# pics from Monkey Mia, WA



## moloch05 (May 7, 2008)

I visited Monkey Mia, Western Australia, with my son in November, 2005, and then again with a friend in February, 2007. On both visits, we stayed at the campground in the Monkey Mia Resort. This is a very dry place and the resort runs a desalinator night and day to produce drinking water. Freshwater is too precious for bathing so showers were salty bore water.

During the day, we went on walks through the beautiful red dunes just across the road from the resort. Birding was good but we did not see many diurnal herps. Night, however, was productive for reptiles and we found large numbers of geckos. Some of these were spectacular in colour and behaviour. We also found several of the superbly adapted sand snakes.

Monkey Mia is famous for the dolphins that arrive each morning to be hand fed at the resort. I suppose that these animals are the chief attraction for most visitors. The bulk of the visitors were from overseas and we heard few people speaking English in November.







The habitat in the vicinity of the resort consisted of white sand near the water but larger red dunes a short distance inland.
















The habitat further south beyond Denham was very dry with low-growing shrubs.






Beautiful Gecko (_Diplodactylus pulcher_) or Klug's Gecko (_D. klugei_). These geckos were common in areas with red dunes. Both species are found at Shark Bay and I don't know how to distinguish them in the field. All of the _D. pulcher/klugei_ that we found near Monkey Mia had this pattern whereas those from the Hamelin Pool area at the other end of Shark Bay were mostly saddled.





















White-spotted Ground Gecko (_Diplodactylus alboguttatus_). I assume that these were _D. albogutttus_ due to the V-shaped marking on either side of the face. This was a fairly common species near the resort.











Ornate Gecko (_Diplodactylus ornatus_). This was yet another confusing species to me. Both of those that I observed more closely resembled the photos of Ornate Geckos rather than the similar Western Stone Gecko (_D. granariensis_). 












Smooth Knob-tailed Gecko (_Nephrurus laevis_). These gorgeous geckos were common at Shark Bay. 





















Western Spiny-tailed Gecko (_Strophurus strophurus_). We found a few of these each night.






Prickly Gecko (_Heteronotia binoei_). This gecko was hiding beheath a board in the campground of the resort.






_Gehyra variegata_ -- Under the same board at the Prickly Gecko.






Western Hooded Scaly-foot (_Pygopus nigreceps_). We saw at least two of these beautiful pygopods on each of our night drives.






Jan's Banded Snake (_Simoselaps bertholdi_). We saw several of these beautiful little elapids on the road at night. 











West Coast Banded Snake (_Simoselaps littoralis_). I really like the horn-like pattern on the head. 










...this was a fantastic burrower that could vanish beneath the sound in a couple of seconds.







I found several of these large scorpions in February.






Regards,
David


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## moloch05 (May 7, 2008)

... forgot this diurnal lizard. It is a Spotted Military Dragon (Ctenophorus maculatus)


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## jase75 (May 7, 2008)

Very nice snakes, looks like it would be well worth a visit.


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## Jakee (May 7, 2008)

WOW !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Amazing photos. love the knob tail photos


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## ex_oh_ex (May 7, 2008)

OMG I WENT THERE
did you feed a dolphin, see any tiger sharks


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## ex_oh_ex (May 7, 2008)

Amazing herps there ay


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## Snake Catcher Victoria (May 7, 2008)

Loving that 1st gecko David and the pics of the simolaps are excellent,,
where are you going next?


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## Tim.Arm (May 7, 2008)

*Great shots you got there my fav was the West Coast Banded Snake (Simoselaps littoralis).*


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## CodeRed (May 7, 2008)

Fantastic photos.


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## smacdonald (May 7, 2008)

Hi David,

Great pics! I was up there in February of this year. I followed a serpentine track in the sand, dug down with my hands and saw the tail end of a _Simoselaps littoralis_ disappearing. That was the only snake I saw over there. Did you find all/most of these animals on the sealed road leading out of the resort? I found stuff on the dirt roads in the national park, including this critter:







Stewart


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## skakavacjakovac (May 8, 2008)

Love the action shot..now you see it now you dont..


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## Col J (May 8, 2008)

Excellent thread, Moloch05.

Beautiful photos. Thanks for posting.

Col J.


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## warren63 (May 8, 2008)

Thank you for the great pics


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## JasonL (May 8, 2008)

Love the pics (as per usual).


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## moloch05 (May 8, 2008)

Thanks, all, for the feedback.

ex_oh_ex,
I did not feed the dolphins -- just watched from a distance. I did not see Tiger Sharks. Do you see them from shore or do you need to go on a cruise into Shark Bay?

ssssnakeman,
I have not yet decided where to go this next season. I probably will head back to the west since it is so go there for reptiles.

Stewart,
Your report was fantastic and that shot of the dolphin looking at you was incredible. I would love to see a Bilby. 


Regards,
David


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## ryanharvey1993 (May 8, 2008)

awsome pics once again david, the habitat looks good, did you have much luck at day. i see you had heaps at night  oh and that laevis pic standing up tall is so cute


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## hawkesbury reptiles (May 8, 2008)

Absolutely brilliant shots!!
I have always wanted to go there....next holiday maybe.

Thanks David for posting, my fav was the smooth knob tails..... gorgeous little things.


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## Lars K (May 9, 2008)

Wow, excellent pictures and fantastic herps!!! 

Thanks for sharing!!!


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## moloch05 (May 9, 2008)

Thanks again for the comments.

Stewart,
I realized that I did not answer your question. The nocturnals were all on the sealed road at night. 


Ryan,
I did not see many diurnal lizards even though the habitat looked good. The most common diurnal was Lozenge-marked Dragon followed by Spotted Military Dragons. I also saw a few Gould's Monitors.


Regards,
David


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## redbellybite (Jul 10, 2008)

Hey David we loved WA and Shark Bay was fantastic .We camped at Eagles Bluff for 5 days before heading to Denham. It was at Eagles Bluff that I nearly fed myself ,3 kids and 2 dogs to a school of black tip reef sharks , we decided to go for a walk in the water as the tide was low and out for along way ,we were heading towards the channel as it was deeper water ,anyway lucky there was a bloke with a set of binnocculars watching our movements he screamed at us to come back ,so we did , he handed me the set to look into and HOLY HELL about 50 reefs were coming our way he commented as soon as we were in the water the school of sharks changed direction and started heading towards shore ,they actually beached themselves and swivelled back we watched in amazement some were as big as 5 foot so we would of ended up as fish food especially as the climax was out in the channel there was a 16foot tiger shark scoping up and down waiting for what originally was the reefs pushing a huge school of mullet back to the channel ...so thank GOD he was there...WE also went to Monkey Mia , we got to feed dolphins and my husband did some carpentry work for one of the skippers there so he took us out on one of the catamarans 'THE SHOT OVER'(for free) we got to see tigers and dugongs ,dolphins ,turtles and plenty of fish it is a beautiful place...


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## moloch05 (Jul 10, 2008)

Wow, Redbelly, what an experience that would be! I have never worried about the reef sharks but, then, I have never seen more that 3 at a time. Tigers, however, were always a concern and worried me although neither my son nor I encountered one. Did you see Stewart's (ReptilesDownUnder) report from Exmouth? He waded into the shallows in an area with turtles and had an encounter with a Tiger Shark.


Regards,
David


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## dragon lady (Jul 10, 2008)

the red desert pics are awesome!
some are talented!...arnt they!!!


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