# Field Trip to Smiths Lake, NSW



## Nephrurus (Feb 24, 2008)

A few of us went on the FATS (Frog and Tadpole Study group) field trip to Smiths Lake on the weekend. 

It's right by Seal Rocks, so we went for a bit of a swim before the serious business of herping went on. Heres a pic of the beach. 







It was a great night on the Friday, a hot day and a still night. I think it would have been at least 25degrees. It had been fairly dry recently so there wasn't much frog activity, but a few other critters were moving about. 

The most common species sighted was the small eyed snake _Rhinoplocephalus nigriscens_. We must have seen 6 (probably more) or so over the 2 nights herping and road driving. They were so common that I didn't really try to photograph them, so all I ended up with were a couple of very ordinary photos. Heres the best of some bad shots. 






See? told you it was ordinary. 

The other very common herp was the Leaf Tail Gecko _Salturarius swainii_. I'd only ever seen young animals from this point, but they adults are much cooler. Unlike small eyed snakes I tried to get some photos, but i wasn't paying as much attention as i should have been. Here are a few of the better photos. 





















Not bad looking animals. A few had those cool orange gecko mites that are prevalent on leaf tails. 

Swamp snakes _Hemiapsis signata_ were getting about the place as well. Great little elapids. 






Another attractive elapid which is usually easy to photograph is the Golden Crown Snake _Cacophis squamulosa_. They have a great threat display, but most of my photos weren't in focus. I should have been a bit more persistant. 
Heres the only focused shot. 






Some of the members were very excited to see some nice Bandy Bandys _Vermicella annulata_ as a few people had never seen them before. 











It was very disapointing to see a DOR ROugh Scale Snake on the way. 






The highlight of the trip was definetly the Stephens Banded Snake. Always a interesting critter, they have a great threat display and are easily the most spectacular species we found (some people like bandy bandys, but they are really just wannabe stephens bandeds). 












Like I said at the start, not the best photos I've taken, but decent records of what we found. 
A few frogs were found, but they remained unphotographed. 

Geeze.. we need a separate forum for these threads. 

-H


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## itbites (Feb 24, 2008)

*Great pics H quite a nice selection of reps would have been a great trip by the sound of it  thanks for sharing!*


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## jase75 (Feb 24, 2008)

Great Pics !!!!! love the Bandy Bandys and Stephens Banded.


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## Australis (Feb 24, 2008)

Nice hopo.

I think .,.... 
_Rhinoplocephalus nigriscens = Cryptophis nigriscens_


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## moosenoose (Feb 24, 2008)

Wow Neph! You really cleaned up with the photos! Nice work


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## Nephrurus (Feb 24, 2008)

Whoops! "the small eyed snake Rhinoplocephalus nigriscens. " shoule read "the small eyed snake _Cryptophis nigriscens_."


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## Daniel_Penrith (Feb 24, 2008)

Great photo's.........your very modest when it comes to your photography but i would say they are GREAT....Love the leaf tail pics


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## snake-eyes (Feb 24, 2008)

Have to say how jealous i am since i wasnt able to go on such a trip.
nice pics btw.

snake


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## jordo (Feb 25, 2008)

Nice pics neph


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## ChloeN (Feb 25, 2008)

good time beach was good, sun burn wasn't ,snakes were great!photos were so so.i had 50 people around me with all of head torches on my bandy photos grrrrrrrrrrr.


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## Daniel_Penrith (Feb 25, 2008)

where did you go(what suburb).... Ive never seen a bandy bandy!! whatkind of snake is that one the person is holding?


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## ChloeN (Feb 25, 2008)

and my cam isnt an SLR .im slowly investing


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## mattmc (Feb 25, 2008)

great photos henry and chloe...will add mine later
cheers
matt


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## cracksinthepitch (Feb 25, 2008)

Wow what a day/night, such variety. you people are spoilt up there. Im jelous.


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## thals (Feb 25, 2008)

awesome shots neph! musta been a great day for all on that trip, great finds too! Love the Golden crown snake and bandys, great spotting


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## tnarg (Feb 25, 2008)

it was a frog and tadpole study group feild trip and no frog photos 

I'll have to put some of mine up later 

anyway frogs we saw were:
Adelotus brevis
Crinia signifera
C. tinnula
Lim. peronii
Lit. fallax
Lit. freycineti
Lit. latopalmata
Lit. peronii
Lit. revelata
Mix. fasciolatus
Paracrinia haswelli
Pseudophryne bibronii
Pseud. coriacea
Uperoleia fusca

Cheers,
Grant


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## ChloeN (Feb 25, 2008)

it is a stephans banded snake.The bandy bandys are so beautiful the photo me and henry have are the first one we picked up .smiths lakes is mid north coast of NSW


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## Daniel_Penrith (Feb 25, 2008)

Ok no worries thanks, if i get some time of work i might check it out, did you just stick to a track?


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## brigo (Feb 25, 2008)

i missed on out this trip, hopefully ill go to the next one..i gotta go next meeting first loll


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## ryanharvey1993 (Feb 25, 2008)

wow awsome looks like you found alot when use were up here! have you got a complete list of all herps you saw. woulda been awsome


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## brigo (Feb 25, 2008)

get some more frog pics up! lol


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## mattmc (Feb 28, 2008)

finally my photos ....more than just reps


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## mattmc (Feb 28, 2008)

oh....didnt work...dunno why.......well ill try later


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## mattmc (Mar 1, 2008)

now


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## mattmc (Mar 1, 2008)

heres the pics that stuffed up earlier


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## morgs202 (Mar 1, 2008)

nice one


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## mattmc (Mar 1, 2008)

more....


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## mattmc (Mar 1, 2008)

more..... i have so many of the bandy bandy cause i love em and have been looking for them for a while......and we got not 1 but 2....i was stoked


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## cracksinthepitch (Mar 2, 2008)

Graet shots Matty, the spider in the middle of last shots looks very similar to the one i have in my front garden. Wheel-weaving garden orb Eriophora family Araneidae.
Actually looks more like E. transmarina without the white dorsal stripe but there are over 100 species all over Aust of Eriophora so could be other...


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## moloch05 (Mar 12, 2008)

Beautiful pics, Henry. I was away and missed this post before.

New camera? The macros are great!

Regards,
David


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## Nephrurus (May 6, 2008)

Same old camera David... I've got a new rig now, but i don't have a macro lense. I'll post some photos soonish. 

-H


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## -Peter (May 6, 2008)

you saw a _Tropidechis_ on the way to Smith's Lake from Sydney:shock::shock::shock::shock::shock::shock::shock:


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