinifex.
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Gidgee and Spinifex Swail by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

Sunset
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Sunset on the Simpson by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

Plants
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Purple Pea by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr
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Purple Pea by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr
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Fried Egg Daisy by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr
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Little White Flower by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr
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Yellow Flower by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr
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Purple Bush by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr
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Green Bird Pea by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

Hope you enjoy the thread.
Geqqo
Posts: 75
Joined: February 11th, 2011, 8:09 pm

Re: Winter Herping Down Under

Post by Geqqo »

I can never get enough Australia, thanks for this. The Simpson appears to be such a unique environment. I especially love the canegrass dragon, are they sympatric with Strophurus elderi or are they found in different regions? Would it be possible to see the dragon during the day and the gecko at night in the same patch of grass?

Dan
GeckPhotographer
Posts: 15
Joined: May 27th, 2011, 5:32 pm

Re: Winter Herping Down Under

Post by GeckPhotographer »

Hey Dan

D. winnekei and S. elderi are symmpatric over a great deal of their range. However, at least at this study site Jewelled Geckos are known only from a couple of records. Cane-grass Dragons also utilize a whole heap of other vegetation and even fence lines, not just spinifex, and at night in summer can be seen perching out in the open.

I suppose in other areas you'd probably have a chance of getting them from the same bush.
Geqqo
Posts: 75
Joined: February 11th, 2011, 8:09 pm

Re: Winter Herping Down Under

Post by Geqqo »

thanks for taking the time Stephen, I look forward to more of your adventures. By the way, a carnivorous marsupial followed by a Moloch is one hell of a 1-2 punch of eye candy, sweet stuff man.

Dan
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justinm
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Joined: June 7th, 2010, 5:26 am
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Re: Winter Herping Down Under

Post by justinm »

Thank you for sharing all these wonderful shots. You make me long to go to Australia and see it for myself. The moloch pictures were my favorite part. I've added you on Flickr so that I can drool all over your pictures at my leisure.
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Will Wells
Posts: 275
Joined: June 18th, 2010, 5:32 am
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Re: Winter Herping Down Under

Post by Will Wells »

Awesome post, I sure hope I can visit down under someday!
ramblon
Posts: 77
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 10:14 am

Re: Winter Herping Down Under

Post by ramblon »

Beautiful animals and photography! Images of molochs never get old!

The landscape shots at the end were very well done and added a great touch.

Thanks for that post
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walk-about
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Joined: June 14th, 2010, 12:04 pm
Location: 'God's Country' aka western KY
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Re: Winter Herping Down Under

Post by walk-about »

Stephen,

You have some epic shots my friend. Very well done. I am always so impressed by you Aussie boys like yourself, David 'Moloch' and others - your camera skills and patience to get 'that shot' is evident beyond anything. The Ctenophorus exiting its burrow is as good as a photo as I've ever seen on FHF. And those Thorny Devils - there is just nothing like them anywhere on this planet. Amazing evolution there.

Rock ON!

Dave
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