# More Townsville wildlife



## Kitah (Feb 27, 2010)

I hope noone minds if I include some pictures of other (non-herp) animals again 

Ok.. the first animal I came across was a sand monitor- I saw it before I even reached my destination! (by about 30m.. lol). It was crossing the road - in an 80km/hr area - and I had a car behind me, so I switched my hazard lights on, slowed right down and 'escorted' the monitor off the road (he was heading to the left side of the road) to try and hurry him up. Once he was safely off, and away from the road, I got out and went to get some pictures but it was only THEN that he felt he was in danger and ran as fast as he (or she) could, so no pictures unfortuantely (note- it only sauntered across the road, even when it had a large, dark car following about 1-2m behind it, and when it saw a little human it bolted. I didn't realise I was THAT scary?). I did try to follow the monitor, and stood at the edge of the 'garden' type thing that it diseapeared into- I then saw rustling at my foot and saw a little, thin yellowish snake- I think it was some kind of whipsnake, but it was very pale. It had a dainty little head with relatively big eyes, and a yellow stripe above its eye, from memory. 

Ok- the rest, which have pictures! (mostly). 

The second snake I encountered was this dark coloured guy- Is it a spotted black? Some of its scales appeared to have pale creamy blotches, and its belly did not SEEM to be coloured. It appeared to be basking, with the rear portion of its body exposed to the sun and the rest of it amongst the grass. I took these shots and then stepped around to get on its left side, and in a flash it was gone, so no more piccies! 











The third snake was an eastern brown, which I saw in the middle of the road- unfortunately I was quite a long way off, so it had a head start and by the time I got to it, it was JUST entering the grass on the side of the road (and I am not experienced enough to go digging through there with my hook to try and find a dangerous, hot snake lol) 

Second monitor for the day- as you can see from the image, I didn't get very close. These guys are fast :shock:





I also came across many _Gehyra dubia _geckos- last time I only found one amongst the numerous AHG's (in this exact same location), but this time I only saw 2 AHG's and HEAPS of these guys, which is great! 





































A little baby  









Green tree frog





A dingo that I found running up the road- it was running in front of me for a while, before banking off onto the mudplains. Apparently I’m scary! 




This time I finally found some brolgas, too- 4 pairs in total, though most were too far away to get photos













There were many pied geese, but they were too far away (and due to all the rain, I couldn’t get closer)





Egrets- again, quite a long way off, but easy to spot! 









Red tailed black cockatoos











Not an animal, but I just like this photo





Now, here is a different sighting! Rare in certain habitats, this aerial species is quite loud and therefore easy to find





A random wasp and butterfly








I came across a pair of these little guys. At first I thought they were a small species of plover, but I’m not entirely sure










Random, amusing little story.. One of the spots I walked to involved walking through fairly deep water that had come over the path- as a result, my socks ended up saturated, and I wanted to dry them out as I was going for a bike ride later- I stuck them under my windscreen wipers to dry with the aid of the heat from my car and the wind while I drove. Unfortunately, it later started to rain and I forgot they were there, and turned the wipers on. Ahh well!


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## DanTheMan (Feb 27, 2010)

Way too far north and coastal for that to be a Spotted Black, most likely a Black Whip Snake, thats what the tail looks like anyway. Some good finds there!


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## Kitah (Feb 27, 2010)

I was wondering if it could have been a whip, but wasn't sure. It actually looks like it has a bit of brown, in the second photo, to the right of the image- I didn't notice this before. And I didn't even think to check the distribution for spotted blacks, lol. I am blonde, that shall be my excuse!


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## Jungle_Freak (Feb 27, 2010)

Some nice pics there ,
That dark snake does look like a Black Whip 
usually they are so quick you cannot get close to them with a camera .
cheers
Roger


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## sk17zn (Feb 27, 2010)

I miss Townsville lived there for a lil while and seen alot of awesome wildlife such a great place, thAnks for the photos mate


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## Wild~Touch (Feb 27, 2010)

Thanks for sharing


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## Stevo2 (Feb 27, 2010)

Were the photos taken yesterday towards Cape Cleveland? If so, that Chinook photo might have been me out there doing some flying around  We ducked down there to practice carrying an external load and to have a 'poke around' the Cape.


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## Kitah (Feb 27, 2010)

I really need to get myself a good identification book I think! When my dwindling uni funds permit, I'll see about getting one because I would really like to start finding a lot more herps 

Stevo, no it wasn't at Cape Cleveland, it was actually near the airport  So it still could have been you guys, coming back in?


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## Nephrurus (Feb 27, 2010)

I agree with black whip snake. 

The plover thing is a black-fronted dotteral. The doves are bar-shouldered doves. 

Getting close to black whipsnakes is very difficult. You were pretty lucky. 

-H


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## moloch05 (Feb 27, 2010)

Nice pics.

Your butterfly is a Black-and-White Tiger (Danaus affinis). There are several species of tigers up your way.

Thanks for posting non-herp as well as herp photos. They all are enjoyed.

Regards,
David


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## Stevo2 (Feb 27, 2010)

xshadowx said:


> Stevo, no it wasn't at Cape Cleveland, it was actually near the airport  So it still could have been you guys, coming back in?


 
Could have been - we took off around 12pm and were back a couple of hours later to do some circuits. There was another out and about at the same time too, over at Lavarack.


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## Kitah (Feb 27, 2010)

Thanks for the ID's guys  I need to start taking my bird ID guide with me- get it out of storage again! 

Stevo2, that picture was taken at 4pm, and it looked like it was heading straight towards the airport. I did see another one (or the same one, not sure) come in again after that at some stage (not sure when). It'd be awesome to go for a ride in one of those lol! they looked pretty impressive at the air show


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## Stevo2 (Feb 27, 2010)

xshadowx said:


> Thanks for the ID's guys  I need to start taking my bird ID guide with me- get it out of storage again!
> 
> Stevo2, that picture was taken at 4pm, and it looked like it was heading straight towards the airport. I did see another one (or the same one, not sure) come in again after that at some stage (not sure when). It'd be awesome to go for a ride in one of those lol! they looked pretty impressive at the air show


 
Aww, wasn't me then. They are a great acft to fly and have so much power to play with (especially compared to my last acft - Kiowa and EC-135.. lol). 

Looks like I need head over to the TC to have a look around!


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## gus11 (Feb 27, 2010)

nephurus is right with all 3 I.D'sI would say lesser black whip, as I've never seen paupuensis in the commons and dont know anyone who has.


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## naivepom (Mar 3, 2010)

Almost certainly a black whip. Also are you certain about it being a brown snake you saw from a distance? - they are at this location but are EXTREMELY rare, you will see 2,000 keelbacks to every brown you see and from a distance its easily possible to confuse them.


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## naivepom (Mar 3, 2010)

Oh and I agree - I love the fungus photo!


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## lizardjasper (Mar 3, 2010)

That brolga shot is amazing! You got really close!!! I have only been able to get a distant photo of them.
Why is it that I can always find heaps of birds, but never any snakes or lizards!!!?!?


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## Kitah (Mar 3, 2010)

Naivepom, I cant say 100% that it WAS an eastern brown, but it didn't look like any keelbacks I've seen, whether in person or photos (very reliable, lol). I got within about 2m of it, as it literally disappeared into the grass just in front of me- it was a solid dark brown colour, fading to a paler nearly creamy brown on the head (dark brown on the top of the head, paler 'face'). If they're uncommon, I doubt I would have been lucky enough to see one, so it probably wasn't  

Anyway, as you know I'm a complete novice with ID's haha 

And thanks lizardjasper, I was quite surprised how close that brolga let me get. I've noticed they seem to be less nervous when you are in a car, than if they can actually see you. I've had quite a few that will make a hasty retreat as soon as they see me get out of the car, even if they ignored the car itself (even if the car was moving, as well). This one was strange in that regard as well though, because I stepped out of the car and it just kept watching me 

Edit: It looked quite a lot like these two (note- not my photo)


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## Kitah (Mar 3, 2010)

I'm just going to clarify that last reply- When I first saw the snake (which I thought/think was a brown?) I was quite a long way off, and it was only just on the right hand side of the road, moving to the left. When I got there, it was just disappearing into the grass on the left side of the road.


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## townsvillepython (Mar 3, 2010)

some real nice pics xshahdowx 
hows your croc hunting going ?


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## Kitah (Mar 3, 2010)

Thanks Townsvillepython  I haven't had a chance to go yet, trying to keep up on top of the uni work, and been riding my bike a lot lately (now have a buggered knee as a result). Perhaps this weekend I shall head up to the river and have a look


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## townsvillepython (Mar 3, 2010)

we had a coastal taipain at work this morning out at kelso 
good luck and hope you feel better soon


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## lizardjasper (Mar 3, 2010)

I know what those birds are! The water bird is a Black-fronted Dotterel, and the doves are Bar-shouldered Doves. The red tailed black cockatoo is a female as well, in case you didn't know!


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## Kitah (Mar 3, 2010)

Yeah, I know my parrots pretty well  I wasn't sure on the other two though, as parrots are my favourite and I seem to remember them better lol


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## lizardjasper (Mar 3, 2010)

I came across some glossy black cockatoos the other day, couldn't believe my luck! They sound like baby red tails!
Pitty you couldn't get closer to the monitors...


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## Akasha81 (Mar 3, 2010)

Awesome pics! and funny commentary too..

The pale-faced, big eyed yellow snake you saw.. could that have been a common green tree snake? They have a dainty little head, big eyes and they emit a foul odour if touched. I picked up a hatchling a few months ago and my hands stunk for ages afterwards, lol..

I was a Townsville girl for 10 years.. Whereabouts in Tsv were the pics taken?


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## $NaKe PiMp (Mar 3, 2010)

thats why you got the grab the snake before it gets away lol,then you dont have to wonder what it was 
sometimes you got to do a one handed dive grab


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## Akasha81 (Mar 4, 2010)

$NaKe PiMp said:


> thats why you got the grab the snake before it gets away lol,then you dont have to wonder what it was
> sometimes you got to do a one handed dive grab


 
As long as you dont hurt the snake of course!!


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## Kitah (Mar 4, 2010)

Good to see you're worried about the snake, Akasha! (I seem to put myself in potential danger trying to preserve our reptilian friends on roads, lol, so I wouldn't risk hurting them!)

If it were a more 'hidden' spot I wouldn't give the exact location, but its already a pretty popular place, so I'll tell you- It's the town common, at Pallarenda, Tville  

I can't reliably comment any more on the yellow/cream snake I saw- it was little, it was yellow, and had big eyes, but was too fast for me to see any more! Yes, I know snakepimp, I shoulda grabbed it based on you're advise, but what can I say- I'm a majorly paranoid wuss! lol


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## Macmilliam (Mar 21, 2010)

nice i like the geckos there soooooooo cute fungus photo is cool


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## reptilerob (Mar 21, 2010)

Great report and photos, looks like you had a great time. I love those geckos. Thats something we dont see too many of down here.


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