# Shark Bay, Western Australia



## smacdonald (Feb 19, 2008)

Hi All,

This is part two of my Western Australia odyssey. Part one is here, and some lead up is on my blog.


Stewart

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Today we're heading up to Shark Bay, the first stop on our two week adventure. I'm heading out with Dean Bradshaw and Farhan Bokhari. As we left Perth I noticed that the latest in hair fashion has only just arrived in Perth.




The latest in hair fashion has just arrived in Perth

After a very long drive (and some very oily servo food) we arrived late at night in Francois Peron National Park, stopping only to take in a fairly spectacular sunset.




Dean taking a shot of the setting sun


We set up camp and went for a drive. Just 20 metres outside our campsite we saw the first reptile of the trip, a western spiny-tailed gecko (_Strophurus strophurus_). This species is easily identifiable by the pale bands on its tail.




Western spiny-tailed gecko (_Strophurus strophurus_)




Western spiny-tailed gecko (_Strophurus strophurus_)

The entire Peron Peninsula is separated from the rest of Australia by a solar-powered electric fence, constructed in 1995 to try to keep out feral animals. There are still plenty of feral cats inside the fence, but a baiting program both inside and outside the fence seems to be keeping the fox numbers down. A number of rare species have been reintroduced onto the Peron Peninsula through the Department of Environment and Conservation's Project Eden. Bilbies, brush-tailed bettongs, malleefowl, rufous and banded hare-wallabies and womas have all been released behind the fence. Sadly the two hare-wallaby species died out, but the other three species are doing well. We were lucky enough to see a bilby (_Macrotis lagotis_) on our first night in the park. I have to admit that I'm not surprised they've been decimated by introduced predators, as they seem like incredibly stupid animals. The one we saw was bumping into trees and bushes as it was walking around. Of course, it was smart enough to get away from us before we managed to get a picture, so the below picture is of a captive bilby at Barna Mia.




Bilby (_Lagotis macrotis_)

The interesting thing is that the electric fence was constructed at the narrowest point of the peninsula, which means that the nearby town of Denham is inside the fence. Residents of Denham are able to keep cats and dogs, which seems a bit counter-intuitive when the fence was constructed to keep these ferals out.

We were hoping to see some woma pythons (_Aspidites ramsayi_) whilst driving around at night, but we unfortunately didn't. Over the next couple of nights we did manage to see a western hooded scaly-foot (_Pygopus nigriceps_), Bynoe's gecko (_Heteronotia binoei_), smooth knob-tailed gecko (_Nephrurus levis occidentalis_), a sleeping western bearded dragon (_Pogona minor_), an echidna (_Tachyglossus aculeatus_), a large katydid and lots of scorpions.




Western hooded scaly-foot (_Pygopus nigriceps_)




Western hooded scaly-foot (_Pygopus nigriceps_)




Bynoe's gecko (_Heteronotia binoei_)




Smooth knob-tailed gecko (_Nephrurus levis occidentalis_)




Western bearded dragon (_Pogona minor_)




Echidna (_Tachyglossus aculeatus_)




Scorpion




Scorpion




Giant enemy katydid

The landscape on the peninsula is red soil and spinifex as far as the eye can see, with the occasional tree scattered around. It's amazing that this habitat runs right up to the sea. It's so different from the east coast!











During the day we saw some emus, an emu skull, lots of sand goannas (_Varanus gouldii_), a dead shingleback (_Tiliqua rugosa_), and lots of western bearded dragons (_Pogona minor_).




Emu (_Dromaius novaehollandiae_) skull




Sand goanna (_Varanus gouldii_)




Dead shingleback (_Tiliqua rugosa_)




Western bearded dragon (_Pogona minor_)




Western bearded dragon (_Pogona minor_)

We went right up to the tip of Peron Peninsula, where two strong ocean currents converge. We saw a manta ray (_Manta birostris_) 'hovering' in the shallows and I tried to swim out to it. Unfortunately it was in the convergence zone of the currents and I was in danger of being swept out to see, so I had to give up on my dream of riding atop a gigantic ray. There were several thousand live cormorants on the beach and several dozen carcasses scattered around. We were speculating about their cause of death when a wedge-tailed eagle (_Aquila audax_) swooped down and nailed one. The whole event happened too fast to get any decent pics. We went back the next afternoon to try to get some pics. We saw the eagle on the ground near the cormorant colony but he took off and didn't come back. We packed up and headed to our next destination.

Things seen but not photographed:

_Ctenophorus scutellatus_
_Ctenophorus maculatus_
Bilby (_Macrotis lagotis_)

Things not seen and not photographed:

Woma (_Aspidites ramsayi_)


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## SlothHead (Feb 19, 2008)

They are some great photos there, 

Would love a few of those pics. 

Oh, and your a wuss for not getting out to that manta ray, would have been a fun swim, ha convergence like that really is going to matter


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## hornet (Feb 19, 2008)

nice scorp, any more pics?


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## smacdonald (Feb 19, 2008)

SlothHead said:


> your a wuss for not getting out to that manta ray



I am indeed a wuss! If I'd had a long bit of rope I would have anchored myself to shore and jetted out.

Stewart


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## smacdonald (Feb 19, 2008)

hornet said:


> nice scorp, any more pics?



Dean took this one:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nature...lickr.com/2248/2271096792_7e0a270832.jpg[/IMG


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## SlothHead (Feb 19, 2008)

Well Chuck Norris would have done it.

Nah looks like a good trip, and the photos look great, 

Are you selling large digital format of them?


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## smacdonald (Feb 19, 2008)

SlothHead said:


> Are you selling large digital format of them?



I wasn't planning on selling any of these images (because I don't think any of them are particularly good), but if people are interested in them I'm more than happy to discuss stuff. I'll PM you.

Stewart


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## Colin (Feb 19, 2008)

reptilesDownUnder said:


> As we left Perth I noticed that the latest in hair fashion has only just arrived in Perth.



hahaha :lol: great pics by the way.


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## dazza74 (Feb 19, 2008)

excellent pics you must of had a good time


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## chrisso81 (Feb 19, 2008)

Awesome pics and beautiful country. Reminds me of all my family holidays as a youngster to Alice Springs and the red centre. If only I had the herp knowledge then that I have now, it would have made it so much more fun.


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## hornet (Feb 19, 2008)

if its any interest the scorp is probably Urodacus hartmeyeri


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## smacdonald (Feb 19, 2008)

hornet said:


> if its any interest the scorp is probably Urodacus hartmeyeri



Hi hornet,

Thanks for the info. What are you basing the ID on? Features of the animal or just distribution? How many scorpion species would you expect to find in that location? We saw multiple scorpions, but they all looked like the same species.


Thanks!

Stewart


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## Magpie (Feb 19, 2008)

Stewart, first of all, awesome photos!!
The scalyfoot is just awesome.
Secondly, if you want to see some big rays, go to a town called "Leeman" or nearby "Greenhead".
I'm a bit wary of them, but we used to swim with some monsters up that way - they are crayfish and dhufish towns so there's plenty for the rays to eat.


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## hornet (Feb 19, 2008)

I was speaking to mark newton, hes probably the most knoledgable guy on scorps in aust. The id went on where it was found aswell as features such as metasomal length, size of the keels and the overall color.


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## Snake Catcher Victoria (Feb 19, 2008)

Great pics Stewart, thanks for sharing them.
Stumpy tails always look amazing and in death they maintain their bodies well because of the hard scales.
Very cool.
The 1st scorpion pic is a keeper for sure.


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## shlanger (Feb 19, 2008)

ssss snake man! Bilbys are only stupid and blunder into trees and bushes, if they are being blinded by a spotlight!


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## shlanger (Feb 19, 2008)

Apologies to ssssssnake man, I ment Reptiles Down Under!


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## callith (Feb 19, 2008)

Awesome Pics, love the pic of the bynoe's gecko


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## smacdonald (Feb 19, 2008)

shlanger said:


> Bilbys are only stupid and blunder into trees and bushes, if they are being blinded by a spotlight!



I've seen equally blundery ones in captivity where there are no blinding lights. The wild one we saw was off on the side of the road, so I don't think it was being blinded by our car's headlights.

Stewart


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## aspidito (Feb 19, 2008)

Thanks for sharing the great pics, thats a trip I would like to do myself.


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