Cape York, Australia

Dedicated exclusively to field herping.

Moderator: Scott Waters

Post Reply
Mattsnake
Posts: 73
Joined: January 14th, 2011, 6:41 pm
Location: Cairns, Australia

Cape York, Australia

Post by Mattsnake »

A couple of weeks ago I did a quick 4 day trip up north to try and escape the winter cold and find a few critters whilst I was at it. The destination was Iron Range National Park which is a well known spot for wildlife nuts and especially bird watchers due to the area having a fair few endemic species. Unfortunately it rained nearly the whole time we were there, and the sun didn't show itself till the morning that we left. However, there were still nocturnal reptiles moving about the place, just not a great deal of life during the day, and no monitors until that sun came out.

Iron Range is well known for it's lowland rainforest, however a lot of the area is actually heath land and vine thickets. One of the first things you encounter when driving the rough road in is Mount Tozer.

Image

Pitcher Plants grow in the heath/swampie area around the mountain.

Image

Because of the rain there were a few frogs about the place, but I only photographed a couple, and this first one was the only new species for me.

Cape York Whistling Frog (Austrochaperina gracilipes) which are a tiny frog not a great deal bigger than a fingernail.
Image

White-lipped Tree Frog (Litoria infrafrenata)
Image

Dainty Tree Frog (Litoria gracilenta)
Image

The Claudie River runs right through the middle of the National Park, and it looks and feels like being in New Guinea. This river is filled with large Estuarine Crocodiles (Crocodylus porosus), but unfortunately I didn't get any photos of them and only saw one decent sized one slide off a mud bank into the water never to be seen again.

Image

A few of the local bird species were fairly common in this area though, and I'm not much of a birder, but even I was stoked to see a couple of the species that are only found in the very far north of Australia (and also in Papua New Guinea).

Eclectus Parrots (Eclectus roratus)
Image

Palm Cockatoo (Probisciger aterrimus)
Image

Another species only found in this area is the Giant Tree Gecko (Pseudothecadactylus australis), which as their name implies are very well suited to life in the trees. Even their tail tip has an adhesive grip.
Image

Image

Image

Image

Spotted Pythons (Antaresia maculosa) are common across most of the north-east of the country.
Image

But the species that brings most herpers to this part of the country are these guys.. spot the snake…..
Image

They are a fairly common species of python in the right habitat, and obviously thrive in this area due to the large amount of small mammals running around the rainforest floor.

Green Tree Python (Morelia viridis) in situ in typical perching position.
Image

Image

A young one sitting in ambush amongst the long grass
Image

Image

However the highlight was, and much better than a green coloured python, this Coastal Taipan (Oxyuranus scutellatus). Easily one of Australia's best snakes, and have always proved to be very elusive for me.
Image

Major Skinks (Bellatorias frerei) are a large skink species that doesn't seem to be too fussy on habitat. Living in both the thick rainforest and in the coastal sand dunes.
Image

Chili Beach
Image

And a Green Python found nearby…
Image

Another animal that is endemic to this part of the country is the Spotted Cuscus (Spilocuscus maculatus)
Image

Another Green Python perched up high in a tree
Image

Each night this big adult Green Python would sit in ambush in the exact same position, then retreat back up into the canopy to rest during the day. During the 4 nights we were there it caught itself two meals.

Image

Image

Still being greedy with a feed already in it's belly
Image

On the way home and once the sun made a brief appearance we decided to check out a rocky area in search of a few more species…
Image

Image

Merten's Water Monitor (Varanus mertensi)
Image

Coen Rainbow Skink (Liburnascincus coensis)
Image

Hoskin's Ring-tailed Gecko (Cyrtodactylus hoskini)
Image

And last of all a ridiculously fast moving species, the Greater Black Whip Snake (Demansia papuensis). Big elapids always make everything better.
Image

The End.
speedy
Posts: 77
Joined: May 26th, 2012, 6:44 pm
Location: Brisbane, Australia

Re: Cape York, Australia

Post by speedy »

Awesome Matt. So jealous of everything you found and I'm surprised to see you took photos of birds.
User avatar
SurfinHerp
Posts: 653
Joined: October 18th, 2010, 8:55 pm
Location: San Diego, CA
Contact:

Re: Cape York, Australia

Post by SurfinHerp »

Fantastic post Matt :thumb:

I really like the Giant Tree Gecko and all the pythons :mrgreen: :mrgreen:
Great close-up photo of the gripping tail tip on the gecko.

One of these days I'm taking the family to northern Australia!


Jeff
User avatar
Jeroen Speybroeck
Posts: 826
Joined: June 29th, 2011, 1:56 am
Location: Belgium
Contact:

Re: Cape York, Australia

Post by Jeroen Speybroeck »

That was great, thanks. Need to go there someday for sure!
User avatar
nhherp
Posts: 128
Joined: August 10th, 2010, 11:25 am
Location: southwest US - NM

Re: Cape York, Australia

Post by nhherp »

Very nice. I especially enjoyed the natural morelia specimens hosting nematodes.

-N-
User avatar
Berkeley Boone
Posts: 878
Joined: June 8th, 2010, 4:02 am

Re: Cape York, Australia

Post by Berkeley Boone »

Very nice! I too would have been pretty excited about the palm cockatoo and the eclectus parrots! And the selection of green tree pythons was fantastic!
Thanks for taking us along with you!
--Berkeley
User avatar
Fieldnotes
Posts: 1474
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 6:12 pm
Location: Anaheim, California
Contact:

Re: Cape York, Australia

Post by Fieldnotes »

Some amazing animals, and even more amazing are the photos.. WoW! :thumb:
User avatar
Calfirecap
Posts: 638
Joined: June 16th, 2010, 8:09 am
Location: Santa Cruz Co. California
Contact:

Re: Cape York, Australia

Post by Calfirecap »

That's one awesome 4 day trip! GREAT photos too.
User avatar
Scott Waters
Site Admin
Posts: 692
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 4:08 am
Contact:

Re: Cape York, Australia

Post by Scott Waters »

Great post.....thanks for sharing!

I put a snippet on the Herp Nation FB page about the GTPs ambush position, and a link of course. Very cool!

https://www.facebook.com/HerpNation

Scott
User avatar
Bill Love
Posts: 169
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 7:33 pm
Location: Apache Junction (near Phoenix), Arizona

Re: Cape York, Australia

Post by Bill Love »

Very enjoyable and beautifully photographed post.
User avatar
TravisK
Posts: 774
Joined: July 8th, 2010, 11:14 am
Location: Eastern Washington

Re: Cape York, Australia

Post by TravisK »

Mattsnake wrote:Another species only found in this area is the Giant Tree Gecko (Pseudothecadactylus australis), which as their name implies are very well suited to life in the trees. Even their tail tip has an adhesive grip.
Image

That is amazing! Does this occur in any other Gecko species?
Mattsnake
Posts: 73
Joined: January 14th, 2011, 6:41 pm
Location: Cairns, Australia

Re: Cape York, Australia

Post by Mattsnake »

Thank you very much everyone.
TravisK wrote:That is amazing! Does this occur in any other Gecko species?
I honestly don't know if it occurs in any other gecko species. I definitely haven't seen it in any other species in Australia!
Mattsnake
Posts: 73
Joined: January 14th, 2011, 6:41 pm
Location: Cairns, Australia

Re: Cape York, Australia

Post by Mattsnake »

speedy wrote:Awesome Matt. So jealous of everything you found and I'm surprised to see you took photos of birds.
Thanks mate. I've been trying to get into birds to try and get me through the winters, I just need a decent lens to photograph them, and I'm pretty useless at identifying them too. Eclectus and Palm Cockies were definitely a must see for me up there though, and I also saw a Magnificent Riflebird but couldn't get it out in the open for a photo.
Post Reply