I recently had a week break from work so decided to visit a couple of my favourite areas in the eastern deserts. The first destination was the Lake Eyre Basin near Winton in central western Queensland. This is one of the relatively close places for me to herp but it was a 26 hour drive from my home. I spent a day and a half in the car to reach this beautiful place. The basin is the floor of an ancient sea. The old shoreline now is marked by a line of small, rock hills that are covered with spinifex. These is herp-rich habitat although many of the species are secretive and hard to actually see and photograph.
I really enjoy the colours of this hilly area at sunset. The low level light really brings out the reds of the rock and the yellow of the spinifex.
This is the habitat of Phasmid Striped Geckos (Strophurus taeniatus), spinifex growing on rocky soil. Several of the Aussie herpers on the forum have posted photos of these nicely marked little geckos from this area. I walked the flats and searched the clumps of spinifex but I was not successful to these species remains on my wish list.
I did have success with another of the more easily found spiny-tails, Strophurus krisalys. I found a few of these geckos with fantastic eyes.
This was was practically "glued" to the road. The night was not overly warm and the gecko appeared to be attempting to soak up as much warmth as it could from the asphalt.
This year, the big Prickly Knob-tailed Geckos (Nephrurus asper) were the most common gecko on the road. Large adults often stood upright like this on the shoulder of the road. These geckos were pugnacious and often would hiss, arch their backs and act threatening when I approached them for photos. Here are photos of several of those encountered.
... this one was hissing while I took its photo:
Marbled Velvet Geckos (Oedura marmorata) are always a nice sight. I found several of these lovely geckos as they crossed the road.
Pale-striped Ground Geckos (Lucasium immaculatum) were fairly scarce this year. I normally see good numbers but only found two on this trip. One acted in quite a strange way. It ran from me then arched its back and flicked its tail from side-to-side like a cat.
I saw a couple Gehyra robusta in a culvert.
... bats in the same culvert.
I think that this is a little Gibber Earless Dragon (Tympanocryptis intima). It was active at night on the road appeared to be soaking up warmth from the road like the geckos. These little lizards were one of the pebble mimicking species.
I saw a single Spinifex Slender Blue-Tongue (Cyclodomorphus melanops). This was the second of the species that I have found and both were on the road like this at night.
I believe that this was an Eastern Hooded Scaly Foot (Pygopus schraderi). It was huge and I assumed that it was a snake when I stopped the car. Markings were quite weak on the head of this old lizard.
This year, I only saw two of these huge Yellow-spotted Monitors (Varanus panoptes). This one attempted to hide when I stepped out of the car.
... annoyed and stomping away:
These are really lovely big lizards that usually appear fearless when approached.
I usually returned to Winton each day to refuel. Winton is situated in the Mitchell Grass Downs, plains that are covered with grasslands growing on cracking clay. I saw a few Downs Bearded Dragons (Pogona henrylawsoni) here but they were all too wary for photos. This is also the home of Spencer's Monitors (Varanus spenceri) but I did not see any this year.
Emus were common in the grasslands:
Australian Bustards were also a common sight. These were big, turkey like birds. The males inflate an airsac that hangs to the ground when calling.
I found a colony of these lovely Azures last year. I am not certain of the species. They could be either Satin or Silky Azure. These butterflies life around clumps of mistletoe. I found many flowering mistletoe in trees near a creek so worked this area to see the butterflies.
The Azure (Ogyris oroetes or O. amarylis)
Caper White (Belenois java)
The second destination on my recent trip was Windorah in the channel country of southwestern Queensland. The little town is surrounded by red dunes that are rich with reptiles. A paved road continues for nearly 120km to the west and finally ends with gravel tracks heading off into remote country. Habitat along this road changes often from red dunes to claypans to rocky hills ("jump up" country). I always love to drive to the end of the paved road although it was a sad sight this year. This was my fifth visit to the area and for the first time, I saw huge areas where the spinifex had been burned on the dunes and the land was now stocked with large numbers of cattle. If this persists, it will certainly have a big impact on the reptile populations.
Here are a few shots near Windorah. I love the red sand.
There were still a few of these lovely Grevilleas in flower. These members of the Protea family produce lots of nectar so are popular with birds like Singing Honeyeaters, Spiny-cheeked Honeyeaters and Yellow-throated Miners.
Gould's Monitors (Varanus gouldii) were common on the dunes.
I always like to walk the dunes in the early morning and see the tracks of animals. I came across this and it has me perplexed. Tracks of a monitor and another animal that I could not recognize converged. Seems like there was quite a struggle. I did not see any signs of blood or body parts but I suspect that either the monitor attacked or was attacked by something. Any ideas?
I walked up to the dunes a little before sunset to take photos in the low light. Along the way, I encountered this Canegrass Dragon (Diporiphora winickei) that was soaking up some of the last rays of the day. I've never seen one standing on a fence like this before.
Ctenotus are numerous on the sand though very hard to see well and photograph. I usually just have a brief glimpse as they disappear into a clump of spinifex. This small species was common on the dune slopes and crest. I am not certain of the species but one of the Aussie experts has suggested that it may be C. taeniatus. I also saw a few C. leonhardii, one of the more common species of the interior.
Also collecting some evening warmth was this Central Bearded Dragon (Pogona vitticeps). These were common lizards in the area and I saw many.
... when displaying like this animal, the colour is almost white with black on the tail, throat and breast. I saw another and was busy bobbing its head and then marching off towards the other lizard.
These flattened ground beetles (Tenebrionidae) were common on the dunes at night. This one appeared to be recycling lizard droppings.
Australian Painted Lady on the red dunes at dusk.
Caper Whites also visited flowers here on the dunes.
Nacaduba biocellata, one of the few species of lycaenids that I see in the outback.
Night was pretty quiet on the road this year. I did see a few of these Northern Spiny-tailed Geckos (Strophurus ciliaris).
This Fat-tailed Gecko (Diplodactylus conspicillatus) is one of the few that I have seen at Windorah. These seem to be uncommon here in the east or at least I rarely see them. This one initially ran from me then froze and adopted this cryptic pose:
This area was out in the basin west of Windorah. I stop here by day to see Ring-tailed Dragons (Ctenophorus caudicinctus) that live on the rocks. I found one nice male right at the top of the hill. It was sunning on a rock where it had a great view of plains below.
Eyrean Earless Dragons (Tympanocryptis tetraporiphora) were scarce this year. I only saw two where on other trips I have seen large numbers of these little dragons. When the day becomes hot, they stand upright and face the sun. Sometimes they have their tails arched upward like a jumping kangaroo.
These rocky areas were at the edge of the Eyrean Basin. I know of others who have seen Perentie here before but I had no luck.
A nice native hibiscus of some sort was flower on the above hilltop.
... as was this Solanum sp.
I saw very little on the road at night so I tried walking through the broken country. This proved successful and I came across this huge Stimson's Python (Antaresia stimsoni). It was about a 1m in length and heavy bodied. The snake was gentle and never attempted to bite me while I took photos.
I did a bit of early morning driving in the Morney Plains, home of the Fierce Snake. As usual, it was very quiet and I saw little except a Tympanocryptis and a number of bearded dragons. A sign has been installed near a rest station that illustrates the elapids of the area. It really is a "who's who" of the Aussie elapid world with Fierce Snake, Death Adder, Mulga Snake, Speckled Brown, Ingram's Brown ... listed. Too bad that most of these are so hard to actually see!
The Morney Plains, cracking clay covered with grassland:
These animals were numerous on the Plains. Red Kangaroos are the largest kangaroo. They are a real hazzard at night!
... female (left) and male (right)
Australian Pratincoles like this were abundant. I also saw a few of the incredibly marked Inland Plovers that blend so well with the rocks.
Australian Bustard:
The interior is much drier this year and it looks like we are heading back into drought conditions. The last few summers have been wet so the budgies and zebra finch have bred continuously. I saw huge flocks of Budgies to the west of Windorah. From a distance, these were swirling clouds of green. A horde of these little parrots decided to land in a tree near the road. I watched as flock after flock flew in and eventually, the branches of the tree were weighted down with these tiny parrots. It takes many budgies to do this!
At night, I stopped at a small drainage to look for frogs. A few Black-tailed Native Hens took flight but I ignored them until there was a loud bang behind me. One of the flock flew right into my car and temporarily had stunned itself. These are weird looking gallinules that around ephemeral bodies of waters in the interior.