# Some recent Australian highlights



## Jazzz (Oct 9, 2014)

Myself and my partner have been on a few herping trips lately and I thought id put up a few of the highlights. 

I'll start with the local stuff. I've just done a couple of pretty dismal nights herping around Brisbane so far. 

As there isn't too much to find I've been able to experiment with some astrophotography a bit. Here's a perons tree frog with star trails behind, a lengthy exposure that I would only recommend if you have a good TV series to watch or a book to read. 



Perons Tree Frog by jasmine_vink, on Flickr

There has been a couple of snakes out though! I finally found a Bandy Bandy, a common species that has eluded me up until now. They have the unique defence mechanism of 'looping up' which I didn't get a photo of of course. 



Bandy bandy by jasmine_vink, on Flickr

The laughing tree frogs are all starting to come out in force as well! Perons and tyleri can both be easily found, and definitely heard...



Tylers Tree Frog by jasmine_vink, on Flickr



Perons Tree Frog by jasmine_vink, on Flickr

That's all I've photographed in Brissy so far! I'm sure there will be more to come 

A few weeks earlier though we headed out to Darwin for a few days, I hadn't seen a frilly before so I was stoked to find this little guy chilling on a fence. 



Juvenile frill neck lizard by jasmine_vink, on Flickr



Juvinile frill necked lizard by jasmine_vink, on Flickr

From Darwin we headed out to kununarra where we found this gorgeous Olive out hunting in a rock crevice. 

I've been wanting to experiment with astrophotography for a while now so was happy to get the chance.



An olive python from west kimberley by jasmine_vink, on Flickr

In the morning we found another individual out basking.



Olive Python in habitat by jasmine_vink, on Flickr

I also had the opportunity to photograph my first golden tree. A stinky stinky experience as always.



golden tree snake by jasmine_vink, on Flickr

On this trip we also found a few more snakes, northern small eyed, olive whip and water python plus a few geckos including a northern beaked. However, the highlight was definitely finding my first small monitors, a primordius and a baritji. We were lucky enough to find these both emerging from burrows under rocks to bask in the afternoon sun. 



varanus primordius by jasmine_vink, on Flickr



varanus baritji by jasmine_vink, on Flickr

I'm also a frog lover so here's a few common species we found along the way. 



Litoria rothii by jasmine_vink, on Flickr

I love the diversity of colour in this species. 



Litoria rothii by jasmine_vink, on Flickr

These guys were wedged into rock crevices. You could find 10-20 at a time during the day and at night the ground was covered in them! Heaven for me 



Litoria coplandi by jasmine_vink, on Flickr

An unusually pretty gtf



Green tree frog by jasmine_vink, on Flickr

The sky's were just gorgeous out in East Kimberley, I couldn't help but try (unsuccessfully) to capture it. 



Katherine, NT by jasmine_vink, on Flickr

A few weeks after we got back from Darwin we decided to head out west a little bit into the Brigalow (we live in brissy) for my bday. As it was still a little cold and there hadn't been much rain we weren't expecting a great deal. I was pleasantly surprised with our haul and I managed to get a few new species! 

We nicknamed this fatty 'Pokemon frog' he's actually a desert spadefoot toad, a new species. 



Common Spade Foot Toad by jasmine_vink, on Flickr

We also found a single ornate burrowing frog out a little early.



Ornate Burrowing Frog by jasmine_vink, on Flickr

After frogging for a bit we managed to find this golden tailed gecko, a new species and genus for me. I was pretty damn happy with this!



Golden Tailed Gecko by jasmine_vink, on Flickr



Golden Tailed Gecko by jasmine_vink, on Flickr

The next night we found at least 10 of my second species for the genus, a Williamsi. All of the strophurus are just stunning. 



Eastern Spiny Tailed Gecko by jasmine_vink, on Flickr

We found a fair few of these adorable steindachneri on the road as well. This little cutie sat up for me and wagged his tail for the camera.



Box Patterned Gecko by jasmine_vink, on Flickr

We only found a couple of snakes, a curl, furina and a dwyers. I only bothered to photograph the dwyers as it was a new species. There must have been a little rain as there were fields covered in these gorgeous purple wild flowers. 



Dwyers Snake by jasmine_vink, on Flickr

That's all the Aussie herps for the season so far. It's only just starting to warm up though so the list should get longer in the coming weeks!


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## dragonlover1 (Oct 9, 2014)

nice work Jasmine


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## richoman_3 (Oct 9, 2014)

You take some bloody epic photos .... teach the asian!


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## Lachie3112 (Oct 9, 2014)

I notice you seem to have some weird artifacting going on with some of the Night/Astro shots. Might want to check the RAW files and see if they have the same issue.


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## Jazzz (Oct 9, 2014)

Thanks guys!

Haha richoman im trying 

I cant see it Lachie? It may be from the compression but i cant see anything on the RAW...


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## Lachie3112 (Oct 9, 2014)

These are the bits that stand out the most to me. It could be due to compression, but I'm not sure. It looks to me like dead/hot pixels.


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## Jazzz (Oct 10, 2014)

Oh yeah I can see it, I'll easily be able to fix that up. Thanks


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