# Lake Eyre Basin, Central Western Queensland, Nov 2012



## moloch (Nov 26, 2012)

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_)








... I will add photos from Windorah tomorrow

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## tarcan (Nov 26, 2012)

great series of photographs, thanks for sharing and cannot wait to see the rest!


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## Protectyaaaneck (Nov 26, 2012)

Awesome photos! Looks like a fun trip!


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## moloch (Nov 28, 2012)

Thanks, Tarcan and Protect.

Thanks very much, everyone.

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 were 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 an Aussie expert 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 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.

















... I will add more reptile shots from the return trip before too long.

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## Shrike (Nov 28, 2012)

I'm jealous of your travels.  Those Strophurus look amazing!  Thanks for sharing.


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## zonbonzovi (Nov 28, 2012)

Captivating stuff!  That Tenebrionid may be something from Helea.


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## tarcan (Nov 28, 2012)

another excellent series! need to go on the field now! he he


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## moloch (Nov 29, 2012)

Thanks, guys.  I appreciate help with the names, zonbonzovi.  I'll look this up on the net.

Tarcan, it must be getting cold in your part of the world.  Our winters are not long but they am always happy to see them pass.

Thanks, Speedy and John.

John, I've never seen a gecko exhibit that sort of behaviour before.  It would be effective and certainly easy to loose the gecko in stony country.  Tympanocryptis tetraporiphora are amazing the way that they tolerate high temps.  They stand to reduce surface contact and then face the sun so that their white bellies reflect much of the light ... still, it can be very hot and over 40C.

Here are a few shots that I took while in transit.  Windorah is an 18 hour drive from Wollongong so I usually try to split the return trip with a stop in the Gundabooka area south of Bourke.  Over the years, I've seen quite a number of interesting reptiles and amphibians near the national park.  This year was no exception.

Firstly, here are a few habitat shots.  Much of the area has a firm red sandy soil that supports a number of species of Eucalyptus and Cypress Pines (_Callitris sp_.).  There also are rocky areas that are covered with a forest of densely growing Mulga Trees (_Acacia aneura_).  The red soil areas seem particularly good for repitles and were the home of most of those included below.











Southern Spiny-tailed Geckos (_Strophurus intermedius_) were common again this year in this area.  I love their eyes!



























I also saw a single Eastern Stone Gecko (_Diplodactylus vittatus_).












I saw very few snakes on the trip but did encounter 5 in the Gundabooka area.  These included a DOR Brown Snake (_Pseudonaja sp_.),
three Myall Snakes (_Suta suta_) and a young Mulga Snake (_Pseudechis australis_).

Myall Snake (_Suta suta_)

















This little Mulga Snake (King Brown) (_Pseudechis australis_) was constantly on the move.








I also generally stop in the Blue Mountains to enjoy the view and have a stretch.  This area is only about 2 hours from home.











These big Cunningham's Skinks (_Egernia cunninghami_) live near one of the lookouts and I've watched these for several years now.







Mountain Devil (_Lambertia formosa_) have beautiful flowers.  This one was just beginning to open.  These members of proteaceae produce lots of nectar and are popular with the honeyeaters.







Sydney Flannel Flowers (Actinotus helianthi) have strange, fuzzy flower parts.







The lookouts are good for hill-topping skippers.

Orange Ochre (_Trapezites elena_), a big skipper.












Southern Silver Skipper (_Trapezites praxedes_) were much more common.












Well, that is it for this trip.  I hope that the images have given you an idea about what it is like in this part of Australia.

Regards,
David

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## Storm76 (Nov 29, 2012)

AWESOME pictures! Thanks for sharing...


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## moloch (Dec 1, 2012)

Thanks, Storm.  I am off to the brigalow habitat in southern Queensland later in the week so hopefully will have more photos to share.

Regards,
David


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## dactylus (Dec 1, 2012)

David,

Thank you for the beautiful photos!!  A 2-4 week visit to Australia has been at the top of my travel list for many years.  The various Strophorus gecko species pictured have amazing looking eyes!!  Thanks for those photos.

I also appreciate the _in situ _Varanus photos.  Seeing these magnificent beasts outside of a tiny enclosure reinforces my belief that attempts to maintain and breed the larger monitor species in captivity should only be attempted by zoos/enthusiasts that have the space and the resources to provide the animals with a LARGE and naturalistic environment.

I look forward to your next round of photos!

David


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## moloch (Dec 1, 2012)

Thanks, David.  When you come over, try to spend as much time as possible.  Australia is so big and these interesting places are often reached only after a drive of many hours.  For a short trip, probably would be best to fly to Alice Springs and then work that area since that would reduce the amount of time lost in commute.

The monitors are amazing lizards and so lovely to see in the wild.  They seem to be inquisitive.  The Gould's Monitor on the sand ridge was walking away from me until I whistled.  It stopped and lifted its head to see the source of the noise.  Sometimes, they will stand upright to get a better view.

Regards,
David


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