# Recent Western Herping



## GeckPhotographer (Apr 30, 2013)

So a couple weekends back I finished a couple of large assignments and decided it would be a good opportunity to spend a couple weekends in a row herping. Yay!

The first weekend I headed out to the Hunter Valley for a night, my parents were going to some bush dance out there, so I just tagged along and herped instead. 
Temperatures were pretty cool and it was totally overcast but I managed to track down some skinks I wanted to photograph. 

White's Skinks were common around the rocky areas. 



Liopholis whitii by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr



Liopholis whitii by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

I'd seen 2-toed Worm Skinks in Qld before but this was my first opportunity to photograph them. 



Anomalopus leuckartii by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr



Anomalopus leuckartii by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

The nights under cloud cover stayed reasonably warm and there was some good gecko activity. 

Lesueur's Velvet Geckos have great camouflage and are highly attractive. 



Amalosia lesueurii by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr



Amalosia lesueurii by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr



Amalosia lesueurii by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

But these Thick-tailed Geckos are probably even more attractive still. 



Underwoodisaurus milii by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr



Underwoodisaurus milii by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr



Underwoodisaurus milii by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

The following weekend started with ANZAC thursday, and a friday off giving me 4 free days. Me and some friends decided this was sufficiently long enough to drive out to Sturt NP and find some geckos. 

We started late Thursday, getting out to Gilgandra where we saw one Eastern Spiny-tailed Gecko. 
The next day we travelled out through Bourke and continued west. Stopping at dark to gecko we managed to find several interesting species. 
This baby Knob-tail was the first of the ssp. I've seen. 



Nephrurus levis by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr



Nephrurus levis by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

A Marbled Velvet Gecko was found on one of the trees. 



Oedura marmorata by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr



Oedura marmorata by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

We also found a Beaked Gecko which in this locality should be R.angusta a new species for me.



Rhynchoedura angusta by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

The next day continuing driving west we got a couple more things on the road. 

Central Bearded Dragons were not nearly as common as they usually are in summer. 



Pogona vitticeps by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr



Pogona vitticeps by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr



Pogona vitticeps by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

A Strap-snouted Brown (Pseudonaja aspidorhyncha) was crossing the road but went off before I got any good pics. 



Untitled by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

That night geckoing in Qld we found tons and tons of Beaded Geckos and Spiny-tailed Geckos but I only photographed the adult N.levis we found.



Nephrurus levis by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr



Nephrurus levis by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr



Nephrurus levis by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr


I also took some photos of Wasps which were for some reason crowding around some bushes there. 



Wasp by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr



Wasp by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr



Wasp by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr



Wasp by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr

And a Sunset over the Southwest Qld Desert. 



Sunset in the Desert by Stephen Mahony, on Flickr


----------



## solar 17 (Apr 30, 2013)

GR8 pics "thanks" for sharing solar17 (Baden)


----------



## SteveNT (Apr 30, 2013)

Brilliant!


----------



## moosenoose (Apr 30, 2013)

Superb!!


----------



## GeckPhotographer (Apr 30, 2013)

Thanks guys, appreciate it. Wish I got better pics of the aspid.


----------



## Tobe404 (Apr 30, 2013)

Nice pics mate. What are you taking them with? Just curious.


----------



## Skeptic (Apr 30, 2013)

Awesome  I loved the baby Knob-tail!!


----------



## Barrett (May 1, 2013)

Great photos. Some beautiful specimens there.


----------



## treeofgreen (May 1, 2013)

You really are a great photographer Stephen! Always look forward to your posts 

Beaked gecko is my fav! reminds me of molten lava

Thanks again


----------



## saratoga (May 1, 2013)

As usual, exceptional photographs. Thanks for sharing your work!


----------



## GeckPhotographer (May 1, 2013)

Thanks guys.



Tobe404 said:


> Nice pics mate. What are you taking them with? Just curious.


All taken with Canon 5D MkII, 100mm USM F2.8 Macro, Macro _Twin_ Lite MT-24EX _Flash._



> Awesome  I loved the baby Knob-tail!!


Thanks, those Knob-tails are just the cutest. Real pleasure to see in the wild. 



> Beaked gecko is my fav! reminds me of molten lava


Those guys are horrible.  Hardest geckos of the trip to photograph by far (though not as bad as D.conspics)
and one of our crew was heard to remark "I'd seen pics of these geckos before and thought they were kinda cool, but really they're pretty crap, it's dissapointing."


----------

